Trader Joe's Fans Can't Get Enough Of These Vegetable Bird's Nests
On April 10, 2021, Trader Joe's Obsessed, the Instagram account that covers deals at the store and possible meals and drinks to make with its offerings, uploaded a post featuring Trader Joe's Vegetable Bird's Nests. "I'm obsessed with these tempura Vegetarian Bird's Nests with soy dipping sauce," they state. "I air fry these for 9 mins at 375 degrees from frozen shaking in between and they are perfect!"
While Vegetable Bird's Nest is certainly an evocative title, the sub-description offered by Trader Joe's gets more to the point: "Tempura Vegetables with soy dipping sauce." @TraderJoesObsessed also included the recipe for their take on the soy sauce. They add a tablespoon of Trader Joe's Chili Onion Crunch to it for an extra kick.
As of writing, the post has garnered more than 5,090 likes and a smattering of comments, with some expressing a frenzied love for the product and others asking for more specifics about what a "bird's nest" is.
The details behind the devotion
In the Fearless Flyer, the brand's self-advertising source, Trader Joe's leans further into the description of this product. The Vegetable Bird's Nests are formed from julienned onions, carrots, and kale that are molded into woven blobs by a coat of tempura batter. Each box is priced around $3.29, depending on the market, and contains eight of these nests.
For nutritional information, however, we have to turn to Fooducate, which happens to have an entry for the Vegetable Bird's Nests. Each nest constitutes a serving, which fills you with 70 calories, 50 milligrams of sodium, 7 grams of carbohydrates with 0.5 grams being added sugar, and 225 micrograms of Vitamin A, or 32% of your daily intake. It is not clear, though, whether this reflects the nest on its own or with the soy sauce that comes in the box.
Still, the comments section for the entry reflects the general positivity found on Instagram, and Fooducate itself credits the dish with a B- for being better than average in terms of nutrition.