Samin Nosrat’s 2 Favorite Items From Trader Joe’s

Even celebrity chefs need to go to the supermarket. Perhaps they Instacart their grocery hauls to avoid being recognized by fans at the store, but Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsay, and Rachael Ray still have to get their groceries somewhere. (The only exception might be Martha Stewart, whom I suspect grows all her own ingredients on her farm.)

Not only do your favorite chefs shop at Whole Foods or Costco like the rest of us, but as food experts, they also have tips for navigating supermarket aisles that can transform how you cook at home.

Top Chef contestant Nini Nguyen has previously shared her tips for choosing the freshest fruit at the grocery store with Food & Wine, and private chef Meredith Hayden (better known online as Wishbone Kitchen) has revealed her favorite easy meal featuring Trader Joe’s dumplings. 

The latest chef to divulge their grocery habits is one of my favorite food celebrities, James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and television host Samin Nosrat.

On the latest episode of her podcast, Home Cooking with co-host Hrishikesh Hirway, Nosrat shared her two must-have items from Trader Joe’s. One is a hidden gem you may not have tried before, and the other is a beloved item that makes quick meals easy; both should be stocked in your kitchen.

Hirway kicks off the Trader Joe’s conversation by noting that his new number one item from the popular chain is “the chocolate-covered honey grahams with dark chocolate and sea salt. It’s sort of like a dark chocolate-covered pretzel, which is already a thing that I love, but sweeter.” 

While they’re new to the Home Cooking co-host, these sweet treats have been around for a few years and are popular with other TJ’s customers. Shoppers often recommend topping them with a dollop of peanut butter or whipped cream or crumbling the cookies onto ice cream.

The Salt Fat Acid Heat author chimes in to say that she has two Trader Joe’s favorites, and the first might be familiar to some shoppers: the Taiwanese Green Onion Pancakes. Per Nosrat, “It’s in the freezer section, and it is so good. It really is. 

“Even my Taiwanese friend, Emily Su, who was on our last episode, she approves — two thumbs up. And that I just always have in the freezer because then I can — for breakfast or dinner — have a scrambled egg or two on a scallion pancake with cilantro, some sesame oil, and chili crisp. It’s a very good breakfast or dinner.” 

These flaky, savory scallion pancakes are loaded with green onions throughout the dough. You don’t need to bake them in the oven; you can cook them on the stovetop from frozen. Other content creators have also featured the product online, and using the pancakes to hold scrambled eggs for a breakfast wrap is a popular way to enjoy them.

Nosrat’s other must-have from Trader Joe’s is, according to the cookbook author, “A really weird, niche thing that I learned about from a friend…. It’s this freeze-dried ginger powder. It’s in the tea area in these little packets, and you can mix it into hot or cold water. 

“Because it’s freeze-dried ginger, you just dump it into hot water, and it tastes like you just steeped fresh ginger in the hot water. It is so good, and it’s like $2 for a box of eight.” The television host is talking about the 100% Ginger Drink Mix at Trader Joe’s, which, as its name implies, is made only of ginger powder.

If you need more validation that this ginger drink is worth your time, Hirway confirms that Nosrat once brought him a box while he was sick, and now he buys it regularly. As we head into colder weather and peak cold and flu season, having a comforting, ginger-rich beverage on hand wouldn’t be a bad idea.