Trader Joe’s Organic Stone Ground Yellow Corn Taco Shells
You might think that tacos are an old food, and you would be right … if you were talking about soft tacos. The corn tortilla likely dates back to prehistoric times, while flour tortillas probably came into being in the 1500s with the introduction of wheat in the Americas.
Hard shells are another story. The earliest reference to hard shells is probably the 1890s. That’s not exactly new, but it’s not ancient, either. Still, the fried corn tortilla has become a staple in the United States as a Tex-Mex favorite, particularly in fast food chains like Taco Bell. Grocers, too, sell hard taco shells, including Aldi and Aldi’s distant cousin, Trader Joe’s.
Trader Joe’s Organic Stone Ground Yellow Corn Taco Shells can be found on the room temperature shelves at your local Trader Joe’s. They come in a 5.5-ounce box of 12 taco shells. In 2025, they cost $2.69, which comes out to about 49 cents an ounce or about 22 cents a shell.
Inside the box, the shells are wrapped in plastic shrink wrap, with a cardboard insert supporting the innermost shell. This is pretty typical of what we see with hard shells at grocery stores. The box indicates these should be stored in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. Once opened, the box adds that you should keep them in an airtight container.
According to the box, the shells “are made with organic yellow corn that has been stone ground into a flour, also known as masa. The masa is skillfully formed into shells and cooked in expeller processed oil to achieve a light, crispy, crunchy texture.”
The shells have just a few ingredients: organic stone ground yellow corn, organic sunflower oil and / or organic safflower oil, and a trace of lime.
Two shells have 130 calories, 8 grams of fat, including 2.5 grams of saturated fat, no sodium, 16 grams of carbs, and 2 grams of dietary fiber, which makes for a decent 8:1 carbs-to-fiber ratio.
The box lists one method of heating, and that’s the oven. First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, remove the shells from the packaging, place them on a baking sheet in a single layer, and heat for 3-5 minutes until warm.
On the positive side, the shells all came out crispy and not overcooked. We can also tell you that we liked the taste and thought they went great with taco meat and all the toppings.
However, some of them collapsed a little during heating. We’ve seen this happen with other shells, but it’s annoying just the same, since it makes it much harder to squeeze filling inside the shells. At least one of our testers had to convert their taco into a makeshift tostada after theirs broke in half.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s Organic Stone Ground Yellow Corn Taco Shells — yes, that’s a mouthful — are simple hard shells that make for tasty tacos. Some of ours lost their shape during heating, which makes them more cumbersome to fill, so we’re not sure that we’d get them again.
