Trader Joe’s Atlantic Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter
I’ve been trying to serve salmon for dinner on a regular basis as part of our effort to reduce carbs and increase our intake of healthy fats. One of our favorites is the Mediterranean Herb Atlantic Salmon from Aldi. I also like to bake or pan fry salmon with a salmon rub.
When I was recently roaming around Trader Joe’s — which is a cousin to Aldi — I found an interesting salmon entree in the freezer aisle. It’s a salmon portion that has several thick discs of lemon herb butter on top of it. It looked promising, so I dropped one in my cart.
We bought this with our own money for review. I paid $5.99 for a 7-ounce package of Trader Joe’s Atlantic Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter at my local Trader Joe’s at the time of writing. That’s around 86 cents per ounce.
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk and salmon.
This features Norwegian farm-raised salmon.
The full ingredients list is Atlantic salmon (color added), and lemon herb butter (unsalted butter [sweet cream, natural flavor], garlic puree, lemon juice, lemon zest, parsley, chives, sea salt and black pepper).
One package contains one serving. If you’re eating this with other seafood entrees or plenty of side dishes, you might be able to get two servings out it, but they’ll be small.
One serving has 510 calories, 39 grams of total fat (50% DV), 16 grams of saturated fat (80% DV), 210 mg of sodium (9% DV), 1 gram of total carbohydrates (0% DV), no dietary fiber, no total sugars or added sugars, and 35 grams of protein.
The package has instructions for cooking this from a thawed state. You have two ways to thaw the salmon.
- Overnight thaw: remove from packaging. Place frozen fish with butter in a tray. Cover and thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Quick thaw: immerse the package in cold water for 30 minutes.
Then, you can bake the salmon in a conventional oven, broil it, or pan fry it.
To bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove all packaging and place the salmon on a pre-heated baking tray, skin side down. Cook for approximately 10-15 minutes or to an internal temperature of 145 degrees.
To broil, remove all packaging. Place salmon skin side down and cook for approximately 8-10 minutes or to 145 degrees.
To pan fry, heat a pan on medium heat, adding a small amount of oil to the pan. Remove the salmon and butter from the packaging and place skin side up in the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Flip the salmon fillet, add the butter, and cook until the butter has melted and the salmon becomes flaky or reaches 145 degrees.
I chose to bake this in my oven. It was done after about 10 minutes, and the salmon was tender, moist, and flaky. The lemon herb butter sits in little indentations on top of the salmon, and it melts in place as the salmon cooks, rather than dripping down into the baking pan or whatever you’re cooking it in. In other words, you don’t lose any of the seasoned butter in the cooking process. The lemon herb butter is very good, with just the right amount of citrus tang. Overall, I liked this and would buy it again.
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s Atlantic Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter is sold frozen, with little pieces of seasoned butter on top. Once you thaw it, it’s quick and easy to cook. We love the flavor that the lemon herb butter gives the fish. Recommended.
