When I headed to Costco to check out their smoked salmon selection, I was fully prepared to find a wide variety. And I definitely wasn’t disappointed.
Costco practically has an entire aisle dedicated to their smoked salmon offerings, which include five different products from wild caught Alaskan salmon to farmed Norwegian salmon.
Options and Pricing
I chose to try the Smoked Norwegian Salmon Slices, which are just $10.99 for a 12-oz package. Oddly, despite being marketed as Norwegian smoked salmon, this product actually comes from Greece. Unfortunately, this salmon is not wild caught, though it is farmed without the use of antibiotics.
Costco also sells several other smoked salmon varieties, including their Kirkland Signature Norwegian Smoked Salmon, Kirkland SIgnature Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon, Kirkland Signature Smoked Salmon with a Touch of Honey, and their Kirkland Signature Hot Smoked Salmon.
All of Costco’s smoked salmon offerings are priced below $22. The most expensive option is the wild caught sockeye salmon at $21.99, and the most affordable option is the Foppen Norwegian Smoked Salmon Slices at $10.99, which is the one I took home to review.
At other Costco locations, you may also be able to find gift packs of Wild-Caught Alaska Smoked Sockeye Salmon from Trident Seafoods. However, I was unable to find this offering at my local store. They’re currently available on Costco.com for $59.99, which includes two gift packs.
Ingredients and Nutrition
The ingredients here aren’t too surprising for smoked salmon, though it is a bit more processed than I would prefer. In addition to obvious ingredients like salmon, salt, and vinegar, this stuff also contains gelatin and coloring agents.
Each package also contains a packet of honey mustard dill sauce, but I decided to forgo this because it contains corn, which I am allergic to. The sauce also contains sugar (in addition to honey) and several preservatives and flavorings. Even if I wasn’t allergic to corn, I probably wouldn’t have been too excited about eating this stuff considering the ingredients.
With each serving (five slices of salmon with two teaspoons of sauce), you will be consuming 120 calories, including 6 grams of fat, 30 mg of cholesterol, 4 grams of carbs, 3 grams of sugar, and 11 grams of protein. You also get 8% of your daily value of Vitamin D and 6% of your DV of potassium.
Overall, it’s more or less what you would expect from the nutritional value of smoked salmon, which is generally considered a fatty and protein-rich food.
My Honest Review
I decided to try this salmon on a snack plate, along with some Trader Joe’s Norwegian Crispbreads, Cream Cheese, and Everything But The Bagel Seasoning Blend.
The first thing I noticed is that the texture of this salmon is quite mushy. It fell apart very easily as I removed the pieces from the packaging and did not hold the typical texture of smoked salmon meat.
I wasn’t ready to write off the salmon on the texture alone, though, so I stuck with it. Unfortunately, I was also underwhelmed by the smell. I’m used to smoked salmon having a distinct smoky and savory aroma, but the smell of this salmon was very subtle and almost stale even straight out of the package.
Things really didn’t get any better from that point forward…
Unfortunately, this was some of the most disappointing smoked salmon I’ve ever had. There’s really no difference in flavor between the traditional, pepper, and dill varieties. They all taste extremely bland and have an unsettling mushy texture.
The texture is spongy, and the salmon falls apart very easily, indicating that this salmon has been frozen and defrosted, potentially more than once. Typically, if smoked salmon is sold within two months of production, it does not require freezing. The longer smoked salmon has been frozen, the more its flavor and texture degrade.
Judging by the unpleasant texture and next-to-no flavor of this smoked salmon, I’d guess it was frozen for quite a while before it made its way to Costco’s shelves.
Parting Words
I’m not one for dramatic reviews, but I definitely would not buy this salmon again, even at the impressively low price.
It’s no wonder this is the cheapest smoked salmon available at Costco. If I decide to buy smoked salmon from Costco again, I’ll definitely pay the extra $11 for the Wild Alaskan Smoked Sockeye Salmon.
Unfortunately, even the best of the best Costco smoked salmon is getting disappointing reviews across Reddit.
