The pros: Quick, easy, fast, microwaveable. Trader Joe's Vegetable Fried Rice has a different assortment of veggies than standard fried rice. I've never had edamame in fried rice before.
The cons: Low protein. Most fried rice contains at least some scrambled egg, while this had none. This would be a good side dish but would need something added to become the main dish.
So you are in the mood for Chinese but don't want to call for delivery or don't wish to leave your house. This is good, but a not great solution to that problem. In about five minutes you'll have fried rice. However, if you are hoping for authentic Chinese-style fried rice you'll have to look elsewhere.
The rice was cooked through and tender without being mushy. It had some flavor of soy, but perhaps you'll want to add a touch more to ramp up the flavor here. The veggies too were cooked through and kept their texture. However, as a blend, this is a bit out there. There was edamame, peas, carrots, corn, with a minimal amount of leeks thrown in.
This one was just ok with me. I honestly preferred the Trader Joe’s Chicken Fried Rice over this (and yes, even though it contained almost no chicken). It was good with a very different blend of veggies, but sometimes if you crave the stuff from the Chinese restaurant, you'll want to stick with Trader Joe's Chicken fried rice, but I honestly liked Trader Joe's Japanese Style Fried Rice the best of all the fried rice available, although the Chimichurri Rice is very well done too if you like cilantro.
The bag in the freezer section will set you back $2.69 and this is what you get:
The nutritional information and the ingredient list:
How to prepare:
The contents of this bag in a bowl ready to go into the microwave:
After 4 minutes in the microwave:
What did I think about this? It wasn't a bad dish, I just didn't love the veggie combination. I was truly looking for a bag of fried rice that would remind me of my favorite thing to get at the Chinese food restaurant. If you would enjoy edamame, corn, carrots, peas, onions, and peppers in your fried rice you'll like this. I was looking for a more traditional take. So I won't be buying this again. Do I think you should avoid this? No, just keep in mind the flavors you like and the veggie combinations you and your family will eat and go from there.
Want to see more items I’ve reviewed from Trader Joe’s? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.
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I tried one similar to this, also from Traders, that has seaweed and tofu in it. it's pretty good. Although, like you mentioned with the one with the chicken, the tofu is almost non-existent...teeny tiny pieces.
I use this with left chicken, steak or pork and saute scallions in sesame oil then scramble 3 eggs in - toss in this mix, stir fry till cooked and then top with soy or whatever hot sauce you want - makes a great quick dinner with leftover protein. Never tried the chicken one but I might try that soon.
Hey Gail! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your recipe. I would be curious to hear what you think. I found that the chicken fried rice wasnt much different from the vegetable fried rice. Mine did not have much in the way of chicken.