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I’ve tried a lot of liquid dish soaps, and some are better than others. Dawn reigns supreme among the name brands, while Aldi Radiance-branded dish washing liquid is good enough that it’s my dish soap of choice most of the time. I’ve also tried Dollar Tree dish soaps that are okay but too watery to make them worth purchasing on a regular basis.
And then there’s Trader Joe’s Liquid Dish Soap. I found these during a recent shopping trip at Aldi’s cousin and decided to give them a whirl.
Trader Joe’s Liquid Dish Soap cost $2.99 for a 25-ounce bottle at the time of writing. That comes out to about 12 cents per ounce.
For comparison, Aldi Radiance dishwashing liquid cost about 7 cents per ounce at the time of writing. Name-brand Dawn Ultra Dishwashing Liquid cost about 16 cents per ounce at Aldi, while an 18-ounce bottle of Dawn at Walmart goes for about 15 cents per ounce at the time of writing. So the Trader Joe’s Liquid Dish Soap is not the most expensive brand, but it’s not the cheapest either.
That middle price point comes with some potential advantages. The Trader Joe’s dish soap features a biodegradable, plant-derived, hypoallergenic formula, according to TJ’s. It’s also free phosphates and artificial colors, and it is not tested on animals.
In some ways, this Trader Joe’s detergent might be more like a Dawn Free & Clear (which goes for about 31 cents per ounce at Walmart) or ECOS Dish Soap (which goes for about 11 cents per ounce at Walmart). Again, the TJ’s dish soap is not the most expensive, but it’s not the cheapest either.
Trader Joe’s also states that this is a USDA Certified Biobased product, which means that a certain percentage of its contents are from renewable biological sources. The Trader Joe’s website states that 87% of this soap’s contents are from renewable sources, while the bottle labels themselves state that it’s 82%.
The labels also state that these “safely remove tough grease and grime.”
These come in two scents: Citrus or Lavender Tea Tree. The Citrus scent says it contains “fragrance,” while the Lavender Tea Tree scent contains lavender oil and tea tree leaf oil. I like the mild, fresh scent of the Citrus dish soap. The Lavender Tea Tree dish soap smells as advertised, but I’m less of a fan of lavender-scented things.
You use these like you would any other liquid dish soap. Dispense a small amount directly into your kitchen sink or directly onto a sponge, then wash your dishes and rinse them thoroughly.
Like other liquid dish soaps, this is not for use in automatic dishwashers.
Ingredients and directions. Citrus scent on the left, Lavender Tea Tree scent on the right. (Click to enlarge.)
So how well do these work? They’re decent. They have a thinner consistency than traditional Dawn, but they’re not thin like Dollar Tree dish detergent. These don’t get sudsy like regular Dawn either, but I think that might be part of their eco-friendlier design. They do get my dishes clean and seem to tackle grease all right, although I have to use a little more soap on really greasy or messy dishes or pans. These smell good, and I like that they’re more eco-friendly.
I still prefer to use Aldi liquid dish soap simply because of its very low price. However, if I found myself at Trader Joe’s and needed dish soap, I would be fine picking these up.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s Liquid Dish Soap comes in Citrus or Lavender Tea Tree scents. It’s free of artificial dyes and phosphates, is safe for septic systems, and features a biodegradable, plant-derived formula. It’s also hypoallergenic. It gets my dishes clean fine, although it doesn’t suds up like other detergents and it’s not the thickest consistency, so sometimes I have to use a little more. It’s not the cheapest dish soap, but it’s also not the most expensive, so you might consider it a good deal if you’re looking for a more eco-friendly dish soap. I like the Citrus scent best.
