10 Trader Joe's Brunch Finds That Are Worth Every Penny And 6 To Skip

Stocking up on morning foods for yourself, or prepping to host a big brunch? You can find anything you need at your local Trader Joe's. Sweet or savory, healthful or decadent, the store has so many brunch options that it's easy to get overwhelmed — in fact, that's exactly what happened to me as I was browsing the store to find items for this list. With its vast and ever-changing lineup of foods, Trader Joe's can be both a paradise and a labyrinth for brunch lovers.

After much deliberation, as I walked Trader Joe's aisles in a daze, I finally zeroed in on 16 brunch finds, fairly equally divided between savory and sweet. This selection consists of products that can be prepared simply and enjoyed on their own, without too much prep, hard work, or necessary accompaniments. Based on convenience, versatility, value, and, of course, flavor, here are my recommendations for which Trader Joe's brunch items to add to your cart, and which you can safely skip.

Full disclosure, I love a savory pie. I've always preferred salty over sweet, especially in the morning, so I had high expectations for Trader Joe's Broccoli & Cheddar Cheese Quiche. It did not disappoint. This is an individually-sized quiche, something to keep in mind if you have a lot of mouths to feed, but each 6-ounce serving is rich and filling, and only costs $2.99. It bakes up crisp and golden in the oven, though it can be microwaved instead if you're short on time or just too hungry to wait.

Each bite of this little dish is jam-packed with flavor. The crust is a flaky, buttery delight — except for one little strata of mushiness where the filling meets the interior of the shell, but that's hardly noticeable and easily forgiven. Everything from the crust to the filling is well-seasoned, with bright herbs and sea salt tying together the big chunks of broccoli, sharp cheddar cheese, and rich eggy custard. I would happily eat this lively, verdant quiche for any meal, including brunch.

Trader Joe's offers plenty of waffle options. My store was out of the specific one I had in mind for this list, but a helpful crew member pointed me towards these instead: Japanese Mini Taiyaki. Traditionally served in Japan as a street food, taiyaki consists of a fish-shaped waffle exterior coating a filling, often red bean paste, that can be sweet or savory. 

Trader Joe's fills its taiyaki with a sweet vanilla custard, which is rich and velvety in a decadently tongue-coating way. It's not too overwhelming or sweet, thanks to the tempering effect of the crispy yet tender exterior, which adds a mellow breadiness to each bite. It's hard to sink your teeth into something so cute, which was honestly the hardest thing for me about eating these taiyaki. Don't worry, in my experience, it gets easier.

Scones are a funny thing. Are they supposed to be crumbly, crackly, flaky, dense, or what? I've had scones on both sides of the Atlantic, and it seems to me that there's no real consensus on what makes a scone a scone. Therefore, I picked up Trader Joe's Glazed Vanilla Bean Scones with an open mind, ready for anything.

While the glaze is subtly sweet and aromatic with plenty of vanilla, the scones themselves had an oddly gluey texture. Once I had taken a few bites, my mouth felt like it was coated with paste. I tasted one at room temperature and one heated up, and while the warmed-up scone was better, it still had that denseness that made it difficult to enjoy. If you do happen to get these, make sure you have plenty of liquid on hand to wash them down with, and don't take big bites. Personally, I'll be skipping these from now on. 

Since I first tried them for this list, Trader Joe's frozen Chicken Breakfast Sausage Patties have become my new morning go-to. Everything about them is a home run. First, let's take a look at the ingredients list: short and simple, consisting of only chicken and seasonings. Those seasonings are vibrant and intense with a kick that's sure to wake you up, thanks to a melange of black and red pepper, along with dried sage, parsley, thyme, and clove.

They're also a cinch to prepare, with the microwave being the fastest method, but the stovetop and air fryer don't take long either, giving you a nicely browned, crispy exterior. The chicken itself is meaty and tender without a hint of gristle. What I really love about these patties is their versatility. They make a great little breakfast sandwich, with their size fitting perfectly on a biscuit or English muffin. Chopped up, they can add punchy flavor to egg scrambles or omelets. Six patties come in a bag for $2.99, a steal considering their exceptional quality and flavor.

At first glance, everything about Trader Joe's Norwegian Smoked Salmon made it appear like a winner. Moist and meaty with a gorgeously vibrant orange color, the slices looked incredibly appetizing, and a 4-ounce package was only $5.49, much cheaper than the store's other similar smoked fish offerings. I love smoked salmon on a bagel or with eggs, so I had hoped this inexpensive option would be a slam dunk.

The texture is lovely, with a silkiness that melts in your mouth. However, the smoky flavor was so overwhelming to me that I couldn't get past it. After a few bites, I felt like I was sucking on campfire smoke. With enough other accompaniments, you can tamp down that element somewhat, but it's still pretty overwhelming. 

You truly can't go wrong when you put hazelnut and chocolate together, which fans of the Italian-based spread Nutella already know quite well. Trader Joe's takes those flavors and stuffs them inside a rolled-up crepe, and voila — you have a delectably sweet snack that works for brunch, dessert, or an on-the-go pick-me-up. A pack of six is $3.99, and each crepe is individually wrapped, so you can throw them in your bag or shove one into your pocket without making a mess.

While the crepes themselves are a teensy bit chewy at room temperature, a quick zap in the microwave softens them up nicely and allows the hazelnut-cocoa spread to melt into them. At first, I was skeptical when I saw the amount of filling, but it's so incredibly rich and decadent that a thin layer is all you need.

I'm not sure if the issue with Trader Joe's Cinnamon Buns is due to proofing, baking, processing, or packaging — or perhaps a combination of all four elements — but something's off. The layers of dough that are rolled into a spiral shape are dense and thin, like they either didn't rise enough or got smushed somewhere along the way. That density made these sit like a rock in my stomach.

They're slightly improved when heated up, which makes the buns a bit softer, but I still wasn't crazy about the texture. The cream cheese frosting is very sweet, which makes them seem even heavier. I did enjoy the intense punch of cinnamon flavor, but unfortunately, that wasn't enough to make up for all of the other disappointments.

If you love high-end bakery pastries but don't love the high prices, head to the Trader Joe's frozen section and pick up a box of the chain's Chocolate Croissants. This product is the second-most-expensive item in this selection at $5.99, and it does take a little extra preparation, but it's worth each and every minute and dime.

The prep is completely hands-off — just remember to take the croissants out the night before to let them proof (or use this hack to get it done much faster). Once they balloon to about triple their original size, all you have to do is throw them in the oven and let the mystical alchemy occur. The laminated dough becomes golden on the sides and bottom, crispy and flaky on the top, filled with lacy layers of buttery pastry peppered with pockets of air and rich semi-sweet Belgian chocolate. These croissants are, in a word, parfait.

Trader Joe's Everything Bagels are actually not bad bagels, with a shiny crust and decent chew. At $2.99 for half a dozen, they're also a good bargain. These traits make this item a bit of a soft skip — I wouldn't turn them away, but there are many other bagels I'd opt for first. 

Untoasted, these are densely close-crumbed and get a little bit gummy after a few bites. Though toasting them did improve the texture somewhat, I agree with New Yorkers that a good bagel shouldn't need to be toasted. The other main issue, and the more glaring in my opinion, is the lack of seasoning. When something is flavored with everything seasoning, I want to be hit in the face with savory intensity. Sadly, these barely tasted like anything, let alone everything.

Trader Joe's Egg Frittatas come two to a package for $3.49. Initially, when I saw how small they were, I thought that was a little steep, and figured they'd be a skip. Then I heated one up in the microwave and tasted it, and completely changed my mind. I'm now obsessed with these, and the fact that they're individually sized is a bonus.

Packed to the brim with flavor, each frittata consists of well-seasoned eggs, Swiss cheese, onions, and bits of cauliflower. All of these flavors meld together to create a satisfying, savory, simple breakfast. Put a frittata and one of Trader Joe's Chicken Breakfast Sausage Patties on a biscuit, and you've got an instant protein-packed breakfast sandwich. I wish these came in larger quantities, because they're great to have stocked in the freezer, not just for brunch but for an anytime snack.

Bacon is one of the world's most magnificent creations, and unless you're vegan or vegetarian or don't eat pork, it's an absolute must-have part of any brunch spread. Trader Joe's box of Fully Cooked Uncured Bacon sounds like a godsend, especially if you're planning on cooking brunch for a group of people. All you have to do is heat it up. What could go wrong?

Well, in my experience, plenty. Only two-thirds of the way through the recommended oven cooking time, an acrid burning smell filled the kitchen. I pulled out the tray of bacon, and every piece was burnt to a charcoal-like crisp. As I tried to gently plate them, most of them disintegrated and floated into the ether as if Thanos had snapped his fingers. I was only able to save a few slices to photograph as proof. 

I then tried a few using the stovetop and had more success, but even those came out thin and tough. It doesn't take much longer to prepare uncooked bacon than it does to figure out how to heat these up properly, so I don't understand the purpose of this product. It's also the most expensive item on this list at $6.99. Just spring for the uncooked stuff and you'll be so much better off.

Trader Joe's offers so many different types of granola that this was probably the category that caused me the most decision stress. In the end, I went with the Homestyle Cherry Pistachio Pecan Granola variety, partly because of some rave reviews I saw online, and partly because it seemed like the flavor I'd most likely buy for myself. Apparently inspired by a dish served at New York City's legendary restaurant Eleven Madison Park, the two ingredient lists are remarkably similar, though you could buy eight bags of Trader Joe's version for the price of one jar of the fancy stuff. 

Michelin-starred pedigree or no, this granola is beautifully balanced and almost addictive. Each oat, nut, seed, and fruit bit is coated with extra-virgin olive oil and sweetened with brown sugar and maple syrup, giving the granola as a whole a rich and layered flavor. Coconut flakes and dried Montmorency cherries add a fruity lift, while rolled oats, pistachios, pecans, and pumpkin seeds each bring their own textural crunch and unique taste to the table. A touch of sea salt ties everything together. This is a sophisticated and complex granola, sure to impress any brunch guest.

As an avid lover of all things potato, I was the most personally let down by the lackluster frozen Hashbrowns from Trader Joe's. I cooked one in a conventional oven and another on the stovetop to compare, and I will say, with both methods, the exterior did brown up nicely. However, in both methods, the patties themselves remained extremely limp, draping off the side of my spatula like Dali's melting clocks. When I eat hashbrowns in patty form, I expect there to be at least some structural integrity, but the interior of these potato cakes was soft and mushy. 

Then there's the flavor: These taste like nothing. The instructions on the package do say to "season to taste," so I guess their blandness is intentional, but if you just throw these on a plate without adding anything, your taste buds will be extremely bored. The stovetop-prepared patty had a tiny bit more going on because I cooked it in oil, but greasiness isn't a substitute for flavor. Trader Joe's has plenty of other brunch potato options that I'll reach for instead.

Quiche Lorraine is the reigning monarch of a category of dishes that's deeply associated with France (though technically, the quiche is likely Germanic in origin). A traditional Quiche Lorraine, named after the region that's now part of northeastern France, contains only cream, eggs, and lardons in a pastry crust, though modern cooks have crafted many variations on that basic recipe. Trader Joe's version is fairly close to the original, with uncured ham standing in for bacon lardons and the notable addition of Swiss cheese.

I'll say right now, this Quiche Lorraine did not come out perfect. The center was soggy even after I cooked it in the oven a little longer than recommended. I found this to be a problem with the other quiche on this list, too, though it's more pronounced with the Lorraine because of its larger size. However, this issue was so minor compared to the excellent flavors and textures of the filling and the crust's outer edges that it barely detracted from my enjoyment. The nuttiness and subtle earthiness of the Swiss cheese play perfectly against the plentiful meaty, salty bits of ham, all wrapped in a blanket of soft, creamy custard. It's rustic and comforting, and filling enough to offer three or four servings, making it a great value at $5.99.

I love a good pancake, but I often find a whole stack to be too carb-heavy and filling to eat in the morning. Enter the perfect solution to this problem: Trader Joe's Organic Silver Dollar Pancakes. These adorable little discs come frozen and heat up beautifully with just a quick zap in the microwave, ready to be stacked and dressed with whatever toppings you like, though I found that they're flavorful enough to eat as-is. In fact, I kept picking them up by hand and popping them in my mouth like finger food.

The texture of these pancakes coming out of the microwave is impressive. They're fluffy and springy with just the right amount of chew. Organic cane sugar and vanilla flavor combine to create a lovely depth of sweet flavor that's perfectly complementary to all kinds of toppings — or add sausage and egg to make a sweet-savory slider. Breaking down the cost, these came out to about 10 cents a pancake. For convenience and value, not to mention cuteness, they're hard to beat.

I typically don't opt for flavored Greek yogurt because I like the versatility of the plain stuff — I use yogurt often in sweet and savory preparations, so I like to start with a blank slate. Now that I've tried Trader Joe's Whole Milk Greek Yogurt With Honey, though, I might have to change my tune. 

With a rich texture that's both airy and silky, a tang that has just the right amount of sharpness, and a subtle sweetness, this yogurt is the perfect addition to any brunch spread. The ingredients list is impressively simple: grade A milk, honey, and live cultures. That's it. At $5.49 for a 32-ounce tub, it's also a great value.

Every Trader Joe's product that could possibly be construed as a "brunch" item was considered for this lineup. That's an unwieldy long list, so I then took on the Herculean task of narrowing it down. I weeded out items that were too similar, looking at customer reviews to find which ones were more popular and/or highly recommended, and relying on my personal experience with certain products. I also omitted items that can't stand on their own, such as sauces, dips, jams, jellies, condiments, and seasonings.

Once I had the lineup set, I purchased and prepared each product according to package directions, sometimes using multiple methods for comparison. The items that I wouldn't bother purchasing again were marked as skips, while the ones I'd happily throw in my cart went into the buy category. I based this on flavor and texture, ease of preparation, convenience, value, and versatility. All prices listed are accurate at my local Sacramento-area Trader Joe's at the time of this writing, but item prices and availability will vary by location.