Trader Joe’s Vegan Tikka Masala
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated for 2026.
Indian food is one of my favorites. I like ordering it from restaurants, but that can get pricey. However, it isn’t always easy to find good, authentic-tasting Indian food from grocery stores. Enter Aldi’s cousin, Trader Joe’s.
For a limited-inventory grocery store, TJ’s has a good number of single-serving microwavable Indian options in its freezer aisle. I’m a fan of their paneer tikka masala in particular, but almost everything is pretty good.
I’ve tried their vegan tikka masala before and thought it was decent, but it’s been a few years. So, I decided to pick it up again recently to see if it’s still how I remembered.
Trader Joe’s Vegan Tikka Masala with Cumin Rice cost $4.49 for a 9.5-ounce package in 2026. That’s up from $3.99 for a 9.5-ounce package when we first wrote about it in 2022. We buy products for review using our own funds.
Nutrition Facts and Ingredients:
The vegan meat substitute featured in this meal is soy-based and is made of water, vital wheat gluten, soy protein isolate, canola oil, onions, yeast extract, modified vegetable gum, malted barley extract, onion powder, sugar, garlic powder, and ancient grain flour [Khorasan wheat, amaranth, millet, and quinoa].
If you’re watching out for allergens, this contains wheat, soy, coconut, and cashews.
One container has one serving (269 grams), which has 390 calories, 17 grams of total fat (22% DV), 4.5 grams of saturated fat (23% DV), no cholesterol, 800 mg of sodium (35 % DV), 49 grams of total carbohydrates (18% DV), 2 grams of dietary fiber (7% DV), 3 grams of total sugars, less than 1 gram of added sugars (2% DV), and 12 grams of protein.
Heating Instructions:
The box has directions for heating in the microwave or in a conventional oven.
To microwave, remove from the box and open a corner of the film on the tray. Heat for 4 minutes at half power followed by 2 minutes on full power. Be careful of steam when removing the film.
To bake in the oven, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from the box and leave the film on the tray. Heat for 25-30 minutes until heated through. Remove film carefully.
I microwaved this meal. One thing you do have to pay attention to is that fact that it has to be heated on 50-percent power for part of its cook time. It wasn’t hard to temporarily adjust that setting on my microwave.
When I first bought this in 2022, the meat substitute was one large patty, and it wasn’t fully heated after following the microwave directions. This time around in 2026, the meat substitute consists of many smaller meatball-sized pieces, and it was thoroughly heated after I followed the microwave directions, so that’s an improvement.
How it Tastes:
The meal comes with the rice, sauce, and a good number of meatball-like meat substitutes. As mentioned above, when I tried this in 2022, it included the rice, sauce, and a single patty of spongey meat-like product. The ingredients are all still exactly the same, so it’s just the presentation that’s different. The meat substitute cuts easily with a fork.
The soy “meat” is a little different, not tasting or quite having the texture of either beef or chicken, but it’s not bad. The sauce is flavorful and tastes more like authentic Indian food than some other grocery store Indian food I’ve had. I like this vegan tikka masala better than the frozen chicken tikka masala Trader Joe’s also sells, as this vegan version is more flavorful, in my opinion. It’s also not spicy.
Overall, this is a decent dish. If you eat a vegan diet and/or like Indian food, it’s worth trying.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s Vegan Tikka Masala features a soy-based meat substitute in a savory, flavorful sauce with rice. It’s pretty good as an easy lunch for one, whether you eat a vegan or vegetarian diet or not.
