People love Trader Joe’s products. It’s not just the standard grocery stuff that makes them stand out, either! A lot of longtime fans of the chain grocery store love their unique and tasty offerings. So, when Trader Joe’s discontinues certain items, customers often can’t stop talking about what’s missing these days.
Mochi Rice Nuggets
Trader Joe’s axed the delicious mochi rice nuggets back in 2020, upsetting fans of these sweet, savory, crunchy snacks. They combined the flavor of mochi with the texture of a crunchy rice cracker, making them a one-of-a-kind indulgence that you can’t get anymore!
Pumpkin O’s
Every year around the fall, Trader Joe’s busts out its pumpkin-flavored offerings. And, each time, shoppers cross their fingers that their favorite experiments make it back the following year. Sadly, 2022’s delicious Pumpkin O’s cereal didn’t reappear in 2023 like we hoped.
Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzel Nuggets
The delightful and easy-to-snack Honey Mustard & Onion Pretzel Nuggets were a huge hit when they were introduced. Shoppers were devastated when they disappeared in 2021, though some have noted that pieces of them show up in snack mixes from time to time at the retailer.
Dark Chocolate Tahitian Vanilla Caramels
Picture it: dark chocolate, Tahitian vanilla, caramel flavors, all wrapped up in a sleek package. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Tahitian Vanilla Caramels were many shoppers’ favorite indulgent dessert snack, but they were sadly discontinued back in 2018. At this point, they’re probably gone for good.
Wasabi Mayonnaise
Wasabi mayo mixes the top-of-the-mouth heat of wasabi with the creamy, full flavor of mayo to create an extremely engrossing balance that’s perfect for fusion dishes. You could add it to sushi or just have it on the side with your fries. Sadly, it was canned in 2019.
S’mashing S’mores
Trader Joe’s best dessert item, hands down, was the S’mashing S’mores snack. These were small chocolate bars filled with marshmallow filling and wafer, letting s’mores lovers chow down on the delicious treat without needing a nearby campfire. These were removed from the shelves in 2016.
Bacon Jam
You might have heard the old joke that in the 2010s everyone talked about bacon too much. Well, there’s some truth to that. Until 2017, Trader Joe’s sold something called bacon jam. It was mostly smeared on burgers, though some would even use it as a dip. There are, thankfully, a few alternatives out there for bacon jam die-hards.
Matcha Joe-Joe’s
Who doesn’t love the taste of green tea? The Matcha Joe-Joe’s were green tea-inspired sandwich cookies that sported matcha filling and matcha-flavored crispy cookies. They made for a perfect dessert snack when paired with a cup of tea! They were unfortunately discontinued around 2019.
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Speculoos Cookie Butter Cheesecake
Cookie butter might be the single most decadent dessert spread on the planet, so making cheesecake with it seems like the most logical next step. Unfortunately, Trader Joe’s no longer sells this delicious treat, but you can still make your own by buying Speculoos cookie butter and adding it to your own cheesecake!
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Cookie Butter Cheesecake Bites
Okay, maybe cookie butter cheesecake bites were even more decadent than just having a slice of the stuff. That’s because these bites were cookie butter cheesecake wrapped in a chocolate cookie outer crust. When they went off the shelves in 2018, more than a few customers were upset!
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Arrabbiata Sauce
The popular Trader Joe’s brand arrabbiata pasta sauce got canned in early 2023 after years of making affordable pasta dishes delicious. Many fans lamented the sauce’s departure, questioning how they could make their own replacement from scratch. Hopefully this one makes a return soon!
Eggplant Cutlets
Sometimes you just want a good eggplant parm. If so, it was super easy to jet over to TJ’s and pick up some pre-cut eggplant cutlets and throw them into your tasty Italian dish. Sadly, the grocery chain stopped selling these a few years ago, leaving vegetarians needing to cut their own eggplant—which is, reportedly, a ton of work.
Sandwich Cookies
This one is pretty straightforward. Take two of your favorite variety of cookies, then put frosting between them. Mush the whole thing down like a sandwich. Boom, you’ve got Trader Joe’s sandwich cookies! These delicious and delightful dessert treats aren’t available anymore, but they’re thankfully quite easy to make yourself.
Honey Butter Potato Chips
Real TJ’s fans know that the chain is really good at making outlandish chips and other snacks. The weirdly sweet, salty honey butter chips were a fan favorite for years before getting discontinued in 2018. This one is hard to replicate, because the chips had a subtle creaminess that is difficult to recreate even for experienced home cooks.
Island Salsa
This mango, red pepper, and pineapple salsa vanished from Trader Joe’s around 2022. That’s a shame, because it was such a bright, fresh salsa that went perfectly with tortilla chips and party platters. Thankfully, it’s not too tough to make this one yourself at home!
Chile Relleno
This yummy microwavable dinner was among the healthiest and tastiest of TJ’s options back in the day. Sadly, it was taken away in 2019, and, since then, fans have been unable to find compelling replacements. This is one that many shoppers would be happy to see return!
Red Refresh Herbal Tea
TJ’s has a huge tea selection, but one beloved option disappeared from shelves in 2022. The Red Refresh tea featured everything from hibiscus and lemongrass to peppermint and orange peel. Interestingly, it also featured wild cherry bark! Tea lovers certainly miss this one.
Spicy Spinach Pizza
The thin, flatbread-style pizzas were a beloved option at TJ’s many years ago. They were remarkably affordable, healthy, and calorie-dense, making them many college students’ favorite quick meal. They were discontinued long enough ago that few shoppers remember them now.
Salted Caramel Gelato
Originally showing up in 2014, the salted caramel gelato was one of Trader Joe’s best flavors. It’s unclear why it was discontinued, given its popularity. Thankfully, many other gelato brands offer their own spin on this iconic flavor, so it’s not like salted caramel gelato is gone forever.
Cultured Salted Butter
This French-style butter has live cultures in it, giving it a unique tangy flavor that screams “Paris bistro.” Trader Joe’s imported this unique option in 2022, but stopped carrying it by the end of the year. That’s left fans of the unmistakable flavor on their own to import cultured butter for their home cooking.
Chocolate Hummus
Who doesn’t love hummus? Better yet, what if you made cocoa powder and garbanzo beans into a chocolate-y, hummus-like mixture? It might sound kind of weird, but this unique dessert option had plenty of fans. Those who loved it say it was perfect with fruit.
Dill Pickle Hummus
Speaking of unique hummus flavors, what about dill pickle hummus? That sounds much more straightforward than a chocolate-flavored version. Needless to say, people loved this product and were quite disappointed when Trader Joe’s pulled it from the shelves. For maximum pickle, fans would dip actual dill pickles into this hummus spread!
Chile Lime Mayo
There are a lot of chile lime combinations at TJ’s ,and this mayo became a fast fan faovrite when it was introoduced in the late 2010s. Sadly, it was also discontinued in 2021. Thankfully, it’s easy enough to replicate by mixing chile lime powder into normal mayo! While it’s not the same, it’s a close approximation of the beloved item.
Dark Morello Cherries
Sometimes you buy cherries for snacking. Other times, you buy the really sour ones to bake into a pie. That’s exactly what the dark morello cherries at TJ’s were for, and fans online say their departure was a huge blow to their baking routines. Thankfully other grocers still carry alternatives with a similar sour flavor.
Sweet Corn Tamales
Trader Joe’s still has tamales, but fans say they don’t hold a candle to the since-discontinued sweet corn variant that the chain introduced originally. The sweet flavor paired with the Mexican spices created a unique composition that is hard to find a replacement for now that it’s gone.
Banana Waffles
These frozen banana-flavored waffles were many shoppers’ preferred easy breakfast. Sadly, TJ’s doesn’t tend to keep these seasonal breakfast items around for very long. And, once they rotate out of stock, it’s really anyone’s guess as to whether they could cycle back in for sale again.
Hi-Protein Veggie Burger
Vegetarians often get short shrift when it comes to their dietary restrictions. Trader Joe’s used to sell this pea protein-based veggie burger, which was apparently both delicious and affordable, before brands like Impossible and Beyond muscled it out of the way. Those are, of course, much more expensive options for vegetarians.
Chile Sesame Oil
Trader Joe’s shoppers who love cooking their own Asian food loved using this chili sesame oil in their own recipes. Sadly, it disappeared from the store’s shelves in 2023, leaving many fans with a hole in their spicy-food-loving hearts. Thankfully, you can find excellent replacements at Asian supermarkets.
Belgian Chocolate Pudding
This one stung. Fans really, really want the Trader Joe’s Belgian chocolate pudding back. They want it back so badly, in fact, that there’s a change.org petition demanding the grocery chain bring the beloved dessert item back to store shelves. If you look online, you can find numerous TJ’s superfans clamoring for this decadent item.
