The Trader Joe's Seafood That'll Make 'Lobster Rolls' A Breeze

The lobster roll, a regional specialty known throughout New England, consists of little more than lobster salad in a bun. Despite the simplicity, purchasing one at a lobster shack could cost you big bucks – in 2025, Kennebunkport's The Clam Shack is selling lobster rolls for $31.95 a la carte, or $35.95 if you want coleslaw, fries, and pickles. Even making lobster rolls at home can be an expensive undertaking, since lobster can cost anywhere from around $18 to almost $50 per pound. Why does lobster cost so much when once it was considered poverty fare? There are a number of factors at play, but it boils down to higher demand and lower supply.

Fortunately, there's a cheaper alternative that does have a fairly similar taste and texture: red Argentinian shrimp, which can be purchased at Trader Joe's for about $12 per pound at the time of writing. The red shrimp that Trader Joe's sells are fairly large, with about 20 to 25 pieces per pound. The flesh is firm, the flavor is on the sweet side, and the name refers to the color when raw. While the shrimp don't really visually resemble lobster, you'll be chopping them up to make mock lobster salad, which will help camouflage them to a certain extent.

If you do decide to use your Trader Joe's shrimp for faux lobster rolls, you'll first need to decide whether you want to make the Connecticut kind or the Maine version. (Lobster rolls may actually have originated in Conneticut, despite Maine's lobster fame.) In Maine, the rolls are filled with a creamy mixture of mayonnaise and lobster, while Connecticut-style lobster rolls are stuffed with crustacean chunks sauteed in butter. To have the best of both worlds, you could also mix butter-cooked lobster (or shrimp) with mayonnaise, or spread mayonnaise inside the roll.

Whichever style you choose, if you're starting with Trader Joe's frozen shrimp, you'll first need to thaw them, cook them, and chop them. You can flavor the salad with a bit of lemon juice and maybe some diced celery or onion, but there's no need to get too fancy with the toppings (unless you want to experiment with Trader Joe's togarishi-seasoned red shrimp with ginger-garlic butter). To finish, all you need to do is pack the shrimp salad into a bun, which can be anything from a hot dog roll (split top is classic) to a baguette. While you don't need to toast the bun, doing so can provide a crunchy contrast to the creamy salad.