I Tried Every Salad Kit at My Costco—This Was My Favorite
And I buy it almost every time I go.
Salad kits are popular—according to Grand View Research, the industry was valued at $5.5 billion in North America in 2020, and the group expects that number to grow by nearly 8% by 2028. That's a lot of salad! My family eats a lot of salad: my husband and I turn to salads at lunchtime, and even our 11-year-old daughter requests big main dish salads for dinner.
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While I wouldn't say that I'm a huge fan of salad kits, they are wildly convenient, and I do buy them somewhat regularly. I like a lot of stuff in my salad, and many salad kits include a lot of different veggies plus crunchy elements, cheese and so on. And they're also easy to bring to work or school.
So when I said that I do buy salad kits somewhat regularly, I only get them from Costco. I buy their Caesar salad kit when we have pizza night, and my daughter loves the Mediterranean salad kit, so I buy that every month or so. On my last Costco shopping trip, I noticed two more. So I decided to buy all four of them and force my family to try them and rate them. What follows is my family's very unofficial ranking of the four salad kits sold at my Costco location.
4 Costco Salad Kits, Ranked
Green Goddess Chopped Salad Kit
Rating: 3/10
This salad is made of romaine, broccoli, green and red cabbage and carrots. It also comes with nondairy-butter garlic crumbles, which reminded me of large breadcrumbs, crunchy roasted lentils and green goddess dressing. I liked that it came in a two-pack of smaller salad kits, for more eating flexibility.
So, I had high hopes for this one. Green goddess dressing is iconic. And I love it. If you buy a bottle of green goddess dressing, make it from scratch or get a salad dressed with it at a restaurant, you'll likely find the taste of the dressing to be similar and familiar—creamy with dairy and full of herbs. So when I spied "green goddess" on the packaging, that's where my mind went. But it's not like that—at all. The salad kit is vegan and, while the dressing is indeed green, it's an oil-based dressing that just tasted off to us. My daughter tried a bite and said no thank you. While it was edible, I won't buy it again.
Sweet Kale Chopped Salad Kit
Rating: 4/10
Shredded broccoli stalks, cabbage, kale, chicory and Brussels sprouts combine with dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds and poppy seed dressing in this kit. This salad is also divided into two smaller kits, offering more serving options.
I know this one is a fan favorite; one of our longtime recipe developers even created a version of it. But it got mixed reviews at my house. My daughter and I dug into a bowl and found it way too sweet for our taste buds. My husband, on the other hand, had no complaints. (The score above is an average of our rating and his.) I did really love the combination of veggies in this one, and I'm always a fan of dried fruit and seeds on a salad. If I bought it again, I'd cut the dressing with some more vinegar to balance the sweetness. But I probably won't—the second one is still wilting in my produce drawer.
Mediterranean Crunch Chopped Salad Kit
Rating: 8/10
Chock full of romaine, chicory, broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage and carrots, crunchy flatbread strips, crumbled feta and basil vinaigrette, this one comes as a single large salad kit. There are two packages of dressing, but only single packages of flatbread and feta, so splitting it in half is a little trickier.
The dressing is marketed as a basil vinaigrette but it just tastes like a pretty basic (but good) balsamic vinaigrette to me. I wish it was a two-pack, but I've discovered a few tricks if I only make half. I use all of the feta when I make the first half, and since feta is a staple in my fridge, I can add more when I make the rest. The flatbread strips are a little more complicated. If I'm making a carb-heavy dinner like pasta, I'll skip the flatbread strips and use them all when I make the other half. Or I'll add about half when I make it the first time, then leave the rest of the crunchy flatbread bits in their package on the counter until I toss the second half—they stay crisp for a day or two.
This is a good kit! We leaned on this salad kit hard when we were remodeling our kitchen. I would grill sausages or marinated chicken and serve it alongside this kit. It's satisfying, flavorful and colorful. If I bought it every week, my daughter would be thrilled—she simply adores this one!
Caesar Salad Kit
Rating: 9/10
Exactly what you'd expect from a Caesar salad kit, with romaine, croutons, Parmesan and Caesar dressing, plus a zesty herb seasoning packet. This kit is only available in a single large size. While there are two packets of dressing, the other accouterments come only in one packet.
This is probably my favorite Caesar salad kit ever, and it's another favorite of my daughter's. In fact, I bought one at a different grocery store a few weeks ago, and my family didn't even finish it! I love the packet of dried herbs that comes with this one; it really amps up the flavor. If I shop at Costco around the time we're planning to fire up our pizza oven, I will always buy this to serve alongside.
If you are a super-hardcore anchovy-in-my-Caesar-salad kind of person, the dressing might be lacking for you. But that umami flavor is there; it's just a tad more subtle than some might like. But if you are really into anchovies, you probably have some in your fridge and could lay a few on top of your salad.
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