This Trader Joe's Frozen American-Chinese Food Outshines Most Restaurants

One of the best parts of shopping at Trader Joe's is walking down the freezer aisles and discovering foods from many different cuisines around the world. Some are snacks, other items are desserts, then there are the ever-popular frozen meal options that you can turn into a quick weeknight dinner. When it comes to the Asian-inspired products specifically, there's one that reigned supreme in our ranking of Trader Joe's frozen Asian food options: the Mandarin Orange Chicken.

That's right, Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken beat out the grocery store's other options like dumplings, Japanese cheesecakes, and maybe even your go-to Chinese takeout spot. First, our writer found that the chicken offered a perfectly crispy outside with tender dark meat on the inside — an important factor when it comes to frozen foods. The sauce offers a heavy orange flavor with hints of ginger, providing a balance of sweetness and tanginess. According to our taste tester, the top-rated Trader Joe's product is "big and bold, revolving around a cornucopia of flavors and textures." 

As a long-time TJ's patron, I certainly agree with my fellow writer, because this frozen food was one of my go-to meals, especially in my early 20s when I wanted a cheap-and-easy meal that still tasted great. Other published rankings of Trader Joe's frozen foods also feature the Mandarin Orange Chicken, so you might need to try it yourself.

Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken is priced at $5.49 for a 22-ounce package according to the chain's website. That comes out to about four servings, which makes it ideal for serving a family, or meal prepping for us single folks. The orange sauce comes in separate plastic bags that you must defrost while you cook the chicken. As for cooking the protein itself, TJ's suggests baking it in the oven set at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, but your air fryer or toaster oven should work, too. 

Our taste tester isn't the only one that has raved about Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken. An entire thread on the subreddit r/TraderJoes is dedicated to the frozen food offering, with one user even dubbing it "the best frozen orange chicken by far." Another Redditor shared that they wish TJ's sold the orange sauce separately so they could add it to even more dishes. 

In fact, there are many ways to easily turn the orange chicken into a complete meal, beyond the traditional side of steamed rice or vegetables like broccoli. You can whip up our easy egg fried rice recipe for American-Chinese takeout at home. You can also cook our simple vegetable stir fry then toss the sauce and chicken into the pan or wok for a one-bowl meal. You can also pick up fried rice, microwavable rice, and vegetable mixes in Trader Joe's freezer aisle to make the meal even easier.