What Makes Everything Bagels The Worst Buy At Costco's Bakery

You should always think twice before buying baked goods from the grocery store, and as it turns out, not everything from the Costco bakery is made from scratch. Sadly, the bagels are one of those things — which might partially explain why our taste testers found them to be the worst Costco bakery buy of all. In Tasting Table's ranking of seven different Costco breads — including everything from the artisan rolls and baguettes to the multigrain rolls and croissants — they found the everything bagels to be the most disappointing.

Before biting into Costco's everything bagels, our taste testers knew better than to expect much. But, even for a mass-produced grocery store bagel, these everything bagels brought "everything" but the everything seasoning, without any of that chew or crunch — and a serious lack of tanginess. Flat, dry, and leaving any discernible crust or flavor to the imagination, the Costco bakery everything bagels are pretty on par with what you might expect from a pre-made and packaged bagel.

All in all, Costco's everything bagels are just bad bagels — whether you're a New Yorker, Montrealer, or hail from any other bagel-knowing origin, most people can agree on that much. You'll spend your $7.99 better elsewhere, and don't you dare fall for the bagel boxes, either. All you'll be left with is even more bad bagels to eat, and you'll only have yourself to blame.

The expectations for these bagels weren't high, and while nobody ever thought Costco's bagels would compete with New York or L.A.'s best bagel (which is totally worth the wait), they really have no business being as bad as they are. If you see them, our taste tester's only advice is to run — run straight out of the store, past the food court, and into your car to another store. When you get there, you can bolt right to the frozen section. That's where you'll find the store-bought bagel brand Tasting Table taste tester's ranked as the best: Ray's New York Bagels. But, you'll also find a number of other frozen bagel brands that will put Costco's to absolute shame, as if they weren't there already.

The reason why bagels stored in the freezer section are better comes down to the ingredients. Most bagels found in the bakery or bread aisle are made with the intention of being stored at room temperature for a long period of time. In so, they're usually made with a number of preservatives that make them taste different. Frozen bagels, on the other hand, don't require these additional ingredients — their peak freshness is already locked in. Then, when popped into the oven, they're essentially re-baked fresh right in your kitchen, which means they won't only taste like they came from a specialty bagel shop, but they'll have the same crispy outer layer and chew, too.