We actually don’t eat a lot of fish here in the Freezer Meal Frenzy office. Sure, we occasionally check out a batch of fish sticks or shrimp, but aside from that we just don’t get a lot of seafood into our bellies. Today, however, we’re stepping away from our fishless diet to check out the Trader Joe’s Crispy Rice Salmon Bites.
Now, these are pretty interesting, as they almost resemble sushi at a glance. While this is a slightly sushi-like snack (the fish-and-rice combo always invokes thoughts of sushi for us), it’s not actual sushi. This is, according to the box, “Atlantic salmon enrobed in a crispy rice batter and a creamy, spicy dipping sauce.” That description definitely piqued our curiosity.
The dipping sauce mentioned in the description we quoted comes in a separate packet that needs to be thawed in a bowl of warm water, as shown in the photograph below.
Aside from that, these fish bites are a cinch to cook. You’ll preheat your oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit, then cook the fish on a baking sheet for 14-17 minutes, flipping them over about halfway through the process. 15 minutes was pretty much perfect for our salmon bites.
Now, to be perfectly honest, we’re not huge fans of salmon, but the stuff here is pretty good. It won’t win over absolute fish-haters, but it has a rich, fishy flavor and a nice texture, which makes it nice to chew.
The fish content doesn’t matter all that much, though, because the rice batter tastes wonderful. It has a little bit of a battery sweetness to it, which we really dig, and it gets nice and crispy so that you’ll bite into one of these with a satisfying crunch.
The provided dipping sauce is a “dynamite sauce,” which is an orange sriracha affair with a spicy-sweet flavor and some sesame seeds for texture. It’s quite good, and it’s a great complement to the fish bites. If you really can’t stand the flavor of the salmon, you can completely drown it out with this delicious sauce. Plus, the portion size is very generous — you’ll have more sauce that you’ll ever need.
Each box has approximately 12 pieces inside (ours had exactly that, though they fell apart a little bit while we were cooking them) and four pieces are considered to be a serving. If you stick with the recommended 1/3 of a package, you’ll be consuming 280 calories and 68 mg of sodium. That’s pretty decent since these are considered an appetizer, but if you try to make a meal of them you could easily end up eating the full dozen at once. If so, you’re going to be downing a substantial amount of sodium, and a hefty calorie count to boot.
The Trader Joe’s Crispy Rice Salmon Bites are really good, even if you don’t care for fish all that much. The combination of the rice batter shells and the sriracha-based sauce is enough to win over people who are on the fence about eating salmon. If the very thought of eating fish makes your stomach turn, you might want to avoid these, but everyone else should certainly give them a try. They’re quite tasty.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for these Trader Joe’s salmon bites, check out our package scans below.