Trader Joe's Raspberry Filled Donuts Review: Filled With Potential

Trader Joe's and frozen donuts have a little history together, and it hasn't always been pretty.

Longtime shoppers might remember the frozen Donut Bites that disappeared from shelves following quality control issues. Now Trader Joe's is taking another trip down the frozen donut road with Raspberry Filled Donuts.

The good news? These are fully baked, easy to prepare, and certainly an improvement over the donut drama of years past.

The bad news?

Someone apparently put the raspberry filling on a strict budget.

Review

Trader Joe's Raspberry Filled Donuts certainly look the part.

They're pretty. They're pink. They're covered in powdered sugar. Cut one open and you'll find a bright raspberry filling in the center. On appearance alone, you might reasonably assume you are about to get hit with raspberry flavor.

Unfortunately, the color is doing a little false advertising.

The pink hue of the donut comes from beet root rather than raspberries. There is nothing inherently wrong with using beet root for color, but it feels like a huge missed opportunity. Imagine if some freeze dried raspberry had been incorporated into the dough or coating. You could have had raspberry flavor from the first bite to the last rather than waiting until you finally reach the filling.

Because that filling has a lot of work to do.

There just isn't enough of it.

My donuts had what seemed like roughly a teaspoon of raspberry filling in the center. It provides a nice sweet, fruity pop when you actually reach it, but it isn't generous enough to carry the entire donut.

This isn't one of those jelly donuts where you take a bite and immediately regret not grabbing a napkin. Nothing is squirting onto your shirt. Nothing is dripping onto the plate.

You may not even need the plate.

Depending on how you feel about messy filled donuts, perhaps that's a positive. For me, if you are going to call something a Raspberry Filled Donut, I want a little danger involved. I want to wonder whether I'm going to wear some of that raspberry filling home.

Instead, this is all very polite.

The donut itself is fine. And I mean that in the most neutral way possible.

The dough is slightly sweet, soft enough, and perfectly edible. It doesn't have an especially rich or memorable flavor, but there is nothing particularly wrong with it either. The powdered sugar on the outside adds another layer of sweetness and gives you that familiar powdered donut experience.

So you essentially get three elements: a mildly sweet donut, powdered sugar, and a small pocket of sweet raspberry filling.

None of those components are bad.

They just never come together into something I'd rush back to buy.

That's what makes these more disappointing than an outright bad product. There was potential here. A more generous raspberry center, some actual raspberry flavor in the dough, or even freeze dried raspberry in the coating could have taken these somewhere much more interesting.

Instead, raspberry feels like a supporting character in a donut that has its name on the marquee. Think powdered sugar donut with a small amount of raspberry jam in the middle.

The powdered sugar provides a good portion of the sweetness. The donut itself is relatively mild, and then you get a sweeter, fruitier note once you reach the raspberry center.

The filling is easily the most flavorful part of the donut. Unfortunately, because there isn't very much of it, some bites are considerably better than others.

If you happen to bite directly into the filling, you get the experience the package promises.

If you don't, you're mostly eating a pink powdered donut.

The raspberry filling tastes good. It is sweet, fruity, and provides enough tartness to keep the entire donut from tasting like straight sugar.

I just wanted considerably more of it.

A good filled donut should have enough filling that you get some in most bites. Here, the filling is concentrated in a relatively small area in the center.

There is no glorious raspberry explosion.

There is a raspberry encounter.

And then it is over. And since there are 6 donuts inside this tiny box, it is over before you know it.

The exterior pink color makes these especially frustrating because visually they already look raspberry flavored.

But that color comes from beet root.

I understand why Trader Joe's might choose a natural source for the pink coloring, but why stop at color?

Freeze dried raspberries could have added color while reinforcing the actual flavor. Raspberry powder in the dough or coating could have helped deliver raspberry throughout the donut instead of relying almost entirely on that small pocket of filling.

For something called a Raspberry-Filled Donut, I shouldn't have to look for the raspberry.

How to Serve Trader Joe's Raspberry Filled Donuts

These don't really require much help, but a few additions could make them more interesting.

Serve with coffee The slightly sweet donut works particularly well with something hot and bitter.

Add fresh raspberries A few berries on the side give you some of the raspberry flavor I wish were already in the donut.

Add raspberry preserves Is it ridiculous to add more filling to a filled donut? Maybe. But a spoonful of good raspberry preserves fixes my biggest complaint.

Serve slightly warm A little warmth helps soften the donut and makes the raspberry center more noticeable.

Add whipped cream and berries Turn one into a plated dessert with fresh raspberries and whipped cream.

FAQs about Trader Joe's Raspberry Filled Donuts

The following are commonly asked questions about this product:

Final Thoughts

Trader Joe's Raspberry Filled Donuts are an improvement over the company's previous frozen donut misadventures, but that doesn't automatically make them a winner.

The dough is fine. The powdered sugar is pleasant. The raspberry filling actually tastes good.

There just isn't enough raspberry.

For a donut that announces raspberry right in the name and shows up wearing an entire pink outfit, I expected the fruit to have a much bigger personality. Instead, the beet root supplies the color while a small spoonful of filling is left responsible for almost all of the raspberry flavor.

They're perfectly edible and I wouldn't be upset if someone served me one with a cup of coffee. But with all the fantastic desserts competing for freezer space at Trader Joe's, "perfectly edible" isn't enough to earn a permanent spot in mine.

I'm glad I tried them.

I won't be buying another box.

If you need a donut from Trader Joe's then head towards the bakery aisle. You'll have better luck there.