I Tried 9 Trader Joe's Prepared Frozen Shrimp Dishes and Only Found One I Really Loved

I’m here to save you money (and heartache) in America’s favorite supermarket.

No one is more qualified than I am to take on the mission of tasting all of Trader Joe’s frozen shrimp dishes, and here is why: I am a child of the frozen Costco lasagna generation; tasting frozen prepared seafood products was once part of my job description; and I love the convenience of Trader Joe’s. Which is why it was up to me to scour the aisles of my local TJ’s to buy and try every prepared frozen shrimp product they had.

Mostly, I confess I was disappointed. The overarching problem is that the shrimp used in these products let off too much moisture, which makes the breaded and battered products too cakey and the pan-fried ones more a steaming than a searing situation.  But some dishes were good enough to buy again, and that’s good news for those weeknights when you want an easy, quick seafood dinner. Read on to find out how these nine Trader Joe’s shrimp dishes fared.

Gluten Free Breaded Shrimp

Premade gluten-free products have improved exponentially in recent years, but the Trader Joe’s version still took me by surprise. The breading uses tapioca starch and coconut flour, and the result crisped up well when pan-fried, as per the directions on the package. The flavor of the shrimp came through, and the texture had that nice bounce-give balance of whole shrimp. One note: The breading soaked up a little more oil than would have been ideal, adding  a cakey layer, but mostly these were easy to make and satisfying to eat.

Buy again? Definitely, if I had a guest who avoids gluten; I could see using these to top a salad or to make a quick rice bowl.

Tempura Shrimp with Soy Dipping Sauce

I have loved many a frozen tempura shrimp in my life, which may have set my hopes too high. I baked the shrimp as per the box instructions and they came out mushy and dense, not at all like the light, airy ideal of tempura that’s made only heavier by a thick, sweet sauce. Here, the shrimp seemed lost in a tunnel of dough, more like little pieces of meat afloat in batter than whole shrimp. Only the tail sticking out provided evidence of the shrimp; it was also the only part that crisped up. A few days after the official taste test, I pan-fried a few to see if that improved the texture, and even hot oil didn’t seem capable of restoring any crunch.

Buy again? Sadly, no. But it did inspire me to go to a different grocery store to restore my faith in the delightful wonders of frozen tempura shrimp.

Coconut Shrimp

The thing about coconut shrimp is that you really want them to taste like coconut, complete with little flakes waving out of the breading. These offered no flakes and only tiny hints of coconut flavor, which meant that the dominant taste was a weirdly metallic tang and a bit of char where they burnt while making them according to the instructions. Inconsistent breading meant that some bites were nearly all breading and no shrimp (I only found a few morsels with the right balance). The only positive was the coating’s crispiness, but that didn’t make up for the flaws.

Buy again? Absolutely not.

Honey Walnut Shrimp

Making honey walnut shrimp requires a lot of work, so the idea of a shortcut thrilled me. That said, I had to fry these bites in a quarter cup of oil–a chore I generally look for a premade meal to dispose of for me. From there, it was just heating the sauce in the microwave and stirring it–and the walnuts–into the shrimp. The result was somewhat sticky and yellowy, rather than the creamy color and texture I associate with restaurant versions of the dish. Seeing as I was frying shrimp anyway, I would have rather taken the extra step and stirred up my own sauce—all you need is mayonnaise, sweetened condensed milk, and rice vinegar.

Buy again? Probably not, but if I did, I would use the shrimp and the walnuts and stir together my own sauce.

Thai Shrimp Gyoza

Having been overconfident with the tempura, I didn’t get my hopes up for these, even though frozen dumplings of various sorts are one of the major food groups in my house. Thankfully, these surprised me in a good way: The combination of pan-fry and steam, per the instructions, resulted in a nice crispy bottom and supple skin. The filling’s bright herbiness, sharp with ginger and fragrant with chives, stood out, albeit overshadowing the shrimp’s flavor.

Buy again? Definitely. Would add these into the regular dumpling rotation.

Spicy Thai Shrimp Fried Rice

My main quibble with this dish was that the instructions were all but useless. They offered no indication of what temperature to cook the shrimp or rice at, and by the end of the five minutes instructed to cook the rice, mine still had large frozen chunks. I was told to cook the skimpy serving of shrimp until pink, but they were already covered in a film of brown sauce, which cloaked their doneness and left a significant amount of food stuck to my pan. After all of that, I sat down prepared to hate this dish, but it turned out to have a nice, balanced flavor, plenty of the promised spice, and a bright herbiness similar to that of the gyoza. Plus, the little pieces of ginger were cut into flower shapes.

Buy again? Maybe, but if I planned it as a main dish, I’d throw in a few extra frozen shrimp.

Sriracha Shrimp Bowl

Because I was hoping for super easy meals, I was excited for this one, which just required a quick spin in the microwave. But it disappointed in pretty much every other way. The few shrimp started raw and frozen, and the journey through the microwave was not kind to them. Both the shrimp and the vegetables–baby corn, broccoli, and red pepper–released a lot of moisture into the bowl, which resulted in off-putting puddles after cooking. The sauce seemed to, quite literally, be just sriracha, which lacked the kind of balance and nuance needed to overcome the microwaved flavor.

Buy again? Nope.

Shrimp Stir-Fry with Gourmet Pepper Seasoning

None of the dishes had the great flavor of really good shrimp, but this was the only one where the shrimp had an actively off-putting taste. And so many steps! I began by cooking the shrimp, which were impossible to retrieve from the package without pouring the vegetables out into a bowl. Cleaning extra dishes for a freezer meal? That’s one demerit from me. I had to stir-fry in three stages, starting with the shrimp, then adding vegetables, then seasoning to the level I desired, per the instructions. I added the entire packet of powdery seasoning, and still struggled to identify any discernible flavors. The shrimp, big chunks of broccoli, and snow peas let off a lot of moisture, which prevented any of the browning and wok flavor from developing (even over my super-hot burner, which usually does a great job). The result was watery and bland, except for–even more unfortunately–the off taste coming from the shrimp.

Buy again? Definitely not, and please don’t do it either. You’re better off with a handful of frozen shrimp and a bag of frozen vegetables.

Shrimp Seafood Burgers

The old saying, “you eat with your eyes first,” really came into play as I regarded these speckled gray discs of frozen shrimp and pollock. I baked them, per the instructions, and they came out of the oven pretty much as gray as they went in, but now with some pink where the larger chunks of shrimp were. They released a lot of moisture, which meant they steamed as much as they baked. Hiding them in a bun went a long way to making them more appetizing, though they tasted mostly of dried herbs more than seafood. Slathering it with mayonnaise, mustard, and topping it with a pickle turned it into a perfectly fine meal, but it could have been almost anything in there.

Buy again? Only if someone convinced me that pan-frying instead of baking would improve matters significantly.

Related:12 Budget-Friendly Dinners That Start With Frozen Shrimp