Costco has been carrying the Cuisine Adventures French Onion Soup for years but this Kirkland Signature French Onion Meatball Bake is brand new in the pre-made meal section. I wasn’t overly excited to try this because it doesn’t seem like a complete meal with only meatballs, onions and cheese. I decided to give it a try anyways and I didn’t totally regret my decision!
I’ve reviewed a ton of the pre-made meals from Costco if those are something you’re interested in! Meals like the Kirkland Signature Southwest Chicken Wrap with Sauce, Kirkland Signature Gyro Kit, Kirkland Signature Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes, Kirkland Signature Yakisoba Stir Fry, Kirkland Signature Meat Lasagna, Kirkland Signature Chicken Pot Pie and the Kirkland Signature Chicken Tacos.
Location in Store
You can find this meal in the refrigerated pre-made meal section at Costco. the item number is 33959.
Taste
The dish is basically a tray of French onion soup with meatballs in it. I found the sauce (which is like a thick, onion-heavy version of the soup) to be pretty salty, but not overly flavorful otherwise. The meatballs are also fairly salty.
The quality of the meat seems good, though you get the odd bit of graininess. The Swiss cheese is mild and similar to what I’m used to getting on French onion soup. The sauce, cheese and meatballs work fairly well together. The dish is a bit on the plain side, but it’s enjoyable. I’ve definitely had better French onion soups, but I think adding in meatballs to make a casserole like this is a solid idea.
It might not be everyone’s favorite meal, but I think most people will eat it. It definitely needs a vegetable or something on the side as it feels a bit incomplete when served by itself. I appreciated how loaded with meatballs it is though – you definitely won’t need another protein component with the meal.
Cost
The cost is dependent on the weight of the tray, the cost of the French Onion Meatball Bake is $15.99 per kilogram. My tray cost $23.47. You get quite a few meatballs in one tray but it’s not really a complete meal, you need a side to go with it in my opinion.
Convenience
We baked our meatballs for 40 minutes (the upper end of the recommended range). This seemed to me more than enough time, which was a bit of a surprise as it seems like most of Costco’s pre-made meals these days need more cooking time than the package suggests (at least if you want to get them to the recommended temperature).
The meatballs need to be kept refrigerated and have a best before date that’s four days from when I purchased them. I think you could probably freeze them if you’re not going to eat them by the best before date. The meatball bake doesn’t really seem like a complete meal to me so I recommend serving it with some peas, potatoes, a salad, or even some rice.
Nutrition
Calories
One fifth of the tray contains 520 calories, 34 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbohydrates, four grams of fibre, seven grams of sugar, 29 grams of protein and 1510 milligrams of sodium. That’s a lot of sodium if you’re watching your sodium intake! This isn’t a meal that’s low in calories or fat but it’s not extraordinarily high either.
Ingredients
The ingredients are pretty typical for a store-bought meatball dish like this. I find that store-bought meatballs contain soy protein concentrate which is something I wouldn’t add to homemade meatballs. I don’t love that there’s corn syrup, dextrose and sugars in the sauce.
The meatball bake is not gluten-free, dairy-free or soy-free it contains wheat, milk, soy and mustard and may contain egg, fish molluscs, crustaceans, tree nuts, peanuts and sesame.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 7.5/10
Convenience: 9/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give them a try!
I wouldn’t say this meatball bake is mind blowing or anything but it’s pretty good. I shared it with my parents and they really enjoyed it.
Have you tried the new Kirkland Signature French Onion Meatball Bake? What did you think of it?
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).
Hmm. I wonder how these would do in a tub of spaghetti?