Costco Frozen Lasagna (Kirkland) Review
Author’s note: I wasn’t paid to write this review, and I have no affiliation with Costco. Obvs.
Inconsistent, like a politician in an election year.
The hardest reviews for me to write are the ones where I’ve had inconsistent results with a product. Unfortunately, that’s the case here. I’ve been working on this review for about 2 years, to be honest. Ha.
Before trying this lasagna for the first time, I did a “Lasagna Poll” in my local Costco Facebook group, asking the Costco fans to rate this lasagna on a scale of 1- “Prison Food” to 5- “Gourmet Restaurant.”
I was surprised how many people voted it a 3 or lower. But I bought it anyway. I just had to know for myself.
What I realized is that the product itself is wildly inconsistent. My first batch was unimpressive, and I wrote a snarky review based on that first experience. But the second batch was better — much better. And I’ve bought it at least three more times since then, and had different results each time. So, that makes it difficult for me to describe it to you.
I decided just to post my original review below, and then add some notes at the end that explain the better/different experiences I had after that.
Original Review: My First Costco Lasagna Experience
So, after my “lasagna poll” last week, I decided to try the Kirkland frozen lasagna for myself. Chalk it up to insatiable curiosity. And shopping on an empty stomach.
Anyway. I bought the “Italian Sausage” version after reading everyone’s suggestions. I loved the spicy flavor and I was super happy to see the ingredients don’t include nitrites or preservatives (keep reading for the ingredients and nutrition facts). Honestly, the sausage smell and flavor were the best parts of eating this. It’s a little smokey and delightfully spiced with fennel. At least, I think it is fennel.
There are actually three meats here (zesty Italian sausage, ground beef, cooked Italian sausage), and each seems to have it’s own texture and taste, which is extraaaa nice.
The Noodles
The pasta has a wonderful firmness — surprisingly “al dente” for a frozen lasagna. The noodles are thick and structural, and satisfying to bite into. Unfortunately, this isn’t a “deep” stack of noodles, just a couple layers, and it doesn’t hold together when I scoop it out.
It ends up looking really ugly and unappetizing, even after letting it cool in the pan for 10+ minutes on the counter. Sorry, I’m an art teacher, and I care how stuff looks! I give this a D- for visual appeal. It looks worse than middle school cafeteria food.
The Sauce
The sauce gives me serious Chef Boyardee vibes.* If you like Chef Boyardee, you’ll be happy, I guess? There’s a lot of this… sauce… for you to love. The sauce was my least favorite part. It’s as bland as everyone said.**
It’s kinda an odd mixture of oil and thin tomato weirdness that coats everything in a red film. Nothing like the thick, tangy marinara sauce I was expecting from the ingredients. I think if Costco fixed the sauce, they could really elevate this lasagna. Fix it, Costco!
The Cheese
Alright, cheese time: the top layer of mozzarella is great, especially after baking. It’s got a lovely fresh flavor and a quality mozzarella taste. Unfortunately, the inner ricotta is just a thin, sad little smear? Why??
I was surprised by this, because some of you reported TOO much ricotta. Mine had almost none! It was a huge disappointment. It also made the lasagna layers a lot less like lasagna layers. You know. More like just a pile of noodles in weird sauce.
Maybe the lack of ricotta is why mine wouldn’t hold together when I served it, IDK. I feel a little cheated. I want my missing ricotta. One of you got my ricotta, and I didn’t!
How did I cook mine?
I cooked it in my oven. It came out looking really good, browned on top and bubbling. A pan is supposedly six smallish servings of 410 calories each. Again, the tray is not as deep as I expected, so not as much food as I thought. I ate 1/4 the pan for dinner. But I also didn’t have any breakfast or lunch. Welcome to the life of an educator.
And here are the notes from subsequent lasagna batches:
Update: I actually like this better the second day, as leftovers. The flavor improved and the texture is more firm. In fact, it’s so much better, next time I might bake this the day before I want to eat it and then reheat before serving. Sounds ridiculous, but I’m tellin’ ya!
More notes from later batches: I have had some lasagna batches that had naked sausage pieces sprinkled on top/not covered with cheese. These dried out during baking, and got unpleasantly chewy/stiff. Other batches have the sausage buried under a cheese layer, which seems to work better. Maybe scoot yours under the cheese, if you discover them perched on top.
I have had other lasagnas with almost no cheese on top, but much more ricotta filling inside. Sometimes the lasagna stack is a bit “deeper,” and sometimes it is “thinner” and flatter.
*Sometimes the sauce tastes thicker and better. In general, I have found that I like this lasagna better if I pour some of my own jarred marinara sauce over the top of each slice before serving — it helps round out the taste and mitigate any inconsistencies.
**Salt and pepper help a lot.
There is also a “Beef” version
I have also tried the “Beef” version of this Costco lasagna. I found it very, very bland. I wouldn’t buy it a second time — I think the spicy, flavorful sausage (and other seasoned meats) are the redeeming qualities of Costco’s lasagna, and they are absent in the “Beef” rendition. However, one of my friends says she prefers the beef version. So. IDK. To each their own.
Ingredients in Costco Kirkland Lasagna
Here are the ingredients, from the label:
- Tomatoes (Vine-ripened ground tomatoes, Tomato puree, Pear tomatoes, Salt, Calcium chloride, Citric acid)
- Cooked pasta (Semolina [Wheat], Water, Egg whites)
- Cooked zesty Italian sausage (Pork, Water, Spices, Salt, Garlic powder)
- Whole milk ricotta cheese (Whey, Cream, Vinegar, Salt)
- Whole milk mozzarella cheese (Milk, Cheese cultures, Salt, Enzymes)
- Tomato puree
- Ground choice beef from chuck
- Cooked Italian sausage (Pork, Spices, Water, Salt, Sugar, Natural flavorings, Paprika)
- Romano cheese (Part skim cow’s milk, Cheese cultures, Salt, Enzymes)
- Caramelized onions (Onions, Canola oil), Rice starch, Spices, Sugar, Water, Parmesan cheese (Milk, Cheese cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Garlic, Red wine, Extra virgin olive oil, Salt, Cornstarch, Spinach, Onion
Nutrition Facts in Costco Kirkland Lasagna
There are 6 servings per tray (12 per twin-pack), with 410 calories per serving. This lasagna is impressively full of protein, with 23 grams per serving. You get almost as much fat, with 22 grams per serving. I am “team fat,” so I don’t mind this.
A serving also has a healthy 3 grams of fiber, and a moderate 7 grams of sugar (only 2 grams are “added sugar,” fortunately!). There IS a lot of sodium, with 39% of your daily value. But, for an entire meal, this isn’t terrible. Plus, I love salt.
There’s also a decent amount of nutrients, with 20% your daily value of calcium, and 10% each of iron and potassium. You even get a little sniffle of vitamin D, with 6% of your daily value.
Price and Servings in Costco Kirkland Lasagna
The twin-pack of frozen lasagna normally costs $17 at my local Costco. I have seen it go on sale a couple times, however.
Since there are six pounds of lasagna total (3 pounds per tray), the price per pound is $2.83. Per ounce, it costs about 18 cents.
Since you get 6 modest servings per 3-pound tray, each serving is $1.42. Which is a pretty good price. You might be able to find a better price on name-brand lasagna at a good BOGO sale, but otherwise, this is a reasonably competitive price.
I mean. It should be, though. You are buying SIX POUNDS at once! It ought to be a stellar value. Just sayin.’
This is a Kirkland Signature product (Costco store brand), and the item# is: 1321637.
Cooking Instructions for Costco Kirkland Lasagna
I followed the instructions on the label and cooked mine for 1 hour at 400 degrees. Because I covered it tightly with foil, it retained the moisture well and didn’t dry out. I took the foil off for the last 10 minutes of cook time.
You can also microwave this. It is packed in a black carboard tray (fortunately, not plastic!).
Leftovers for days
This lasagna ended up providing a lot of food value and quick leftovers for later in the week. In fact, I’ve been known to stretch this out over 6 days (one serving per day!), which gives me almost a week of dinners. The leftovers taste as good (or even better) than the freshly-cooked lasagna, so this is perfect for single folks. Ahem.
As mentioned above, if you are a fan of sauce, I recommend pouring some jarred marinara sauce over the individual, plated lasagna slices before serving.
Dramatic Conclusion
I have now purchased this frozen lasagna from Costco at least 5 times. That’s 30 pounds of lasagna. Ugh. I wish I didn’t just calculate that!
Each batch has been different. This is mildly frustrating, but even with the irregularities, the product overall is reasonably tasty, convenient, nutritious, and a fair value. My favorite parts are the spicy sausage flavor and the thick noodles. You may want to add extra sauce. This makes excellent leftovers.
The End.
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