Costco’s food court is elite. The value is fantastic, the offerings are limited but finely curated, and I have shamelessly eaten a hot dog at 10 am.
The warehouse store chain has been rolling out, replacing, and testing quite a few new items lately – churro and double chocolate chip cookie swaps, streamlined pizza options (everything/combo pizza, I still think about you), and rotating sundae flavors.
The latest shake-up is the Signature Chicken Strips, which replaced the calzone. It’s five pieces with dipping sauce for $6.99. Look, I’m not Ben Wyatt from Parks and Recreation, so I have no strong calzone loyalties. A higher-protein option at Costco prices? I’m in.
When I picked it up at the window, my first thought was “wow, hefty,” and that applied to the Costco-sized dipping cup too. A second sauce is only $0.79 if you want one, but you won’t need it.
The strips themselves were juicy, seasoned, and savory, with a solid breading-to-chicken ratio. Mine had some scorched bits, though you’d never know it from the taste. My one gripe: the texture on my first strip was a little tough and stringy, like cutting a steak with the grain instead of against it. All of it was still edible, and the remaining four were fine.
The breading itself had enough flavor that I didn’t need sauce to enjoy them. That said, I absolutely did dip anyway, because the sauce deserves a mention. It was honey mustard but slightly smoky – almost more like a honey mustard BBQ than your standard packet. I liked it better than just dipping it in ketchup, which is my usual go-to for chicken strips.
I also dipped a pizza slice into it because I contain multitudes and because the food-hack potential here is enormous. My fellow foodies are going to have a field day with this one. All in all, not the best chicken tender I’ve ever had in my life but a really, really solid one. I wish I had brought my food scale because the value here is strong, as it is with almost all Kirkland offerings. I’m probably going to choose the $1.50 hot dog combo most of the time still, but I’ll definitely add this to my rotation of eats!
Purchased Price: $6.99
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 1130 – 1640 calories. No other nutritional information available.
I chuckled as soon as i saw the sudden pizza pic
Thankfully they offer all the mustard I want for free for dipping.
Buuuut, it’s not the right mustard. They need the spicy brown mustard for the hot dog (and the Polish dog, RIP) along with sauerkraut. Spicy brown would go well with the chicken tendies, too.