The pros: Trader Joe's Chickenless Crispy Tenders are a meatless vegan option in the freezer aisle.
The cons: This breading turned out to be a complete disappointment on this. The finished product did not look much like the picture on the box.
The verdict:
A while back I had picked up Trader Joe's Chickenless Mandarin Orange Chicken Morsels. I've been longing for them ever since they disappeared from shelves. While I had no explanation as to why a perfectly good product would disappear, I wanted to write a review about something that was just as good. Sadly, these don't live up to those.
The bag would have you believe that you are getting some deeply breaded crispy vegan chicken tenders. By the time I got to the finished product, I had decent vegan chicken, but the breading was this items downfall. While there are two sets of directions, I opted to make mine in the oven. I'm not always crazy about refrying a fried item.
My breading struggled to stay on the chicken. I had more of a greasy mess, than crispy chicken tenders. My breading was sliding off of these. There was even quite a bit of oil left behind on the baking sheet too. The vegan chicken itself tasted like, well, chicken. Good, but much harder to enjoy when only half of the product is really enjoyable.
For $3.29, I'll stick with the very awesome Soy Chorizo if I want to go completely meatless. With enough flavoring, even the Beefless Ground Beef was a better option. I won't buy this again, but I keep wishing for those vegan mandarin morsels back.
Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:
The bag of Trader Joe's Chickenless Crispy Tenders:
The nutritional information:
The ingredients:
How to prepare:
After being cooked you get:
Would I buy this again? No, I would not buy Trader Joe's Chickenless Crispy Tenders again.
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe's for a searchable list.
Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
Catherine Brown says
Your review was spot-on. As a vegan, I also liked their vegan mandarin chicken. I was curious as to if these strips were really Gardein 7 Grain Tenders in disguise, but no they are not. Also thought they were way too greasy. I appreciate that Trader Joe’s is so vegan friendly, but I would not buy these again, either.
becomebetty says
Thanks Catherine! I appreciate you stopping by and sharing your thoughts as a vegan. Do you have a particular brand of chickenless food that you prefer?
Mrs. A says
We JUST got the vegan mandarin chicken back at our TJ and it doesn’t compare to the “old” version (it was one of our absolute favorites). Although, the Gardein mandarin chicken is just like the old Trader Joe’s version, so I just get that now. They had to find a new soy source/processor, that’s why they were missing for so long (I asked in a panic one day while shopping lol). I was going to get the vegan crispy tenders, but if they’ve changed like the mandarin has, I might try and find an alternative.
becomebetty says
Hey Mrs. A! The "old version" was a regular item for me too and the new Vegan Mandarin Orange Chicken wasn't the same sadly. Thanks so much for the tip for the Gardein being similar. If you do end up picking it up, I'd still like to hear your thoughts. Thanks so much for stopping by!