Look! Arborio Rice at Trader Joe's

We're not sure if this is a new product or if it's been there all along, but we were excited to discover arborio rice on a recent shopping foray to Trader Joe's!

Arborio rice is a key ingredient - arguably the key ingredient! - in Italian risotto, and we often have trouble finding it outside of gourmet food stores. When we do find it, it's often of dubious quality and fairly expensive.

This rice from Trader Joe's comes in vacuum-sealed packages, which is usually a good indicator of freshness and quality. We gave it a try the other night in a simple mushroom risotto.

The rice gave off a good amount of starch (sometimes an issue with old rice), making a creamy thick sauce. The rice itself was tender, held its shape, and had a mild flavor that blended well with the other flavors in the risotto.

Our standards for risotto rice are probably somewhat lower and our palates a bit less discerning than, say, Mario Batali's, but we give this rice from Trader Joe's a seal of approval! Anyone else want to share their experience?

Related: Good Product? Spanish Saffron from Trader Joe's

(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)

Comments (11)

I have been buying this rice for a while. its great for risotto. i also made a rice pudding with it.

posted by Storm on October 7th 2008 at 4:14am
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I've seen it there over the past several months... I have been wanting to try it, but still haven't run out of the other box I have.

I'll let you know!

Emily

posted by Emily Sneds on October 7th 2008 at 4:52am
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I just bought this two days ago and made a risotto. It was great! My only complaint (and it's not even really a complaint) is that the box is so big, I am going to be making risottos and puddings at least once a week from now till next summer.

posted by dishingupdelights on October 7th 2008 at 5:28am
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It's been there for a while! I agree with dishing up delights regarding the amount of rice though. What I do in order to preserve the rice and its freshness after I open it: I put the box and bag in a gallon sized sandwich freezer bag and stick it back in the cupboard. I love simple solutions like this!

posted by oohbladee on October 7th 2008 at 6:30am
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I love the TJ's Arborio, it is great quality for the price. I'm glad it's in a larger box because so often (especially now the weather is getting colder) I want to make risotto on a whim but don't want to pay the ransom of 12oz for $5 at the grocery store, and once I open the package I just seal it up in a tight-sealing plastic container like I would any grain in my kitchen to keep it fresh.

posted by arttarte on October 7th 2008 at 7:29am
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it's been there all along. For me it's a TJ's staple.

posted by allijean on October 7th 2008 at 8:02am
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My only complaint (and it's not even really a complaint) is that the box is so big, I am going to be making risottos and puddings at least once a week from now till next summer.

.....I'm still not entirely clear why this would be considered a "problem". ;-)

posted by empresscallipygos on October 7th 2008 at 8:54am
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Why does TJ's have to over-package everything? I don't mean the size, I mean the plastic bag inside a box. Couldn't they do one or the other? I do shop there but there are certain items I avoid buying for this reason (like this rice).

posted by Charlotte on October 7th 2008 at 4:15pm
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I'm glad many of you like this, I picked this up on my last TJ's trip (they're a 3 hour trip for me) and haven't used it yet, but look forward to making mushroom risotto soon. Thanks for the review!

posted by bobcatsteph3 on October 7th 2008 at 5:20pm
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I made risotto using this rice last night and it worked out well enough. The rice came apart a bit in a way that arborio usually doesn't, but it was not noticeable enough to throw off the texture of the dish.

My guess is that the bag/box serves the purpose of keeping the rice sealed while making it possible to pack a whole lot of rice in each crate. Y'know, the IKEA method.

posted by Sean P. on October 7th 2008 at 5:58pm
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I haven't used this for a risotto (yet) but I did use it to make some Spanish Paella a couple of months back and it was PERFECT! Easy to cook and delicious: highly recommended!

posted by tarikali on October 22nd 2009 at 1:52pm
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