{"id":5405,"date":"2024-12-18T22:31:36","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T22:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snarklesauce.com\/blog\/?p=5405"},"modified":"2025-12-29T20:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T01:28:12","slug":"costco-deli-butter-chicken-meal-kit-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snarklesauce.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/18\/costco-deli-butter-chicken-meal-kit-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Costco Deli Butter Chicken Meal Kit (Review)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Author’s Note: These are my own unbiased opinions. I have no affiliation with either Costco<\/a> or Kirkland.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never again.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This Costco Butter Chicken has a strange aftertaste. And, that’s one of the nicest things I’m going to say in this review. You’ve been warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is 100% not an item I would buy again. In fact, I had to throw away the rest of the pan, after choking down one small serving. I’m a frugal person, so this made me very sad. I am pretty confident this is the worst Costco Deli item I’ve purchased so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(If you are wondering what is the BEST Costco Deli item I’ve tried, it is hands-down the Mac and Cheese. You can read my glowing review here.<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anyway. Let’s back up, shall we? This meal kit is available in the cold cases of the Costco Deli. It’s sold by weight, but most trays are approximately the same amount of food \u2014 about 2.5 pounds. The meal kit comes with the Butter Chicken (in sauce), and a stack of small naan loaves. (I counted 8 naan loaves, total. But they are mini-sized.) No rice. I made my own basmati rice to go with this. Because, rice.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Cooking Instructions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The instructions on the package said to bake for 45 minutes at 375. I followed the directions to remove the plastic lid and cover with foil first. I did agonize briefly over whether the naan loaves were supposed to stay in the tray, or be removed before baking, but I finally decided the instructions would have certainly spelled it out if they need to be separated from the rest of the meal before baking.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Ha ha ha ha ha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I think this was a fatal error. My naan loaves were browned and crunchy on top, and stiff, toasty, dark pretzels on the bottom. In fact, the bottom two loaves were so bad, I had to throw them away. Meanwhile, the middle loaves were almost soggy, from the steam. Based on this, I would say, take the naan out before baking<\/em>. Or at least half-way through. Or something. As Napoleon Dynamite said: “Gosh!” I’d probably opt to warm the naan in a skillet, rather than baking, TBH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(For an easier-to-cook Indian treat, check out my review of these Vegetable Samosas from Samira’s Kitchen<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Naan Loaves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Even though the naan are not large, having 8 loaves means you don’t technically need rice or anything else to make this a full meal. For me, with the basmati rice I made, there was way more naan than I actually needed. And that’s fortunate, since half of it was too crunchy to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The surviving naan was fluffy. I did really love the layers inside the loaves \u2014 when I ripped them apart, they were soft inside and had several enjoyable strata. My overall impression of the taste is that they have a surprisingly rich, savory flavor, and are a bit on the salty side. There is buttermilk in the ingredients, which provides a palpable twang. Unfortunately, there was odd aftertaste in the naan, too.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Sauce<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The sauce is bland. Full stop. It does have some<\/em> savory flavors \u2014 perhaps fenugreek and cumin? \u2014 but not a single drop of spiciness. It doesn’t have a gingery or peppery taste. Minus the heat, the flavor wasn’t as multi-faceted as the Indian food I generally get from a good restaurant. Mine also needed salt. But I almost always think that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(If you are looking for another Costco option for Indian Food, I recommend this Chicken Tikka Masala from Sukhi’s<\/a>. It is also lacking spiciness [sadly], but has a better flavor profile.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The sauce didn’t start out very thick or creamy, but it improved significantly after baking \u2014and then stirring \u2014 and letting it cool down a bit. It was watery on top right out of the oven, so definitely stir it well<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Meat Quality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I also did not like the chicken. It appears to be entirely dark meat, and there are some of the dreaded “jiggly bits.” By now, you all know how I feel about “jiggly bits.” Ha. If you’re a fan of dark meat, you might enjoy this. I don’t think I would have minded if it was, say, 30% dark meat, but having the entire bowl be only<\/em> dark meat was not my cup of tea<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ok, back to that strange “aftertaste.” I mean. I sat and thought for a while to come up with a way to describe it. It tastes like chemicals. It tasted bad, whatever it was. I actually worried that it might be something leaching out of the black plastic tray that it baked in. You may have seen the recent news articles<\/a> that warned people to avoid black plastic food containers (especially if the food has to be heated in them), due to toxic contamination from recycled plastics with banned flame-retardant chemicals.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I certainly hope that isn’t the case. Regardless, I definitely would have preferred this meal to be packaged in an aluminum pan, like most of the other Costco Deli offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had this to do over, I would have simply heated the butter chicken sauce in a skillet on the stove. The entire baking process was completely counterintuitive (and time consuming), with poor results.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Ingredients<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients in Costco Deli Butter Chicken<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here’s my best attempt at typing out the ingredients, from the label:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butter Sauce<\/h3>\n\n\n\n