Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Trader Joe's - Sweet Sriracha Uncured Bacon Jerky

trader joes bacon jerky
Trader Joe's recently released a new flavor of uncured bacon jerky, "Sweet Sriracha".

Dubbed, "a sweet & spicy way to dress up thick, flavorful uncured bacon", it's yet another in a long line of snack foods paired with up the famous Thai condiment.

I had review Trader Joe's jerky years ago and found that I wasn't really a fan. But that was years ago. The brand has revamped its jerky line with cool new flavor ideas.

Ingredients


Natural uncured bacon - no nitrates or nitrites added except for those naturally occurring in celery powder and & sea salt (pork, water, lactic acid starter culture [not from milk]), white sugar, sriracha sauce, gluten free soy sauce, water, honey, cayenne powder, granulated garlic, ground pepper, sea salt, red wine vinegar, ginger.

Review


The first flavors to his my palate is a strong sweetness. There's a light sriracha flavor coming in, mixed with some soy sauce, along with a tangy character. The chewing brings on the classic bacon flavor while the heat starts to build. I can also pick up bits of garlic, and traces of honey.

For being marketed as "Sweet Sriracha", it lives up well. It's quite sweet for one, with shades of honey flavor. But the unique taste of sriracha sauce is pretty well defined too. But it's also very much a bacon jerky, with the classic bacon flavor, aroma, and chewing. You're definitely getting your money's worth if you want bacon with sweetened sriracha sauce.

Otherwise, the flavors that define this jerky starts with the classic flavor of bacon, but with a lot of sweet added. The sriracha sauce flavor comes in just as you start chewing, and at one point takes over the palate. But there's a light soy sauce that becomes noticeable, and by the time you finish chewing the garlic shows up.

As for the heat, it's fairly hot. I'd say it's a little less heat than straight sriracha sauce, but still enough to register as "medium hot" (level 4 out of 5) on my personal heat scale.

The meat consistency is just like regular bacon on the breakfast table, but cooked somewhere in between soft and crispy. Despite the package claiming, "thick, flavorful uncured bacon", it's hardly thick. This is more like the thin sliced bacon you'd find at a breakfast buffet.

Verdict


This Sweet Sriracha Uncured Bacon Jerky from Trader Joe's seems to deliver on all three marketed flavors: gobs of sticky sweet, lots of spicy Thai sriracha sauce, and the classic goodness of bacon. I really like the complexity of taste, adding in the soy sauce, honey and garlic, to create a diversity of flavors. While it didn't live up to claims of being "thick sliced bacon", I found the excellent flavor to more than compensate. I only wish the package contained more than just 2oz.

Rating: Best


bacon jerky

bacon jerky

2 comments:

  1. While I love Trader Joe's in general, and I love their jerky - especially Buffalo, I found this product inedible. It's soo sweet and spicy that the flavor is intolerable. If you have a small, single bite, then it sort of tastes good, but when I tried to eat any more than that, it was pretty gross. We took it back.

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  2. This is probably some of the best jerky I've eaten. The sweet beginning is finished by a mild amount of heat (not to much, but enough to let you know it's sriracha). The price isn't a little high for the packaging, even though it is premium jerky ($4.99 / 2 oz.). But, I'll spend the money for this stuff until I can nail down the recipe and make it myself.

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