I like to keep my kitchen stocked with easy lunch foods for packing in lunch bags or for days when we don’t have a lot of time at home to cook.
Fixings for PB & J sandwiches are staples in the pantry and fridge, and my family likes homemade egg salad served on sandwich bread or with crackers. We also like mixing canned tuna with some mayo and diced onion for tuna salad sandwiches.
Or, for a treat, I sometimes buy pre-made chicken salad from the grocery store. Aldi sells its own brand of chicken salad, and Aldi’s cousin Trader Joe’s also sells its own different version of chicken salad.
Trader Joe’s White Meat Chicken Salad cost $4.49 for a 10.5-oz. container at the time of publication.
Ingredients are simple: cooked white meat chicken, mayonnaise (canola oil, whole egg and egg yolk, water, distilled vinegar, cider vinegar, and less than 2% of salt, spices, [contains mustard], and lemon juice concentrate), carrots, celery, green onion, cane sugar, salt, and black pepper.
Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
If you’re avoiding allergens, this contains egg.
One container has about three 1/2-cup servings. A 1/2-cup serving has 250 calories, 19 grams of total fat (29% DV), 3 grams of saturated fat (15% DV), 320 mg of sodium (13% DV), 1 gram of total carbohydrates (1% DV), 0 grams of sugars, and 20 grams of protein.
This is a chunky chicken salad, with good-sized pieces of white meat chicken, which is a key difference between this and the Aldi chicken salad, which is more paste-like and has smaller shredded chicken pieces. The Trader Joe’s chicken salad also has long slivers of carrot, and the green onion gives it a unique taste that I like. The TJ’s chicken salad also says it has celery, which I’m not a big fan of, but I didn’t think the celery was that noticeable.
Overall, I like this chicken salad with its large chicken chunks and green onions, and it goes well with Wheat Thin-style crackers or served on sandwich bread or crescent rolls.
Just be aware that it’s perishable and may not keep long in your refrigerator. The container I bought had a best-by date that was about four days out from the date when I purchased it. So, eat up!
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s White Meat Chicken Salad is filled with generously sized chicken chunks, green onion, carrot slivers, and a little bit of celery mixed with mayonnaise and seasonings. If you like a chunkier style of chicken salad, this one’s for you.
