The Trident Beer Battered Cod at Costco comes in a 2.5 pound box and is made with wild caught Alaskan cod.
We bought a box of the cod hoping that it would make for a decent alternative to the Fish and Chips that are served by our local English style pub. The Trident beer battered cod came out as “acceptable” but nowhere near restaurant quality with the biggest issue being a lack of crunch with the breading.
I am not unhappy with the Trident cod but it isn’t something that I plan on buying again as Costco has much better seafood options.
Let’s take a closer look at what you get with this box of frozen fish.
Nutrition and Ingredients
Let’s take a closer look at what you get with this fish.
Nutrition Facts
You get about 13 breaded cod filets per 2.5 pound box. One serving is a single filet of breaded cod.
The nutrition facts for a single serving are:
- Calories: 170
- Fat: 7g (9% DV)
- Cholesterol: 25mg (8% DV)
- Sodium: 380mg (17% DV)
- Carbohydrates: 16g (6% DV)
- Protein: 10g
Overall this looks like a pretty healthy product. Apparently I need to be eating cod on a more regular basis!
Ingredient List
The battered cod has the following ingredients:
- Cod
- Vegetable oil
- Corn starch
- Water
- Flour
- Beer
- Yellow corn meal
- Dextrin
- Rice flour
- Potato starch
- And a whole other list of stuff that just doesn’t need to be there.
I usually try to list all of the ingredients in a product but once I got down to things like potassium chloride, palm oil, dextrose, xanthan gum, etc. it was pretty obvious that this product was designed by food scientists. I am generally not a fan of super processed foods.
The breaded filets are listed as:
- Wild
- Natural
- Sustainable
According to Fish Watch, the cod sold by Trident Seafood is “Seafood Watch- Eco-Certification Recognized”.
Heating and Serving
The packaging only offers cooking instructions for the oven but you can find the air fryer instructions on Trident’s website.
Heating Instructions
The oven instructions for this product are:
- Preheat your oven to 475°F.
- Place frozen fillet on lightly greased baking sheet.
- Cook for 17 to 19 minutes until crisp.
- Turn product halfway through bake time for best results.
The Air Fryer instructions for this product are:
- Set air fryer temperature to 400°F.
- Place frozen fish in a single layer.
- Cook for 7 to 8 minutes.
- Flip product and cook for another 6 minutes.
We cooked the cod in our Ninja Foodie Air Fryer following the directions above and the fish came out just fine.
Taste Test!
My wife ate her cod in true “Fish and Chips” style by soaking the filets in malt vinegar. I went with some Cholula hot sauce with my fish and also tried a piece with Primal Kitchens Tartar Sauce.
My wife and I agreed that the cod was perfectly acceptable but not as good as the Gordon’s beer battered filets that we have had before. The Gordon’s product is pollock instead of cod but the fish taste extremely similar.
The main difference that we both picked up was that the breading was a little “flat” and didn’t have the texture and crunch we wanted.
The fish tasted clean, mild and just like you would expect for a piece of cod.
While this fish is acceptable I much prefer Costco’s Everything Seasoned Breaded Cod.
Costco Value
I was able to find a 12 ounce package of Trident Beer Battered Cod for $6.49 at Target. This works out to a price of $8.65 per pound when you buy the fish at Target.
This 2.5 pound box of battered cod cost me $15.49 at Costco which works out to a per pound cost of $6.20.
This means that you will save about 40% per pound when you buy the beer battered cod at Costco.
We are going to finish the remaining cod filets that we have but I do not expect that we will be buying this product again. Costco offers a great value but I am willing to pay more elsewhere for fish filets that have better breading.
My entire family loves the Beer Battered Cod from Costco! The fish tastes incredibly fresh and the delicious batter gets surprisingly crispy in the air fryer. Plus I love that it’s wild-caught in Alaska, which matters to me. And you can’t beat the Costco price or freezer convenience. Dave, if you have an air fryer, I hope that you and your wife will try it that way because it may change your mind about the texture and taste. We recommend it to everyone for a delicious and healthy meal. Once again, thank you Costco!
June 2022. Not buying anymore. My wife and I started buying the Trident Beer Batter Cod fillets at Costco 3 years ago. She, being a nutritionist, and having toured the Trident Seafood Factory in Alaska had nothing but praise for the company and all their products. First couple of years the filets were always tender and flaky. But this past year the quality of the filets have gone downhill. We started noticing some of the filets have pieces of a “fiberous” texture like material in them, making it tough and chewy, as if they are putting the “lateral line” of the fish meat into the filets ( The lateral line is tougher, since it is basically the muscle the connects to the tail fin of a fish, and wags the tail when the fish swim, it is fiberous, less to no flake…..I consider it the “trash” portion of a fish). Sad that Trident would resort to putting trash portions in what was once an excellent product.
This evening my husband and I sat down for a dinner of your Beer Battered Cod. I ate three forkfuls before turning to my husband and saying “This fish is horrible, it’s inedible.” One forkful, in particular, was so salty it actually hurt my tongue. Some of the fish was flakey, as it should be, but some was so tough I couldn’t chew it. The batter was greasy and sodden.
I went to the freezer and dumped the remaining fillets in the garbage, keeping only the box for information for this email.
I had purchased the fish just the day before, from Costco. We cooked it following the air fryer directions on the package. To say we were disappointed would be a gross understatement.
best by 08/26/2024, lot a223851, 0928, The UPC code is 0 28029 19445 6
I agree. We had several pieces of this tough lateral line stuff in our fish. We, too, are going to throw out the rest of the package. Very disappointing. Will never buy this poor quality product again.
I just ate the Costco beer battered cod. It was great . January 4th 2023. Air fry at 400 only took 12 minutes total time. Ninja also bought at Costco.
I recently renewed my Costco membership and was super excited to try this beer battered cod on a fish sandwich. I cooked it in my toaster over on 450º for more than 30 minutes. I built my sandwich, took one bite, and … horrible!! I could not chew the fish, and the flavor was dreadful. I can’t even describe it. I had to run to the trash can and spit it out, then quickly scrape the entire plate into the can. Honestly, I renewed my Costco membership mostly for dogfood and a dog bed, and after seeing the prices on fresh seafood and beef—which are no better than anywhere else but five times the volume—I’ll stick to my original plan.
Well…, I loved this product and am very upset that Costco isn’t carrying it in my store any longer.
I picked this up at Costco this past Sunday. I’ve had it twice now, and it’s only Tuesday. Personally, I find it to be delicious and will be buying more. 14 minutes in the air fryer at 400 and it’s just about perfect.
The fish is rubbery like chewing on an eraser — the batter is greasy. How can this product be so horrible when Costco’s “Ultimate Fish Sticks” are so good? Very disappointed.
Best By 3/16/2025
Lot A307551 2315
I tried the Trident Beer Battered Cod tonight. I have been buying Gortons at Publix. I cooked the Trident product in the oven at 475 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping it half way through. I thought it was good. I’m satisfied with the texture and taste.