Trader Joe’s Beef Tamales

April 16, 2008 | Reviewer: Abi

Trader Joe’s Beef Tamales Price: $2.99
Serving: 1 tamal, 5oz.
Calories: 240
Fat: 20%, 13g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 29%, 670mg
Protein: 12g
Carbohydrates: 9%, 26g
Fiber: 16%, 4g
Sugar: 0g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points

Trader Joe’s says: Handcrafted beef tamales wrapped in corn husks

Abi says: To be honest, I don’t care if the tamales I eat are hand-crafted. It seems sort of special until you think about what a pain it is to make tamales and that there’s probably already some sort of extrusion machine that would do a great job of making sure that every tamale was just as well-formed as the last one. Also, I am completely willing to eat tortillas made by a machine. Have you ever had El Machino tortillas? Delicious!

I am in love with gadgets and most Mexican food. I am only in a high degree of ‘like’ with these tamales.

For one, the fastest cooking method (the microwave) is also the method most prone to making the tamale rubbery on each end. This means that even though there’s no meat in those sections (similar to the well-known burrito conundrum), they are now inedible for a completely different reason.

In other areas of the tamale the masa is tender and fragrant, still moist thanks to the corn husk wrapper. The meat within each tamale is a bit skimpy, which is the scourge of tamale eaters everywhere. Fortunately, the beef is nice and spicy, plus it is shredded rather than decimated, offering a pleasant counterpoint to the mushy (but in a good way) masa.

If you don’t have access to fresh tamales these ones from Trader Joe’s will do. If you do have access to fresh tamales and you live within the San Francisco Bay Area, please tell me where you are buying them.

comments

14 Responses to “Trader Joe’s Beef Tamales”

Will on April 16th, 2008

I agree with you - though I prefer the Chicken and cheese ones, which you also gave four stars to. I do miss real homemade tamales…
Shannon on April 16th, 2008

My husband loves the TJs Green Cheese Chile Tamales. He puts a teaspoon of water on the plate while he microwaves and they turn out perfect each time.
Lisa on April 16th, 2008

The first time I ate a tamale, I did not realize that you were supposed to UNWRAP IT FROM THE HUSK. I was at a barbeque and broke about 10 plastic forks on the sucker. Finally, I shook my fists in the air and yelled, “WHY DO YOU HATE ME TAMALE?!”, and then someone was nice enough to show me how to eat them.
Ali Marie on April 16th, 2008

Mmm, tamales. So what do you do if you don’t have access to fresh tamales *or* Trader Joe’s? That store really needs to expand to the southeast some more.
Sharon on April 17th, 2008

I never had Trader Joe’s beef tamales, but I’ve had the cheese ones and they’re great!
Sarah on April 17th, 2008

You need to find your local tamale lady (or her son). Or just go to any taquiera in the Mission and ask.
Becca on April 17th, 2008

Real Food Co (on Polk in Russian Hill and in the Marina on Fillmore) has delicious fresh tamales in the cheese/refrigerated section, but they aren’t nearly as cheap as Trader Joe’s!
Julie A on April 17th, 2008

There’s an elderly lady that sells them in front of the Safeway at 30th & Mission. in SF. And there must be a zillion little markets that have them there as well.

I have zero knowledge of tamale availability anyplace south of the SF/San Mateo county line sorry. I’d advise a trip to the Mission. If you don’t want to drive you can take Caltrain and then transfer to BART at SFO/Millbrae (I think). Which is a good idea because parking there is impossible.
Julie A on April 17th, 2008

Go to the “talk” section on the SF Bay Area of yelp.com and post your question.

someone there can give you advice on parts south of SF
Rachel on April 17th, 2008

For a quick bite, I usually stop by Civic Center Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays and go to the tamale stand and buy a few pork ones. The sweet corn ones are awesome as well. Fairly cheap too!
Crow on April 18th, 2008

Frozen tamales, blech blech blech. I’ve had TJ tamales, and the homemade variant. Both are bad, but TJ’s is like eating meat byproduct wrapped in mealy cardboard.
KateC on April 23rd, 2008

Primavera tamales are amazing. You can get them at grocery stores like Andronico’s. But they are vegetarian. If you go to the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market, they have a booth, and meat tamales. Best food there!
Beth on April 28th, 2008

The Mountain View outdoor market on Sundays has fresh tamales that smell good (but I don’t eat meat so have never gotten one)
Nancy on May 12th, 2008

In Oakland, there’s an outdoor market every Friday downtown. There is an AWESOME tamale cart there. Pretty inexpensive and great tamales. I got the chicken tamales from Trader Joes and reallly hope they live up to the tamale cart ones.