Trader Joe’s Sweet and Spicy Buffalo Jerky tastes great and is one of the healthiest jerkies that you will find.
Buffalo is a leaner protein than beef and also has less cholesterol. If you are a carnivore looking for a healthy, high protein, low fat snack then Buffalo Jerky is exactly what you should be looking for!
Nutrition, Ingredients and Labelling
Let’s take a closer look at what you get with this bag of meat!
Nutrition Facts
One bag of the Buffalo Jerky has 3.5 ounces of product with a serving size of 1 ounce. The nutrition facts for a one ounce serving are:
- Calories: 60
- Fat: 0.5g (1% DV)
- Cholesterol: 10mg (3% DV)
- Sodium: 280mg (12% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 6g (2% DV)
- Protein: 11g
This is some of the healthiest jerky I have come across. As far as jerky is concerned the sodium and cholesterol numbers are extremely low. By way of a reference point, the Beef Biltong from Aldi has 3X the cholesterol and 1.5X the salt as this Buffalo Jerky.
Ingredient List
The Buffalo Jerky has the following ingredients:
- Buffalo
- Sugar
- Water
- Soy sauce
- “Flavorings”
- Apple cider vinegar
- Salt
- Paprika
- Smoke flavoring
The use of sugar as one of the primary ingredient in the mix is why this jerky has 6g of carbohydrates.
Labelling
The labelling indicates that this product has:
- No preservatives
- No nitrites
- No MSG
This product is not labelled as Organic or Halal.
The package also comes with a friendly reminder that Buffalo are not an endangered species.
Taste
This jerky is awesome!
The package has lots of very large pieces of jerky that are moist and tender.
The flavor profile is exactly what is stated on the packaging: Sweet and Spicy with a kiss of smoke. The spiciness level is a solid “Medium” and sneaks up on you after you eat a couple of pieces.
I went back and checked the ingredient list to see what they were using to generate the great spiciness but came up empty. There are no peppers of any type listed on the packaging, just the generic term of “Flavorings”.
As far as “Buffalo vs Beef” you really can’t tell the difference. If I gave you a piece of this and told you that it was beef jerky then you would never suspect that it came from Buffalo. There is nothing “gamey” about the meat.
This stuff is really, really tasty.
This package of jerky cost me $6.99 and it was worth every penny.
I suspect that this product will be one of those things that I automatically throw in my cart every time I make a trip to Trader Joe’s.
