The Best French Products at Trader Joe’s — A French Take
Discover some of the best products that are made in France at Trader Joe’s from the perspective of someone who grew up in France.
I never realized how many wonderful French products Trader Joe’s carried until I met my husband, who grew up in France. He’d point out all the ones that were “Fabriqué en France” and I’m always amazed by how reasonably priced they are despite coming all the way from Europe.
On top of being such a great deal, these “Trader Jacques” products are actually really good quality and comparable to the ones you’d find in France (according to my husband).
Here we’ve listed our favorite items that are made in France at Trader Joe’s. Give them a try yourself the next time you stop by your local Trader Joe’s! With these simple items, you should be able to recreate some wonderful homemade French dishes yourself.
*Prices listed were current at the time this post was published and are based on Northern California Stores.
Puff Pastry
$5.49/box
Our freezer is always stocked with these. These puff pastry sheets are delicious and just what we need whenever we’re making a French dish that uses puff pastry. They used to be made in France but have now been produced in the U.S. They still taste just as delicious though.
They are a seasonal item and are only available during the fall and winter seasons, particularly around the holidays. We usually load up on enough to hopefully last us the entire year. We often see them starting in early November until they run out of stock sometime in January.
They are some of the best tasting frozen puff pastry sheets we’ve been able to find here in the United States. They go for about $4.99 per box, which is a steal considering what other brands of similar quality go for.
What we particularly love about these are that they’re made with real butter, which is the authentic French way. Oftentimes, the ones in the US are made with various kinds of oils or fats and they just don’t taste the same.
These puff pastries are perfect for making French dishes such as quiches and feuilletés – you can make these for yourself with our recipe here. But they are also perfect for popular dishes you’re more familiar with such as pigs in a blanket or sausage rolls.
The puff pastries are probably our absolute favorite French product from Trader Joe’s. The only downside is that it is a seasonal product.
Croissants
Prices vary by type but range from $5.49 – $5.99
We cannot talk about French products at Trader Joe’s without mentioning their wonderful selection of frozen croissants. These are also not made in France but you can’t deny that they are French inspired.
Trader Joe’s has a plethora of options for frozen viennoiseries. They always carry the plain mini butter croissants, almond croissants, and pain au chocolat. Seasonally, you’ll find double chocolate croissants and kouign amanns.
These make wonderful treats to serve at breakfast or for dessert. All you have to do is let them sit out on the counter at room temperature overnight and then pop them in the oven the next morning.
Our favorite ones are the pain au chocolat and kouign amanns. They are both sweet and decadent and are perfect to serve for breakfast or as dessert.
The kouign amann is a recent find of ours and it instantly became our favorite. It is sweet and crunchy with a buttery and moist center that satisfies our cravings for French pastries at a reasonable price.
Like with the mini French baguettes that they carry, we would prefer the butter croissants to be regular sized rather than minis.
Frozen French Macarons
$5.99 per box
Sticking to sweet treats from France, Trader Joe’s has some of the best macarons! It is one of our favorite products from there. Sometimes I struggle with macarons because they’re too sweet, but their chocolate and vanilla ones are a delicious exception.
For these, you simply take them out of the freezer to thaw for a few minutes before digging in. They’re moist, chewy, and have just the right amount of sweetness.
French Flat Breads
$4.99 per tart
In the frozen section, you will also be able to find three delicious flat breads that are made in France. They have the caramelized onions and ham, brie and tomatoes, and the mushroom pizza tarts.
These savory tarts are more like very thin crust pizzas. They make a wonderful dinner on days you have no time since you only need to bake them in the oven for 20 minutes.
We like to serve them next to a nice salad and top them off with some freshly grated parmesan and red pepper flakes. And voila, you have a wonderful quick and delicious dinner.
Dijon Mustard
$2.29 per jar
Trader Joe’s carries a delicious authentic dijon mustard. Their version of dijon mustard is comparable to the famous mustard brand Maille without the expensive price tag we often see for that here in the United States.
The mustard is spicy in that nice wasabi way with the perfect tanginess. It is delicious on hot dogs, in vinaigrettes, sandwiches, and we love to eat it with our homemade Toulouse sausage.
Cornichons (French Pickles)
The cornichons from Trader Joe’s are another staple we always have in our refrigerator. These are French pickles made from young cucumbers, hence their smaller size.
Unlike American pickles, they are more tart and have a different blend of spices. We love to have these as part of our charcuterie spread.
Cornichons also provide a great crunch and a fresh tart contrast to heavier dishes such as when we have our raclette dinners.
Cultured Salted Butter from Brittany
If you’ve read our post about the best souvenirs to bring home from France then you know that French butter is one of our favorite things to bring back with us. However, Trader Joe’s cultured butter from Brittany, France is a great alternative if you cannot make it to France yourself.
This cultured butter is from Brittany, the region in France known for making some of the best butter in the country due to the traditional churning methods and for their perfectly salted butters. They also often use milk from grass-fed cows that graze on mineral rich pastures by the sea, which then results in a creamy milk that gives the butter its higher fat content.
Butter’s high fat content plays a huge role in how delicious and flaky those french pastries turn out. Our favorite French bakery in the San Francisco Bay Area used to import their butter from France for this very reason. That was until they found a dairy farm in Sonoma, CA that was able to provide butter for them with that higher level of fat content.
French Cheeses
Varies by type and weight
Somehow, Trader Joe’s is able to offer a very well curated selection of French cheeses perfect for any charcuterie board. We are often blown away by the variety of French cheeses that they sell. We’ve made plenty of cheese boards with them when hosting and they are always well received.
Fun Fact: Did you know that cheese plates are not served as appetizers in France? They are often served after the main course and before dessert!
Everyone knows about more popular French cheeses such as brie and camembert but some of our favorites that TJ’s offers are the roquefort, comté, and the délice de bourgogne.
The raclette cheese from France is a seasonal item at Trader Joe’s that we love very much. It is another item we stock up on in our freezer to eat whenever we want to do a raclette dinner. This meal is often eaten in the winter in France or after a long day of skiing or snowboarding on the slopes. You can read more about it in our Unique French Dishes post here.
French Wines
Price Varies
On top of a wonderful French cheese selection, Trader Joe’s also offers a wonderful collection of French wines and at very affordable prices. Some of our favorites include Pontificis GSM, Côtes de Provence Rosé, Blanc de Blancs, and Nicolas Feuillate.
Sparkling Lemonades
$4.33 per bottle
This next item was surprising to us because it is not something you can easily find in France. It is their sparkling lemonades – original and pink lemonades.
These delicious beverages are made in France but I’ve never seen them in grocery stores nor served at anywhere there.
These drinks are some of my sister in laws’ favorite drinks so they often request it whenever we go to France. The ironic thing which we always laugh about is that these items were made in France and then we end up bringing them back to France.
Give these drinks a try next summer. They are refreshing and crisp without any artificial taste. We love them served extremely chilled or in a glass with ice.
French Soap Bars
$3.99 per bar
This item isn’t a food item but my husband also loves their French soap bars. Our favorite ones are the lavender and oatmeal ones. The scents are mild and clean.
Most locals in France still use bar soap when it comes to hand and body soaps. That is why you will always find soap shops almost anywhere in France selling the famous Marseille soap. Another plus is that they are way more eco-friendly than bottles of soap.
Bar soaps are another item we always stock up on when we go home to France. My husband still uses them daily and I always have one by the kitchen sink and use that as my hand soap. I love that it doesn’t dry out my hands as much as liquid hand soap does.