TJ’s Salsa Wars: Which Trader Joe’s salsa is the best?

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I was very happy to see that you guys found my Energy Bar Wars post from a whiiile back as helpful. I’ve had an idea to do more than one of these “wars” posts and there goes another one! This time I decided to review a few different salsas – yeah, these are all from Trader Joe’s (obviously, it’s pretty much the only place I grocery shop). Again, this review is mostly done based on my own preferences, based on taste mainly – I went for the all-natural picks, therefore nutritional facts are usually very similar from one brand to another. The ratings are done out of 5 stars for each.

I am a total salsa freak  – seriously, I use it on everything: eggs, wraps, salads… pretty much anything that isn’t sweet, I’ll use salsa on. It’s a great flavor kick to an otherwise boring dish, or it can make a fun dish EVEN more fun!

I also love that Trader Joe’s has so many different varieties of salsa! They are also all so affordable! It’s awesome.

Yeah, I love my salsa 🙂

TJ’s Pineapple Salsa – I love this salsa. It’s freaking delicious. It’s not that spicy but it has a nice sweet/spicy kick that I love. Pineapple isn’t really that apparent in the taste but it does sweeten the salsa up, or maybe that’s the added sugar in there… I would absolutely give this salsa a full 5 star rating if not for the added sugar it contains. Granted it’s not a lot and it’s the 6th ingredient, but I honestly don’t think it’s necessary to put added sugar in a salsa, especially when it’s already being sweetened by the pineapple and pineapple juice concentrate. Sigh, oh well. Because of this fact, the salsa does not frequent my fridge as often as I wish it could.

Rating: 

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TJ’s Habanero and Lime Salsa – This has been my favorite salsa for a while now. And I would gladly give it all 5 stars until I actually took the time to read the label and realized that there is added sugar in this product. Such a disappointing realization. I really thought this was going to be “the one”. While I’ll still buy it once in a while, I really want to try to cut out as many unnecessary added sugars as possible so this salsa won’t be frequenting my fridge as often as it used to. The flavor is delicious – it’s perfectly spicy. It’s actually quite a bit spicier than I’m used to but the sweetness of the carrots (and sugar, I guess?) combats it and together it creates a deliciously amazing flavor. The taste is complex and really fun. I recommend it for anyone that wants to change things up.

Rating: 

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TJ’s Hot Chipotle Salsa – So this one is weird. At first taste, I almost spit it out. I guess I’m just not a big fan of the whole “smoky” taste and flavor. Oh my god, I thought, this is going right in the garbage. But I put a good 2 Tbsp on my morning eggs and I had to eat it, I wasn’t going to throw away my breakfast when it was almost time to leave for the internship. I had another bite and… something changed. The flavor grew on me the more bites I took. After a few, I loved the flavor. The smoky taste was strange and foreign to me at first but eventually it became interesting and fun. While I wouldn’t buy it too often, I think it will make a reappearance in my kitchen. Plus, there are no added sugars in it so that makes it just that much better.

Rating: 

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TJ’s Roasted Garlic Salsa – To tell you the truth I bought this salsa but I didn’t really want to try it. I like garlic flavored things as much as the next girl but for some reason I just didn’t think this salsa would taste good. I didn’t want an overly smokey and garlicy breath after eating so I was scared. But I tried it. And wow thank God I did. This is my favorite salsa so far. It is slightly spicy; the garlic flavor is not overpowering and it is subtly smokey… all perfect combinations to make one delicious tasting chunky salsa. It also has NO added sugars which made me very very happy. I am so coming back to this one!

Rating: 

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[source – forgot to snap a pic before throwing it out… Oops]

 TJ’s Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa – the first thing that I love about this product is that it has no salt added. But then again, salt isn’t a big concern for me because I have low blood pressure (my own doctor said I can eat more salt haha you don’t hear that every day eh?). I like this salsa but I found it to be too roasty for me. Also, the spicy meter indicates that it is only medium however I’d say it’s more like a hot one. The spicyness is much higher than some of the others I tried.

Rating: 

Kammie wants to know:

• What’s your favorite salsa?

• Do you prefer mild, medium, or spicy salsas?

Let me know in the comments below!

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