Trader Joe’s Vegan Shepherd’s Pie Reviews
Green lentils, mushrooms, butternut squash, and kale in a savory gravy with a mashed cauliflower and potato topping.
Trader Joe's Reviews
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Susan –
It would have been a lot better without the cauliflower in the topping. Potatoes are vegan; no need to water them down with mushy cauliflower. I love cauliflower, but it doesn’t belong in Shepherd’s Pie.
Anne D Montgomery –
Once upon a time, there was a Trader Joe’s meatless Shepherd’s Pie. I ate it a lot. Yum. Alas, it was discontinued. When I saw the new Vegan Shepherd’s Pie, I was excited to try it. Nope. Not even close. Ptui. Not even deserving one star.
Daniel –
I am the least picky eater you’ve ever met and I’ll generally eat anything. This was just gross. I took two bite and tossed it.
Sam –
The topping has a really bad consistency and flavor. Don’t understand why they added cauliflower to the topping when potatoes are vegan. There’s really no redeeming qualities of the dish, flavor is bad all throughout.
Jesse –
I’d give it negative stars if I could: flavor is fine, but the texture and smell are absolutely vile.
Anonymous –
Terrible.
Jessie –
As it was cooking in the oven I didn’t care for the smell right off the bat. After tasting it I immediately had to search for reviews because it was probably the worst thing I’ve tried from TJ’s! They can’t all be hits so it’s okay. I’d like to see them offer a vegan chicken pot pie.
Ann –
I thought it was flavorless. Felt like a pile of mashed potatoes. Needed some flavor. I won’t buy it again.
A. McDaniel –
I’d give it a negative 5 stars if I could. Trader Joe’s failed the assignment. Just nasty.
Arya –
just plain awful. It literally is disgusting. DO NOT TRY IT!!!! and I love all things Trader Joe’s in general, but this was tossed out after two bites.
Guy –
This ain’t it
Zack –
I love cauliflower but here it only adds a weird bitter taste and makes everything extra soggy. The texture is like baby food. This is even worse than the TJ vegan enchilada! Not at all a good example of vegan food. Can only hope this gets the axe and is discontinued soon.
Jessica –
Since they changed the recipe, I love it and take it for lunch on a regular basis.
Shane –
I was so excited about this because I too enjoyed the meatless Shepherd’s Pie that Trader Joe’s discontinued more than a decade ago. I was concerned about the kale and cauliflower at the start but was hoping that it still had the flavor a shepherd’s pie is supposed to have.
Unfortunately, even in the oven it was a mushy mess, but texture usually doesn’t concern me. I took a bit or too, then tried to add some seasonings to help it. After another bite no, still bad. My wife didn’t even try it based on the faces I made. I eat almost anything and this pretty much never happens. We put it down the sink and got a refund.
I don’t know what they were going for but there is zero flavor that is akin to shepherd’s pie and I can’t even explain what it did taste like. Their is no need to add kale, cauliflower and squash to a shepherd’s pie. Stick to the classics, potato top, make the filling lentils and mushroom, peas and carrots, and the proper seasonings. Not sure how this one went so wrong.
Cindy –
Just about the worst thing I’ve ever eaten. I thought I must have gotten a rotten one that had sat on the loading dock for a couple of days, but I see that this is a common thought. Seriously, I had a terrible stomachache for 4 days after eating this. I still feel like I’m exhaling rotten cauliflower. I don’t have a sense of smell so I knew it was “tasty” but I didn’t think it would do this much damage. Stay away! Trader Joe’s recall this product and take it off the market before you really hurt someone.
Simone –
Vile. Slimy. Wrong.
Tristan –
This does not deserve to be sold at Trader Joe’s. Most disgusting food I’ve eaten. Had to toss it, I wouldn’t finish this for $100. Hoping Trader Joe’s discontinues this product asap!
Lauren –
I love all things Trader Joe’s until I had the vegan Shepard’s pie. I don’t know if mine went bad, or if it was just overloaded with garlic, but it smelled soooooo awful and rotten. I had a few bites and dumped it down the drain. I am hoping I don’t sick with food poisoning from this. Garlic or rotten? You tell me.
Sandy –
A pile of sloppy, beige, smelly something with a consistency of soup. Really hard to believe this made it through the Trader Joe’s new product test kitchens and onto the shelf. Their vegan enchiladas are so good and was so excited to try this. But, texture, smell, taste: all zero. Fail! It had a weird sour, kind of spoiled taste so thought I got a bad one, but then saw all these reviews and seems it wasn’t spoiled, just awful.
Sarah –
It was disgusting and looked like my dogs poop. I am not ever one to sh*t on TJs products, but this needs to be taken off the shelves. It cost I think $7 or $8 and I took three bites of it. After my third bite, I came across a blonde hair in the mashed potatoes. Keep in mind I have dark brown hair. Threw it away immediately. I love that TJs is trying to incorporate more vegan friendly foods, but there should be at least 5 taste tests before putting these on the shelf.
Tim –
I liked the idea of vegan shepherd’s pie in the store.
The photo on the cover looked promising… but it bore no resemblance to the disgusting mush in the package.
I like lentils and I like most of Trader Joe’s creations– I’ve been a loyal customer for 40 years and I have probably spent tens of thousands of dollars there over this time.
But Trader Joe’s owes an apology and a refund to anyone who had the misfortune to buy this dreadful product.
After two spoonfuls of mush it went down the toilet.
By far the worst dinner item I have ever bought at Trader Joe’s or anywhere else.
Laurie –
This is probably the worst frozen food item I’ve ever eaten from Trader Joe’s. Mushy, no flavor, just yuck. Don’t waste your money.
Savanna –
Exactly. One taste and I headed to look for reviews. Agree with negative rating comments above. Chopped walnuts helped us eat it, but my partner said, it detracts from the walnuts and won’t eat it again either. No, it’s not flavorless. It’s just bad. Bad texture, bad taste. Bad aftertaste.
Anonymous –
Horrible! How is this sold at trader Joe’s?
Meghan Hall –
Love it!
Anonymous –
Disgusting. Literally not edible if I tried. and i tried, I really tried, I was hungry and desperate and full of hope, and seasoning. i tried to close my eyes to ignore the vomit-like appearance and plug my nose to block out the smell of nail polish, but no, again and again, the taste, the texture- i cant even describe it without gagging. how is this sold as food? and with such high expectation from the picture and ingredients! How? why? TRADER JOE ARE YOU ALRIGHT????
Katharine Hansen –
Not good at all. I will not buy this again. I couldn’t even eat it.
Hippie who does shower. –
If you want to know what this tastes like… go live in the woods and don’t shower for a week. Then save the water and dirt from your drain and add mushy cauliflower then let it sit in the sun and rot. My family loves TJ and we are not picky eaters but the flavor we assigned was “this tastes like a hippie needs a shower”. The only thing just as bad might be the lobster Mac and cheese from aldis.
Sheila –
After taking our first bite, my husband and I slowly looked at each other in utter disgust and decided it was time for DoorDash. I’m one of the least picky eaters you’ll ever meet. Even if something isn’t that great, I can still choke it down. That was not the case with this shepherds pie. I hate wasting food, but this went straight to the trash. I can’t believe this thing made it to my beloved Trader Joe’s shelves.
Tom Doyle –
Shepherd’s Slop would be a more appropriate name. Just awful. I wish I would have looked for reviews before trying it. I now see that many before me have had a similar experience.
Anonymous –
Might as well be pig slop.
Think again TJ’s.
David –
Just not good.
Texture is a little like grits and the lentil mushroom stew isn’t very flavorful.
Chris –
For some reason the song “The Worst Pies In London” comes to mind. I peeked in the oven about 10 minutes into the cooking time and started to get nervous. The smell was not appealing as I saw the mysterious brown sauce bubbling up over a corner of the potato topping. Things did not improve as I took it out of the oven once it had finished baking. It smelled like melted plastic and unfortunately tasted worse than it smelled. My partner who will eat just about anything said “I can’t eat this… I’m not hungry enough to try”. I tried to power through a couple of bites, but this was hands down the worst product I’ve ever tasted from Trader Joe’s. It’s time for a PB & J chaser to kill that aftertaste.
F.D. Heneghan –
A comprehensive assault on the senses. An offensive combination of flavors, textures, and odors that is much less than the sum of its parts. Almost refreshingly awful. The first dish I’ve thrown away without finishing in perhaps twenty years. Do yourself a favor and experience this monstrosity before it returns to the void whence it came.
Ross –
This was the worst thing I have ever purchased from Trader Joe’s and I have been buying different products from them for decades. Vile smell, horrible taste.
SanMN –
Utterly disgusting. Couldn’t even take a tea spoonful. Violates my personal dictum “tell me it’s tasty. It’s healthy and good for me is secondary”.
g mick –
this is actually really good. im not a vegan nor vegetarian but i really enjoyed this. i dont even like cauliflower either. the other people are very confused.
ash –
The sight, smell and taste of this is indescribably repulsive. I ate two bites, then dumped a bunch of Texas Pete’s extra hot and tried again. Trying to cover up the bizarre vinegar-like flavor not found anywhere in nature with hot sauce just made it worse. It smells like plastic cauliflower.
Elizabeth –
Mushy top, runny filling, weird seasoning, nasty taste. Absolutely awful. It went right into the garbage. It deserves zero stars but that wasn’t an option.
Sam love –
I imagine this to be what prison food taste like… off-bland indistinguishable slop.
Coco Brightman –
Oh I’m so glad it’s not just me. I took one bite (ignoring the rotting body smell) and spit it out in the sink. I rinsed my mouth and am now eating a TJs chocolate caramel to get my tastebuds to recover. I’m going to take it back next time I got and get my money back — and I hope the word eventually gets to HQ bc they need to stop making this. Maybe some poor soul with covid taste/smell issues wouldn’t mind, but then again, the texture is pretty barfy as well!
Correct –
Idk maybe it’s because I’ve never had shepherds pie before, or due to my current state of elevation- but I thought it was pretty good. Tastes comfy. Esp since i can’t have gluten and prefer vegan options. Slap some franks on that baby and she’s good to go.
B Smith –
I thought it was really tasty, not sure what all the hate is about.
Mary –
I also was dissappointed.
They first taste was yukky.
I didn’t have anything else to eat though so I continued eating my serving.
By the time I was done with it, it had grown on me and i liked it.
I had the other serving for lunch today.
It is truly more of a soup consistency.
I probably won’t buy it again but who knows. At least i would know what I was in for….
clare –
it didn’t taste HORRIBLE, just musty and salty. It looked bad and smelled like a lingering fart.
Vegan Dan –
It was horrible. Not in any way was it “good” but it was edible. There’s a zero percent chance I would ever buy this again, unless, say we’re at a gas station on some long road trip and for some reason they have a few TJ’s foods, a toaster oven to use, and nothing else in the place for a meal is plant based.
Where are the mashed potatoes? POTATOES ARE VEGAN. Someone needs to tell the chef that they need to try these foods on local vegans, it will save you effort, the waste of people trying to return these to the store. I want a refund for this crap.
Mae –
I couldn’t even gain the courage to take a bite after smelling how vile it smelt I thought maybe plastic had melted into it that’s how bad it smelt, 0/10 that was NOT it sis
TJ Shopper –
So so mushy. When you watch TV, and the prisoners get a spoonful of something dropped onto their sad platters, this the the texture I would have imagined. The flavor is boring at best. I could not get over the texture, a bowl of mush! It doesn’t seem like the person who made this even tried it themselves
Lara –
I expected to hate it after reading so many bad reviews. It’s pretty good but needs a TON of salt- a ton! Agree that the topping should be all potato. It’s a hardy dish for a cold night. I won’t buy it regularly but I can see me getting it again. It’s has the potential to be much better!
Leah –
If adding cheese, hot sauce, seasoning and potato chips couldn’t save it. It tells you how horrible this is. I don’t like wasting food so I somehow ate it.
Cauliflower is awesome as steamed, store fried or as an au gratin but not as a potato replacement. Were they trying vegan and low cal or something? Stop ruining dishes by adding cauliflower mash and cauli rice.
Melinda –
YUM! The texture and taste make it a perfect cold weather choice for dinner . I’m not usually a completely prepared food eater but definitely adding this to my weekly meal plan.