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Photo: Adobe Stock / John Mantell Photo
By the looks of the21 products Trader Joe’s employees can’t live without, you might guess that TJ’s fans are not so fond of pasta. The fan list includes zero noodles, and the crew member one features just two (Vegetable Pad ThaiandJoe’s Diner Mac ‘n Cheese). And none of those are the pastas alone; they’re more about the sauces, if you ask us!
But when it comes to noodles, Joe does know jack—and loyal fans’ and employees' shopping carts showcase why their shelves are stocked with such a wide variety.
On the latest episode of theInside Trader Joe’spodcast, Jasmine, the category manager of grocery at Trader Joe’s, reveals that they currently sell between 20 and 30 different types of pasta.
“The majority of our pastas are made from wheat semolina. So those are kind of the traditional pastas. And then we have a number of other products that…fulfill the dietary needs of some people who might be gluten-free or [are] doing apaleo dietor something like that,” she says.
Read on to learn more about the brands current #1 best-selling pasta variety, plus four soon-to-be-released additions to the pantry aisle that Jasmine and her crew can’t wait to share with shoppers.
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The 5 Best Pastas at Trader Joe’s, According to Employees
Hearts of Palm Pasta
This “pasta” is harvested from the center of Ecuadorian palm trees. It’s sliced into thin, tender, mild-tasting, linguine-like strands, and the result is a 20-calorie-per-serving, gluten-free option that staff members love to toss intochicken soupsor use as the base of a pad Thai or an Italian marinara dish.
Tri-Color Spaghetti
“We have, I think, five different types of spaghettis. We have a whole-wheat, we have a semolina, we have ayellow lentil and riceone for people who are gluten-free and then we have, oh goodness, for the semolina one we have a conventional and organic…and now we’re going to have a third one, which is a tri-color,” Jasmine says.“I think when the tri-color comes out, we’ll have six spaghettis!”
Just like theirclassic spaghetti, this new red, green and orange spaghetti should be stellar with Joe’sItalian-Style Meatballsand a scoop of your favorite steamed or roasted vegetables for a well-balanced, low-fuss, 3-ingredient Trader Joe’s dinner.
Bucatini
On the heels of the bucatini shortage of January 2021 (thank goodness that’s passed us!), you’ll soon be able to find a box of the tubular, long-cut pasta at Trader Joe’s.
“We have a bucatini coming in as a limited opportunity because we have that really, really amazingLimone Alfredothat we introduced during the winter,” Jasmine says. “So we thought this would be a really, really great pasta to eat it with.”
We’re also wild aboutbucatini served puttanesca-style!
Fusilli Corti Bucati
While all those spaghettis, and now, bucatini, too, take up quite a bit of shelf real estate, Jasmine says, “our customers are kind of gravitating towards more unique cuts. So we have some really fun shapes coming in.”
That includes fusilli corti bucati, which podcast co-host Matt Sloan describes as “like a telephone cord if anyone knew what telephone cords still were.”
It’s like a strand of bucatini that’s twisted into a curlicue shape that’s “like a spring, like curly hair,” Jasmine adds.
This one would be dreamy in ourOne-Pot Tomato Basil Pasta!
Cascatelli
Last but not least, the most popular pasta cut of the pandemic: Cascatelli. Wait, you missed theSporkfulpodcast seriesabout the development of this “best-ever” pasta shape that maximizes “forkability” and “sauceability,” according to cascatelli creator/Sporkfulhost Dan Pashman? Our friends atFood & Winehave a recap, and Jasmine reveals on the podcast that Trader Joe’s will soon stock their own version.
“The cascatelli kind of looks like beautiful waterfalls. The ridges are really thick and it eats really, really well,” she says.
Snag any or all of the above pasta cuts the next time you make a Trader Joe’s run, then put them to delicious use in our31 easy pasta dinners you’ll want to make forever.
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