We tried the Trader Joe’s Pork Gyoza Potstickers not too long ago, and we found them to be pretty tasty. We’d also enjoyed the shrimp and veggie gyoza options from TJ’s as well, and, again, we found a lot to enjoy. So we decided to dig deeper into this line of frozen food.
And that led us to the Trader Joe’s Spicy Salmon Gyoza. According to an old Reddit thread, this was added to the TJ’s frozen food selection in early 2019. Now, we don’t know that this information is accurate, but we honestly haven’t found any information to suggest that these are any older than that.
Anyway, while we’re always excited to try more of TJ’s frozen food, we’ve been a little bit hesitant to try this item specifically. The general consensus seems to be that these just aren’t that good, and honestly, we don’t know if salmon is the right protein to put inside a piece of gyoza. (We’ll point out here that we know salmon gyoza is actually a thing, and people do seem to enjoy it, but we’re iffy about this specific flavor combo.)
Still, we’re professionals here at Freezer Meal Frenzy, and we really wanted to get to the bottom of this fishy gyoza mystery. Is the anti-gyoza drama called for, or does it belie a succulent treat of epic proportions? Well, dear reader, let’s find out!
First off, we have to cook these. While there are a few different options, we chose the stovetop cooking method. We tend to like our gyoza with just a little bit of crisp to the edge, which is what happens when you fry them in a pan. In fact, we even like to char ours just a little bit, and you definitely won’t get that effect in the microwave. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions straight off the bag, check out our package scan at the bottom of this review.)
Now, we’ll say right away that these are nowhere near as good as the pork ones. The pork version has a little bit of gingery sweetness to it, while we think these are overly fishy. We dipped our gyoza in soy sauce to see if that would help, but we can’t decide if that made these better or worse. Does the soy cover up the fishy flavor or enhance it? We think it somehow manages to do both!
We also think the texture here is a bit weird and mushy. The filling has the consistency of wet tuna, which is definitely not appealing. When you bite into one of these and a bunch of wet fish mush pours into your mouth, it’s just not a very pleasant experience.
We do think the shells are as good as always. They have a lovely texture, and the little bit of crisp that we give ours in the pan makes them very satisfying to bite into (until that fish goop comes rushing out and the whole experience is ruined).
We also didn’t find these to be spicy at all. Perhaps there was a ghost of a spiciness somewhere in there, but we barely noticed at all.
The bag considers three pieces to be a serving. If you stick with that amount, you’ll be consuming 230 calories and 480 mg of sodium. While those numbers seem pretty reasonable, three pieces hardly seems like an appropriate serving size. We have a feeling you’ll probably double that, and if you add a bit of soy sauce, which we did, you’re adding even more calories and sodium. These are not really a diet food.
The Trader Joe’s Spicy Salmon Gyoza just isn’t very good. Trader Joe’s has so many better gyoza options in their freezer aisle; there’s no reason to settle for this one.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this Trader Joe’s gyoza, check out our package scan below.
