My stepson loves shrimp and lobster. Since lobster is quite expensive, we opted to give him shrimp instead. When my husband and I went to Costco, my brother suggested we get tempura shrimps. This made me look back and reminisce my youth. The lightly battered deep fried shrimp with that sauce (yum!). Anyway, we tried looking for the tempura shrimp at Costco but there was none to be found. Then how would this article be about tempura shrimp wars? Read on.
SeaPak Tempura Shrimp
After the unsuccessful search of tempura shrimp at Costco, we search our local supermarket and was able to find one.
A box contains 8 shrimps that you can bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Don’t bother with the sauce included in the pack as it’s too sweet.
Verdict: It passed my stepson’s taste and my favorite among the 3 tempura shrimp brands in this Tempura Shrimp Wars.
Trader Joe’s Tempura Shrimp with Soy Dipping Sauce
On our recent Trader Joe’s run, my stepson and I discovered that the store carries their name brand Tempura Shrimp. We immediately put one in our cart to try at home.
A box contains 10 shrimps packed in 5 pcs ready for the oven. We didn’t try the dipping sauce as we’re pretty sure we will be disappointed.
Verdict: All 3 of us didn’t like it. It has too much breading and the shrimp didn’t taste like shrimp. It’s like imitation shrimp made like tempura shrimp. It wasn’t a good buy for us.
Kirkland Tempura Shrimp
A few months after our disappointing search at Costco, they put these on sale in their catalog. I told my husband that we have to be there on the day they start selling these.
We were lucky to buy two boxes of these shrimps. They really ran out fast as on our next trip to Costco, they were nowhere to be found. A box of these are 30 pcs packed in 5 pcs each.
Verdict: My stepson didn’t notice the difference between this and SeaPak. I noticed a difference as I can taste more breading than the shrimp.
My stepson likes to eat tempura shrimp without any dipping sauce. He prefers both SeaPak and Kirkland. I prefer to eat SeaPak tempura shrimps and dip it with Thai sweet chili sauce. My husband has similar taste with his son and prefers to dip it with Kikkoman Tempura Dipping Sauce. All 3 are still a far cry from a freshly cooked tempura shrimp at a Japanese restaurant with the real dipping sauce.
However, when you’re in a crunch or if you don’t know how to make them on your own, these quick frozen meals will at least soothe your cravings. Let us know which one do you prefer.
Claudine on the Go 