Let’s just agree upfront: fresh, homemade japchae is almost always gonna be better than anything from a package. But if you’ve never had it before, or you don’t have an Asian or Korean market near you to buy sweet potato noodles, Trader Joe’s Japchae isn’t bad.
First up, it’s in the frozen section. I kept thinking it was gonna be with the prepared meals in the refrigerator case for some reason. Nope. And, by the way, it’s vegan and gluten-free.
Second, they’re trying to claim this is two servings. Naaaaah. Even looking at this as a side dish, I could have easily eaten the whole thing myself. But because of the high sodium, I ended up eating all the vegetables and leaving half the noodles behind. For me, it definitely needed more veg. And if you want to give it a little more heft, but keep it vegan, I’d add some tofu.
I microwaved it for 3 minutes, per the directions, gave it a stir, and stuck it back in for another minute and a half. It really didn’t need to go the full 2 minutes. It was plenty hot.
If you’ve never had japchae before, this is a perfectly way fine to try it out. Flavor is fine (I can’t think of much more to say about it flavor-wise), even if it’s a little skimpy on the vegetables. If I was being super nit picky, I’d say the red and green peppers are a little watery (but that’s pretty much how the frozen ones are, no matter the dish).
Anyway, for the portion size at $2.99, it’s worth making from scratch. The leftovers are great the next day. And it’s not hard — just a matter of stir frying vegetables and usually a little bit of meat, plus boiling the noodles. Even if you’re strapped for time, prep the veg ahead and it all comes together pretty fast. Maangchi has a couple of good recipes on her site. One adds beef and and some cooked and rolled egg. It’s good stuff.
See what I’m sayin’? This is the Maangchi recipe above, but I added nappa cabbage and skipped the meat.
Trader Joe’s japchae isn’t an item I’ll buy again, mainly because of the high sodium and because I’d just make it at home.
Check out some other We Tried’s from Trader Joe’s:
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