Costco has a few different pasta dishes in the pre-made meal section. The Costco Kirkland Signature Chicken Penne Alfredo is loaded with cheese and comes with a massive packet of white alfredo sauce. Is all of this cheese and sauce enough to make it taste good?
Today I’m reviewing the Costco Kirkland Signature Chicken Penne Alfredo! I picked this up during my recent Costco trip because I thought it would be a quick and convenient meal.
Other pasta dishes from Costco are the Costco Kirkland Signature Meat Lasagna, Costco Kirkland Signature Chicken Parmigiana on Cheese Lasagna, Costco Rana Tagliatelle Seasoned White Chicken & Mushroom Sauce and the Costco Kirkland Signature Four Cheese and Spinach Manicotti.
Location in Store
You can find this pasta dish in the pre-made meal section at Costco. The item number is 19723.
Taste
The Kirkland Signature Chicken Penne Alfredo is very cheesy and is something cheese lovers will be intrigued by. I can’t say this is my favorite item out of the Costco deli pre-made lineup. The pasta noodles are a bit chewy but not overly chewy, just a bit under an al dente (cooked to perfection pasta). I followed the directions closely so I don’t believe I undercooked them as they’re pre-cooked.
The noodles also stick to the serving spoon when you’re plating the pasta because of how thick the sauce is. It’s quite a heavy, rich sauce. After cooking the dish, the cheese on top becomes melted and stringy, so it’s an extremely cheesy-tasting dish! Unfortunately this sauce and melted cheese mixture becomes a bit congealed shortly after you remove your pasta from the heat of the pan.
The strips of chicken are white chicken breast meat and are well-seasoned and tasty. I didn’t find any gristle or fat in the pieces on my plate. The sizes of the chicken chunks vary; some are really quite big and are way more than a mouthful. I like that there’s a decent amount of chicken in this Costco pasta meal.
Overall, the dish is flavorful. You can taste lots of salt and it sure is cheesy! My biggest gripe with the dish is that the alfredo sauce gets very thick, heavy, congealed and somewhat dry after cooking. When you pour the sauce into the pan, it’s thin and silky smooth, but when the additional cheese gets melted in with the alfredo sauce, it changes the consistency.
The shredded cheese on top of the uncooked tray is mozzarella and parmesan and the cheeses used in the alfredo sauce are mozzarella, parmesan and asiago.
Cost
The price of the Chicken Penne Alfredo from Costco depends on the weight of the tray. I paid $17.52 for my tray of pasta, and I have to tell you, it’s a lot of food! The tray comes with pre-cooked pasta, chicken breast strips, shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese and a big packet of alfredo sauce.
Convenience
Costco’s pre-made meals are perfect for those nights when you want to eat at home without doing a ton of work. The best before date on my tray is five days from the date it was packaged on and it needs to be kept in the refrigerator.
To cook the pasta, pour the sauce into a non-stick pan, and cook the sauce over medium-high heat until it reaches a decent simmer. Next, add the entire tray of pasta, chicken and cheese to the pan and cook for six to eight minutes over medium-high heat. Make sure to stir the mixture often as the sauce and cheese mixture gets quite thick!
Nutrition
Calories
This is not exactly a healthy meal, but it does have a decent amount of protein. One-sixth of the tray contains 410 calories, 20 grams of fat, 670 milligrams of sodium, one gram of fiber, three grams of sugar and 24 grams of protein. If you’re cautious about your sodium intake, you might want to limit your portion size.
Ingredients
There are ingredients on the ingredient list that I know some people are not fond of, such as palm oil and soy protein. There are a bunch of chemical-sounding ingredients too. The dish contains all of the major allergens. I see this meal as more of a treat as opposed to something I would consume regularly.
Scoring
Taste: 6/10
Cost: 7.5/10
Convenience: 9/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give it a try!
This isn’t my favorite Costco pre-made meal, but the overall flavor is fine and I enjoyed the all-white, seasoned chicken! Fans of pasta with white sauce will probably find the Kirkland Signature Chicken Penne Alfredo decently tasty.
Have you tried the Costco Kirkland Signature Chicken Penne Alfredo? 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).
Mark! Yours is one of the most negative reviews I have ever read on a food review website! Primarily you aren’t talking about the food at all you’re just shooting down Costco! I’ve been a member of Costco for over 12 years and I love their store, their business model, and most of their products! Clearly you should not be a member there, if you have such a negative opinion of them! Also, in future reviews, anywhere, please stick to reviewing the food item and leave the place that the item was bought from, entirely out of the review. Nobody, wants to listen to unnecessary whining about your complaints, about the store itself! Anyway if you’re going to write reviews that contain this type of content, please don’t! Have a nice day MARK, get a membership somewhere else, that’s my advice to you! Another excellent job Natalie, keep up the great work, and don’t listen to guys like this!
My family who loves pasta, cheese, chicken and sauces….did not like this dish….and noone wanted to take the leftovers home…..won’t be buying it again
I tried this and agree it was very thick. I found adding water to the pasta helped.
I agree mostly with Natalie, although writing the dish is flavourful is misleading. It’s quite salty. It really is quite bland despite the sauce which seems quite disproportionate to everything else. We bought other once and it wasn’t a hit. But if you suffered from covid, your tastebuds might not notice.
I have never had a problem with this meal, but I also change it a little (I do agree, the lasagna is the best pre-made meal they have). I cut the chicken into small bites, dump everything into a large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk (sauce is to thick after baking), then add a bunch of pepper and then garlic salt and onion powder to taste, as the original sauce is kinda bland (and it was just diluted with milk. I then add in more shredded mozzarella, put it in a dish, top it with more mozzarella, cover and bake. My family has always liked it.
i don’t know if it’s because i’m pregnant & my nose is very sensitive rn but tonight i tried this for the first time with my boyfriend & it smelt fishy & it also tasted fishy my boyfriend says he loves it & can’t smell or taste fish… if ur pregnant i think it’d be best for you to stay away from this
(for now)
Has anyone made this in a crock pot?
I’d love to hear if anyone has!
I wanted to scoop some out and microwave it. How long? But maybe that’s not recommended?
I’m sure it would be fine microwaved. I’d do it about three minutes at least, of course depending on the size of the portion.
I feel like the ratio of chicken is quite high – sometimes i actually do some extra penne and an additional jar of alfredo sauce to stretch it out. Also adding some bbqed vegetables makes this thing so much better!!
My family loves it. It’s my favorite. I would say with a family of four, one tray is more than enough. For 6 adults I use 2 trays.
I froze mine when we got it because I knew it would be awhile before we ate it. Does anyone know if it needs to be thawed before we cook or can I cook from frozen?
Thanks!!
You can cook it from frozen I think but should cook it a bit longer and check the internal temp!
I’ve tried this a couple of times but it’s not one of my favorites. There is lots of chicken and plenty of noodles but not the best dish to keep leftovers for the next day.
You go girl, thanks I will try it that way.
Thanks so much for this post, finding the cooking time and temperature really helped a lot.
Why blast your opinion about Costco being overrated.. nobody cares about your opinion regarding Costco, rather about the product you tried! Your attitude seems so negative that it influenced my opinion of you rather than the recipe. Tip for you.. if you don’t like Costco, DON’T shop there!
This has become a fav in our house BUT I hack it slightly… I use 3-4 freshly crushed garlic gloves in the sauce in a nonstick pan… let that do it’s thing and then add the rest of the dish to the pan and turn it down and let it simmer until temp is safe to eat. Sooo much better.
Cloves obv rather than gloves 😉
Ewwwww! If Costco needs a way to get rid of leftover rotisserie chicken, give to the homeless! Probably the worst alfredo I’ve ever had. Tastes like it came out of a jar(or bucket in Costco’s case). Needs a LOT of seasoning and the chicken should be browned and seasoned before it’s used. Not a huge fan of garlic and your whole house will smell like it while it’s cooking. The first alfredo I ever made would put this to shame and I think that recipe came off a pasta box. Surely, an outfit the size of Costco(and with the over-blown reputation it has) can do better. How much would it cost to put a chef on the payroll? Wanted something tasty and easy for New Year’s. What a disappointment.
What a shame you feel that a homeless person should eat garbage something you would throw away. That’s the disgusting! Shame on you
“I’m not a fan of garlic”. Umm, yeah, bye!
About how many people does it feed?
My kids and I loved this! Maybe you just got a “bad” batch?