Trader Joe’s Mandarin Style Orange Chicken Bowl
The freezer aisle at Trader Joe’s — which is a cousin to Aldi — is a fun place to browse. One of the more popular frozen products at TJ’s is its family-sized bag of mandarin orange chicken. It pairs well with fried rice and spring rolls for a complete meal.
I recently came across a single-serving frozen package at Trader Joe’s that features chicken, rice, veggies, and sauce all in one convenient box. The box describes this as having “tender battered dark chicken meat, fried rice, vegetables & mandarin style orange ginger sauce.”
I was curious to see how the chicken in this entree compares to the classic TJ’s orange chicken package, so I picked one up.
We bought the Trader Joe’s Mandarin Style Orange Chicken Bowl with our own money for review. I paid $4.49 for a 13-ounce package in 2024. That comes out to about 35 cents per ounce.
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains egg, soy, and wheat.
The ingredients list has mostly familiar ingredients. This does have its share of fat, sodium, carbs, and added sugars.
One package equals one serving, which has 540 calories, 12 grams of total fat (15% DV), 5 grams of saturated fat (25% DV), 680 mg of sodium (30% DV), 84 grams of total carbohydrates (31% DV), 6 grams of dietary fiber (21% DV), 20 grams of total sugars, 18 grams of added sugars (36% DV), and 28 grams of protein.
The box has directions for heating this in the microwave. Remove the outer packaging and thaw the unopened sauce pouch in warm water. Pierce the film twice and microwave the bowl on high for 4-5 minutes or until heated throughout. Let stand 1 minute before carefully removing the film. Add your desired amount of sauce from the pouch to the bowl. Mix well before serving.
This was easy to heat in the microwave for a weekday lunch, and it tastes good. It has plenty of breaded dark chicken, similar to the dark chicken in Trader Joe’s classic mandarin orange chicken frozen bagged entree. It also has a good amount of rice and veggies — mostly broccoli, with some peas, carrots, water chestnuts (which add a nice crunch), shallots, and green onion.
I used the entire packet of sauce to flavor this, and it didn’t seem like too much, but you could certainly use less if you want to reduce the added sugars in this.
The Verdict:
The Trader Joe’s Mandarin Style Orange Chicken Bowl is a single-serve microwavable meal that features dark chicken meat, fried rice, broccoli, and other veggies in a tangy orange ginger sauce. It definitely gives us vibes similar to the larger bagged mandarin orange chicken TJ’s is known for. The advantage to this bowl is that it’s a full meal that includes not just the chicken but also rice and veggies. If you’re craving what is quite possibly Trader Joe’s most famous product, but you want it in a smaller size, this is worth a look.
