Trader Joe’s 2025 Holiday Finds, Ranked From Meh to Must-Grab (Taste Test)

The holidays are here and Trader Joe’s just dropped the most chaotic, delicious avalanche of seasonal goodies I’ve ever seen.

I taste-tested my way through carts of new and returning items (plus a few sleeper hits everyone on the internet is yelling about) so you don’t have to wonder what’s actually worth the parking-lot trauma.

Here are all 20, ranked brutally but lovingly.

20. Truffle Risotto – $4.99/16 Oz

• Creamy arborio rice that TJ’s absolutely nails every season… but then they went and truffled it. If you’re a truffle hater, this smells like a wet dog wearing cologne. If you’re neutral-to-positive on truffle, you’ll survive. The rice itself is still 10/10; the truffle is just doing the most.

19. Sleigh Ride Peppermint Crunch Cookies – $3.99/8.5 Oz

• Super crunchy chocolate cookies studded with candy-cane pieces. Peppermint lovers will fist-fight for these. Everyone else (me) took one bite and immediately needed water. They’re exactly what they say they are—zero surprises, zero mercy.

18. Tart Cherry & Pecan All-Butter Shortbread Cookies – $3.79/4.87 Oz

• Buttery, nutty shortbread with tiny tart cherry bombs. I wanted to love these (the pecan is perfect), but every third bite is a sour cherry ambush. Great if you like that surprise; meh if you don’t.

17. Chocolate Rice Pudding (4-pack) – $2.99/14.1 Oz

• Perfectly smooth, super chocolatey… but the rice texture is a hard no for some of us. If you already love rice pudding, you’ll demolish these. If the idea of chewy rice in your pudding makes you twitch, hard pass.

16. Rice Pudding Vanilla (4-pack) – $2.99/14.1 Oz

• Same creamy vanilla goodness as the chocolate, same rice-texture debate. The flavor is straight-up nostalgia in a cup, though. Winner if you grew up eating kozy shack.

15. Sparkling Cranberry Ginger Brew (4-pack) – $3.99/8.45 Fl Oz

• Looks like Dr Pepper, tastes like a holiday party in a can. Starts subtle, ginger sneaks up and tickles your nose. Shockingly refreshing once you get past the cranberry fear.

14. Chocolate Pudding (4-pack) – $2.99/14.1 Oz

• Rich, dark, silky-smooth classic chocolate pudding. Zero complaints unless you’re a rice-pudding-only household. Perfect lunchbox snack or 3-a.m. spoon-from-the-fridge situation.

13. Break-Apart Reindeer Milk Chocolate with Gummy Noses – $3.99/2.47 Oz

• You get to smash Rudolph’s face and eat gummy noses that taste vaguely cherry-cough-syrup (in a good way). The chocolate is solid TJ’s milk, and the chaos is free.

12. Mini Spicy Pumpkin Samosas – $4.99/8.5 Oz

• Returning champ. Crispy, curry-spiced pumpkin filling with sneaky heat that builds. Gone in 60 seconds at every Friendsgiving I’ve brought them to.

11. Assorted Frozen Mini Éclairs (Salted Caramel, Vanilla, Lemon, Coffee, Dark Chocolate, Raspberry) – $5.99/7 Oz

• Puffy, cream-filled joy. Salted caramel and vanilla are the clear MVPs; coffee and raspberry fight for bronze. The fact these come out of a freezer tasting bakery-fresh is criminal.

10. Maple Spiced Nut Mix – $6.49/8.5 Oz

• Candied pecans, almonds, cashews with cinnamon and cayenne. Sweet, salty, tiny kick at the end. Disappears dangerously fast.

9. Kouign-Amann (4-pack frozen) – $5.49/11.2 Oz

• Buttery, sugary, caramelized Breton pastry. Proof overnight, bake fresh, cry tears of joy. Worth setting an alarm for.

8. Jingle Jangle – $9.99/22.7 Oz

• The legendary holiday mix: chocolate-covered everything (pretzels, popcorn, peanut butter cups, Joe-Joe’s pieces). One tin lasts approximately 4.7 minutes in any household.

7. Turkey Gobbler Wrap – $3.99/10 Oz

• Thanksgiving in handheld form: turkey, herb stuffing, cranberry sauce, cream cheese. The creamy-sweet-savory combo is obscene. Eat it cold straight from the fridge like an animal.

6. Butternut Squash & Caramelized Onion Tart – $9.99/18 Oz

• Looks fancy, tastes like a hug. Rich, creamy, sweet-savory perfection. Slice it for a party and watch people lose their minds.

5. Dark Chocolate Covered Candy Cane Marshmallows – $3.99/4.7 Oz

• Freeze them. Thank me later. Peppermint crunch + dark chocolate + pillowy marshmallow = holiday crack.

4. Peppermint Hold-the-Cone Mini Ice Cream Cones – $3.99/7.9 Oz

• Tiny chocolate-lined cones filled with peppermint ice cream and crunchy bits. The cutest, most addictive frozen treat in the store.

3. Salsa Taquera – $2.49/12 Oz

• Red-and-green hybrid salsa with a sneaky habanero kick. Sweet, smoky, medium-plus heat that builds. Currently living on my fridge door year-round.

2. Spiced Cider – $4.49/64 Fl Oz

• Unfiltered apple juice mulled with cinnamon, clove, allspice, orange peel. Drink it cold, warm it up, spike it—doesn’t matter. Tastes like liquid fall/winter magic.

1. Maple Leaf Ice Cream Sandwiches – $3.99/12.17 Fl Oz

• Maple ice cream between two soft maple-leaf-shaped cookies. The maple flavor is loud, proud, and perfect. I bought four boxes on launch day and I have zero regrets. BEST OF THE BEST.