Meatballs are a really versatile food made of ground meat rolled into a ball! These Costco Kirkland Signature Italian Style Beef Meatballs are done in minutes and can be added to a variety of different dishes. Are these meatballs from Costco worth picking up? Or will you regret having this six-pound bag of 140 meatballs in your freezer?
I make turkey meatballs often, too often if you ask my husband because I’m pretty sure he’s really sick of them but I never make beef meatballs. Meatballs are a pretty versatile food and the Costco Kirkland Signature Italian Style Cooked Beef Meatballs are also really convenient.
Other convenient similar products from Costco are the Gardein Meatless Meatballs, Schwartz’s Smoked Meat, Smokey River Meat Company Turkey Breakfast Sausages, Erie Meats Jumbo Chicken Breast Bites, Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken, Benjamin’s Traditional Pork Schnitzel and the Kirkland Signature Seasoned Chicken Wings.
Location in Store
You can find these in the freezer section at Costco. The item number is 751891.
Taste
These aren’t as good as homemade meatballs and taste a bit processed but aren’t bad tasting! They’re soft and pretty moist on the inside and are dry and crispy on the outside. I noticed a few hard chunks in the middle when I was trying these so I think there might be a bit of fat and gristle in the meatballs.
They’re pretty small in size and feel quite light. The meatballs are generously seasoned with salt and spices and I notice the slightest hint of spiciness in the meatballs, not a lot, just a small amount. The taste is okay, not great, homemade are definitely better.
Cost
The 2.72-kilogram bag of 140 Kirkland Signature Italian Style Beef Meatballs costs $29.99 Canadian at Costco. Back in 2019 the price was $24.99, so the price has gone up.
The bag is massive and would last a family quite a few meals so I don’t think these are too expensive for how many you get.
Convenience
I love how convenient these are. There are heating instructions on the bag for an oven method, steamer method and microwave method to heat the meatballs. You could also air fry the meatballs. We heated them in our oven.
It’s so nice to have a bag of these in your freezer for those times you need a quick meal and are lacking a protein for your meal.
You can use these in soups, pasta, in a casserole or with a side of mashed potatoes. The meatballs need to be kept frozen and the best-before date is almost a year from the date I purchased them. I will say that if you don’t have a deep freeze and just have a small freezer you might find this giant bag takes up much of your freezer.
Nutrition
Calories
Three meatballs contain 140 calories, 10 grams of fat, four grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fibre, one gram of sugar, nine grams of protein and 340 milligrams of sodium.
Back in 2019 five meatballs contained 180 calories, 10 grams of fat, 14 grams of protein and 590 mg of sodium.
Ingredients
These aren’t gluten-free or dairy-free. The meatballs contain soy, milk, mustard and wheat. Obviously, if you make your own meatballs from scratch they’re healthier, they likely wouldn’t have soy protein or sugars. A positive about the meatballs is the first ingredient listed is ground beef!
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 7/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 4.5/10
Overall
Give them a try!
I would buy these again for convenience’s sake but not necessarily for taste or nutrition.
If you’ve tried these meatballs 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).
Does Costco sell larger meatballs?
I just know of these smaller ones.
I love the taste & the texture. FAT is never an issue because I workout.
Sodium is the main thing. 3 meatballs are already 300+ mg sodium. For a meatball pasta, I would need at least 9 to 10 meatballs & that drive up my blood pressure. I’m not interested in joining that line of stroke patients.
So I
1) I soak the meatball in hot-warm water to get ride of the EXCESSIVE sodium
2) I air fried the meat ball @ 375 for 15 mins.
They sometimes carry a much larger meatball that comes in a big plastic tray with sauce. They’re really good, but more expensive and they don’t always have them. I made them as a quick meal for a friend (added more sauce) and she loved them so much she picked up the big bag, not realizing the difference. I took them from her because I have hypothermia and weird protein is better than none when you run in from work starving and shaking. They aren’t bad steamed with Asian dipping sauce, which is how they were serving the sauce one day at Costco. Oddly, it worked, maybe because the dipping sauce itself is over the top. You literally need a drop. Anyway, I would not buy these, but highly recommend the ones I got in the tray, if you can find them.
Didn’t like them at all. Too spicy. Haven’t bought them again. Make my own and vacuum seal them in portions for our meals.
Thanks again for your wonderful reviews, very helpful.
Marian – same here! Tried them and was really turned off. Between the hard mystery pieces, the texture, the processed taste – not one of Costco’s better products. I actually returned them and I NEVER DO THAT. I am a fan of many other Costco items and really wanted a good emergency meatball – but this is not it. I will keep searching and making my own.
Try them in stroganoff. There are tons of recipes online for meatball stroganoff. Not the healthiest or least-caloric thing to make, but something quick that might impress someone on a winter’s night.
This is what I use them for as well (stroganoff). I will warn other though that the spices in these meatballs are very clearly geared towards a spaghetti & meatballs type of meal. There’s a decently strong flavor or parmesan and herbs that don’t exactly complement well with a beef gravy. But I still like ’em!
Man, I just wanted to see if it was worth it to buy some meatballs, walking out of the comments section with a back-alley medical degree and a doctorate in political science…thank you internet, never change.
I like mine on the air fryer
400 F 12 minutes, shake at half-time.
About the price, i found out that they are the cheapest.
All other, like No Frills, metro, Loblaws, Ikea are 25-30% more expensive.
These are great meatballs, and come from 100% beef. I’d put these up against Joe’s stupid lentils any day. Go get your vaccine, leper joe!
For 5 meatballs in the microwave, how long to cook. Says they are already cooked, so I’m just heating them up, right?
2.5 min on high power or 3 on medium. Don’t over cook. Try in phases, every microwave is different.
Hello again, is it Debra? Could you please mention total item/package weights when you do product reviews, as I always go by price per pound or KG? Also, why do they always have to put such ridiculous amounts of sodium and sugar in all processed foods? There is an excellent book on the market, titled, “SALT, SUGAR, FAT!” It describes how the processed food marketing companies, have figured out that these 3 ingredients are the most, highly addictive substances in processed foods, and how they have food scientists in all processed food companies, whose job it is to find the “Bliss Factor!” within all processed made foods, in order to make these foods, extremely addictive to consumers. This, is all fact, and has been going on since the 1960’s, when processed foods, took off like a rocket! THE BOOK IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE READ! IT ALSO COMES IN AUDIOBOOK FORMAT, I BELIEVE! I, FOUND IT AND DOWNLOADED IT FOR FREE!
ALL PROCESSED FOODS ARE REFINED LIKE A DRUG, (EXAMPLE: COCAINE), AND ARE DESIGNED TO ADDICT YOU/ALL OF US, AS MUCH AS IS POSSIBLE! HOW WOULD I KNOW THIS, OVER 30+ YEARS OF LABEL INGREDIENT READING, AND HUNDREDS OF HOURS, OF PERSONAL FOOD RESEARCH!
THANKS AGAIN, DEBRA?, FOR YOU FABULOUS COSTCUISINE REVIEWS! LOVE ‘EM! AND KEEP “EM COMING!
TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH, IT IS REALLY, AND ALWAYS SHOULD BE, EVERYONE’S PRIMARY PRIORITY! WE ARE NO GOOD TO ANYONE, NOT EVEN OUR SELVES, IF WE DON’T TRY TO STAY REASONABLY HEALTHY!
ANOTHER EXCELLENT BOOK ON DIET AND HEALTH, TITLED:
THE CHINA STUDY!
This escalated very quickly.
Our attraction to salt, sugar and fats is an evolutionary response to seeking out these quite necessary nutrients in a hunter/gatherer society.
People to cook at home without these things make bland, boring food. They may think it is healthy, but it is boring and not necessarily as healthy as they think.
I make good wholesome food from scratch, and I do not skimp on salt, sugar, or fats. These are where flavor comes from, as well as acids and glutamates. Don’t let your chemophobia get the best of you.
You’re eating poison and you don’t give a damn. The only thing you can think about is convenience and paying as little as possible to feed yourself and your equally unconscious husband. Pitiful. Just look up at the photo of the gawd-awful list of ingredients. You probably don’t know what half that stuff is. If you want to feed yourself and hubby well on a slim budget, buy a few bags of dried legumes each week. Sprout a few for an extremely high fresh nutrient boost to your diet; soak and simmer the rest to make countless bean, lentil and split pea dishes. You will eat well, have better energy, a better sex life, and fewer and less severe degenerative diseases during your paltry time on Earth.
What a nasty comment. While you may have valid concerns about the ingredients of this product, your condescending comments were not helpful. Shame on you. You seem to be more interested in being superior than in helping people adopt better food choices. All your words just turned me off, and I happen to be receptive to the ideas! That’s ok, I’m sure you’ll be happy being able to continue to look down on us.
What is wrong with you, Joe? Why on Earth would you post a rude, mean-spirited comment like that on a Costco product review blog of all places?
Maybe because Joe is a pinhead?
Because Joe needs to try to feel inferior because his entire life has been inferior. Imagine going on a COSTCO web site and picking out some meatballs and ranting about it. WEIRD!!!!!!!
No, JOE IS WRONG . Beef is an amazing food that fights inflation , has good glutamine , superior protein , and no bad sides. Beans have lectins that angulate in the blood stream and can cause a variety of feeling miserable types of days.
Hey Joe – You don’t know what poison means. I bet you don’t know what 90% of those ingredients mean either. You’re just an ignorant person who is mad at the world. Most likely a trump supporter and antivaxxer who believes Biden stole the election.
You need some introspection and therapy.
Like your COMMENTS are any better?! How pathetic. And you wonder why they say people like you suffer from Trump derangement syndrome. Though all his points were valid, it wasn’t polite and he had no right to attack her. You win flies with honey not vinegar. And this review didn’t deserve that kind of hate. Then you come in and do the same thing!! Two disgruntled men. One trying to save someone without proper etiquette, the other just a nasty ol divisive uneducated prick bringing unnecessary political views into a conversation about meatballs that aid in cancer. Grow up. And he’s right, the meat processing center these are made in have a lot of cross contamination with other stuff besides these ingredients that are far worse than what’s on the label.
But getting back on topic, she did a nice and helpful review. For those that do understand what the ingredients entail and where they’re processed, there was a much better way to say make your own organic ones and freeze them, but maybe he just lost his wife to cancer and is feeling sensitive.
You on the other hand, shouldn’t be commenting at all since you have nothing to say about food. Go talk politics on a CNN chat or something where you can find like-minded people that can hate Trump with you and discuss in a proper location how meatballs and Trump piss you off while promoting your “China Study”. Ridiculous. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Billy – you’re kidding, right? Would you actually admit to voting for the jackass Biden?
What a God-awful comment to make. Simply horrific.
You’re a self-important, mean spirited, arrogant loser Joe.
Meatballs can be used as a mince in wraps or omellets and other recipes where mince is required
Many have commented Kirkland meatballs are not very good. Our entire family didn’t care for them even after slow roasting in homemade bbq sauce they tasted like someone poured charcoal lighter fluid on them and maybe used that liquid smoke product. Didn’t taste Italian at all. I’m surprised anyone’s buys them a second time. Perhaps they have a limited pallet. I also agree they’re spongy and taste processed. Unfortunate for a product line that is typically good.
Something changed since I bought them last. They are so small, dry and spongy. Everyone used to rave about my BBQ meatballs; they were larger and juicier. I’ll be looking for a new place to buy meatballs and won’t waste time on Kirkland’s brand. So disappointed.
We thought the same thing. They’ve changed. They are smaller and the next texture is more like a hot dog! They used to be the only frozen meatballs I’d buy.
Have you considered maybe its your homemade BBQ sauce that was causing the problem?
Why are you being rude?
Keep your rudeness to yourself.
Do you like the Costco meatballs?
As my friends and family know, I am a huge Costco and Kirkland fan. However; I no longer buy these as I find they have a soft “Spongey” texture – I have tried other brands and although the cost is more they texture and flavor is better.
Which other brands are better?
Metro has brand name sirloin meatballs that are great. I forget the brand name but you can search for Sirloin Meatballs.
Trader Joe’s has a Trader xxxx brand (not Joes) that are pretty good but are a little pricey.
I really liked them but was looking to see if the Kirkland ones were better. Haven’t tried these yet.