These stuffed peppers from Costco are a super convenient comfort food.
I think I tried stuffed bell peppers once as a kid. I’m pretty sure my grandma made them in tomato soup or something like that, and I didn’t love them. 20 years later, I’m eating stuffed peppers again and also making them! I’ve made my own stuffed peppers a few times using ground turkey, rice, black beans and corn, but I wanted to try the Costco version because they looked delicious and it’s much easier to heat up pre-made stuffed peppers than it is to make them from scratch!
Location in Store
The pre-made meal section in the deli area in Costco.
Taste
The Costco Stuffed Bell Peppers are simple but well-executed. Inside each half pepper, there’s well-seasoned ground beef, a cheese mixture and rice, and then the half pepper is topped with more cheese and a bit of parsley. They’re not overly fancy or full of complex flavors, which is how comfort food should be in my opinion. The spices used are pleasing and the peppers I had were crispy (not soggy or over-ripe) and sweet. One of my family members who was with me when I ate the stuffed peppers found that they tasted a little spicy, but I didn’t find that personally. Maybe a person who’s very sensitive to spicy foods would notice this?
If you like ground beef, tomato sauce, bell peppers and cheese, then these are a pretty safe bet. They have parmesan cheese, on top so if you’re not a fan of parmesan, take note, but honestly, you can’t really taste strong parmesan flavor. I recommend adding even more cheese on top when you bake these, because cheese is amazing and you can never have too much cheese!
Cost
The Costco Kirkland Signature Stuffed Bell Peppers come in a large oven-safe tray. You get six half (stuffed) peppers for $19.99 Canadian. The price is pretty similar to the other pre-made deli items at Costco. Whether this is expensive or not is kind of subjective; some families will get more servings/meals out of a tray of the stuffed peppers than others. When (as in my family) your husband can easily eat three or four of the stuffed peppers in one sitting, it seems slightly expensive! If you eat one stuffed pepper and the tray lasts you two meals, this is a pretty good deal. Even though my household wouldn’t get two meals out of one tray, I don’t feel that the Kirkland Signature stuffed peppers are super overpriced; ingredients like bell peppers can be expensive (sometimes $6 Canadian for a bag of six). I feel like $15.99 would be a slightly more reasonable price though.
Convenience
The Costco Kirkland Signature Stuffed Bell Peppers are so easy to bake in the oven! You just remove the plastic lid from the tray, cover it in aluminum foil and pop the tray in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 to 55 minutes! The package recommends checking the internal temperature after cooking to make sure that the internal temperature of the filling in the peppers is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. If you need a super convenient meal, the stuffed peppers are a great choice.
Also, did you know, you can freeze the peppers individually, then defrost and bake them? They’re slightly softer if you do this, but they still taste good and make a perfect lunch or dinner for one. I’m a person who hates waste and freezes… everything, so trust me on this. If you want to know if something can be frozen, just ask me! I’ve probably tried it.
Nutrition
Shall we discuss nutrition information? Half of a stuffed pepper contains 320 calories, 13 grams of fat, 610 milligrams of sodium, 11 grams of sugar and a nice 24 grams of protein. I updated this post because a kind reader named Jessica from Calgary pointed out to me that half of a bell pepper means 1/6th of the tray (basically one full serving). I initially thought half of a bell pepper meant only half of one of the six stuffed pepper halves that come in the tray (so 1/12th of the tray). Anyway, thanks, Jessica!
The calories and fat aren’t outrageous, and the amount of protein is actually really good! Protein helps makes you feel full, so that’s always a positive in my books. For some reason, I feel the need to eat these with bread and butter, which counteracts the fact these are a lower carb option, but it does add to the comfort food vibe! One small complaint I have is the added sugar; people who are really trying to watch their sugar intake won’t appreciate that either. Otherwise, the ingredients on the label are pretty straightforward and unsurprising.
Scoring
Taste: 8/10
Cost: 7/10
Convenience: 9/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give it a try.
These Costco Kirkland Signature Stuffed Bell Peppers make perfect comfort food for cold winter nights and are amazingly easy to cook up. I personally find them to be pretty tasty, but I can see how some people might not be too excited at the idea of a giant meatball stuffed inside half of a bell pepper.
What’s your favorite comfort food? What about your favorite “stuffed” food?
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).
Delicious! I added of course lots of cheese and tomato sauce and wow that dish was a hit my kids and family loved the meat sauce and the cheese of course add more cheese please! I added Oaxaca cheese (similar to part skim Mozzarella) I would definitely buy again! We had the peppers a piece of that chicken they sell roasted and some tomato and onion salad with chopped garlic salad dressing(I make that at home!) and wala!!!
Have bought them for a few years. Found the peppers get soggy. Tasted a demo yesterday where they were prepared in electric frying pan and we’re delicious. Do you add a bit of water to pan and how long to cook?
I bought some last week. Seemed the same, but the peppers were very thick. I often make my own from scratch, but never found peppers as thick as Costcos. In fact they were not tender after 1 hr. in oven, even though filling was recommended 165 degrees. Finished them in microwave. Basically, you are paying hamburger weight pricing for a too thick vegetable. Back to my from scratch version.
We’ve been buying these for years and love them. But the last time we purchased them, we noticed the price had increased and there was only a half a pepper for each. It was always a full bell pepper. These are now on th erip off list and we will never buy them again.
Oh wow! My location has had half bell peppers for quite some time now. Wish they were full!
I can’t say whether the price has recently increased or not, but I can say we’ve been buying these since 2012 and they’ve always been 6 half peppers full of stuffing (same as shown in the picture on the website here).
The change we noticed was they used to come in a foil pan you could put strait in the oven (after removing the plastic lid), but now they’re in a plastic container.
Question So I bought them Friday and been in fridge since then it’s now Monday.. got in accident and just forgot. Is it safe to eat?
Hi! What’s the best before date? Usually if I buy them on Friday and they’re made that day they have a decent best before date so would be fine on Monday.
I’m new to your blog and am grateful for the nutritional information for their prepared meals. I track what I eat for health reasons and am curious as to where you obtain the nutritional information. Thank you for providing us with this information!
Hi Lisa! Its not always easy but all the information is 100% from Costco, I either contact corporate office or management. Every time I’ve asked the staff that make the pre-made meals they don’t have it.
We buy these peppers often. I bake them in the Ninja Foodi Grill XL. The last few times I have frozen them individually for nights when I’m not sure how many of us will be eating. I always thaw them first. We love them. The taste of the meat and rice mixture is great as well as the peppers! Nothing spicy. We will continue to buy! Great review !
Do you cook them before freezing? I tried freezing them (raw) recently and noticed they produced a lot of liquid when thawing and even more when baking. The peppers were pretty mushy. I’m thinking the peppers might freeze better after they’ve been cooked first.
How did cooking before freezing go? I’m wondering the same thing.
I do like these. It’s not easy to find prepared ground beef dishes. It doesn’t come in cans. Shepherd’s Pie is another possibility. Tacos are made with a mix like this but you can’t buy cans with beef.
In the US I think the price is $16, so one commenter was right about the value. With Instacart in Canada it’s $24, if you have no discounts.
The beef is precooked, so I wonder why you can’t just heat it.
Had to cook for an hour and a half to get the peppers to be soft enough. Agree on the sugar is totally unecessary. Hate hidden added sugar!
Also too much rice/carbs. Not low carb/Keto friendly. Hope Costco will update their recipes to get rid of added sugar and carbs. The meat had no flavor. Added garlic powder and more tomato sauce, and then Sriracha sauce. Won’t buy again.
We just had these tonight and loved them. Will definitely be buying them again. We are a family of 3, my son could only eat one, we had two and saved the other one and one of us will take it for lunch at work.
WHAT ABOUT ANY TOMATO SAUCE?
They don’t come with sauce on top but it’s in the mix.
Just a heads up, these folks stole your image: hamdirecipes dot com slash how-to-cook-costco-stuffed-peppers-kirkland-signature
Thanks so much! That’s really kind of you to look out for me like that 🙂 Merry Christmas
OK, looks like I got to thaw them out first!
Thought stuffed peppers were precooked and not green peppers?
We don’t always like sweet peppers
Want more superfood meals esp yams beets avocado meal choices
We usually have some of these in the freezer. We like them.
How long do you bake them if frozen?
Thanks!
Hi Meredith! I thaw them first and then use a paper towel to soak up any moisture before baking
What if you bought the stuffed bell peppers on Sat and no Wed can you still freeze them. Haven’t been baked yet.
That might be pushing it! I’d smell them and look for any signs of going bad before freezing
I liked your review! I’m also a huge fan of these stuffed peppers and purchase them frequently.
Thanks Paul!
Here in Alaska on vacation, we just had this Kirkland stuffed bell peppers dish and it was really pretty tasty, the ground beef was good and the peppers were great! Certain to buy this again for the family!
Enjoy your vacation!
I just tried this dish not only was it over priced is was horrible!! The meat had little to no taste at all. Extremely disappointed and will not buy again!
My experience with this dish is that it is overpriced for what you get. The package looks great with all the colorful peppers but by the time they come out of the oven, they are quite a bit smaller. I have also found that there is more rice than meat in the filling. But yes, it is convenient if you want something different.
Do you freeze the stuffed bell peppers before baking them? I would love to learn your process for freezing them! We can never eat them all in one sitting and I hate being wasteful!
I freeze them before I bake them! You could do it either way. The texture isn’t quite the same but they’re still good.
Question, if I wanted to bake them all at once the freeze them separate for lunches, can I just use a microwave to heat them up? And for how long would you heat them in a microwave?
Hey! Yes you could do that, I would microwave them for 2 minutes once thawed.