Costco Kirkland Signature Tilapia Loins Review, Price, Cooking instructions, and more

Another Costco fish review! Today I’m reviewing the Costco Kirkland Signature Tilapia Loins. I picked this up thinking the tilapia loins look healthy and are a reasonable price. After a bit of google searching I discovered tilapia has a bit of a bad reputation on the internet!

Store Location

You can find the Costco Kirkland Signature Tilapia Loins in the freezer section by the other frozen fish. The item number is 1139689.

Price

I paid $21.49 Canadian for the 1.36 kg bag of tilapia that has eight to 12 tilapia loins in it. How many loins you get in the bag depends how big your loins are but each loin is 113-213 grams.

Instructions

THAWING INSTRUCTIONS: Remove desired quantity loins from retail bag. Cut individual loin bags with scissors to eliminate vacuum. Place in shallow dish. Thaw in refrigerator until ready to use.

QUICK THAW: Remove tilapia loins from all packaging and wrap with plastic wrap. Place in bowl of cool water to thaw. Replace water every
5 minutes for 15 to 20 minutes.

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Remove all packaging prior to cooking. Due to variations in equipment, heating time and temperature may require adjustment.

BAKE:

Heat oven to 205 °C (400° F). Remove thawed Tilapia from vacuum pack and season or marinade to taste. Place in a well-oiled baking dish. Bake portions for 30 to 35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 70°C (158°F). Remove and serve.

GRILL:

Heat grill to medium-high. Remove thawed Tilapia portion from packaging, season or marinade to taste. Place on a well-oil el grill and cook for approximately 5 to 7 Minutes, turning once or until internal temperature reaches 70°C (158°F). Remove and serve.

SAUTE:

Remove thawed Tilapia from packaging and season or marinade to taste. Place Tilapia in pan, searing both sides, lower heat and continue to cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, or until internal temperature reaches 70°C (158°F). Remove and serve.

Taste

Tilapia is a light, flaky, mild-flavored white fish. It’s texture is much firmer/denser than cod or salmon. I find the Kirkland Signature Tilapia Loins don’t have a fishy smell when cooking it or taste at fishy. Sean my husband appreciated the lack of fishy smell in our house!

The tilapia really doesn’t have too much flavor but I tried a few bites that tasted like lake water so despite the tilapia loins not being at all fishy, they did taste a bit….dirty, musty and earthy. I used salt & pepper to season my tilapia loin and imagine you can use all sorts of seasonings and sauces on tilapia.

Convenience

Each tilapia loin is individually vacuum-packed in plastic so you can easily take out one single portion to thaw overnight. Once thawed the package states the tilapia needs to be consumed within two days.

Do not refreeze the tilapia and keep your Costco tilapia in the freezer until you’re ready to eat it.

You can choose to bake, saute or grill the tilapia and cooking instructions are on the bag. Tilapia is great for fish tacos, to be served as “fish and chips” or even used in a stir-fry.

The best before date listed on my bag of tilapia is 14 months from the date I purchased it.

Nutrition

Initially when I look at the nutrition information I think “this is super healthy”. The only ingredient listed is tilapia and one whole portion is 21 grams of protein, zero grams of fibre, sugar and carbohydrates, 35 mg of sodium one gram of fat and 110 calories.

This is a low calorie, high protein, low fat option.

So then why do some people think tilapia is unhealthy?

Through my research I found that tilapia has an unbalanced omega-6 fat to omega-3 fat ratio. Meaning it has very little omega-3 fatty acids (what salmon has that makes it so healthy) and high omega-6 fatty acids, omega-6 is believed to cause inflammation that can lead to heart problem and arthritis.

Also tilapia is usually farmed and some farms feed tilapia an unhealthy diet consisting of corn and soy instead of lake plants. Farms are also known to keep them in extremely cramped conditions where disease can spread easily.

There’s also concern that tilapia farmers use antibiotics and additives. As well farming tilapia can be seen as harmful to the enviornment because if tilapia escape the area they’re farmed in they can contaminate the water and spread disease to the wild fish in the area.

Are Costco Kirkland Signature Tilapia Loins healthy?

The good news is that the Kirkland Signature Tilapia Loins are from Indonesia and Indonesia is known for it’s ethical and eco-friendly tilapia farming.

Tilapia from Indonesia are the first farmed fish to meet the Aquaculture Stewardship Council certification standard. This means the fish are responsibly farmed, no bad diets are antibiotics and enviornmental impacts are minimized.

The Costco tilapia loins are lake grown and raised without the use of antibiotics. In my opinion tilapia isn’t unhealthy as long as you’re getting it from a reputable source like Costco.

Tilapia is low in calories, has a ton of protein, is also a good source of vitamin B12, potassium and niacin. If you’re concerned about the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3, just be aware that a lot of healthy foods like nuts and seeds (which I think are extremely healthy) are loaded with omega-6 fatty acids.