The Best And Worst Frozen Seafood Items To Buy At Walmart

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As prices continually fluctuate on everything from electronics to eggs, consumers are taking a closer look at their grocery bills. Seafood is prominent among the list of frozen foods that are about to get more expensive. When it comes time to decide what kind of fish to stock your freezer with, quality and value are equally important factors to consider.

As the nation's biggest grocer, Walmart is not short on frozen seafood options. The retail chain sells a wide variety of these products under its own Great Value and Marketside brands, while also carrying a number of other familiar names like Gorton's and SeaPak. It's always good to have options, but this does raise the question of what are some of the best frozen seafood products to buy at Walmart, and which ones should be avoided.

I tried 11 of Walmart's frozen seafood selections and pitted them against each other to help you decide what to put in your cart. Read on to find out which frozen fish should earn a spot in your skillet, and which are best tossed back overboard. 

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Fish fillets are a standard product when it comes to seafood; they're basically the chicken breasts of the sea. Versatility is important, but above all, a fillet needs to taste good, and Great Value's Frozen Tilapia checks that box. The individually wrapped, skinless pieces are a decent size, and make for a good single-serve portion.

I air-fried a few pieces, and found that the thinner edges crisped up nicely, while the thicker portion of the meat became tender and flaky. Tilapia isn't the fishiest-tasting seafood, but this product does offer some of that classic ocean taste in every bite — and despite it having some naysayers, the truth about tilapia is that it can be a great option for a healthy meal. This product also provides decent value, with a 1-pound bag costing about $6.50. Great Value Frozen Tilapia won't let you down if you're looking for a standard fish fillet to pair with anything from pasta to tacos. It's not flashy or anything special, but it gets the job done at a solid price, and that's hard to beat. 

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I am all about saving the environment and limiting waste, but I do appreciate when fish fillets are individually wrapped. It simply makes mealtime easier when I can pull a few pieces out and let them thaw in the fridge without having to touch raw meat directly. Individual packaging was a plus for the tilapia, but Great Value skipped this step with their skinless cod fillets.

While there are some good things about these fish fillets — the pieces are large and meaty — they're simply an inferior option in my book. If you really want to avoid that ocean flavor, cod is a good option ... but maybe you might simply consider using a different meat instead. The pieces cooked up well in the air fryer, and were plenty tender; they were definitely sturdier than the flaky tilapia. At around $8 for a 1-pound bag, you could do worse than Great Value Wild Caught Skinless Cod Fillets, but you could also buy superior-tasting fish for less, which lands this product in the "worst" column. 

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I love salmon. It's flavorful, healthy, and super-versatile ... but it's also variable. Like steak, there are good cuts of salmon and bad cuts of salmon. Thankfully, Marketside only deals with the good ones.

At first glance, these individually wrapped, skin-on fillets are beautiful. A dark, deep pink, the meat conjures thoughts of salmon-topped sushi rolls. Alas, these frozen fillets need to be cooked, but they handle that quite well. After a spell in the air fryer, I found each bite to be tender, flaky, and full of rich flavor. The skin separates easily thanks to a lovely layer of fat that adds richness to the meat. There are numerous ways to prepare this type of fish, and Marketside's coho fillets would work well in any of the best salmon recipes you may be interested in cooking. 

Generally speaking, salmon is one of the more expensive fish varieties you can buy, and at almost $10 for a 1-pound bag, Marketside's coho salmon is no exception. Don't let the price scare you away, though — this product is worth every penny. After all, when it comes to cheap salmon, you tend to get what you pay for. 

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Not all salmon products are created equal. Just because something is a "great value" doesn't mean it is worth spending money on. (See gas station sushi if you need additional examples.) In the case of Great Value Wild Caught Pink Salmon, beyond its low price — a bit under $11 for a 2-pound bag — the only positive is that the pieces are individually wrapped. From there, it's all downhill.

The fillets are oddly small. Rather than the traditional long rectangle of a normal fish fillet, these are small squares. If you want a half portion of salmon, Great Value has you covered with this product. Visually, this fish looks more like a worn-out pencil eraser than food, with a faded pink color that's bordering on off-putting. Things don't get much better once it's cooked, as the skin is difficult to peel off because the fish is severely lacking in fat, a point that is evident in the underwhelming flavor. If you're stranded on a desert island and the only food option is Great Value Wild Caught Pink Salmon, well, that's a strangely equipped island, but you won't starve. You won't particularly enjoy your meals, but not dying from hunger is a plus. 

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This list isn't all head-to-head comparisons, but there are a few included here, because sometimes the hardest choice to make while shopping is whether to go with the more established brand name or to save a little money and turn to the store brand. While comparable levels of quality between the two options is usually the most you can hope for, on occasion, the store brand is the superior product in terms of both price and taste. When it comes to battered fish fillets, Great Value hits both marks.

Great Value Crispy Battered Fish Fillets cost a little under $6 for a 10-count box. Each fillet is evenly covered in a fine layer of breading that browns perfectly in the oven. While the exterior offers a crispy crunch, the fish inside practically melts in your mouth. It's flaky, and provides a pleasant but not overwhelming fishy flavor. I used a few fillets for tacos and the results were fantastic, though I'd be just as happy dipping these in a bit of tartar sauce and eating them on their own. This is a must-buy if you're looking for an easy and tasty frozen fish option. 

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The word "worst" is perhaps a little aggressive when it comes to describing Gorton's Crispy Battered 100% Whole Fillets — but in comparison to Great Value's version, these simply fall short. At about $7 for a 10-count package, they're more expensive than Walmart's store brand, and this is just not worth the extra coin.

Gorton's opts for a thicker batter coating, which creates a very light crispiness on the outside of the fillet, but it didn't gain much color in the oven. The batter is fine, but it's extremely buttery and somewhat salty, which overpowers the fish inside. The meat itself is solid, a bit lighter and flakier than the Great Value version, but it's not enough to put Gorton's fish fillets over the competition. In fact, both Great Value and Gorton's use pollock as the fish for their breaded fillets, so the meat is essentially the same between the two. Gorton's fillets are not bad by any means, but when the other option tastes better and provides better value, the choice is clear. 

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When it's good and fresh, calamari can be euphoric. (I had a few fresh calamari dishes in Greece that still pop up in the occasional dream.) Yet, in spite of my adoration for the dish, I had never cooked it until I picked up a package of frozen Bos'n Rhode Island Calamari from Walmart. 

I wanted to get creative during my seafood binge, and my wife suggested that we use the calamari to make a paella recipe. We chopped up and then pan-fried the calamari in some olive oil, with no small level of trepidation. While we weren't traveling 20,000 leagues under the sea, we were in uncharted waters with a seafood delicacy new to our kitchen.

Thankfully, the calamari was easy to cook, and turned out great. Yes, it's a little chewy, but for frozen cephalopod, it was pleasantly tender. Bos'n calamari does have a rather fishy taste, but this incorporates well into any dish with a respectable flavor. If you're looking to experiment at a reasonable cost, this calamari is the way to go. 

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I feel bad putting this one in the "worst" category. At about $8 for 12 ounces, Boudreaux's crawfish tail meat is a fine deal. The meat itself is also pleasant, if somewhat uninspiring. I would liken it to a fishier-tasting crab meat or a less tender piece of shrimp. 

On its own, this is probably the least exciting of the seafood varieties on this list. It is precooked, which is nice, but it's not really a meat you want to eat by itself. Cooking it further can be an issue, too, as it doesn't take much heat to make it tough. So, what's the best route to take with a bag of frozen crawfish?

Thankfully, Bordeaux's placed an answer to that exact question on the back of the package. A crawfish corn chowder recipe is the perfect way to have your crawfish and enjoy it, too. I found that in the rich cream sauce of the soup, the oceanic taste of the crawfish mellowed. Add in the fact that the chunks of meat are small and almost shredded, and it made a great addition to soup, as I was hard-pressed to find a crawfish-free bite. On its own, frozen crawfish isn't all that interesting, but nothing exists in a vacuum. Snag a pack and add it to your next gumbo, chowder, or bowl of comforting crawfish etouffee, and I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised.

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Walmart's seafood section doesn't just have bag after bag of frozen fish flesh; it also has some fun, ready-made options. SeaPak offers several, and the Shrimp Spring Rolls provides a nice treat. For about $9, you get 14 of the mini-rolls along with two packets of sweet Thai chili sauce. I opted for the air fryer when cooking mine, and the end result was great. The rolls crisped up perfectly, and heated evenly throughout. 

Each roll contains a mixture that includes cabbage, rice noodles, carrots, water chestnuts, and, of course, shrimp. I was happy to find that the shrimp was far from an afterthought, with plenty of decent-sized chunks in each roll. If there's one mark against this product, it's that a dipping sauce is absolutely necessary. Alone, the rolls don't have enough moisture to keep your mouth from drying out — but paired with the sweet chili sauce or one of your personal favorites, SeaPak's Shrimp Spring Rolls are a great option as a seafood appetizer or snack. 

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Nobody is perfect. While SeaPak nailed the Shrimp Spring Rolls, the brand's Crispy Breaded Butterfly Shrimp is a swing and a miss. First, despite these shrimp looking sizable on the packaging, the actual pieces are disappointingly small. At about $9 for a 18-ounce package, I expected shrimp that could satisfy a big appetite, making these rather diminutive morsels feel like a poor value.

Upon cooking the shrimp — again in the air fryer — I found them to be equal parts inoffensive and uninspiring. The breading crisped up well, but there was a lot of it on each piece, overshadowing the tiny chunks of meat within. As an appetizer, these shrimp are sufficiently edible and just as forgettable. Tail-on shrimp is a common seafood specialty, but if you're looking to use these breaded shrimp in any kind of dish — like the salad I ate mine in — pulling off the tails can result in a breading-related mess. Ultimately, SeaPak's butterfly shrimp are a disappointment. Look elsewhere if you want an easy shrimp-based snack. 

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The very best Walmart frozen seafood item I purchased was also the most pricey product, but then, scallops are expensive. With a price tag of around $20 on a 1-pound bag, Marketside Frozen Wild Caught Sea Scallops are twice as costly as most of the items on this list. While not cheap, this price is right in line with the competition, as a 1-pound bag of scallops from Target is priced at about $21.50. Thankfully, these Marketside scallops are well worth the price.

A bag contains about 16 individual scallops, all of which were a uniform size of about 2 inches across, or roughly the side of a semi-flattened golf ball. Like most seafood, they have a slightly fishy taste, but it's not overwhelming. I sauteéd mine in some olive oil and spices, and they browned up nicely, leaving a little bit of crispiness on the edges before giving way to a tender, meaty bite.

These scallops are a perfect example of the reality of bargain shopping: Sometimes paying more for quality is the right move. I'm not going to buy scallops regularly, but when I do, I would happily return to Marketside's offering. 

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For all its prowess as a grocery behemoth, Walmart is hardly the first destination that comes to mind when someone says seafood. While the big-box store does carry non-frozen seafood — perhaps the subject of an article for a later date — the frozen options are more plentiful, and span a wide spectrum in both price and quality.

Marketside is a step above Great Value when it comes to salmon, and based on the price, it might be worth assuming the same is true in their other head-to-head matchups. However, the Great Value brand more than holds its own when it comes to fish fillets, both breaded and not. Beyond the basics, fun options like shrimp spring rolls are ready to make mealtime a little easier. I'm still not sure I'm going out of my way to shop at Walmart the next time I want to pick up some frozen seafood, but I wouldn't blame anyone for doing so.

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After working with my editorial team to create a list of frozen seafood options, I visited my local Walmart location and started shopping. While I did individually taste every product, I also wanted to base my review on how well they worked in a complete meal. You can certainly eat a piece of cod on its own, but it's generally better enjoyed as part of a dish. 

I photographed all items prior to cooking them, because so many were incorporated into prepared meals, and several of these seafood items looked essentially the same when frozen and cooked. I individually sampled every product and based my reviews on taste, texture, appearance, and convenience in both preparation and how easy it was to create a meal around that particular item. Price and overall value was also a guiding factor. Walmart was not aware that I would be writing this review, and the company did not compensate me or Mashed for this piece.