Frozen Shrimp Are Actually Fresher Than You Think. Here's Why

The modern world has produced so many conveniences that we take for granted, or even unfairly malign, and frozen shrimp is one of them. Quick to cook, delicious, and healthy, shrimp is maybe the single most versatile kind of seafood you can buy. Perfect with pasta, tasty turned into shrimp cocktail, and scrumptious served over a salad, shrimp have become essential staples for weeknight dinners. But this isn't quite what nature intended. Shrimp are extremely perishable, meaning that prior to the rise of frozen shrimp, they were not easy to get a hold of outside of coastal regions. But that freezing process is nothing to be afraid of. In fact frozen shrimp are almost universally better quality than "fresh" shrimp.

The main reason is because most fresh shrimp at a supermarket isn't really fresh at all. Because shrimp are so perishable most supermarkets simply can't afford the waste of storing truly fresh shrimp, so the ready-to-cook shrimp you buy at the seafood counter have mostly been previously frozen then thawed. While they may seem fresher, this facsimile of fresh shrimp is actually a pretty terrible idea. As soon as they are unfrozen, shrimp start to degrade again, often going bad within 24 hours. If you buy frozen shrimp however, you can control when you defrost them and have them ready to cook within hours, preserving their quality and flavor. And the quality of frozen shrimp brands in supermarkets is further improved by how they are produced.

Because shrimp go bad so quickly, fishermen work fast. Wild-caught shrimp are thrown on ice right on the boat, and often flash frozen there too. This preserves their flavor as it was close to the moment they were caught. Even if you live somewhere where you can get real fresh shrimp, they could have been sitting out longer than frozen shrimp were before they were preserved. So frozen shrimp really are fresher than most fresh shrimp. The best frozen shrimp are also individually quick frozen (IQF) using a blast chilling method. The quick-freezing process isn't just more convenient because you can pick out the exact amount of shrimp you need, but it also does very little damage to the shrimp compared to standard freezing. So IQF shrimp don't just taste fresh, they have a better texture as well.

To ensure frozen shrimp are at their best before cooking them, make sure they are thawed properly. If you have the time you can leave them in the fridge overnight in a colander, to let the water from the thawing drip into a container below. But frozen shrimp can also be thawed in minutes by just running them under cold water. That way they can go from thawed into all your favorite shrimp recipes right away. Despite valorizing the idea of fresh food, sometimes the more convenient option is also the best one.