The Costco Kirkland Signature Ice Cream That's Better Left In The Freezer Aisle

Costco is the land of giant freezers. And those freezers are full of no shortage of frozen dessert products. From fruity popsicles to Oreo ice cream sandwiches, the options can be overwhelming. This is why you may be tempted to reach for something basic; a simple chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar can't be bad, right? Well, we ranked eight frozen desserts at Costco to slim down your pool of options and make it easier to choose. The Kirkland Signature Ice Cream Bars were less than impressive and landed last on our list.

Kirkland, Costco's private label, has some of our favorite products, so we were excited to try these. The above product is advertised as "ice cream bars with chocolate flavored coating and roasted almonds." What's not to love? Plus, with 18 bars to a box, the cheap price of this product is enticing. But in this case, the quality of the product does match the price, resulting in a less tasty treat. If we're going to eat ice cream, we want it to satisfy our sweet tooth, and these bars just fell short.

On second thought, maybe that "chocolate flavored coating" label should be a warning. The layer of chocolate on these bars is very thin and not very flavorful. A glance at the ingredients will tell you that the coating is made up of more sugar and coconut oil than chocolate, with a significant amount of soybean oil too. We're not bothered about the oils; coconut oil is a simple addition that gives chocolate coating its texture and allows it to freeze over the ice cream — it's also the secret ingredient in Smucker's Magic Shell. But a little more actual chocolate in the recipe and another layer of coating on the bars would go a long way.

As for the ice cream itself, it's very basic vanilla ice cream. The vanilla is not as flavorful as it could be, and though the ingredients make some sense, it's not as rich as the best vanilla ice cream we've had. Furthermore, Reddit users have complained about the ice cream being subpar or mediocre in general.  It's hard not to compare these to Haagen-Dazs' very similar bars, and those are really just better. Overall, we'd only recommend reaching for these over HD if you simply want a good deal over a good ice cream bar.