We'll Never Buy This Disappointing Trader Joe's Dip Again

Trader Joe's is a bedrock of tasty little treats, and honestly, you're more likely to swing and get a hit — rather than a miss — when you shop there. Whether or not you have your own version of a Trader Joe's products I buy every time-style list, you've probably got a few go-tos. But even if you don't typically venture far beyond them, I'm here to tell you to give it a try. In fact, we can get you started with 19 popular Trader Joe's dips ranked from worst to best. Most of these dips are pretty solid, but if you're going to swerve any of them, tap out on the Ranch Cottage Cheese Dip.

Our taste tester remarked that this dip tastes faintly like dairy with just a hint of black pepper, which totally misses the point of ranch, with its robust and herbaceous flavor profile. On top of that, the texture was apparently quite surprisingly (and unpleasantly) dry, potentially from the cottage cheese curds not being blended well enough to emulsify. There's some smoothness to the dip, and it grips onto veggies and chips decently, but if you're a big ranch fan, this one's gonna be a pass. If you like vaguely buttermilk-y black pepper with the tang of cottage cheese curds, though, you might find this pretty alright.

Ideally, you arrived here before Trader Joe's Ranch Cottage Cheese Dip ever made it into your cart, so you can avoid this catastrophe in its entirety. But what if you already got yourself a tub? Or what if you decided to give it the old college try anyway, only to realize it ain't for you? Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to smooth out the less-than-pleasant parts of this dip, starting with the flavor. You can buy dry ranch seasoning mix at your local grocery store pretty easily; just dump that into the dip, give it a stir, and you'll be blasted with ranch flavor. You'll only need one packet for the whole tub of dip, too.

As for the texture, you can always give it a little blend to get it even smoother. If you don't feel like getting out the hardware for a store-bought dip (Totally reasonable, neither would I), then you can instead boost the moisture level by adding lemon juice, and cottage cheese or plain Greek yogurt for a little extra protein. You can pick most of these things up at Trader Joe's too, so peep the best times to shop at Trader Joe's to avoid the crowds, and snag yourself some of these ingredients to give this Ranch Cottage Cheese Dip a helping hand.