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Costco Plain Cheesecake Review

Written byThe Snarkle Sauce
A slice of plain Costco cheesecake, sitting on a small white plate, on a wood table.

Definitely not robot food!

For those of you who couldn’t get a Costco peanut butter pie, allow me to tell you about the Costco plain cheesecake.

Actually, I probably DON’T need to tell you about the Costco cheesecake. I’m a total Johnny-Come-Lately, it would seem. I’m probably the last person on the planet to realize how good this dessert is.

But whatever. I’m going to tell you about it anyway. You can’t stop me. No one can.

I was hesitant to buy this cheesecake because it looked like an icky, flavorless white disc of mass-produced nothingness. The top is an unnatural, plastic-looking flat white with machine-made slice marks stamped onto the top.* Robot food. If I hadn’t read reviews online, I NEVER would have bought this. The appearance in the refrigerator case is a huge turn-off. Ugh

A whole Costco cheesecake inside the plastic box at the store.

Anyway. I took the plunge, and I’m so glad I did. It actually tastes amazing. Definitely one of the best cheesecakes I’ve had. I usually prefer dense cheesecakes, and this one surprised me, because it isn’t dense, but I loved it anyway. The texture is slightly fluffy and extremely creamy. It’s only mildly sweet (which I infinitely prefer), and has an excellent tangy bite. So cheesy! It took me 10 days of dedication, but I ate the entire 4.5 pound cheesecake myself. And I’m not sorry.

Side view of a Costco plain cheesecake, showing the layers and texture.

What I especially liked about this cheesecake is that it has FOUR taste profiles. The top layer is a lighter, creamy, yogurt-y, soft coating. It’s a thin layer, but a nice contrast to the actual cheesecake body, which is tangier and richer. The cookie crust is absolutely excellent, and tasted more homemade than any other cheesecake crust I’ve tried. It’s got more thick crumbs and almost gingerbread taste.

The garnish on top is surprising — I thought it was tacky cool-whip blobs, but it’s actually a type of textured, sugary icing. The taste pairing is quite a revelation, and I truly relished it. I think it “works” because the cheesecake itself is not very sweet.

Garnish on the plain Costco cheesecake, consisting of decorative piped icing.

If you prefer sweeter desserts, this cheesecake is a versatile blank slate for adding your own toppings. I enjoyed the plain flavor so much, I didn’t want toppings. But it would go great with some chocolate sauce or caramel sauce or crushed peanut butter cups or fruit jam or even fresh fruit. This is a dessert I wouldn’t be ashamed to serve at a dinner party — although I wouldn’t let my guests see how ugly it is in the box!

A sliced Costco plain cheesecake, sitting on the plastic pie box base on a table.

Servings and Size

The cheesecake weighs 4 pounds, 8 ounces and costs $16.99. It should serve 16 people. That’s $1.06 per serving. This cheesecake freezes well —either whole, or by the slice. The Costco product # is 37839.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients. I was glad to see real vanilla extract, and no artificial flavors. I could definitely do without the added preservatives and mystery oils, but otherwise, this is pretty solid:

  • Cream cheese (pasteurized milk and cream, cheese culture, salt, carob bean gum, guar gum)
  • Sour cream (grade A cultured cream)
  • Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Graham crumbs (enriched flour [wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], graham flour, sugar, palm oil, high fructose corn syrup, molasses, salt, sodium bicarbonate)
  • Whole milk (with vitamin D)
  • Butter (cream and/or milk, salt)
  • Contains 2% or less of the following: enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), palm and/or canola and/or soybean oil and/or interesterified soybean oil and/or fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil, water, mono- & diglycerides, nonfat dry milk, pure vanilla extract, salt, corn starch, polysorbate 60, preservatives (TBHQ, Citric Acid)
Ingredients in the plain Costco cheesecake, printed on a white adhesive label.
Label from the plain Costco cheesecake, showing the weight as 4.5 pounds.

* I posted this review several months ago in my local Costco Facebook group, consisting of 12,000 members, including many Costco employees. Shortly after, my local Costco bakery stopped stamping the tops of the cheesecake with the slice marks. The tops of the cheesecakes are solid now, which looks a LOT better, IMHO. This also allows you to cut as many or as few slices as you want, in whatever size you want. Progress! No more robot food.

More Reviews of Costco Desserts You Might Like (or Hate)

Check out these other reviews of Costco bakery desserts I’ve recently written:

Author’s note: I wasn’t paid or compensated for this review in any way, and I have no affiliation with Costco.

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