Trader Joe’s is a treasure trove for shoppers looking for unique and tasty products to transform into easy meals. And the store is as adept at carnivorous options as it is at vegan staples. The vegan Trader Joe’s staple that fans say is “better than the meat version” is Trader Joe’s soy chorizo.
We ranked Trader Joe’s soy chorizo as our second favorite vegan product after tasting 27 different items. We loved the savory and spicy spice blend as well as the meaty ground-beef consistency thanks to the characteristic chew of textured soy protein. But, the soy chorizo isn’t just one of our favorites — we found many rave reviews from customers on Reddit and TikTok. Redditors shower the soy chorizo with praise, and many of them like the soy chorizo better than the meaty counterpart. One Redditor said, “I was going meatless for a month and was shocked at how good it was for being soy.” TJ’s soy chorizo is a longstanding fan favorite; according to one customer, “It’s actually been retired from the TJ Choice Awards (for winning too many times) and is now in the Hall of Fame.” Many Redditors said family members couldn’t tell the difference between the vegan version and real chorizo when they tried it. A Trader Joe’s employee on TikTok called the soy chorizo a “game changer” even for meat eaters like her. She’s yet another convert who now considers soy chorizo a kitchen staple.
Cooking with Trader Joe’s soy chorizo
Redditors not only praised TJ’s soy chorizo for its great taste and texture, which the store puts down to the fact that it’s made by a small company for them, and that it contains all the right spices, including paprika, sea salt, red pepper, and garlic powder. Fans have also shared their favorite ways to cook soy chorizo. With a classic Mexican spice profile, many use the soy chorizo in dishes like burritos, scrambled eggs, refried beans, and breakfast tacos. Of course, eggs aren’t vegan, but you can make your favorite brunch dishes vegan by making a chorizo egg scramble with tofu or even a liquid egg substitute.
Chorizo recipes go beyond breakfast, and you can add the soy chorizo to a vegan jambalaya and other rice based dishes. One Redditor uses a variety of Trader Joe’s products to make a veggie chorizo dinner consisting of “Mexican cauliflower rice and … extra veggies, including the TJ’s frozen roasted corn.” You could also blend this soy chorizo with rice, aromatics and chopped cilantro to stuff bell peppers. It would definitely taste great in a vegan chili recipe, and another Redditor opts to add it to a white bean soup recipe in which they “saute a chopped onion, some garlic, throw in the soyrizo, low sodium broth, a can of drained cannellini beans, and a few handfuls of kale.” Quite a few fans like to add the chorizo as a topping to upgrade boxed macaroni and cheese. Soy chorizo will also elevate a frozen pizza just by topping a basic cheese pizza with some, plus kerneled corn, red onions, and roasted red peppers.
