I recently discovered that Costco is selling a two pound box of Kirkland Garlic Butter Shrimp and I think it tastes delicious! The shrimp is frozen but can be quickly cooked in about ten minutes.
The garlic butter sauce can be doctored up with some lemon juice and red pepper flakes if you want it to have more of a shrimp scampi flavor profile but I think it is wonderful just as it is.
Let’s jump in and take a look at how to cook the shrimp, calories, cost, and all of that other stuff you want to know!
What Comes in the Box!
The box contains two plastic bags with each bag holding one pound of garlic butter shrimp. Keep in mind that the one pound value includes both the shrimp and the sauce which will make one bag the right size to feed two hungry people.
One of the bags was marked with a “Sell By” date that is about two years away from when I made my purchase so it looks like the product has a long freezer life.
One of the things that surprised me was that the sauce was frozen directly onto the shrimp and wasn’t included in a separate pouch.
Kirkland Garlic Butter Shrimp With Rice
Equipment
- 1 Large Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb Kirkland garlic Butter Shrimp 1 package, frozen.
- 8 oz Ben's Original Ready Rice
- 2 slices Crusty Bread
Instructions
- Heat skillet on stovetop over medium heat.
- Add the frozen garlic butter shrimp to the pan.
- Sautee over medium heat for 10-12 minutes until shrimp has turned pink and begins to curl.
- Prepare the Ben's Original Ready Rice according to package directions (tear a slit in the top and microwave for 90 seconds).
- Serve the shrimp over the rice and coat with the pan sauce.
- Add a slice of crusty bread to soak up teh rich, buttery sauce and enjoy!
Notes
Cooking Instructions
The package provides three sets of cooking instructions: Sautee, Bake and Microwave.
When I saw that there were instructions for microwave cooking I assumed that the shrimp were already cooked and all I had to do was heat them up. That was a bad assumption on my part as these frozen shrimp are raw.
I ended up going with the sautéing method which simply involves putting the shrimp into a large pan and heating them on Medium-High heat on the stovetop for about 10 minutes while giving them a stir every now and then.
My only gripe with cooking the shrimp is that I am not used to cooking raw shrimp straight from frozen and I keep overcooking the shrimp making it a little tougher than it needs to be.
If I were going to cook both bags at once then I would go with the baking route as my skillet isn’t large enough for two pounds of shrimp.
To bake the shrimp you need to preheat your oven to 450F, place the shrimp in a single layer in an oven safe dish or a foil lined baking tray, then cook for 14 minutes while giving them a flip at the 7 minute mark.
Take a look at this close up picture of the shrimp to see that the shrimp have a heavy coat of the butter sauce. The reason that I point this out is that I don’t think there would be an easy way to cook this dish in an air fryer.
Taste Test!
The packaging suggested adding some basil and red pepper flakes to the sauce, serving over pasta and topping with some grated Parmesan cheese.
I like the shrimp as is, without any doctoring up, served over a bed of rice.
The flavor of the dish is exactly what I want and expected. Plenty of shrimp swimming in a garlic butter bath! The shrimp are peeled, deveined and have the tail off which makes them easy to eat.
You really want to serve the shrimp over something that will soak up the delicious sauce. I have been using rice, and the package suggests pasta, but this would also be amazing served over grits or, dare I suggest, mashed potatoes! You could also serve this was some French bread to soak up any leftover sauce.
My singular complaint about the dish is that the amount of butter can be overwhelming (you can see it pooled up at he bottom of the plate in the picture below). I will often drain off some of the butter which just seems wrong….I never thought that I would write the words “too much butter”.
Calories
One serving is about a cup of shrimp along with the sauce.
If you are trying to be health conscious then look away know because the nutritional information is not pretty!
Nutritional Information
- Calories: 350
- Fat: 31 g (40% DV)
- Cholesterol: 240 mg (80% DV)
- Sodium: 340 mg (15% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 3 g (1%)
- Protein: 20 g
Those fat and cholesterol numbers are compliments of all of that delicious butter!
Convenience
The frozen garlic butter shrimp is incredibly convenient and I have started keeping my freezer stocked with them for a couple of months.
The portion size per bag is perfect for two people which makes it an easy weeknight meal for my wife and me.
The shrimp cooks up fast, around 10 minutes, which comes in handy when I am looking for a fast weekday lunch.
If I am eating this by myself I portion everything out into two bowls and immediately cover one and place it in the refrigerator for the next day. If I don’t pre-portion in advance I will eat almost the whole thing in one sitting and am sluggish the rest of the day!
Lastly I love that the shrimp will last about two years in the freezer. I have no intention of keeping them that long but my freezer is messy and things have been known to get lost every now and then 🙂
Price
The Kirkland Garlic Butter Shrimp is Item Number 1200200 and is found in the freezer section of the warehouse with the other frozen shrimp products.
The two pound box of frozen shrimp currently costs $15.99 which comes out to about $8 per pound.
Overall I think the price is perfectly fair considering the quality and convenience of the meal.
