Trader Joe’s 'Cutest' $2 Fan Favorite Is Back

Who’s a big fan of date night at home? You can cook your favorite dinner and open a special bottle of wine or make cocktails that don’t cost $18 each. You can cuddle up on the couch to watch a movie or break out a board game. Best of all, you can save money. 

Trader Joe’s is the perfect store to shop for the ingredients you need for your date-night dinners. Want to make the cooking simple? Choose something like TJ’s pre-marinated Shawarma Chicken Thighs for your main dish. Even professional chefs love the store's cheese options for your next charcuterie board. You can even get individually-sized desserts such as tiramisu or pretzel bread pudding in the store’s freezer section. 

If you’re someone who prefers to stay in and cook on the ultimate date night (Ina does!), Trader Joe’s just brought back one of its beloved pastas in a shape that’s tailor-made for a simple Valentine’s feast. 

Trader Joe’s Italian Artisan Heart-Shaped Pasta

Pasta is the way to anyone’s heart, and Trader Joe’s brings out its Italian Artisan Heart Shaped Pasta each year right around Valentine’s Day. Instagram’s Trader Joe’s New spotted them at her local store with a price tag of $2.49 for a pound. 

“Missed opportunity to call it “Heart-isan” pasta,” one clever follower quipped. Another, who answered a question no one asked but many were probably wondering, said, “I tried it, and it tastes the same as any other pasta! So cute!”

How to Serve Trader Joe’s Perfect-for-Valentine’s Day Pasta

Before thinking of all the ways to serve up the heart-shaped pasta, we hunted down the answer to a question we had: Does it keep its shape after boiling? This TikTok video from a couple of years ago shows that it does keep its shape. Armed with that important info, we came up with many ways to serve this pasta.

A traditional red sauce such as The World’s Best Pasta Sauce—a favorite of so many of our members—would be appropriate. So would vodka sauce. 

But, since Trader Joe’s went a bit untraditional with the pasta shape, you could also go untraditional with the sauce by choosing cheesy butternut squash pasta sauce, lemon pasta sauce, or gorgonzola pasta sauce. 

You could also substitute the heart shapes for the rotini in chicken parmesan pasta casserole (perfect if your Valentine’s date night includes the whole family) or for the orecchiette in Brie and asparagus pasta casserole

The possibilities are endless, but this pasta's time on store shelves is not. As with many of the store’s seasonal or super popular items, it could sell out quickly, so if you want it for your Valentine’s dinner at home, grab it while you can.