The 4 Winning Frozen Products Of The Trader Joe's 2026 Customer Choice Awards

The frozen aisle at Trader Joe's is legendary. Having a well-stocked freezer of foods from the nautical-themed grocery store ensures you always have a quick, reliable meal on standby when you don't have the time or inspiration to cook dinner. So when Trader Joe's recently came out with the winners of its 17th annual Customer Choice Awards, we thought we'd highlight the frozen items that won that you can keep on hand for whenever the need strikes.

The awards are voted on by the customers and are broken into 11 categories spanning the aisles of foods, drinks, and home and bath goods. There are some products that have simply won too many times and are no longer eligible for customers to vote on. Those staples are in the Product Hall of Fame to be forever recognized as "too popular to compete." One frozen product is there, the worthy Mandarin Orange Chicken, which previously won the favorite overall and best entree awards. Below, you'll find this year's frozen winners from several different categories. Keep in mind that prices may vary from region to region.

The best of the best is the Steamed Pork & Ginger Soup Dumplings. Trader Joe's take on the popular xiao long bao from China's Jiangsu province, these soup filled dumplings are $3.49 for a package of 6. Last year, these dumplings came in second place, so it was just a matter of time before they won it all!

Online chatter from fans of Trader Joe's about these frozen dumplings is positive. On Reddit, people love these quick and tasty meals. One poster wrote "My biggest regret is not trying these sooner." People post about the many different ways to prepare and eat these. One commenter makes a dipping sauce of one part soy to one part rice wine vinegar, while another goes the fusion route with the green thai sweet ginger sauce. T.J.'s chili crunch is another popular addition.

To cook, people will microwave, steam, or spray the dumplings with a cooking oil and air fry. If you want help preparing these, check out our guide to cooking dumplings from frozen! There's no wrong way, as the broth and fillings will always be full of flavor!

In the category devoted to starting the day — whether it's at the crack of dawn or technically lunchtime but you call it brunch so you don't feel so bad about eating it after sleeping in — the Trader Joe's frozen hash brown patties took the top prize. A pack of 10 of these cost just $2.99. These simple patties of shredded and fried potato went viral thanks to fans online finding inventive new ways to cook with them, like a hash brown Frito pie.

This breakfast side gets talked a lot about by T.J.s customers on Reddit. One poster wrote "I can never say no to these when I see them. They are just so good omg." A popular way to cook them is with the air fryer. T.J.'s suggests using a skillet or oven. One commenter uses a cast iron pan, writing out their method in handy detail: "I put it on medium heat with some oil, salt and pepper, pop on a lid to help it cook through, then I flip it and leave the lid off and let it toast up."

Trader Joe's Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice is a frozen dinner made of rice and chicken, covered in a flavorful tomato and onion sauce full of spices, garlic, and ginger for only $4.49. In our own ranking of T.J.'s Indian food products, it came in third place, only behind the store's garlic naan and lamb vindaloo. It only takes 10 minutes, making it the perfect lunch or dinner, or both when your day is slammed.

On a thread on Reddit fans debated whether or not this was a top 3 frozen item. Many felt it was, but, like us, some felt the naan or lamb and rice were even better. On another Reddit post, a commenter had a delicious way to prepare this for their office lunch. "I microwave frozen shelled edamame in a ceramic bowl to help release some of the water. When they're mostly done, I dump the frozen chicken and rice into the bowl so I'm not microwaving plastic. Then I serve it with fresh avocado on top," they write. Sounds like a winning combination.

Of course. some ice cream has to make the list. Trader Joe's Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches came on top in the highly competitive Sweet Treats division. This treat is vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies with more chocolate chips rolled into the sides of the ice cream. We happen to also think these are one of the best frozen items at T.J.'s. A box of 4 costs $4.99.

While these ice cream sandwiches surely benefited from the wildly popular Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups being removed from competition and placed in the Hall of Fame, they still have a strong following. On Reddit, a user recently challenged other T.J.'s fans to name a better dessert than the Sublime Ice Cream Sandwiches. One person wrote, "These being a clone of the original Chipwich is funny to me because they're better than the original." While these received a fair amount of attention, pretty much every dessert and candy Trader Joe's sells was also named. If T.J.'s ever releases the customers' vote records, this category would surely be the closest competition.