Target's Dupe For These Beloved Trader Joe's Chips Is Surprisingly Spot On

Among many things, Trader Joe's is well-known for its cheap, healthy snacks. But maybe T.J.'s doesn't happen to be on the way home when grocery day rolls around. Or maybe you need to pick up a few products that Trader Joe's simply doesn't carry. Either way, nothing brings down the fun of a Target run like having to sacrifice your favorite exclusive T.J.'s-brand snacks. Although, for foodies craving Trader Joe's Plantain Chips, no sacrifice is necessary. Target's Good & Gather Sea Salt Plantain Chips are a solid dupe.

Plantain chips themselves are something of a dupe — a healthier alternative to regular potato chips. At Trader Joe's, plantain chips run for $1.99 per six-ounce bag. The plantains are sourced from Peru and "picked when they're just ripe enough to be slightly sweet," according to the Trader Joe's website. To make them, those plantains get "sliced and cooked in sunflower oil, then dusted with salt. They eat like sort-of-sweet, thick-cut potato chips, but with less fat than typical potato chips." One Reddit thread raves about T.J.'s simple yet crushable plantain chips, "It takes so much self control to not eat the whole bag."

Although the dark russet chips are our favorite T.J.'s chips of all time, we're still digging these salty plantain snacks. The Target website provides comparatively less particulars about the production of its plantain chips. However, they only include three ingredients: plantains, sea salt, and palm oil – which is pretty impressive for a chip of any kind.

Good & Gather Sea Salt Plantain Chips run for $3.99 per six-ounce bag at a Target location in Chicago. While still low-cost, the price point is markedly higher than Trader Joe's plantain chips, which are fried in sunflower oil; the Target version uses controversial palm oil. Still, a bag of chips with an ingredients list only three items long is still a healthier edge over other chip offerings, Peru-sourcing notwithstanding. 

These chips made our roundup of 22 must-try snacks that you can only find at Target. As our reviewer noted, "The plantain chips are amply crunchy and slightly salty, and the biggest difference between this bag and other versions is that this one features longer, thinner chips." Consumer product reviews on the Target website similarly praise the snack's affordability, well-balanced amount of salt, and pleasantly toothy crunch. Trader Joe's also makes a sweet version of its plantain chips and has carried jerk-seasoned and dark chocolate drizzled versions. Target's Good & Gather store brand has yet to produce a dupe for these spinoff flavors, but if it's a classic, straightforward, no-frills plantain taste you're craving, Good & Gather has you covered; no need to make two separate stops on a weeknight grocery run. Got any leftover chips at the bottom of the bag? Crush 'em up and use them to make these plantain-crusted chicken fingers for supper, or stuff them into your lunchtime sandwich for a sweet-salty crunch.