Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Mac and Cheese Review

Unsure whether it’s a gluten-free bust or a gluten-free treasure? Before you spend your hard-earned cash, let us try it for you. Here’s our breakdown of Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Mac and Cheese!

Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Mac and Cheese

If you have celiac or gluten intolerance, Trader Joe’s has a boatload of options! Sometimes they’re hiding though.

You can ask customer service for a gluten-free product list and they will print you out one. Be sure to ask customer service, not your cashier. My cashier didn’t know it existed.

As a celiac myself, I was eager to try Trader Joe’s gluten free mac and cheese. The box is bright and whimsical with a blue gingham design. And I love a curly noodle.

While the flavor wasn’t bad, the noodles weren’t ideal. They were somehow chewy and mushy at the same time.

I’ve defenitely had better gluten free macaroni and cheese. I will say, the noodles came out better when cooked in the oven. For this reason, I gave it a 6 out of 10.

I gave it an even lower kid-friendly score because kids can smell a lousy macaroni from a mile away.

• Rating: 6 out of 10
• Kid-friendly rating: 4 out of 10

Ingredients:

Trader Joe’s gf mac and cheese has a long ingredient list. At the time of writing, it’s as follows:

• Cooked rotini pasta (yellow corn flour, white rice flour, lentil flour, quinoa flour, water)
• Reduced fat milk (whole milk, nonfat milk, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3)
• Bechamel sauce (reduced fat milk [whole milk, nonfat milk, nonfat milk solids, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D3], potato starch, butter [pasteurized cream, salt], rice flour, sea salt, white pepper)
• 4 cheese blend (cheddar cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, microbial enzyme, annatto], havarti cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, microbial enzyme], gouda cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, microbial enzyme, annatto], swiss cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, microbial enzyme])
• Rice Starch
• Salt

So basically, it’s gluten-free rotini noodles in a gluten-free bechamel sauce with cheddar, havarti, gouda, and swiss!

How to Make Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Mac and Cheese:

You can cook it in the oven or the microwave. I highly recommend the oven! It takes longer, but it tastes better in the end.

The cooking instructions are on the side of the box.

Microwave Oven (1200 watt):

• Do not thaw the macaroni. Heat it from frozen.
• Remove the box and puncture the plastic film on top with a fork several times.
• Microwave on high for 4 to 5 minutes.
• Let it sit for 1 minute.
• Remove the plastic film, stir, and enjoy!

Conventional Oven:

• Do not thaw. Heat the macaroni from frozen.
• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Remove the outer box and plastic film on top.
• Place the macaroni onto a baking sheet.
• Bake on the center rack for 20 to 35 minutes.
• Let sit for 1 minute, stir, and enjoy!

If the mixture looks watery after you cook it, don’t worry. Give it a good stir and let it sit for a minute. It thickens up nicely.

Nutrition Facts:

Each box includes two servings. A one cup serving (170g) contains:

• 300 calories
• 10 grams of fat (5g saturated, 0g trans fat)
• 30 mg of cholesterol
• 600 mg of sodium
• 41 grams of total carbs
• 1 gram of dietary fiber
• 3 grams of total sugars
• 11 grams of protein

These nutrition facts are from 9/26/2023. Always check the label to see the latest nutrition facts.

Where do I find it?

You can find Trader Joes’ gf macaroni in the frozen foods aisle near the regular macaroni and pizza.

At my local Trader Joe’s, it was in a distinguished area with a large sign that read “Meals from Around the World.” It’s in the bottom row, six boxes from the left.

If you can’t find it, ask an employee and they should be able to locate it.

Is it worth it?

At the time of writing, TJ’s gluten-free mac and cheese costs 3.69 plus tax. If you’ve shopped anywhere else for gluten-free frozen items, you know this is a great deal!

I would buy it again, but I wouldn’t bother cooking it in the microwave. I’d take the time to bake it in the oven. It’s defenitely NOT the best gluten-free macaroni and cheese on the market.

Gluten-Free at Trader Joe’s:

If you have celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, ask customer service for their gluten-free product list.

If you don’t have the list, always check products for a gluten-free label. On some of the products they write it very small. I always check the bottom, sides, and back of the box!

None of their products are certified by an independent company like GFCO. GFCO is a third party certification program that tests products independently to make sure they meet gluten-free standards.

Any product that’s labeled gluten-free must meet the FDA’s standards of less than 20 parts per million. So even if it doesn’t have the GFCO label, a product is still considered gluten-free if it’s labeled so.