Trader Joe’s has a four pack of frozen mahi mahi burgers for sale that I gave a try. I want to eat more fish and less red meat but am not a fan of oily seafood like salmon. Mahi Mahi is a very mild tasting white fish that I enjoy so I was hoping that Trader Joe’s could turn it into a tasty burger!
Nutrition and Ingredients
Here is what you get in these burgers.
Nutrition Facts
There are four frozen patties per box and one patty is a single serving. One patty weighs 91 grams which is 0.20 pounds (3.2 ounces).
The nutritional facts for one patty are:
- Calories: 140
- Fat: 9g (12% DV)
- Cholesterol: 30mg (10% DV)
- Sodium: 330mg (14% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 0g (0% DV)
- Protein: 15g
These burgers have 50% more calories and twice as much fat as Trader Joe’s Shrimp Seafood Burgers. While the Mahi Mahi burgers are still pretty healthy I was surprised by the nutritional difference compared to the shrimp burgers.
Ingredient List
The burgers have the following ingredients:
- Mahi Mahi
- Water
- Canola oil
- Rice flour
- Spices
- Paprika
- Parsley
- Salt
- Natural smoke flavor
- Potato extract
- Natural grill flavors
- Mustard flower
- Rosemary
I have to confess that I am a little hesitant about the use of “Natural Smoke Flavor” and ” Natural Grill Flavors”.
Heating and Serving the Burgers
Trader Joe’s provides instructions for several ways of preparing these burgers (Grill, Oven Bake, Pan Fry).
Since these burgers already had “Natural Grill Flavors” I decided to cook them in my Ninja Foodie Air Fryer. I set my air fryer to the “Bake” setting at 400F and cooked the burgers for 16 minutes, flipping them every 4 minutes.
The packaging says that the burgers must be cooked to an internal temperature of 160F.
Taste
I served the burgers up as simple lettuce wraps with this slices of fresh tomatoes. I thought the overall presentation was lovely and that it looked delightfully healthy.
I could also easily imagine breaking the patty up and using it for fish tacos.
I took my first bite and had really mixed impressions.
The flavor was extremely mild. The burgers were so mild that their flavor was overwhelmed by the tomatoes. I could taste some fish flavor and it absolutely was not oily or “fishy”.
However, the “spongy” texture of the burgers was incredibly weird. I broke open a patty and it looked ultra processed like the fish had gone through a shredder, was emulsified with other ingredients and then pressed into shape.
The texture isn’t bad, it just was not at all what I was expecting from a fish burger.
I tried adding more flavor to the burgers with some sauce. One burger got a dollop of Trader Joe’s Cocktail Sauce while the other took a bath in Trader Joe’s Green Dragon Hot Sauce. The burger with the cocktail sauce was okay bit the one with the Green Dragon hot sauce was great!
Would I Buy These Again?
The four pack of burgers cost $6.99 which works out to $1.75 per patty.
I do not think that I will be buying these burgers again. My hesitancy to buy any more isn’t because the Mahi Mahi burgers are bad. Instead, the issue is that Trader Joe’s Shrimp Burgers cost the exact same amount and I like them so much better.
I only need one type of frozen seafood burger in my freezer and I like the Shrimp Burgers better.
We and the kids LOVE TJ Mahi Mahi Burgers! Yes, they are bland, just like mahi mahi is, but who eats them plain? Get some Emeril’s Blackened seasoning and coat those bad boys. They also have to be cooked just right (as most fish does). We typically grill ours on propane and as long as you watch your temps, they always turn out fantastic!
I make mine into a bowl with veggies and rice and a sauce (and some avocado for good measure) and loooove them! Soooo good. I pan fry mine, but throwing them on the grill would be great!
That’s fine that you like the shrimp burgers better but you should really pan fry the mahi-mahi burgers with a tiny bit of oil for a better texture plus some crispiness. It’s faster too than an air fryer. Then I like them on a toasted bun with tomato, onion, tartar sauce and some chopped pickle. 🙂
Seriously I think this guy doesn’t know how to cook fish. Mahi needs to have blackened seasonings or at least some other types like salt garlic pepper creole worsteshire etc. and airfry yuck. Grill them I also did one on a Hexclad pan. Prefer the grill iwith blackened.