Trader Joe’s Green Sauce 2.0. However, this green sauce is different from the current green dragon hot sauce available on shelves. Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Sauce is overall pretty good and a completely different beast from the other green sauce, it’s a solid Jalapeño Pepper Hot Sauce.
On the bottle it looks like a creamy green sauce. But it is labeled as being vegan. Despite the label, it tastes quite creamy.
It reminded me slightly of an ají sauce (minus the tomatoes and cilantro). And yes, there is no cilantro in this product. I know in my household that is a dividing food issue. I can’t get enough of that flavor, but my husband feels like it tastes like soap.
Now for the most part, I don’t try sauces on their own. Sauces should be paired with something. A sauce is a compliment. Since you use so little, it should be assertive.
To which this sauce is.
There is no hiding the Jalapeño peppers in this sauce. It brings about that heat level.
In addition to the Jalapeno this is emulsified with canola oil with onion, salt, garlic and spice. But it was tough to figure out what the spice was as the jalapeno was the dominant flavor here.
So it’s Tuesday, therefore tacos are necessary. I’m working behind the scenes on a ribeye post, so I had some left over from the previous evening. So Ribeye tacos were the order of the day. A few of Trader Joe’s Tortillas, some cheese, lettuce and this sauce made for a really awesome dinner.
Oh, don’t forget about the Cadillac Margarita. That paired well with this sauce too. It cut through the heat here.
For $3.49 this was a tasty find. Aside from tacos, I imagine this would pair well with eggs, guacamole, meat, tofu, or cheese. There is plenty of room for creativity here. Much like Trader Joe’s beloved Everything But the Bagel Seasoning, I look forward to seeing how everyone uses this creatively.
Would I buy this again? Yes, I would buy Trader Joe’s Jalapeño Sauce again. It was a really great pairing with my tacos.
Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:
The bottle of Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Sauce:
The nutritional information:
The ingredients and product description for Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Sauce:
Paired with homemade ribeye tacos and a Cadillac Margarita:
Want to see more items I’ve reviewed from Trader Joe’s? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.
The Bottom Line
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Trader Joe's Jalapeno Sauce Review
Product Name: Trader Joe's Jalapeno Sauce
Product Description: Trader Joe's Jalapeno Sauce is a spicy and flavor sauce that brings a reasonable amount of heat.
Price: $3.49
Summary
Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Sauce is a new hot sauce to hit shelves that is vastly different from the other green sauces already there.
- Taste
- Value
- Worthy of Repurchasing
Pros
- Flavorful hot sauce that is different from what is currently on the shelves
- Pairs well with tacos (and washed down with a margarita)
- Tasted creamy despite being vegan.
Cons
- This seems single note as the dominant flavor is Jalapeno.
Trader Joe’s beloved Everything But the Bagel sauce? Do you mean seasoning? It’s awesome offering for vegans to top off their tacos. Also maybe change up for coleslaw. So many ways to use it!
Hey Alek! Thanks for catching that typo! A spicy coleslaw sounds great. Thanks so very much for stopping by sharing (and finding that mistake)!
I am so excited about this sauce. I love jalapenos. And normally vegan products give me cause to pause but obviously not in this case. And it’s interesting it’s not cilantro based or cilantro containing as most green sauces are. I will go this weekend to get some. Thanks for the review.
This has sugar. Is it sweet / can you taste it?
Hey FTP! It has sugar as an ingredient, but it doesn’t taste sweet. I think the sugar balances it a bit if that makes sense. The sauce is more flavorful of the jalapenos than anything else. I hope that helps!
To me there is a pronounced sweetness, which made the entire sauce an epic fail. Sweet sauce on fish tacos? YUCK.
Love it! Mexican food pairing is automatic… tacos, burritos, chips, etc… expand your imagination and use it on any protein as a topper or in a sandwich as a healthy alternative to mayo. If you like heat, you will love this. My only problem is wanting to use too much of it that I run out of it too quickly.
Hey Chad! Thanks so much for sharing. I’ve just started experimenting with it and I really like it too. Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to stop by and share!
Omg I love this stuff. I started just dipping chips in it. Now I use it on eggs, Mac and cheese, pizza, meat and tacos. Honestly it is addictive!
Hey Tonio! Thanks for stopping by and sharing all those different ways you enjoy it. I never thought about mac and cheese! Thanks again for taking the time out of your day to stop by and share!
This sauce is awesome! I’ve eaten it on so many things. Recently I use part of the bottle and marinated some chicken breast and it overnight and grilled it on my George Foreman grill. So incredibly good! I cut up the chicken breast, stuffed it inside some Trader Joe’s corn wheat tortillas, added some Pico, chz and topped it with more of the sauce. So incredibly good.
Hey Dag! Glad to hear you enjoyed it and I love hearing how you use it. I never thought to use it as a marinade. Thanks as always for stopping by and sharing!
Have you had the red version? If so, how does this one compare? I’m finishing up a bottle of the Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce now that’s a similar size, but is just peppers, vinegar, and salt.
Do you mean the red dragon sauce? That’s a very different sauce that is pretty similar to sriracha sauce. I personally prefer the rooster sauce over that. Otherwise, I haven’t done a deep dive into Trader Joe’s other hot sauces yet.
The jalapeño sauce doesn’t have vinegar at least the new one doesn’t. So good. Creamy and flavorful.
Hey Tonio! I couldn’t agree more. This has become my new go to hot sauce. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing!
This is the one I have: https://hotsaucefever.com/hotsauce/trader-joes-jalapeno-pepper/
I’ll give the green a shot since base totally different and sounds good.
Hey Marc! I haven’t tried that one yet. I guess I’ll have to add that to my list. Thanks for sharing!
All I tasted was sweetness with this sauce, which was categorically disgusting. Maybe i’m just too used to the flavor of fresh jalapeños, but this just tasted super fake. I definitely wouldn’t purchase this again and will likely be throwing the nearly full bottle away. I’d rather take the time to pulse a fresh jalapeño with some sour cream and a squeeze of lime in my food processor than opt for this bottle again – clean up time included and all.