My husband and I love Mexican food. We have a great local Mexican restaurant that we order from regularly. We don’t make many Mexican-themed foods at home, but one of our dinner staples is a quinoa enchilada casserole that I make regularly. It’s very tasty, but it’s a bit time-intensive and requires a lot of different ingredients to make. When I saw the Kirkland Signature Enchilada Bake, it reminded me of my casserole and I was excited to see what Costco did with it!
Other pre-made meals from Costco that are quick and convenient are the Kirkland Signature Chicken Tacos, Kirkland Signature Meat Lasagna, Kirkland Signature Shepherd’s Pie, Kirkland Signature Four Cheese and Spinach Manicotti, Kirkland Signature Chicken Chow Mein, Kirkland Signature Chicken Pot Pie and the Kirkland Signature Greek Style Gyro Pita Meal.
Location in Store
You can find this meal in the pre-made deli section, near the macaroni & cheese, quinoa salad and the Kirkland Signature Chicken Tacos tacos. The item number is 37244 and I bought it in Kalispell, Montana.
Taste
The photos don’t really do this Enchilada Bake justice as there are a lot of ingredients mixed together in what’s basically a casserole. It’s kind of hard to see them all. If you’ve ever had a chicken enchilada before, the flavors will be familiar.
I did struggle a bit with how I should serve my Enchilada Bake. I couldn’t tell if there were individual enchiladas in the dish or if it was put together some other way. After some poking and prodding, I realized that there are tortillas layered under the peppers, cheese and sauce on top and decided to cut slices to serve, like a lasagna. That ended up working well.
In terms of flavors, all of your typical enchilada ingredients are here – tortillas, sauce, cheese, veggies, beans and chicken. The chicken is Costco’s rotisserie chicken and there’s a generous amount of it. I wonder if maybe this dish is a way for them to use up leftover rotisserie chicken.
Either way, the chicken is really good and there weren’t any fatty or gristly bits. Everything works well together and I found the Enchilada Bake very tasty. Again, if you like chicken enchiladas, you’ll like this dish.
If I had to find some potential negatives, I guess the main ones that stand out are the spiciness of the Enchilada Bake and the thickness/doughiness of the tortilla layer. My husband enjoys spicy foods, so he enjoys the fact that this casserole is on the hot side for a Costco dish. But I know it’ll be spicy enough to turn off quite a few people out there. As for the tortilla layer being thick/mushy/doughy, it seems to vary a bit across the tray and even the “worst” parts were still okay. It just makes the dish a bit unnecessarily heavy and soggy.
Cost
Costco’s enchilada bakes are sold by weight, around 4 pounds each, for about $22 to $23 per package. That’s roughly $5.99 per pound. I paid $23.54 for ours.
Convenience
The enchilada bake needs to be kept refrigerated and the best-before date is three days from when we purchased it.
To heat the enchilada bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, remove the plastic lid and cover the tray loosely with foil. Next, bake it in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
I recommend serving this with some sour cream and fresh avocado, an extra sprinkle of cilantro on top may also be nice if you like cilantro.
Nutrition
Calories
A 192-gram serving contains 260 calories, 13 grams of fat, five grams of saturated fat, 50 milligrams of cholesterol, 920 milligrams of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, three grams of sugar, one gram of fiber and 18 grams of protein.
Ingredients
There are a lot of ingredients in the bake. There are a bunch of ones that I don’t love seeing such as preservatives, canola oil, sugar and dextrose. The Costco Enchilada Bake contains milk, wheat and soy. It’s made in a facility that processes egg, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, milk, soy, wheat, sesame, crustacean shellfish and seafood.
Scoring
Taste: 8/10
Cost: 8/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 3/10
Overall
Give it a try!
Overall this is one of the best Costco pre-made meals I’ve had. It’s a super convenient way to enjoy the flavors of enchiladas at home without actually having enchiladas!
Have you tried this pre-made meal from Costco? 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).
We have tried the Costco Chicken Enchilada Bake several times because we find it to be easy to bake and giving us enough for two days of dinner for two adults. But the chili spice level is way too high. So why can’t Costco reduce the “heat”? It’s easy to ADD the heat level you prefer but you sure can’t reduce it. (Yeah, yeah, I know you can add sour cream but then you are just adding more fat.)
You can always try plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream! This would increase the protein intake 🙂
YES the girls at my Costco told me the chicken taco kits and enchilada bake is in fact the night befores leftover rotisserie chickens.
Same w occasional ribs packed in cold deli containers w heavenly sauce x2 night befores leftover.
The only contention is the sodium but can’t afford often so their selections are a treat in my house ….
Hello Montana – born raised Bismarck ND !! 😎
Although there’s a lot of chicken in this dinner, it’s so spicy. My husband and I didn’t like it. If it didn’t have the strong spices, it probably would have been better. Sadly, we ended up throwing it out.
I like the flavor for the most part. Agree with the dough I was of the tortilla. My major complaint is that it’s too salty. But for the convenience after a long day, I can skip making a home made meal this once in awhile. 🙂
Tried this today, and although it was tasty, the one thing I didn’t enjoy was the corn, which I’m not a fan of. Also, it’s a bit too saucy for my taste. The flavors do pair well together and the beans add extra protein to an already healthy amount of chicken. Although convenient, I won’t purchase again. I will stick to making my own.
My husband and I disliked the enchiladas so much, that we threw them out. The spicy flavor tasted like a taco seasoning package was sprinkled all over. I do not recommend these at all. Very Disappointed!
The sauce is very sweet and blend at the same time lol also toomuch sodium
That looks gross
I might try it …. once … as I do with many similar Costco products. If our Costco actually carried it, which I don’t believe it does.
Though by all accounts … it sounds sub-standard. The review was not overwhelming. Get a recipe, buy the ingredients and make your own. Enjoy the process of cooking with and for others before cooking becomes a long lost skill. Too much convenience and laziness at the price of quality, flavor and nutrition.
Probably end up freezing half of this as it is a very large quantity of food. Or at least a couple of days worth of leftovers.
I’m happy to have been able to read the ingredients before buying. Too many horrible preservatives. I’m appointed in Costco, they usually do better!
i tried this at my brothers place. i agree there is alot of roterrie chicken in it. i if one took the price of the whole chicken out , i wonder what the rest of the ingredients would cost if one made it from scratch. we all thought it twas very good, and quite filling too. i think it would be good to mix it with beans. there certainly enough to portion for the freezer for later . a salad would also be good along with the sour cream and avocados. it also be good as a flavour base for other dishes too. enchilatas are one of my most favourite mexican dishes. so what you said is spot on.
Sorry just saw that you bought it in Montana
Which Costco did you buy this at? I stopped at the Sherwood Pk location this morning ( Sat Jul 15) and they had never heard of it.