This $2.99 Trader Joe's Find Gets My Preschooler To Eat Her Veggies

Sprinkles make everything better, at least according to the toddler and preschooler that live in my house (my two daughters). No matter the food, they can be convinced it’s worth trying when they’re allowed to shake on their favorite toppings.

Enter Trader Joe’s Pizza Sprinkle Seasoning Blend. We’re on our third or fourth bottle of it—it’s that much of a hit in our house. I give the bottle to my kiddos at the dinner table and they add a little bit to their veggies, pasta, potatoes… any savory side dish is fair game.

What’s In The Bottle?

You might think that something called “Pizza Sprinkle” would be similar to Italian seasoning, but it’s actually a pizza-flavored seasoning. The ingredients list is pretty simple: 

• Tomato powder
• Granulated garlic
• Paprika
• Sea salt
• Rice concentrate (I’m guessing as an anti-caking agent)
• Coriander
• Black pepper
• Dried parsley
• Dried basil
• Dried oregano

The tomato powder gives this blend an acidic kick, and when combined with the rest of the herbs and spices in the blend it really does taste a lot like pizza sauce.

Pizza Sprinkles vs. Sauce

Why add sprinkles instead of actual sauce? Unlike a lot of pizza sauces, there’s no added sugar in this spice blend. It’s also a whole lot less messy to add some sprinkles than to serve a saucy meal, always great with little kids. Plus, they love sprinkling it over the top of their food.

Just make sure you help young ones with the bottle—the sprinkling holes in the lid are quite large so the seasoning comes out quickly!

Will It Sprinkle?

Some of our favorite things to sprinkle are roasted broccoli and cauliflower, buttered peas and mixed vegetables, and just about any pasta. I’ll often toss some cooked cheese tortellini with olive oil and pizza sprinkle for the simplest side dish ever. 

Other ways to use TJ’s Pizza Sprinkle Seasoning Blend:

• Pizza-flavored garlic bread: Slice open a loaf of French bread, spread it generously with butter, bake at 425ºF until crisp and golden brown, then top with pizza sprinkle when it’s hot out of the oven. 
• Pizza frico: Mix some pizza sprinkle into grated Parmesan cheese, then bake it in little piles on a parchment-lined baking sheet at 375ºF for about five minutes, until you have crispy and savory rounds of pizza-flavored cheese. 
• Pizza beans: Sauté baby lima beans in a little olive oil and garlic, then top them with Parmesan and pizza sprinkle at the table. 
• Pizza popcorn: Pop a batch of popcorn, then add pizza sprinkle along with Parmesan or nutritional yeast. 
• Pizza burgers: Mix a tablespoon or two of pizza seasoning into ground beef, fry up your burgers, and melt slices of mozzarella on top.