5 Trader Joe's Beef Products You Should Buy, And 5 You Shouldn't

An underrated aspect of grocery stores is in-house butchers. Us home cooks don't simply buy beef, we buy certain cuts for different reasons. Sometimes, those angels behind the meat counter will even throw some seasonings or a marinade on a cut of beef. Trader Joe's is one of these selection-rich stores, where you can get anything from a big slab of chuck roast to a specialty blend of ground beef to store-seasoned bulgogi.

Not every beef offering can be a hit, though. So how do you know which cow products to buy and which to leave on the shelves? Well, you can ask me, someone who is willing to try any meat counter offering and also irrationally believes that they could out-grill Bobby Flay. I've sampled almost every beef product Trader Joe's has to offer, and cooked them with stoves, grills, ovens, and microwaves. I have my own opinions about which Trader Joe's items you should always buy. Here's what I think will make you feel Michelin-starred, and what I think you can skip.

Sliders — or mini cheeseburgers, as Trader Joe's descriptively calls them — are great. You're eating a burger, but you're not going to feel like you've been hit by a bus once you're finished. Also, sliders mean you don't have to pick just one condiment. One burger can have ketchup and mayo, another burger can have horseradish mustard. Not to mention the ease of preparation with these things: These mini cheeseburgers are one of the wonders of the Trader Joe's frozen aisle. No firing up the grill, no smoke alarms going off while the beef sizzles on the stovetop — just a few minutes in the microwave.

There's always a trade-off when buying frozen, pre-prepared food, rather than making a dish yourself. A burger you heat up in the oven or microwave is not going to be the same as a burger on the grill. If you're hosting the game day watch party and it's raining, though? If you're snowed in? A couple boxes of TJ's Mini Cheeseburgers will definitely hit the spot.

Prosciutto is one of the great deli meats, capable of bringing huge flavor to sandwiches and cheese plates alike. Trader Joe's Sliced Bresaola Uncured Beef Prosciutto is everything a sliced meat should be: thin, dry-aged, and plenty salty. The problem, unfortunately, is at the fundamental level: Trader Joe's Bresaola Uncured Beef Prosciutto is made from cow, not pig.

This may be a personal preference, but if you're building a charcuterie board, stick to pork products like salami or pepperoni. Or hey, stick to prosciutto made from ham, as is traditional. Trader Joe's beef prosciutto is fine, but doesn't pack the same flavor punch as some other options. There isn't as much spice to cut through the intensity of either decadent or funky cheeses. Beef prosciutto ends up being a little flat-tasting on a cheese plate. What about making a sandwich? Well, this product doesn't taste meaningfully different from roast beef, within the context of bread, cheese, sauce, and veggies.

If your go-to for a cookout is a frozen burger patty, do yourself (and your guests) a favor with Trader Joe's Angus Chuck, Brisket, and Sirloin Patties. These burgers pack far more of a flavor punch than the average beef puck. Different cuts of cow bring different things to the flavor profile, and they sing in three-part harmony, like Boyz II Men. Chuck is nice and fatty, whereas sirloin is delightfully tender. Brisket is the wild card of the three, with more complex flavors adding depth. If you want your burgers to stand out and have your plates taste like this is a cookout for adults, opt for Angus Chuck, Brisket, and Sirloin Patties at Trader Joe's.  

Don't merely take my word for it. Celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsey and Richard Blais like to mix up the cuts of meat in their patties. By doing the hard work of grinding and blending meat for you, Trader Joe's gives you the option to cook like a chef at home.

It's not hard to see why frozen lasagna exists. Lasagna is an incredibly involved dish to prepare, and with all of its layers? Making a whole lasagna is somewhat impractical, if you're a single person or don't otherwise have more than six dinner guests. It's perfectly understandable if you want to skip all that prep work. If you still want to go Garfield mode and munch on the Italian meat dish? Trader Joe's has a tray that you can keep in your freezer.

Even considering that, though, the question must still be asked: Has there ever been a frozen lasagna that came anywhere close to being as satisfying as a homemade or restaurant lasagna? The pasta always seems to be slightly gummier than what you want. The sauce obviously can't live up to Grandma's, a fact that is acutely felt when eating frozen lasagna. On top of all that, the beef is not as flavorful as you know that it could be. All of these complaints can be applied to Trader Joe's frozen lasagna. You can skip this dish without regretting it.

Beef bulgogi is delicious and not difficult to make yourself, especially if you buy shaved steak. That said, with bulgogi, it's less about the specific cut of beef, and more about the flavor. Trader Joe's beef bulgogi delivers, if you're ever in need of a quick meal. The tenderization that comes from marinating in pear, apple, and pineapple juices, combined with the thin slices a beef, mean that all that's required on your end is a hot stove or microwave.

A bulgogi rice bowl makes for such a treat of a weeknight meal. Cook some frozen bulgogi with a frozen vegetable of your choice, then serve it over white rice. Sure, you can garnish with scallions or sesame seeds or whatever you want. Adding some diced onions or mushrooms to the pan while the bulgogi cooks isn't a bad idea, either. All you really need, though, is frozen bulgogi, a frozen vegetable, and rice, and you've got a dinner with basically no prep work and minimal cooking time. Oh, and if you're also cooking for a vegetarian? No problem: the beefless bulgogi is great, too. 

Short ribs are one of the more tender, fall-off-the-bone cuts of beef you can eat. To get the meat to that succulent state, though, requires some patience. Short ribs take a long time to cook, and marinating tacks on even more hours to that process. It's a lengthy endeavor, cooking short ribs, but the end result is absolutely luxurious. Or, you can try a bag of frozen Korean Style Beef Short Ribs from Trader Joe's, which purports to be ready in a measly 15 minutes.

Honestly? Some things aren't meant to be rushed. Make the Trader Joe's version of Korean short ribs, and the end result will look somewhat like what you want. The taste, however, will be slightly diminished. A sad, "this could be better" feeling might start to creep into your subconscious. If you're craving Korean-style beef short ribs, either block off a day to be in the kitchen or go to a restaurant. The frozen version just doesn't do the trick.

Want some quick, flavorful tacos? Grab some of Trader Joe's Carne Asada Autentica. It's got a kick, but not so much spice that you're afraid to take it home to Mom. The butterfly-cut sirloin has plenty of surface area to char, but cooks quickly, ensuring the interior doesn't dry out. Between the store marinade and butterfly cut, this product really shaves off some prep time. Relax on the couch another few minutes before cooking — your old pal Joe already sliced and seasoned the steak.

Listen, making your own marinades for meat is not hard. In fact, it can be a really satisfying step in the cooking process. There's room for creativity, there's room for improvisation. If anyone that you're eating with compliments the flavor, you get to take credit. All that said, store-marinated meat is a great way to try something you might not otherwise eat, or a great way to just give yourself an easy night in the kitchen.

Birria is a slow-roasted beef dish served with a side of the juice that the beef has been stewing in. It's essentially Mexico's answer to the French dip sandwich. Trader Joe's frozen beef birria has the tender meat, it has the consomme, and it has the spices. Still, though, something is missing. There's something about slow-roasting meat that imparts a mystical quality into the dish. You need to be smelling it in your house all day, or else go to a restaurant where you know human hands have been tending to that beef all day. The step-by-step process can be replicated in some production facility, with the resulting birria flash-frozen and shipped to stores, but something gets lost in translation. It scratches an itch, but it doesn't nourish the soul.

That said, it's understandable if you simply want to feed a craving. No such thing as bad birria, only diminished birria. If you want to chuck a bowl in the microwave after a long day of work, that's fair. In my opinion, though, having frozen beef birria is like putting Eucharist wafers on a charcuterie board.

Shaved steak is wonderful for all kinds of applications: homemade cheesesteaks, homemade bulgogi, homemade carne asada. The thinness combined with the large surface area means this steak cooks quickly, and you can get a crispy exterior while maintaining a juicy interior. What makes Trader Joe's shaved steak special is that it comes from ribeye. Whereas most stores' shaved steaks will come from round, a tougher cut of steak, TJ's butchers use the fattier, more flavorful ribeye.

Shaving a cut of steak at home is also a massive pain in the neck, especially if your kitchen is on the smaller side. So don't worry about it. Grab some Trader Joe's shaved steak, mix up your favorite marinade, and fire up your best skillet or flat top. You can also kick things up a notch with a Trader Joe's employee taco hack: using scallion pancakes as taco shells. Some marinated shaved steak wrapped in a scallion pancake? Yes, please. 

We get it: Life is busy, and burritos are delicious. If you're in a hurry, Trader Joe's Carne Asada Burritos are ready quickly. That's in keeping with the history of burritos, which were originally designed to be a make-ahead meal. They were a perfect meal for manual laborers, as they were portable enough for workers to carry around and nutrition-packed enough to fuel someone for an entire shift. Frozen burritos check those boxes, too. Like frozen lasagna, Trader Joe's Carne Asada Burritos are incredibly convenient. It's just that your taste buds deserve better.

The downside is that a frozen burrito is destined to pale in comparison to a fresh burrito. Ingredients become homogenous mush. Cold and hot spots abound. The tortilla is neither soft nor crispy, but some mysterious in-between. If you want a burrito, there are plenty of recipes to cater to your tastes and easy-to-follow YouTube tutorials on how to fold a tortilla. Skip the frozen burrito and buy some shaved steak, a few ingredients, and a pack of tortillas.