A shrimp ring is a classic favorite at many parties or other gatherings. What could be better than a perfect circle of arranged pink chilled shrimp, with a cup of red cocktail dipping sauce in the center? Shrimp rings are a common sight at many of my family’s holiday celebrations, and for good reason. They’re delicious, fat free, low in calories and carbs, and high in protein.
Aldi sells a frozen shrimp ring for most of the year as an everyday Regular Buy. It has plenty of small shrimp and a decent cocktail sauce, and in my local store it costs around $7.
However, if you want to up your shrimp ring game, Aldi also sometimes sells a frozen shrimp ring with larger shrimp. That’s what I’m looking at today.
Specially Selected Premium Cocktail Shrimp cost $8.99 for 16 ounces (12 ounces of shrimp, 4 ounces of sauce) at the time of publication. This is about $2 more than the everyday shrimp ring Aldi sells. The tradeoff is that you’re paying more for fewer but bigger shrimp.
This is an Aldi Find, which means it’s only in stores for a short time. Aldi does not offer online ordering for its specials once they’ve sold out at your local store.
These shrimp are cooked in the shell, with the tails left on. They’re ready to eat and only need to be thawed and served. They’re Best Aquaculture Practices certified, and the shrimp were farm raised and are a product of India.
Specially Selected Premium Cocktail Shrimp nutrition information, ingredients, and thawing instructions. (Click to enlarge.)
The cocktail sauce contains water, tomato paste, sugar, horseradish, fructose syrup, vinegar, salt, modified starch, soybean oil, spices, color, xanthan gum, granulated onion, and natural and artificial flavor.
If you’re watching out for allergens, naturally, this contains shrimp (crustacean shellfish). It also contains soy.
There are four servings per container, with about 20-22 shrimp per container. One serving (about six shrimp) has 100 calories, no fat, 110 mg of cholesterol (36% DV), 440 mg of sodium (19% DV), 8 grams of total carbohydrates (3% DV), and 18 grams of protein.
Shrimp, thawed and ready to eat.
You can thaw the shrimp ring overnight or do a quick thaw method.
To thaw overnight, place the shrimp ring on a leakproof dish and thaw in the refrigerator. (Do not thaw on the counter or at room temperature.)
To thaw quickly, remove the plastic dome and sauce cup. Place the sealed sauce cup and sealed platter of shrimp under running cold water for 10-15 minutes or until thawed.
Store the thawed shrimp and sauce in the refrigerator and use within 24 hours.
Shrimp and cocktail sauce.
These shrimp were fantastic. They’re large and plump with lots of tender meat. The cocktail sauce is good, too. In fact, I think the sauce in this shrimp ring is better than the sauce that comes in the everyday Regular Buy frozen shrimp ring Aldi sells for less money. There was plenty of sauce in this premium shrimp ring, too. In fact, when all the shrimp were gone, the sauce cup was still almost half full, so this is a good option if you’re serving it to people who really like to dip their shrimp. The only downside to this shrimp ring might be that it’s not the cheapest one Aldi sells, but it’s a good one.
The Verdict:
Specially Selected Premium Cocktail Shrimp come in a ring with a generously sized cup of cocktail sauce for dipping. These shrimp are excellent. They’re large and tender, and they’re perfect for serving at any kind of special gathering or occasion.
Really enjoyed the 12oz shrimp ring with cocktail sauce.
Having remembered this review from earlier in the year, I purchased the shrimp ring when it became available at my Aldi and put it in the freezer to add as a special treat to the appetizer spread at Christmas as only my son-in-law and I eat shrimp. Per the instructions it was thawed overnight, but was still slightly frozen when it was time to put it out so did the cold water thaw method for about 10 additional minutes. My son-in-law and I both commented on how many of the beautiful and big shrimp there were (it actually does look bigger unwrapped) and how we would use the leftovers (ala shrimp creole was discussed). But, much to our surprise, they were so absolutely fabulous we ended up finishing all of them, just wonderful! I had also purchased a bottle of the Aldi cocktail sauce as I wasn’t sure what was provided would be enough, but as the review mentions, even after generous dipping there was still about half of the very delicious sauce left in the cup. Highly recommend this shrimp ring and will buy again next year. Also plan to purchase the everyday available shrimp ring mentioned in the review to try as well. Since we did not need to open the bottled Aldi cocktail sauce after all, I am curious to know if it is as good as that which came with the shrimp ring — hope so!