I'm a Food Reporter, One Trader Joe's Product I Can't Live Without

One of my recent go-to dinners has been Trader Joe's shawarma chicken thighs.

I only tried these chicken thighs for the first time a few months ago, but they've since become an item that I pick up regularly. Each package, which contains between four and five pieces of chicken, costs $6.99.

As Tasting Table reported, shawarma is a dish that originated in the Ottoman Empire and is popular throughout the Middle East. It typically consists of meat such as lamb or chicken that is seasoned and stacked into a cone-like shape on a vertical, rotating rotisserie spit. The meat is then cut into thin strips and typically served on pita or flatbread.

According to Trader Joe's, its shawarma spice marinade is made with onion, garlic, sea salt, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, paprika, turmeric, and parsley.

I've tried roasting the shawarma chicken thighs in the oven at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes and cooking them on a grill, and I've been impressed with their intense, borderline-spicy flavor with both methods. The shawarma chicken thighs are extremely well-seasoned and come already marinated to cut back on any extra prep.

In my own cooking, I've found they work well in salads or with potatoes or corn, or with Middle Eastern- or Mediterranean-inspired foods like pita, hummus, and tzatziki, a cucumber and yogurt sauce made with dill and garlic.

The chicken thighs are pretty spicy on their own, but I've found that adding a few dollops of the chain's tzatziki and harissa, a hot chili-pepper paste, adds even more flavor to the meal.

In my experience, it's hard to find a good store-bought tzatziki, but I really enjoy the one from Trader Joe's, which costs $3.99. It's perfectly creamy with real sliced cucumbers throughout and a strong garlic flavor. You also can't go wrong with Trader Joe's bags of tiny potatoes, which cost $2.49 at my local store.

I've found that one chicken thigh is a perfect portion for just me, so I usually save the leftovers and either eat it the same way in a bowl, or make simple chicken sandwiches with the leftover thighs, a bun, and a few spoonfuls of tzatziki.

While Trader Joe's switches its products out all the time, I hope the shawarma chicken thighs are here to stay.

Read next