The Versatile Trader Joe's Item So Good Customers Can't Stop Buying It

The wonderful thing about Trader Joe's is that it has the feel of a specialty market, along the lines of Whole Foods or the beloved European-style Fresh Market, but the prices of a budget chain. There are a couple of different reasons for that, mainly having to do with its use of private-label products, but the upshot is that the chain has a loyal customer base, eager to buy all their favorite foods from good old Trader Joe's. There are plenty of products with beloved cult followings, including those in the Trader Joe's Hall of Fame and the rare non-private-label kringles, but one product in particular is loved for its versatility: its chicken gyoza potstickers.

These potstickers are sold in the frozen food aisle, and they ably serve their purpose as a snack or an appetizer, perfect for steaming or frying up in a pan and dipping in some soy sauce. But Trader Joe's fans have found plenty of uses for these little bundles of chicken and onion. There's a viral recipe for a dumpling bake using Trader Joe's potstickers, using coconut milk and curry paste to create something creamy, spicy, and decadent. And some chicken broth and fresh vegetables are all it takes to make a delicious, nourishing soup out of these dumplings.

Gyoza are dumplings shaped like crescents that originated in Japan. Just about every country has its own variation on meat and veggies encased in dough — Poland has pierogi (which you can make at home in a painstaking but worthwhile process), a number of Central American countries have empanadas, and Italy has ravioli. Gyoza is Japan's take on the format. Specifically, they're inspired by a very similar Chinese dish called jiaozi — not to be confused with bao, another Chinese dish that involves meat and veggies wrapped in dough.

It's no surprise that Trader Joe's offers some solid chicken gyoza. It came upon its Tiki bar theming due to an increase in air travel in the mid-20th century, and that global spirit is firmly on display even today: you can shop for pad see ew from Thailand, jumeokbap from Korea, samosas from India, and even steak and stout pies from the United Kingdom. But even with all those options, it's hard to beat the sheer versatility of chicken gyoza, don't you think?