Costco Bellitalia Italiano Meatball Bake Review

When I saw this Bellitalia Italiano Meatball Bake at Costco I immediately wanted to try it because our favorite appetizer at our favorite restaurant is baked Italian meatballs. Meatballs, marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese screams hearty, comfort food. I had high hopes that this Italiano Meatball Bake combined great taste with convenience; did I get my hopes up?

Location in Store

The meatball bake can be found in the refrigerated deli section at Costco, near the other refrigerated meals like the 44th Street Beef Pot Roast and the Kirkland Signature Five Cheese Tortelloni. The item number is 1845406.

Taste

I’ve tried two other kinds of meatballs from Costco, the Kirkland Signature Italian Style Beef Meatballs and the Amylu Chicken Meatballs. I don’t like these as much as the Amylu ones, they kind of have an odd flavor and I don’t love the seasoning.

I don’t see anything on the ingredients list that seems out of place but I just don’t love the combination of seasonings. It may be because I’m used to beef meatballs and these are more pork. They’re not bad,  they’re just not great.

The quality of the meat seems good but maybe a little on the fatty side because of the pork, they’re very smooth and a bit processed tasting. To be honest, the meatballs kind of remind me of breakfast sausage. The fourth ingredient is textured soy protein concentrate which I’m not a fan of.

The sauce is fine, it’s a fairly basic tomato sauce, a little on the sweet and acidic side, I’ve definitely had better sauces. The cheese is pretty good, it’s fairly mild but has a nice flavor. Comparing to a similar dish at one of my favorite local restaurants and it’s not even close to as good. I also prefer the meatballs in the Kirkland Signature French Onion Meatball Bake more too.

Cost

This wasn’t cheap, I paid $19.99 Canadian for 12 meatballs, sauce and cheese. I wouldn’t mind paying that much if the meatballs tasted a little less processed.

Convenience

The package comes with two bags of sauce, the meatballs and a bag of cheese. You do need to have your own container to cook the meatballs in though. The meatballs need to be kept refrigerated and the best before date is about six weeks from when I purchased it.

We followed the cooking instructions from the package and baked the meatballs until they reached 165 degrees Fahrenheit internally.

I recommend serving the meatball bake with pasta, a green salad and some fresh buns. I tried to get my toddler to try a meatball and she didn’t like it I think due to all the seasonings and spices used so I don’t know if kids would like the meatball bake.

Nutrition

Calories

A 120 gram serving contains 230 calories, 14 grams of fat, six grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fibre, two grams of sugar, 17 grams of protein and 740 milligrams of sodium. The meatballs are low in carbs and have a decent amount of protein and a moderate amount of fat.

Ingredients

I’m not really impressed by the ingredients list, I don’t like that the second ingredient is textured soy protein concentrate and sugars. In the sauce I could do without seeing vegetable oil and natural flavor.

The meatball bakes contain soy, wheat, milk, egg and mustard. It’s a shame because this dish could easily be made gluten-free.

Scoring

Taste: 6/10

Cost: 7/10

Convenience: 8/10

Nutrition: 4/10

Overall

Walk on by!

I didn’t like this meatball dish enough to buy it again and compared to my favorite restaurant’s meatball appetizer it was very disappointing.

FAQ

Have you tried the Costco Bellitalia Italiano Meatball Bake? What did you think of it? Drop a comment below!

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).