15 Costco Foods That Don't Taste As Good As They Look

Anyone who has ever visited a Costco knows that sticking with your grocery list there is something of a Herculean act of fortitude. It's a bit like being a kid in a candy store — everything is tempting and having the impulse control to not pick up all the food items that look good feels impossible.

But, what if I told you that some of the items at Costco may not be worth picking up at all. In fact, many of the tastiest looking items are actually pretty unsatisfactory when you finally get them home to eat them. Some are simply flavorless, while others have serious textural issues that make them a challenge to consume.

As a veteran Costco shopper and professional chef of almost two decades, I've spent a ridiculous amount of time and money there, which means I consider myself highly-qualified to assure you that some foods are better to leave on the shelf. The following is a list of all the items currently available at Costco that I have personally consumed and why I didn't think they tasted as good as they looked.

While I understand the importance of a delicious and healthy meal first thing in the morning, I get that not everyone has the time to spend hours preparing homemade pancakes or eggs Benedict on a regular basis. For this reason many of the frozen breakfast options at Costco are great to keep on hand for those hectic weekdays. That said, some items are better than others.

Among my least favorite frozen breakfast foods from Costco are the New York Style Spicy Chicken Sausage Bagel's from the Red's brand. These easy-to-heat breakfast sandwiches look super enticing on the packaging, made from cage-free eggs and containing 17 grams of protein per serving. Unfortunately, they left a lot to be desired in the flavor department.

While the spicy chicken sausage was good, the remaining ingredients really dampened my enthusiasm for the sandwich. The bagel and eggs were both bland and I'm definitely not a fan of American cheese, despite its stellar melting qualities. The whole sandwich had a pre-manufactured quality to it that I found unappealing. 

Another frozen food staple that is a must-have for a busy household is pizza. Nothing beats a quality frozen pie when you're trying to get dinner on the table in a flash on a weeknight. Fortunately, Costco has no shortage of varieties of frozen pizzas to choose from and I have had the chance to sample many of them.

Though even the worst frozen pizza is tolerable, some are simply underwhelming in taste and texture. That's how I felt about the Double Pepperoni, Detroit-Style Deep Dish Pizza from the Authentic Motor City Pizza Co, which appears to be cheesy, crispy, and loaded with meat. I should qualify this with the fact that I live in Illinois and I tend to be biased toward the flaky, quiche-like deep dish pies you can find in Chicago.

What I enjoyed about this pizza was the flavor of the toppings. Unfortunately, that's where my enthusiasm ended. I felt the crust was doughy and chewy, the pizza was super greasy, and the toppings were so haphazardly applied that I had to redistribute the pepperoni to be evenly spread across the pie after it had baked.

When it comes to frozen dinners, Costco has a plethora of options to choose from. While many of them are dynamite and extremely affordable to feed a family on a budget, some are less successful. Among my least favorites are the Chicken Pot Pies from Marie Callender's.

I think I was particularly dissatisfied with these because I grew up eating at Marie Callender's restaurants and this was my favorite entrée to order, so the nostalgic memories of what they taste like made in-house, from-scratch, are etched into my psyche. These frozen versions looked a lot like the ones I recall from my childhood, but didn't live up to those in any capacity.

The biggest issue I had with these was the crust. The ones I recall eating when I was a kid had a pastry that was extremely light, flaky, and buttery. These were dense and almost paste-like. Additionally, I found the fillings to be scant in quantity and under seasoned. It was a far cry from the luscious, creamy, meaty delicacy I recall so fondly from my youth.

I'm a huge seafood fan and Costco has no shortage of frozen options. Having reviewed a wide cross-section of these, I can tell you that some are more worth investing in than others. Among the less impressive of these was the Garlic Butter Shrimp from the Kirkland Signature brand.

This product looks like a facsimile of a classic Italian scampi, with large, juicy shrimp bathed in a luxurious, buttery sauce, but the actual dish had infinitely less flavor. Considering this shrimp emphasizes garlic on the label, it was seemingly lacking in this dish. Additionally, I found the shrimp to be a bit rubbery when they were done.

Perhaps the biggest issue I had with this product was that the butter itself pooled atop the shrimp, leaving something akin to an oil slick on the surface of the ocean after a spill. No amount of stirring integrated the butter with the remaining ingredients well enough to really become a harmonious dish. For my money, the Fremont Fish Market Salted Butter & Garlic Toss n' Serve Shrimp from the frozen seafood section at Aldi is a far better and more cost-effective option to keep on hand.

As a Francophile who studied and lived in Paris for six months, I have eaten my fair share of authentic, French, pain au chocolat. I was thrilled when I discovered the Pains au Chocolat from the La Boulangère brand at Costco. The packaging suggested that these imported pastries were golden, delicate, and loaded with chocolate, which gave me a false sense of security that they would be like the ones I enjoyed while in Paris. Sadly, I had no such luck.

Classic pain au chocolat is made from what is known as a laminated dough, which should be buttery, light, and flaky, like a croissant. These were manufactured from a brioche-like pastry, and not a very good one at that. The dough was heavy, chewy, and almost felt like it was underbaked, adhering to the roof of my mouth when I bit into it. What chocolate was present was sparse at best and unevenly distributed throughout the pastry. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

If you are a chocoholic, there is no shortage of varieties of chocolate desserts available at Costco. I had the chance to sample a number of these and was surprised to find that the Kirkland Signature Ice Cream Bars were nowhere near as delicious as I thought they'd be based on the image on the packaging. 

Let's be clear, these vanilla ice cream bars, which are encased in a chocolate-flavored coating dotted with pieces of almonds, are a fantastic deal. You get 18 bars for under $15, which is a steal — but the quality is just okay. 

Though the texture of the chocolate-flavored coating was decent when I bit into it, the taste was as artificial as it comes and it left a highly unpleasant residue on my tongue that I couldn't get past. The ice cream wasn't much better. It lacked anything resembling a vanilla flavor and was dominated by a milky quality that felt heavy, not velvety.

Amylu specializes in chicken-based sausages, meatballs, and more that are 100% natural. One of its newer products that you can find at Costco are its Sesame Ginger Chicken Crumbles, which look super juicy and flavorful tucked into lettuce leaves on the packaging.

This product isn't all bad, but it has some issues that I personally couldn't get behind. First of all, the chicken itself is coated with a seasoning that is gluten-free, but the sauce packet is made from soy sauce and is therefore not suitable for those needing to eliminate wheat from their diets. Second, while the Mandu sauce is delicious, the chicken without it is pretty bland.

Where the product really had issues for me, however, was in its texture, which was somewhat spongy. It didn't have a firm, meaty mouthfeel, but rather something more akin to tofu, which I personally found off-putting. Perhaps there would be a way of preparing it that would make it better, but for my money it would be just as easy to purchase a package of ground chicken and season it myself. The flavor and texture would be infinitely more appealing and it would probably cost less.

There's a certain nostalgia for those college dorm days that comes along with gelatin shots that made me really enthusiastic to try these colorful Party-Ready specimens from the Shotty's brand. The appeal of not having to spend the time to assemble them myself was really intriguing, the variety of flavors were appealing (these come in strawberry, watermelon, blue raspberry, and grape), and the individual, disposable, plastic cups are super cute. Unfortunately, they definitely didn't live up to expectations.

First, I found that they never set up particularly well and remained liquefied, despite being well-chilled for more than 24 hours. I also found the "Easy Squeezable Cups" to be clunky and hard to get the shots out of. Though these are only 12.5% ABV, they tasted stronger, almost like drinking pure vodka out of the bottle.

What I disliked most, however, were the flavors. While the strawberry and watermelon were fine, the blue raspberry tasted like an ICEE knockoff and the grape was medicinal, almost like cough syrup.

Having made homemade lasagna from-scratch for years, I suppose I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to this dish. That said, I understand it can be incredibly labor-intensive to make and requires a lot of cleaning up, so having lasagna that you can simply reheat is highly appealing. The image on the packaging of the Italian Sausage and Beef Lasagna from the Kirkland Signature brand appears to be luscious, meaty, and super cheesy. Unfortunately, I was less impressed with this product than I had hoped.

While I probably wouldn't get this again, I should give credit where it's due. The meat in this lasagna was abundant and flavorful, which makes it a hearty entrée for hungry diners. It also held together well when served, which can be problematic for lasagna as a general rule.

My biggest issue with this lasagna was the noodles. They were really dense and chewy, making this a bit of a belly bomb. I also felt the sauce was too sweet and lacking in seasoning. Lastly, the cheese was unevenly distributed, with some servings having plenty, while others were void of any. On a personal note, I missed the spinach layer that many lasagna recipes contain, which helps to provide a splash of color and flavor.

No Thanksgiving dinner would be complete without a pecan pie. While you can make them from-scratch, it's nice to purchase one pre-made to save on the hours spent in the kitchen producing this recipe. Costco is well-known for its enormous, seasonally available, holiday pies that not only feed a small army, but are quite inexpensive. While its pumpkin pie is well-regarded for quality, I can't say the same about its pecan pie, which looks perfect on the exterior, but is a real let down once you cut into it.

This pie appeared to be underdone from the get-go. Not only was the center of it still liquefied, the pecans — and there were a lot of them — were not fully incorporated into the custard of the filling. They floated atop it like little buoys in the ocean. The crust was also soggy, pale, and lacked that flakiness that makes a quality crust. This was a shame, because the taste of the filling of this pie was great. It had all the elements I love of a good pecan pie, including the caramel notes of molasses, but it was definitely poorly executed.

Though it looks creamy and rich, I'm among those who isn't hugely fond of White Queso with Diced Green Chiles from the Queso Mama brand that is available in 2-pound tubs at Costco. To be fair, I've never been a huge queso fan, but when I do eat it, I want it to be dippable and to have bold flavor, two features this one did not have.

This queso was incredibly thin and lacked that stretchy cheese quality I love. It was verging on runny, making it impossible to keep it on a chip. Additionally, while this dip was plenty salty, it appeared to be lacking in spice. I really wanted more heat, especially since one of the primary ingredients in this is diced green chiles.

The one place this dip might be useful is in recipes. It would work great in any number of casseroles, including as an addition to a baked mac and cheese. But, as a standalone dip, I'm not a fan. I can just as easily and affordably throw together homemade queso in a crock pot for game day and jazz it up with plenty of spice to make it something truly spectacular.

Another frozen breakfast option from Costco that I had a chance to review was the Turkey Sausage Egg'Wich's from the Red's brand. These fluffy-looking, meaty, cheesy sandwiches look like a dream come true for anyone seeking a quick, low-carb, high-protein alternative to a breakfast sandwich on the packaging. The reality, however, was pretty unsatisfying.

First off, they weren't particularly portable. They were clumsy to eat as-is without a plate or fork as the cheese had a tendency to squirt out and stick to everything after these were reheated in the microwave. I also found their aroma to be slightly off-putting. They smelled like the food you often find sitting on a free breakfast buffet at a budget hotel.

Perhaps the most problematic aspect of these was the texture and flavor of the eggs, which act as the de facto bun for the sausage and cheese. They were tough, chewy, and incredibly under-seasoned. Overall, these were not products I'd purchase again.

If there was a frozen Costco breakfast I really wanted to like, it was the Three Cheese Omelets from Eggland's Best. It's not so much that omelets are hard to make, they aren't, but they do require some time to do properly, and we don't always want to deal with cracking and cleaning up eggs, so these seemed like a perfect alternative for a busy morning.

While these weren't altogether awful, they definitely underperformed. First, they looked nothing like the image on the box, which was overflowing with cheese. The actual cheese in these omelets was barely detectable and of mediocre quality. The eggs themselves, while fluffy, were incredibly bland, desperately needing at least some salt and pepper to brighten them up. That said, I wouldn't totally write these off. They can easily be spruced up with extra cheese, fresh herbs, or a healthy dose of pesto or hot sauce.

Among the Costco frozen prepared seafoods I have sampled, the Beer Battered Alaska Cod from the Tridents Seafoods brand was the lowest ranking product. While they weren't altogether awful, they definitely let me down. This fish fillets look light, flaky, and crisp on the box. While these had glimmers of excellence, these were dampened by their overall execution.

First, if you do purchase these, do not use a conventional oven to reheat them. When baked in the oven, they failed to crisp up properly and stuck to the bottom of the baking pan, even when greased. I also felt the fish turned out quite tough in the oven. The only way to enjoy these is reheated in the air fryer.

That said, even in the air fryer I found these to be incredibly boring. They were desperately lacking in flavor, even though the texture of the crust and fish were quite nice. This could be remedied with some tartar or remoulade sauce, but ultimately there are plenty of other really great frozen seafood options at Costco that are infinitely better.

One thing shoppers love about Costco is its meat department. Not only does it sell quality meat in bulk, the prices are hard to beat. However, there is one offering you should probably skip the next time you head to the warehouse retailer to stock up on groceries: The Kirkland Signature Boneless & Skinless Chicken Breasts, which look plump, juicy, and like they'd be delicious once cooked, but are quite the opposite.

First, the packaging for these is notoriously flimsy. It tends to easily bust open, leaving a mess in your car and refrigerator. Additionally, the vacuum-sealed pouches often seem filled with excess moisture, which defeats the purpose of air-chilling the chicken. The whole reason to air-chill meat is to help it brown when you cook it, which gives the meat a nicer texture and flavor. This surplus liquid produces meat that ends up squishy and has a bland flavor.

Perhaps the biggest issue with the chicken from Costco is that it occasionally exhibits what is known as "spaghetti meat" syndrome. This is a circumstance where meat develops a stringy texture that, while harmless, is incredibly unpalatable, even when cooked.