Continuing Costco’s somewhat recent trend of rolling out new pre-made meals regularly, this Kirkland Signature Red Thai Chicken Curry showed up in my local warehouse last week. It looked very similar to the Costco Chicken Vindaloo that I tried a few months back with the naan bread and rice in the package, so I had to do a double-take to confirm that it was another new meal. It seems like a smart idea by Costco to use the same side dishes for multiple meals, but obviously the main question is whether or not the main curry component is good!
Other pre-made meals from Costco are the Kirkland Signature Yakisoba Stir-Fry, Kirkland Signature Chicken Enchiladas, Kirkland Signature Chicken Noodle Soup, Kirkland Signature Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes, Kirkland Signature Meat Lasagna, Kirkland Signature Enchilada Bake, Kirkland Signature Chicken Pot Pie, Kirkland Signature Chicken Tacos and the Kirkland Signature Mac and Cheese.
Location in Store
This is located in the pre-made meal ‘ fresh deli section at Costco. The item number is 30412.
Taste
The curry is actually really tasty. It has a nice coconut flavor, a hint of sweetness and the perfect amount of heat. The curry is hot enough that it’s noticeable but not overly hot. It’s the kind of spiciness that comes on slowly and kind of lingers at the back of your mouth and throat.
The chicken seems to be good quality with no gristle, fat or bones. The vegetables add some nice texture but the flavor of them is overpowered by the curry and there isn’t a ton of vegetables. You mainly taste the coconut and chicken.
The naan bread is just okay. I noticed a lot of packages had beat-up-looking naan that was flaking a lot but that didn’t impact the taste. The naan bread is very plain, nothing special, next time I might put more butter or oil in my pan to make the naan more flavorful and moist.
The rice is extremely plain, completely flavorless to be honest. You actually may want to make your own coconut, jasmine or basmati rice.
Cost
This isn’t a cheap meal! It does look like a big meal but it’s a lot of cheap naan and rice and not as much chicken curry. The price is $13.99 per kilogram and my tray cost me $24.06 Canadian.
Convenience
The meal is almost ready-to-eat from the package, it just needs to be warmed up. The rice and naan can be heated either in a pan or in a microwave-safe dish. The package states to dry-toast the naan in a non-stick pan or toaster. Next time I’m toasting the naan I’d add a little bit of butter to the pan.
This Red Thai Chicken Curry from Costco would easily feed a family of four but the curry servings won’t be huge. There’s a ton of rice and naan but not so much chicken and curry. I feel like most kids might not like how spicy it is unless they’re used to hotter food.
The best-before date is five days from when the curry was packaged and it needs to stay refrigerated.
Nutrition
Calories
One-sixth of the tray contains 500 calories, 19 grams of fat, 62 grams of carbohydrates, three grams of fiber, eight grams of sugar, 22 grams of protein and 830 milligrams of sodium. That’s a lot of carbohydrates, calories, fat and sodium!
You could cut back the carbohydrates by having less rice and naan but the high fat, calories and sodium is in the chicken curry itself.
Ingredients
The ingredients list has what you’d expect to see in a Thai curry with coconut milk, coconut and coconut sugar being used as well as fish sauce and shrimp paste. The vegetables in the curry are onion, eggplant, corn, bell peppers and bamboo shoots.
The curry contains milk, anchovy, shrimp, soy and wheat. It may contain egg, molluscs, other fish and crustaceans, tree nuts, peanut, sesame and mustard.
I don’t actually see any wheat or dairy ingredients listed in the actual chicken curry or rice so if you’re allergic to gluten or dairy you could still have the curry.
Scoring
Taste: 8/10 for the curry and 5/10 for the naan and rice
Cost: 6/10
Convenience: 9/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give it a try
I really like the chicken curry, but not so much the sides. It’d be nice if they just sold the curry by itself!
Have you tried the new Costco Kirkland Signature Red Thai Chicken Curry from Costco? 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).
