Costco offers a wide variety of appetizers, which can make it tricky to decide what to pick for your next gathering. On a recent shopping trip, I noticed the Ocean Pier Smoked Salmon and Crab Cake Bites and decided to give them a try. While I liked the concept behind these bites, there were a few things that didn’t quite work for me. Keep reading to find out what they were!
Location in Store
These bites are located in the freezer section at Costco, near the Kirkland Signature Garlic Butter Shrimp and the Ajinomoto Japanese Style Gyoza. The item number is 1961802.
Taste
I don’t love these. They’re not horrible, but they’re not as tasty as I expected. The crab bite is spicy, which I wasn’t expecting. They’re very salty, and the texture of the crab is soft and mushy. The bites are crispy on the outside, and the flavor of the breading is nice but also salty. They have a slightly fishy taste.
The smoked salmon bites hold together better. They’re also crisp on the outside but not as mushy on the inside. They have a nice salmon flavor with a hint of spice, but they’re not nearly as hot as the crab bites. If you like salmon, you’ll enjoy the flavor of these. My biggest complaint is how salty they are.
Neither the crab bites nor the salmon bites are amazing, but they’re tasty enough. I like that they don’t have a strong, fishy flavor. Although I wasn’t amazed by these, my parents seemed to really enjoy them.
Cost
The box comes with 40 bites—20 of each kind—and costs $19.99 Canadian. This seems pretty reasonable at 50 cents per bite; you’re also paying for the convenience factor.
Convenience
I baked these in the oven following the instructions on the box, and they turned out pretty crispy on the outside but a bit mushy on the inside. The bites need to be kept frozen, and the best-before date is about a year and five months from when I purchased them..
These work well as an appetizer, and I ate them on their own, plain. I don’t think they need any dipping sauce, they’re flavorful enough on their own.
Nutrition
Calories
Four smoked salmon bites contain 260 calories, 17 grams of fat, 20 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fibre, one gram of sugar, seven grams of protein, and 560 milligrams of sodium. Four crab cake bites contain 160 calories, nine grams of fat, 12 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fibre, one gram of sugar, nine grams of protein, and 560 milligrams of sodium.
That’s a decent amount of sodium in only four bites! The fat is also fairly high in the salmon bites, but that makes sense since salmon is naturally high in fat.
Ingredients
The ingredients list is pretty long and includes some unhealthy items I don’t love seeing, such as palm oil, sugar, soy protein isolate, sugars, and artificial flavor. The bites contain wheat, soy, milk, salmon, sesame, egg, barley, anchovies, mustard, and crab.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 7.5/10
Convenience: 9.5/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give it a try!
I found these a bit too salty, but crab is usually naturally pretty salty. I wouldn’t say they’re anything special or that I’ll be rushing to buy them again, but my parents loved them and really enjoyed them.
Have you tried the Costco Ocean Pier Smoked Salmon and Crab Cake Bites? What did you think of them? Leave a comment below!
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
