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Costco Extra Crispy French Fries Review

A white plate with a pile of Costco Extra Crispy Frozen French Fries and a burger on a bun with a cup of dipping sauce.

Author’s Note: As always, I have no affiliation with Costco, and this is not a paid review.

Not a single lie was told.

I love to complain about Costco food. But not today. I have no complaints. Not a single lie was told. These are excellent french fries. And verrrry crispy.

I’m relieved, because I bought a yuge 5-pound sack of these taters. Behold:

A hand holding a 5-pound bag of frozen Extra Crispy French Fries from Costco.

I was a bit apprehensive after the “sad diet sticks” I got with my Aldi Fish & Chips meal. I preemptively made some homemade honey mustard sauce, in case Costco’s fries were also tasteless without sauce. It turns out my sauce was unnecessary. Unsaucessary? These fries are scrumptious, even without anything extra. Hooray.

They’re not especially salty fries, but they’re super flavorful. They have just enough demure saltiness to be tantalizing. Notably, they don’t have added flavors or spices. They’re just innately flavorful? Self-made flavor? Like the entrepreneurs of the potato world.

(Sort of like these Aldi frozen Hash Browns were full of inherent potatoey goodness. Read my silly review here.)

While crisp on the outside, Costco’s fries are soft and natural-tasting on the inside. The gentle, salty flavor seems to extend all the way through the innards of the fries. Tangent: if you’ve ever wondered what a french fry looks like in your camera’s “portrait mode,” well, it looks like this:

Fingers holding a bitten french fry from Costco.

Shape-wise, these fries have a long, narrow, elegant shape. If you prefer soft, short, meaty fries, these aren’t for you. These are for the crunch-lovers. Let us have this.

Fingers holding a baked french fry from Costco.

The bag gives three cooking methods: Oven, Deep Fry, or Air Fry. I opted for the Oven, as that seemed like the lowest common denominator. I cooked mine on a parchment-lined pan for about 26 minutes (without flipping or stirring), and they came out sizzling and crispy-browned.

While they taste best right out of the oven, they get even crisper as they cool. At room temperature, they’re not soggy, even after sitting out for an hour. Impressive.

A baking sheet lined with parchment covered with baked french fries from Costco.

Something I appreciate about Costco’s french fries is the natural potato skin. There isn’t tons of it, but it’s enough to make the fries seem more earthy and wholesome. Even if they aren’t. These look much more homemade (or chef-made) than I expected.

I happen to like potato skin, though. I typically leave it on my mashed potatoes, too. If you’re a potato-skin-hater, maybe these aren’t for you.

Frozen french fries inside a Costco bag.

The frozen fries are evenly coated in some kind of solidified oil substance, which seems to be pre-mixed with the salt. My frozen fries were in excellent shape — no freezer burn, no clumping together. No weird mutant shapes. The whole bag is great quality.

Ingredients in Costco Extra Crispy French Fries

Ingredients in Costco's Extra Crispy Frozen French Fries from Kirkland store-brand.

Here are the ingredients, from the label:

  • Potatoes
  • Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: Canola, Palm, Soybean, Sunflower)
  • Modified Food Starch (Corn, Tapioca)
  • Rice Flour
  • Salt
  • Dextrin
  • Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Phosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate)
  • Xanthan Gum
  • Color (Annatto)

I do not love Modified Food Starch, Dextrin, or this hot mess of mystery oils. (Can we please stop it with the “contains one or more of the following”? Like, you don’t know for sure what is in there? Seriously? Just tell us!) But, french fries are not what I consider health food. These are treats. I am ok with this for a treat.

I definitely appreciate the absence of Artificial (or even “Natural”) flavors, and the use of natural Annatto as coloring. For french fries, these are pretty decent ingredients. They would be “decent-er” without the soybean oil, of course. Hmmph.

Nutrition Facts in Kirkland Extra Crispy French Fries from Costco.

Nutrition Facts

A serving is 3 ounces, or 15 fries, which will set you back only 150 calories. Yes, that’s less than I expected! You get 6 grams of fat and 2 grams of protein. There’s 21 grams of carbohydrates, of which 2 grams are fiber, and less than 1 gram is sugar (no added sugar).

Price and Servings

At my local Costco, the 5-pound sack cost $6.79. Since there are 27 servings per bag, each serving is a frugal 25 cents. Per pound, these frozen french fries cost $1.36. Per ounce, they are about 8 cents.

This is a “Kirkland Signature” (Costco store-brand) product, and the item # is 9999699. Yes, that’s a weird number.

Cooking instructions for Costco Extra Crispy Frozen French Fries.

Cooking Instructions

Here is a simplified list of cooking temps/time, from the label:

  • Conventional Oven: 22-32 minutes at 425 degrees
  • Air Fry: 14-16 minutes at 400 degrees
  • Deep Fry: 2.5 minutes at 350 degrees

Dramatic Conclusion

Would I buy these fries again? You bet. This is definitely one of the better Costco products I’ve tried. But, imma need a gym membership, too, after eating all of them!

The End.


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