The image of the meal on the Anne’s Table Kung Pao Chicken box at Costco immediately caught my attention, it looked incredibly delicious. The description of tender chunks of chicken in a tangy, sweet chili sauce with vegetables sounded just as appealing. So did this dish taste as good as it looks on the box?
Location in Store
This is located in the refrigerated section of Costco near the 44th Street Beef Pot Roast and the Kirkland Signature Chicken Tortilla Soup. The item number is 1994838.
Taste
The first thing I noticed about this dish is that there really isn’t a lot of chicken! It’s extremely sauce-heavy, and there are fewer vegetables than chicken.
The sauce is quite sweet, with a mild to moderate amount of heat that hits after you’ve taken a few bites. The chicken and vegetables are basically drowning in sauce. In my opinion, the chicken is a bit rubbery and tastes processed.
I had one piece of chicken with gristle, which I wasn’t a fan of. The vegetables are okay, but there aren’t many of them, and the texture is a bit mushy.
Cost
There are two 700-gram packs of kung pao chicken in the box that costs $18.99 Canadian. I think the price is pretty expensive. There’s not a ton of chicken and I don’t think one package would feed a family a four, I think you’d need two packages.
Convenience
There are heating instructions for microwaving the kung pao chicken or heating it in a skillet. I decided to microwave it, and I don’t think it would have tasted much different if I’d heated it in a skillet.
The kung pao chicken needs to be kept refrigerated, but it can also be frozen if you’re not going to use it by the best-before date. I recommend serving it with rice and steamed broccoli, since there aren’t many vegetables in it.
Nutrition
Calories
A ½-cup serving contains 150 calories, 2 grams of fat, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 10 grams of protein, and 920 milligrams of sodium. That’s a lot of sugar and sodium for just a half-cup serving, with only a small amount of protein. It really highlights how there isn’t enough chicken in this meal and far too much sauce.
Ingredients
The ingredients list includes sugar multiple times, which I’m not a fan of. There also appear to be quite a few preservatives and additives in the meal. The Kung Pao Chicken contains soy, sesame, wheat, and sulphites.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 6/10
Convenience: 9/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give it a try!
My parents really liked this and I enjoyed the flavor of the sauce but I think there needs to be more high quality chicken for the cost.
Have you tried the Costco Anne’s Table Kung Pao Chicken? What did you think of it?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
