As the weather warms, we’re trading soups and stews for light, fresh, and crunchy salads. While making your own salads is often preferred, sometimes we just don’t have time for meal prep and need a quick and convenient meal. But who wants to pay $15 for a restaurant salad when you could get a delicious, high-quality salad with all the fixings for just a few dollars? Case in point: Trader Joe’s salads.
TJ’s makes a variety of amazing and healthy salads, prepared with fresh ingredients and spices and herbs. While the salad dressings may be tasty, many of them are full of excess sugar. A good rule of thumb with store-bought salads is to go light on the dressing, pick up a salad dressing with minimal added sugar, or make your own healthier version!
Since taste and ingredient preferences are subjective, we based our list on the overall health of the salad base (with a focus on lower amounts of saturated fats and added sugars). Here are 13 of the healthiest and most delicious Trader Joe’s salads to pick up on your next market run!
And heads-up: Most of these salads don’t include a source of protein. That’s fine if they are side dishes. But if you’re planning to eat one of these salads as a meal, add a serving of protein for a more complete main dish and to stay fuller for longer.
1. Super Spinach Salad
Packed with quinoa, carrots, chickpeas, edamame, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries, the vegan Super Spinach Salad is as colorful as it is healthy! It’s packaged with a delicious carrot ginger miso dressing, and it’s got 10 grams of fiber and only 400 calories per container. (That is, with the full amount of dressing.)
2. Legume and Spinach Salad Palette
Getting its plant protein from green lentils, this spinach, garbanzo bean, roasted cauliflower, apple, and pecan salad is dressed with a red wine shallot vinaigrette that tastes incredible. A one-cup serving is 150 calories, but the whole container has 530 calories.
3. Lemony Arugula Basil Salad Kit
Ain’t she a beaut? With peppery arugula, rainbow carrots, Parmesan cheese, chopped roasted almonds, and a lemon-basil vinaigrette, this summer salad kit is like a farmers market in a bowl.
4. Mexican Style Corn & Quinoa Salad
With 4 servings per container, this Mexican-style salad only has 140 calories, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, and no added sugar per serving. It’s filled with zesty fire-roasted corn, brown rice, cabbage, and grated cotija cheese with a delicious roasted poblano cilantro dressing.
This salad is definitely more of a side, so toss on some grilled chicken, tofu, or the perennial favorite TJ’s Just Chicken.
5. Peanut and Crispy Noodle Salad Kit
This 4-serving peanut and crispy noodle salad kit has a hearty base of romaine lettuce, cabbage, carrots, celery, green onion, and cilantro. Plus, it includes a package of crunchy vermicelli noodles and peanuts for that classic pad thai feel! If you decide to drizzle in some of the refreshing peanut and lime dressing, it all comes out to just 140 calories and 1.5 grams of saturated fat per serving.
Make this side salad a main course by topping it with protein, like some juicy shrimp or tofu!
6. Broccoli and Kale Slaw
This slaw mix comes packed with roasted sunflower seeds, dried red sour cherries, dried blueberries, and blanched dry roasted slivered almonds. It’s crunchy, sweet, and loaded with flavor. Here’s a Sweet and Smoky Slaw recipe from TJ’s using the broccoli and kale slaw as a healthy base!
7. Mediterranean Style Salad Kit
This versatile salad base comes packed with all the fixings you need for a meal-size salad (but only 110 calories and 2 grams of added sugar per serving). It’s got yummy, Greek-inspired elements like feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted chickpeas, and a lovely red wine vinaigrette!
8. Za’atar Tango Salad Kit
The cucumber yogurt dressing on this salad is divine! Sweetened with dates, sprinkled with toasted sesame and pistachio pieces, and tied together with some seasoned flatbread strips, this salad kit is a Middle Eastern-inspired bowl of yum!
9. Veggies & Greens Salad Kit
A blend of crunchy cruciferous veggies make this salad kit a nutritional blast of goodness! It’s got cauliflower, Brussels sprout shavings, kale, and carrots, with dried pear crumbles and pistachios for added crunch! There are only 120 calories per cup, but the honey ginger dressing is pretty sweet, so use it sparingly!
10. Southwestern Chopped Salad Kit
The Southwestern Chopped Salad is not only spicy, zesty, and flavorful, it’s also packed with nutrients from green cabbage, carrots, pepitas, green onions, cilantro, and radish! Topped with tortilla strips, cotija cheese, and a spicy avocado dressing, you’ve got 160 calories and only one gram of added sugar per serving!
11. Mediterranean Style Orzo Pasta Salad
Trader Joe’s orzo pasta salad is a Greek bowl of yum! Enjoy Mediterranean flavors with orzo pasta, crumbled feta cheese, diced red onion, shredded spinach, Kalamata olives, and sun dried tomatoes topped with balsamic dressing and basil pesto. Plus, there’s less than one gram of added sugar, and only 1.5 grams of saturated fat per serving.
12. Organic Caesar Salad Kit
We love a Caesar salad, but it’s not always the go-to health salad because it’s not exactly nutrient-dense. This Organic Caesar from TJ’s is made with fresh, organic ingredients that are great to build on. Swap the croutons with some lean protein like chicken or shrimp and add more veggies to make this salad even healthier!
13. Vegan Ranch Crunch Salad Kit
This vegan crunchy delight is full of texture and flavor. With red and green cabbage, romaine lettuce, kale, crispy fried onions, roasted sunflower kernels, carrots, and green onions — all topped with a vegan creamy ranch — this salad is only 150 calories per serving! Best part? It’s got less than one gram of added sugar.