If you love saving money on frozen food, it’s likely you’ve strolled down the aisles of your local Trader Joe’s and looked over their frozen food lineup. They’ve got some really great items in this line, such as the Bibimbap Bowl, and we’re always curious to try more.
At our most recent trek to Trader Joe’s, the Shrimp Soft Tacos & Cotija Cheese really caught our eye. After all, it’s been quite some time since we last had a great frozen taco dish. While frozen burritos are virtually everywhere, it seems frozen tacos are a little harder to come by.
First off, this is unmistakably a seafood dish. While it’s cooking, a fishy, seaside aroma wafts through the room. If you work in an office where haters of seafood abound (we’ve all been there), then you probably want to avoid bringing this into work.
It also doesn’t look nearly as pretty as the picture on the box.
But we’re not here for the looks; we’re here for the taste, and these have a pretty great flavor. While the shrimp accounts for a good deal of the scent, it’s really the green salsa that provides the flavor. You’ll taste an undercurrent of shrimp, of course, but it’s that salsa that does the talking. It has that nice verde flavor, and it even has some spice to it, which we weren’t necessarily expecting.
Each taco comes double-shelled, which we assume is either there to keep these tacos from falling apart or for letting the shell show off more of its corn tortilla flavor. If it’s the former, it doesn’t really work, as these tacos suffer from the soggy-bottom effect, with ingredients bursting out of the bottom through both shells. Plus, if you let them sit too long in the cooking tray they’ll stick to it. But if it’s the latter, Trader Joe’s does alright, as these shells have that “authentic street taco” flavor and consistency.
We really appreciate Trader Joe’s honesty on the package too. While many companies would have given nutrition info for one taco and called that a serving, Trader Joe’s considers the whole box to be a single serving. And this is good, because the tacos aren’t wrapped individually; it would be tough to just cook one at a time. The whole shebang comes out to 340 calories (110 from fat), which isn’t bad for a set of three tacos.
While finding a decent frozen taco dish can be tricky, Trader Joe’s Shrimp Tacos fit the bill nicely. They’ll give your street taco craving a good whopping.
To see the full list of ingredients in this frozen food, as well as the nutrition info, check out our package scan below.
