Costco Johnny’s Au Gratin Potatoes Review

Au Gratin potatoes are thinly sliced potatoes baked in a creamy cheese sauce, they’re cheesier and richer than scalloped potatoes. The Costco Johnny’s Au Gratin Potatoes are a convenient way to whip up a fancy side dish with a few ingredients. Are these decadent potatoes a delicious perfect addition to your next family dinner?

I’ve had scalloped potatoes a lot growing up but potatoes au gratin are a bit different than scalloped potatoes and I haven’t had the au gratin ones more than once or twice. I needed a side for dinner and wanted something quick and easy so I picked up these Johnny’s Au Gratin Potatoes from Costco.

Other potato products from Costco are the Dee Amore Potato Skins, Stonemill Kitchens Homestyle Potato Salad, Russet House Sweet Potato Fries, Kirkland Signature Kettle Brand Potato Chips, Johnny’s Potato Cheddar Soup Mix, Naleway Potato and White Cheddar Perogies, TGI Fridays Loaded Potato Skins and the Golden Grill Hashbrown Potatoes.

Location in Store

These are located in the aisle with the rice and quinoa. The item number is 1686377.

Taste

I have no problem with cheese or cream sauces but I found the flavor of these a little too strong. I think it’s the blue cheese in the mix that makes them a little too cheesy for my liking! I prepared the potatoes following the package directions and my potatoes came out quite soupy. I’m used to the sauce being thicker in potatoes like this and not so soupy.

The actual texture of the potatoes is fine, they pretty much taste like fresh-cut potatoes and after baking them for the amount of time specified on the box I didn’t find them too soft or too hard, just a medium firmness. I think my taste buds just have a preference for milder cheese like mozzarella and cheddar rather than the blue cheese that’s in these.

Cost

The 618-gram box comes with two separate bags and costs $13.99 Canadian. This isn’t exactly cheap considering you still need to add your own butter and milk.

Convenience

These are more convenient than making potatoes au gratin from scratch but are definitely not totally easy. You still have to measure things, mix them and bake the potatoes.

The best-before date listed on the box is about a year from the date we purchased the potatoes. The potatoes are a good side for ham, steak, chicken, or turkey! I think because they’re so rich they’d be awesome for Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner.

Nutrition

Calories

A 1/2 cup serving of prepared potatoes au gratin contains 150 calories, 21 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fibre, one gram of sugar, two grams of protein and 420 milligrams of sodium. The fat content says one and a half grams of fat as sold and prepared but there has to be more than one and a half grams of fat in the prepared version.

Ingredients

I don’t love the ingredients list, specifically the palm oil, sugars and artificial flavors. I know these are convenient but I’d prefer to make my own at home with simple ingredients and avoid the sugar, unhealthy oil and preservatives.

Scoring

Taste: 5.5/10

Cost: 6/10

Convenience: 6/10

Nutrition: 2/10

Overall

Walk on by!

As I said before, I’d prefer to make my own potatoes au gratin and I found the blue cheese a little too strong tasting for my liking!

If you’ve tried these potatoes au gratin from Costco before, what did you think of them?

Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).