Our Favorite Trader Joe's Marinades & Sauces For Spicing Up Every Meal
We're fanatic about Trader Joe's snacks, but we often find ourselves throwing a bottle (or two!) of a Trader Joe's marinade in our cart. Their sauces are ideal for preparing any kind of food the easy way, from chicken and veggies, to tofu and fish.
The best Trader Joe's marinades and sauces we've listed below are perfect for a good dunk, too – they're BFFs with chicken fingers, egg rolls, and even other air-fried goods. No matter how bland the ingredients you have on-hand, a few glugs of these marinades and sauces will transform your boring dinners into anything but.
Trader Joe's Soyaki
This sweet n' salty sesame-heavy soy sauce can be used in a number of ways, including as a marinade for your fave proteins, a topping for noodle stir-fries, or, if you mix it with a little oil, as a delicious salad dressing. We've tried it with baked salmon, and it's downright delish.
Trader Joe's Zhoug Sauce
When we first tried this Yemeni hot sauce, we were a bit blown away at just how spicy it really is. It's seriously giving CAVA! Then we discovered that, mixed with Greek yogurt, it makes an excellent dip for chips and veggies, and an even better marinade for chicken, pork, and beef!
Trader Joe's Pepita Salsa
Pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) are added to this salsa. They give it an almost creamy texture, which, along with sweet bell peppers and smoky chipotle powder, makes this sauce one of our go-to condiments for tacos, burritos, and more.
Trader Joe's Green Dragon Sauce
If you're bored with Sriracha, reach for this green sauce when garnishing anything from fried eggs to stir-fry. It's made with green jalapeños, cilantro, and tomatillos, so you still get the spice, but it's also tangier, less sweet, and has a grassier flavor than the red stuff. It's quite amazing!
Trader Joe's Organic Kansas City-Style BBQ Sauce
Some Kansas City-style barbecue sauces border on cloyingly sweet, but not so with this Trader Joe's marinade. It's got the right balance of sugar, molasses, and tangy vinegar to enhance – not overpower – your smoked meats.
Trader Joe's Thai Peanut Satay Sauce
This complex, sweet Trader Joe's sauce makes for the perfect marinade for chicken if you want a hearty meal with international flair. It's like they bottled up Southeast Asia's adoration for street food, and made it accessible among the shelves at your nearest TJ's. This pick would also make for an excellent base for noodle dishes or curry.
Trader Joe's Korean Gochujang Sauce
You need to try making some Korean meals (ahem, bibimbap and tteokbokki) with this gochujang sauce. A lot of those yummy recipes will leverage a drizzle of this spicy stuff for a little kick. If your meats or tofu are craving more spice, this Trader Joe's marinade will do the job!
Trader Joe's Chimichurri Sauce
TJ's website describes their chimichurri as "savory, herbaceous, refreshing, and richly aromatic," though we'd edit it and add "heavenly" to the list. This oily, bright blend of parsley, cilantro, garlic, dried cumin, crushed red pepper, and vinegar will bring forth tastes to your seafood, burgers, pastas, and potatoes like you've never had before.
Trader Joe's Thai Sweet Ginger Sauce
This gingery sauce is ahh-mazing when you dip fresh rice paper spring rolls in it! Each pour of this tall bottle gives off a tangy-yet-spicy effect. We haven't tried it as a Trader Joe's marinade yet, though we think it'd taste immaculate on beef for making any kind of stir fry.
Trader Joe's Magnifisauce!
It's magnificent! It's Magnifisauce! This secret sauce dupe (it's really giving In-N-Out animal style) combines a little bit of everything – mustard, mayo, ketchup, relish – to create the perfect condiment for burgers, sammies, and homemade fries.
Trader Joe's Crunchy Chili Onion
Chili oil FTW! The crunch in this Crunchy Chili Onion sauce is from tons of little garlic bits that provide both texture and flavor. We love making our scrambled eggs with a little bit of this in the pan (instead of regular oil), drizzling it on some streaming-hot orange chicken, or even drizzling some on ice cream for an interesting dessert!
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Images via Trader Joe's.
This post has been updated with additional reporting by Meredith Holser.