How Do Costco's Frozen Chicken Bakes Compare To The Food Court Version?

Costco is a must-have membership if you're shopping for a big family or need specific items in bulk, but the grocery chain also has a popular food court. You have to be a member to visit the food court or shop the store, with varying membership levels and prices to suit different needs. Costco's food court is always buzzing with people as they wait for their orders. There are options like a slice of pepperoni pizza, rotisserie chicken Caesar salad, hot dogs, and, of course, the chicken bake. Members can easily visit the store, order, and then be on their merry way back home. But you'll also see people with full carts queueing at the food court to get a nibble as a reward after shopping.

Seeing as it made the number one spot on our ranking of every Costco food court item, I wanted to try the chicken bake from the food court menu and compare it to the frozen version they sell in the store. From the cheesy goodness to the crust's texture, I'll compare the two products in terms of flavor, texture, size, appearance, cost, and nutrition to see if one is better. Keep reading, as I'll taste-test both and determine if there's one you should skip.

The Costco chicken bake has chopped chicken breast strips, bacon pieces, mozzarella, provolone and Parmesan cheeses, and creamy Caesar dressing as the secret ingredient, all wrapped up in a hand-rolled crust. It's available for purchase at the food court, where you can order at the self-serve kiosk and then wait for your order number to be called. It's fully coated in crust, making it a portable food that you can eat with your hands. This is especially helpful if you stay and eat it at the food court since it makes it less messy to consume. You can eat it as is or cut it into pieces, but this might prove difficult with the plastic cutlery. 

A frozen packaged version is also available in the protein area of the freezer section near items like chicken breasts and hamburgers. The food court version is already hot, while the frozen one requires heating in a microwave, oven, or toaster oven. The frozen bakes come in a box. Each is individually wrapped for resale, weighing 8 ounces with six bakes in the box (the food court option does not specify its weight). There are directions for how to heat the bakes on the box as well as on each chicken bake itself. This is useful if you get rid of the container to save space in the freezer.

At my Costco in the San Diego area, the frozen chicken bake costs $13.49 for a box, while the ready-made one at the food court comes in at $3.99. You should be able to locate the frozen one in your Costco by the other frozen meats. If you're unsure if yours has it, call your local store and ask. I did so, and they not only confirmed they had the item, but they told me the price and how many they had in stock. They will ask if you have a product number since that leads them to an exact item, but they can still help if you don't. I initially searched Costco's website to see if they carried it, but nothing came up when I searched "chicken bake." You can, however, find them on the Costco Business Center website.

As for the food court version, the item was clearly displayed on the menu, but this might vary based on the store. It seems they cook the food court ones in batches, which explains why numbers were called out of sequence. As I was waiting, there were several people whose numbers were called to get their chicken bakes. I waited maybe five minutes for my order. Here's a Costco shopping hack: Ask the checkout clerk if you can order your food as you're paying for your the rest of your items. Not all locations have this feature, but it doesn't hurt to inquire.

Accessing the nutritional information allows patrons to make choices based on personal dietary needs. And you'll notice a considerable nutritional difference when comparing the two chicken bakes. The boxed frozen bakes clearly show the nutritional facts label, making it easy to view the data as well as the ingredients. Each sandwich has 540 calories, 19 grams of fat, 1,370 milligrams of sodium, 58 grams of carbohydrates, and 35 grams of protein. 

The food court option only displays the calories directly on the menu, but I was able to locate more nutrition facts online. This chicken bake — which is physically larger than the frozen version — has 840 calories, 32 grams of fat, 2,650 milligrams of sodium, 83 grams of carbohydrates, and 52 grams of protein. Notably, if you were to eat the whole food court chicken bake, you would exceed your daily recommended amount of sodium, which is recommended at 2,300 milligrams.

The Costco chicken bake remains at the top of the ranked food court items for a reason. It's a fresh and piping hot rolled-up calzone-Hot Pocket hybrid that's baked to perfection with a browned crust and cheese. The abundance of crisp cheese on the exterior makes every bite flavorful. The bread is soft and doughy on the inside but flaky on the outside. You get the taste of Caesar dressing and a piece of smoky bacon with every bite. Chicken, which can easily get chewy and gross, remains supple and juicy, coated in the creaminess of the cheeses and Caesar. There's a filling amount of chicken, too.

The only qualm was that the paper bag it came in had a slit down the whole thing, likely to alleviate sogginess, but I didn't realize it was packaged as such. It nearly fell onto the ground when I picked it up as they called my number. Once you understand the packaging, it's a fantastic grab-and-go transportable food. The size is rather large, which makes it an absolute bargain for $3.99. Nowadays, there aren't many places to get a meal for that price. It's at its peak when fresh, but it's still pretty good if you refrigerate and reheat any leftovers (which is best warmed in the oven or toaster oven to maintain the crust's crispness).

As much as you might enjoy the food court, you don't always have time to venture over to your local bustling Costco to grab something to eat. This makes the frozen Kirkland chicken bake a convenient option to stock in the freezer. The information on Costco's website shares that this specifically uses Foster Farms chicken breast strips. You'll also notice green onions listed as an ingredient on the front of the box, and you'll see it in your bake, but I didn't notice any in the food court variation. 

The instructions say to keep the contents frozen and note that it's microwaveable, but there are also cooking instructions for the oven and toaster oven. It says it's the food court recipe, but even by looking at its appearance, they look very dissimilar. I followed the instructions for the toaster oven to a tee. I placed aluminum foil on top to slow the browning for the last 10 minutes. 

Although the cheese looks borderline burned, the crust is lackluster, with a one-note, pasty look. The cheese sprinkle on top is minimal, which means you lose a lot of flavor. The chicken didn't feel as tender, but otherwise, the taste of the filling is very similar to the food court version. The bake had more empty space, whereas the food court one was pretty stuffed. There also seemed to be a small amount of liquid that dripped out once I cut the bake in half.

The Costco food court chicken bake looks much more attractive by appearance alone. Had I tried them separately, I wouldn't have noticed the nuanced flavor and texture differences, but as I did, the Costco food court one is the winner. Despite following the cooking instructions, the dull dough and lack of exterior cheese greatly impacted the take-home frozen bake's overall taste, look, and texture. You can see that the cheese nearly burned while the crust barely developed any browning. While you can microwave it, this might exacerbate the texture into a soft, soggy underside.

If you want the flavor of the bake at home, the package of six comes out to about $2.25 per bake. It still has the cheesy chicken Caesar taste, the bacon pieces, and the bonus green onion that I didn't see in the food court one. It still tastes acceptable if you're eating it at home without the fresh one to compare them to, but it's just not one of Costco's best prepared foods. You'll likely pick up on the discrepancies if you're a big fan or regular eater of the food court version. Since the food court bake is larger than the frozen, it's not much more expensive, and you save yourself the 35 minutes it takes to bake. 

Next time, I'd save my freezer space for something else and enjoy the hot, fresh food court chicken bake. You can't leave Costco without stopping for this food court essential.