I’m a sucker for easy meals and knew we had to try the Costco taco kit when we saw it in our local store!
Chicken tacos are just one of those things everyone in the family loves.
They’re tasty without being too exotic for kids who prefer bland meals and are simple to prep and plate – especially when all of the prep work is already done for you!
There’s a reason why this Costco meal kit is one of the most popular options in the store.
Keep reading for our:
- Costco taco kit review
- How to heat Costco chicken taco kit (instructions and tips)
- Chicken taco kit nutrition information (ingredients list)
Disclosure: Affiliate links are used throughout this post. You can read our full disclosure here.
Costco Taco Kit: Review + Cooking Instructions
Costco’s ready-to-eat chicken taco kit is one of the easiest meals to prep and serve.
Honestly, you could even have it cold if you really wanted to (I wouldn’t recommend it but you could).
The chicken is precooked and ready to go.
More Costco tips and reviews:
- Costco Stuffed Salmon: Review + Instructions
- Costco Lolë Yoga Mat Review: It’s Just Okay
- Carbonaut Keto Bread Review: Seeded Multigrain
Costco Taco Kit Review
We’ll break down Kirkland Signature Street Tacos kit according to the usual five categories:
- taste
- cost
- convenience
- ingredients
- calories
Taste
The beautiful thing about the Costco taco kit is that you can mix and match as you please.
Want it with just chicken and cabbage? Go for it.
Interested in adding some cheese, salsa, and cilantro lime cream? Let’s go!
So what comes inside of each kit?
Tortillas
The wheat flour tortillas are your typical bland tortilla (we love corn tortillas in this house) but they’re a nice small size that’s perfect for little people.
This taco kit comes with about 12 per package.
Chicken
The chicken is cooked in your standard taco seasoning.
It’s salty and cooked to the typical chicken breast consistency you’d expect (check out our KFI butter chicken sauce review to see how we make delicious pulled chicken breast with our slowcooker).
There’s about a cup and a half of chicken in the kit.
Cabbage Slaw
This cabbage mix is all you need – it’s crunchy, colourful, and makes a great little taco.
There’s about a half a cup of cabbage slaw in each taco kit.
Cheese
This kit comes with thinly shredded marble cheese – yum!
There’s about 1/3 cup of cheese in this taco kit.
Salsa
The salsa in this kit is very mild.
It’s got great flavour but if you like it hot, use your own spicy salsa or add some Frank’s red hot sauce to your tacos.
There’s about half a cup of salsa in the kit.
Cilantro Lime Crema
This is probably my favourite part of the kit.
But it’s honestly less like a crema and more like a dressing – it isn’t as thick as a regular cream and can be easily drizzled down your tacos for perfect plating.
I like it and will definitely use this sauce for inspiration.
Like the salsa, there’s about half a cup of cilantro lime crema included with this kit.
Limes
If you love a sour flavour for your chicken tacos, the kit comes with three lime slices – you really don’t need any more than that.
Cost
One of the best parts about this chicken taco kit is the price – it is SO inexpensive!
I paid $15.64 for this one and we got two meals out of it!
If you were to make exactly 12 tacos out of the contents in the package, it would work out to about $1.30 per chicken taco.
I usually have two, my husband has three, and the kids have one each which leaves us 5 leftover tortillas plus a small amount of chicken, cheese, cabbage, and sauces.
That said, there’s only ever about two servings of chicken left the next day.
I use the other three tortillas as on-the-fly crepes or quesadillas for the kids!
It might sound weird to you now but give one of these tortillas a try with some Kirkland Signature strawberry jam one day – it’s an Eastern European treat, haha.
My husband likes to put peanut butter and jam on his!
Convenience
I can’t stress how easy this meal is to make!
Everything you need is right here and it’s ready to serve to your family in as little as 5 minutes (using the microwave or 20 minutes using the oven or stovetop instructions below).
Ingredients
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this kit has WAY too many ingredients in it.
There are way too many additives in here that the average person can’t even pronounce never mind trying to understand the purpose they serve.
Phew – here we go.
Costco Taco Kit Ingredients
SEASONED CHICKEN (CHICKEN, WATER, VINEGAR RICE STARCH, SALT, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, SUGAR, DEXTROSE, SPICE EXTRACTS), TORTILLA (FLOUR, WATER, OIL BLEND [CANOLA OIL,
MODIF PALM & PALM KERNEL, OILS], SALT, OATHULL FIBRE, WHEAT GLUTEN, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM BICARBONATE, POTASSIUM, SORBATE, MONO & DIGLYCERIDES, FUMARIC ACID, CELLULOSE GUM, GUARGUM, XANTHAN GUM, CALCIUM PROPIONATE, L-CYSTEINE, CALCIUM CARBONATE, SILICA). COLESLAW (CABBAGE, CARROTS), SALSA (TOMATOES, ONION, PIMENTO, WATER, CONC. TOMATO PASTE, BELL PEPPERS, SUGAR, VINEGAR. MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, SALT, HONEY, CONC. LIME JUICE, SEASONING, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM BENZOATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE, CILANTRO, LIME SAUCE (WATER, SOY OIL, MODIF. MILK
INGRED, FETA CHEESE, SOUR CREAM, FROZEN YOLK, GARLIC VINEGAR, MODIF. CORNSTARCH, SALT, CANOLA OIL, CONC. LIME JUICE, SUGAR, SPICES, HERBS, SEASONING (CHEDDAR CHEESE.
MODIF MILK INGRED, SALT, SODIUM PHOSPHATE), YEAST EXTRACT, FLAVOUR, LACTIC ACID, CITRIC ACID, DISODIUM EDTA, POLYSORBATE 60, XANTAM GUM, SODIUM BENZOATE, POTASSIUM
SORBATE), MONTEREY & CHEDDAR CHEESES, LIME, SEASONING (SPICES, SALT, CORNSTARCH, SUGAR, CHIPOTLE, DRIED GARLIC, COLOUR, ANCHO CHILI PEPPER, CANOLA OIL).
CONTAINS: WHEAT, OATS, SULFITES, MILK, EGG
MAY CONTAIN: BARLEY, FISH, SHELLFISH, CRUSTACEANS, TREE NUTS, PEANUT, SESAME, SOY, MUSTARD.
I could live without the polysorbate 60, mono and diglycerides, annato, and colour – how about you?
Based on these artificial ingredients, opting for this taco kit feels like a step up from fast food.
Personally, I’d rather do the work and prep my chicken and cilantro lime crema sauce in order to avoid a lot of the stuff you see here.
Calories
Like other Kirkland Signature prepared meals, nutritional facts aren’t specified on the taco kit container either.
My Fitness Pal estimates that a serving of 2 tacos is about 360 calories though. Other sites like Burpy estimate 190 per taco.
It all depends on your chicken, cheese, and sauce portions but there seems to be a pretty strong consensus that each taco is just under the 200 calorie mark.
Costco Taco Kit Instructions
The recommended cooking instructions for these chicken tacos use the microwave.
Microwave
Place chicken in a microwaveable container.
Microwave chicken on high heat for 2 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 74 Celsius (165 Fahrenheit).
Then, microwave the tortillas to your desired doneness.
I’d say between 10 to 20 seconds for two tortillas is good.
Your meal will be ready in under 5 minutes.
Oven
Personally, we opt for the oven whenever possible!
While it’s fast, microwaving food just isn’t the healthiest option.
Set your oven to 350 Fahrenheit and transfer your chicken to an oven-safe container.
Heat chicken for about 15 minutes.
Place the number of tortillas you think you’ll eat on a baking sheet and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
Your chicken and tortillas are ready to go in between 18 to 20 minutes!
Stove Top
You could also warm your chicken and tortillas in a pan.
Cook chicken in a small pan over medium-high heat for 5 to 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 74 Celsius (165 Fahrenheit).
Warm tacos over medium-high heat in a medium or large-sized pan for about 20 seconds on each side.
You can warm up two at a time in a medium pan or three in a large one.
It’ll take about 20 minutes to get your chicken tacos from stovetop to table!
How do you make a copycat Costco taco kit?
To make your own Costco taco kit from what they have at the warehouse, pick up the following:
- Kirkland Signature chicken breasts
- Taco seasoning
- Kirkland Signature organic salsa
- Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
- Kirkland Signature shredded marble cheese
- Mejicano Whole Wheat Tortillas
- Bag of Shredded Cabbage mix
- Bags of limes
- Garlic
- Himalayan Salt
Chicken
Preheat your oven to 375 Fahrenheit.
Season two chicken breasts with salt and pepper and chop.
Pan fry so that all sides are golden brown and add 3 to 4 tbsp taco seasoning – you’ll want to use a lot if you like it salty like Costco’s.
Add 1/2 water and continue cooking.
Once all water had evaporated, move your chicken chunks to a parchment paper-covered baking sheet and cook for an additional 20 minutes or until your chicken reaches an internal temperature of 74 Celsius (165 Fahrenheit).
Kirkland Taco Seasoning Ingredients
The Taco seasoning currently available at Costco warehouses is actually made by Club House.
It contains the following ingredients:
- Spices (including red pepper, dehydrated onion, salt, corn starch, sugar, and garlic powder)
- Hydrolyzed wheat protein
- Citric acid
- Yeast extract
- Natural flavour
The Pioneer Woman has a great recipe for natural taco seasoning without the mysterious additives like “natural flavour” that this one contains!
You can easily store homemade seasoning blends in mason jars like this – they even come with stickers to label them.
Tortillas
Place your tortillas on a baking sheet and warm them in your oven for 2 to 5 minutes.
Vegetables and Condiments
While your chicken and tortillas are baking in the oven, grab a few glass containers and start filling them with your cabbage and condiments.
These OXO containers are my ABSOLUTE favorite!
You’ll want medium-sized containers for:
- cheese
- cabbage mix
- lime crema
And you’ll need small containers for:
- salsa
- lime wedges
Lime Crema
This recipe isn’t identical to Costco’s cilantro lime crema but it’s tasty!
You’ll need:
- 1 lime
- 1 cup of Greek yogurt (or sour cream – we use Greek yogurt because it’s healthier)
- 1 garlic glove
- 1/8 teaspoon Himalayan Salt
Zest the skin of one lime THEN juice it – I think a lot of us have been in a hurry and made the mistake of juicing before zesting in the past so here’s your reminder, haha!
Mince your garlic glove and mix with Greek yogurt.
Add lime zest and juice.
Season with 1/8 teaspoon of Himalayan Salt – add more if you like a saltier crema.
Serve in a medium glass dish that you can store for leftovers!
Enjoy 🙂
Final Thoughts: Costco Chicken Taco Kit Review + Instructions
This pre-made Costco meal is a great quick option for busy people and parents alike.
The chicken is pre-cooked, cabbage and cheese are pre-shredded, and the tortillas are a great size for little hands to hold.
The salsa isn’t too spicy and the lime crema is tasty without being overly sour.
My kids still preferred the tacos with just a bit of greek yogurt though!
Have you tried Costco’s taco kit? Let me know what you thought in the comments below.
