Costco’s Newest Item Gets Dinner on the Table Fast

When it comes to Costco’s baked goods, the warehouse store's members are overwhelmingly big fans. Whether it’s the beloved cherry danishes, green chile cornbread, or fall-favorite pumpkin pie, Costco's bakery rarely disappoints. 

The ready-to-eat meal kits are favorites, too, but not all Costco fans are as quick to praise them as the bakery items. The store’s Southwest rotisserie chicken wraps created a division between people who enjoyed them and those who thought they were overpriced or had too many ingredients. We all know convenience often costs a little more, but when you need to get dinner on the table fast, spending a couple extra dollars can make sense.

Now, Costco has another timesaving dinner kit that some—but not all—fans are calling “amazing.”

Costco’s New Carne Asada Rice Bowls 

“Amazing, we purchased that, wings, and pizza…and watched Sunday football everyone enjoyed it,” one of CostcoHotFinds' followers said on TikTok of the rice bowl kit. The account is run by a mom who loves Costco and her description of the bowls sounds pretty yummy.

The package is full of pre-cooked carne asada (marinated steak), rice, beans, and corn plus onion, salsa, guacamole, and fresh lime. It took her just minutes to assemble the bowls from the kit, the type of meal prep we could all use on some nights. 

“I just tossed the carne asada and rice into a skillet until it was good and hot,” she said. It doesn’t look like she needed to add anything to the skillet, such as oil, before she cooked up the beef and rice (plus the beans and corn that were already mixed into the rice).

Then she divided what was in the pan between four “good-sized bowls,” added the toppings, and the meal was ready to eat. “It was quick, easy, and everyone loved it,” she said.

Costco’s Carne Asada Rice Bowls Get Mixed Reviews

What complaints could CostcoHotFinds’ followers have about Costco’s carne asada rice bowls?
The price was one criticism. The package runs $6.49 a pound, and the package shown in the video came to a total of $19.34. 

“$19.34. WAY TO MUCH FOR SO LITTLE,” said one person. ”That’s barely enough for a family of 4,” said another. 

Some questioned the dish’s authenticity. “Rice does not belong in a carne asada bowl,” complained one commenter. “Shame on that food that is not Mexican.” (Of course, nowhere on the packaging does it say the dish is Mexican. Carne asada itself is Mexican, but preparing steak as carne asada can then be mixed with several other types of cuisines.)

A few people claimed to have had it and didn’t like it. “Terrible! Has a burnt taste” and “I thought this one was nasty” were a couple of the negative comments.

But others said it was “delicious” and “I grab this every Costco trip.”

Let’s face it, not all convenience foods are going to taste as good as making something homemade from scratch. To me, rotisserie chicken, while pretty tasty, is never as good as roasting a chicken in the oven at home. But sometimes the convenience—quick to make, few dishes to clean up, and simply not having to decide what to make for dinner tonight—may be worth it.