“Are you telling me a shrimp fried this rice?”
Ah, shrimp fried rice. It’s a lovable side dish that we just can’t get enough of. Not only has the crew been ordering this from our local Asian restaurant, but we’ve been testing out frozen versions of it whenever the opportunity presents itself. So when we found the Scott & Jon’s Shrimp Fried Rice at our local grocery store, we knew we had to take it home and cook it right up.
Now, we should point out here that this is the larger “family-sized” version of a dish that we’ve already reviewed in the past. However, we figured it was worth checking out out, since we’ve actually not tried any of the S&J larger-size meals. And, of course, we’ll always take an excuse to eat more shrimp fried rice.
Unlike a lot of similar fried rice dishes, this doesn’t come in a bag (a lot of the fried rice we tried comes in a box that contains two bags of rice). Here, the rice just comes in a giant tray.
The box gives two different methods for cooking this. There’s the microwave, which is recommended, and the skillet, which is not recommended. We’re not sure why they listed out instructions that were not recommended, but they did.
We decided to go with the microwave on this, because all that “not recommended” business was really gonking us out. For this method, you’ll just cut a slit in the center of the film, then place this in the microwave for four minutes. Give it a real good stir, then pop it back in for another four minutes. Yes, that’s eight minutes of cooking time, but this is a pretty hefty batch of rice.
If you’ve tried the single-serve version of this, then you already know what to expect here. We didn’t notice any big changes, aside from the size. And that’s a good thing; we really liked the smaller version, so we have no complaints about getting more of that tasty rice.
The star of the show, of course, is the shrimp. Scott & Jon’s tends to use excellent shrimp in their dishes, and this one is no exception. We did find this to be just a tad drier than usual, and we’re wondering if that was a byproduct of the eight-minute cook time. Even so, it wasn’t enough to sour us on this dish or this delicious rice. It’s just something we noticed.
As for the rice, this is a heavily seasoned affair, with onion and garlic powder overpowering the soy flavor. That leads to this having a salty, garlicy flavor, with hints of soy underneath it all. That’s not a bad thing at all, but if you’re looking for something that’s absolutely drenched in soy sauce, you’re probably better off checking out the Japanese Fried Rice from Trader Joe’s.
To balance out the saltiness, there are bits of carrot and some peas, both of which add just hints of sweetness that really pops against the salty backdrop of the rice. We think it’s a fantastic combo.
And then, of course, there are scrambled eggs in the mix. We always prefer our fried rice to have egg in it, so we’re pretty happy about that. Of course, the amount of egg in this dish is pretty scant, but what’s here is decent enough.
Apparently, there are two and a half servings per box. If you stick with the recommended serving size, you’re looking at 270 calories and 630 mg of sodium. That makes sense, because it’s exactly what you’d get if you ate the single-serving version of this meal. If you go hog wild, though, and chomp down the whole box in a sitting, you’re up to 670 calories and 1,570 mg of sodium. For the record, our reviewer ate about half of this and felt pretty full afterward.
The sharable-sized version of Scott & Jon’s Shrimp Fried Rice is just as good as the smaller single-serve version. This does end up just a little bit drier than the other version, but we think that’s mostly due to the longer cook time. This is still a fantastic batch of fried rice, and we’re glad to be eating more of it!
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen batch of rice, check out our package scans below.
