Behind the Aisles of TJ's

If you know anything about Trader Joe’s, you know holiday items are seasonal and in high demand. The spicy pumpkin vegetable samosas have returned, and I tried them to let you know whether you should buy them or not.

Traditional vegetable samosas are a an indian dish, typically eaten as an appetizer. These little poppers are vegan and vegetarian friendly. Outcased in a triangular shaped flaky fried dough, this pastry becomes crispy and golden when heated up. Trader Joe’s samosas come frozen, so they are easy to cook. Pop them into the oven or air fryer for a quick snack.

They are traditionally made with a filling of potatoes, peas, carrots, and onions. They are also often heavily filled with spices to give it a strong flavor. Some of the most popular spices used are cumin, coriander, turmeric, ginger, garlic, and occasionaly garam masala. The pumpkin vegetable samosas are very similar to the traditional samosas, but they also contain mashed pumpkin which gives it a smoother consistency. They are supposed to be spicy, but they aren’t very spicy at all. If you can’t handle spice you will still be able to eat this!

I tried the vegetable samosas with my roommates, so please enjoy our very thorough video review (all jokes).

In all reality I would rate the pumpkin vegetable samosas a 6/10. They were not bad, but I would prefer a different appetizer over these. I gave them a 6/10 because I would say the pumpkin ones are slightly better than the original. The mashed pumpkin gives a slight sweetness that pairs nicely with the aromatic spices and veggies. It also helped with the creaminess of the filling. I did think that these were very flavorful, which was nice because a lot of fried dishes don’t offer much flavor besides oiliness. It is important to know that these were a little greasy when made in the air fryer.

I would recommend this holiday samosa version to those who love to try diverse cultural cuisine. This was good, but I wouldn’t buy it again. If you are looking for something that will blow you out of the water, I’d recommend trying something else.