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Even if Americans regularly enjoy at least 10 Italian foods they don’t serve in Italy, plenty of food products that did, in fact, originate in Italy are still eaten domestically with regularity. Italian food staples are so numerous at large grocery stores, they’re typically found throughout rather than in dedicated Italian sections. All that to say, options are plentiful for Italian food connoisseurs at major retailers, including Costco warehouses. But of course, not every single Italian food at Costco is a winner.
For clarity’s sake, this list lacks what some might consider two notable omissions — Italian sausage and pizza, both of which are well worth purchasing at Costco. The former, however, falls under the umbrella of not-actually-Italian. Meanwhile, Costco does technically sell some Italian-style pizzas, but considering all the top picks among Costco’s best and worst frozen pizza options ranked are decidedly American, it made more sense to leave pizza off this list.
Determining the best Italian foods at Costco first required compiling a list of as many Italian items as possible that are commonly sold at Costco warehouses. Any product that amassed considerable customer feedback, consisting of predominately positive comments, made the cut. The following 10 products, then, are the very best Italian foods worth buying at Costco stores.
1. Kirkland Signature Italian Style Beef Meatballs
Costco
Most Costco shoppers are likely well aware, but for clarity’s sake, it’s worth specifying that Kirkland Signature is Costco’s house brand. There are multiple ways Costco keeps Kirkland Signature products cheap, so as long as they’re decent quality, Kirkland Signature items oftentimes make for better choices than brand-name alternatives. One of the best Italian foods sold under Costco’s in-house label is its bag of frozen Italian Style Beef Meatballs.
Pretty much every good value at Costco requires buying in bulk, and bags of Kirkland Signature meatballs weigh around 6 pounds, for a total of approximately 140 meatballs. Anyone who has room in their freezer for that many meatballs can rest assured that they are, at least, investing in a quality product. Commenters online describe the Costco meatballs as highly versatile, sharing recipes ranging from a classic spaghetti with red sauce to teriyaki udon or a slow cooker dish that calls for chili sauce and grape jelly. “They’re great however you do them,” wrote a Reddit user. “I can’t stand other brands’ meatballs now — these are IT for store-bought!”
2. Kirkland Signature Italian Sausage and Beef Lasagna
Costco
Somewhere near the Kirkland Signature meatballs in Costco’s freezer aisles is the Kirkland Signature Italian Sausage and Beef Lasagna, another high-quality Italian product packaged under Costco’s house brand. Unsurprisingly, Costco’s lasagna is sold in weighty 3-pound trays, and each package contains two of those trays. It’s a lot of lasagna, but it’s a lot of good lasagna.
Preparing a tray of Kirkland Signature lasagna can be as simple as popping it in the microwave. That said, some fans of the lasagna have recommended a few minutes under a broiler after it’s done heating up for a crisper texture on its top layer. However it’s prepared, those who have tried the product generally agree that its quality is about as good as it gets for a frozen, premade lasagna. “I always have this in my freezer,” wrote one Reddit user. “Could I make a better lasagna? Sure. Would it be cheaper? Nope. Would it be … more work? Absolutely. This is like 85% as good for like 5% of the effort.”
3. Kirkland Signature Five Cheese Tortelloni
Costco
Supplementing Costco’s frozen meals are a fair number of ready-to-eat refrigerated items in the store’s deli section. In late 2024, for example, Costco’s latest deli addition was a classic meatball sandwich. Also among the Costco deli’s prepared meals are soups, salads, meats, and even pastas. The Kirkland Signature Five Cheese Tortelloni is located in the refrigerated deli section, and can safely be considered one of the best quick Italian meals available in Costco warehouses.
One package of Kirkland Signature Five Cheese Tortelloni weighs about 3 pounds and is divided into two distinct halves. Text on the front of the package claims those 3 pounds could be considered 14 individual servings. In truth, one of those 1.5-pound halves is probably more like a large meal for one or moderate meals for two. The product’s proponents find that it makes for a great deal all the same. Plus, the tortelloni is versatile, pairing well not just with pasta sauces but in soup or even baked in the oven. “I was surprised at the quality of the Kirkland tortellini in the two pack. I’m definitely a fan for a quick meal,” wrote a Reddit user. “You get quite a big helping for $10.”
4. Kirkland Signature Parmigiano-Reggiano Stravecchio
Costco
Costco’s deli is home not just to premade meals and sides but sauces, dips, and cheeses too. On the Mashed list of five of the best and three of the worst Kirkland Signature dairy products, Kirkland’s sharp cheddar earned a recommendation whereas the Kirkland’s mozzarella fared poorly. Simply put, Costco’s cheeses can vary in quality. Fortunately for Italian food lovers, the Kirkland Signature block of Parmigiano-Reggiano Stravecchio is among the cheese aisle’s standouts.
Technically, Costco has sold blocks of Parmigiano-Reggiano with and without the Stravecchio moniker, which just refers to a longer aging process. Longer aging contributes a flavor that customers who have tried both products consider both deeper and a bit mellower. One way plenty of Costco shoppers who buy it regularly like to utilize their Parmigiano-Reggiano Stravecchio is grating it, making for a fresher and tastier alternative to Costco’s pre-shredded Parmesan. “It’s the best. We have a small container in the fridge that we keep about a cup of this already shredded so it’s always on hand,” wrote one Reddit user. “Any dishes where we are using a bunch we shred it fresh. Nothing like fresh Parmesan cheese.”
5. Pasta Prima Spinach & Mozzarella Ravioli
Pasta Prima
Kirkland Signature products may be Costco’s bread and butter — literally and figuratively — but the wide range of third-party products sold on Costco shelves are just as integral to what makes the chain so successful. One alternative to the Kirkland Signature Five Cheese Tortellini that customers in search of a quick pasta meal might also want to consider is the Pasta Prima brand’s bag of frozen Spinach & Mozzarella Ravioli.
Similar the Kirkland tortellini, each bag of Pasta Prima ravioli purports to contain 16 individual servings, but for most, its 3.5 pounds will make for maybe two to five meals in total. And just like the tortellini, fans of the product have prepared it utilizing a variety of methods, ranging from a one-pot pasta recipe to a deep-frier. Of course, since each ravioli contains its own flavorful filling, keeping things relatively simple is a viable approach too. “These are my new favorite quick dinner when I have no energy to cook,” wrote one Reddit user. “Boil 10 ravioli for eight minutes. Sprinkle on some shredded Parmesan (also from Costco) and some of the breadcrumb topping. Very tasty and filling.”
6. Garofalo Organic Pasta
Garofalo
Rounding out the range of Costco’s best pasta products is its primary uncooked pasta brand, Garofalo — there’s no bespoke Kirkland Signature version of uncooked pasta on Costco shelves. Value-conscious customers may not appreciate that Garofalo’s pasta is organic, since organic products are pretty much always more expensive than their non-organic counterparts. Those for whom organic is an advantage, plus anyone simply in search of a tasty pasta product for their next home-cooked pasta dinner can rest assured that Garofalo’s organic pastas are legit. They’re so legit, in fact, that Garofalo — a company based in Italy — is what’s sold on the shelves of Italian Costco stores.
In essence, you get what you pay for when you buy a Garofalo product. Its biggest proponents acknowledge that it may be sold at a price point higher than a standard grocery store pasta, but its higher quality more than makes up for that fact. “My uncle, who lives in Italy, goes on and on about how it’s the best pasta he’s ever had,” wrote a Reddit user. “It’s the only kind he and my aunt buy there. I have a hard time finding Garofalo here in the U.S. One more reason to love Costco!”
7. Rao’s Marinara Sauce
Rao’s
Some of the third-party products on the shelves of Costco warehouses, like Garofalo’s organic pasta, are hard to find elsewhere. Occasionally, however, Costco will stock a brand that can be found at most major grocery stores that’s still worth buying because — typically due to bulk quantities — it’s available at a lower price point than it is elsewhere. Rao’s Marinara Sauce is the store-bought pasta sauce Food Network host Ina Garten swears by, and Costco sells it for a little cheaper than its closest competitors.
While Rao’s Marinara Sauce is effectively sold in bulk, it’s in a simple pair of 28-ounce jars. As long as that quantity is acceptable, Rao’s is the top marinara sauce pick at most Costco stores, according to customers who have tried and compared multiple Costco marinara sauces. “Just look at that ingredients list and compare it to any other brand sauce. Beautifully simple,” wrote one Reddit user, outlining one major reason so many customers appreciate the taste of Rao’s Marinara. “No added sugar (or any sugar for that matter), which is pretty unusual for sauces, much less ones that taste so great.”
8. Citterio Prosciutto
Citterio
Trailing behind maybe just pizza and pasta, Italian cold cut sandwiches are among the most popular Italian foods in America. In the realm of Italian sandwich meats, there’s just nothing else quite like a rich, buttery slice of prosciutto. Of course, prosciutto is versatile too, belonging on pizzas or pairing with chunks of orange melon too. Costco sells pre-sliced prosciutto produced by the Citterio brand, which operates dually in the United States and Italy. That prosciutto, for what it’s worth, is made in Parma, Italy.
That Italian authenticity, it turns out, correlates with high quality. While the product has inspired some recipe-sharing among Costco customers, the Citterio prosciutto is also generally recommended in online discussions about the most affordable prosciutto di Parma options available in stores. “The prosciutto at Costco is pretty good and it’s $11.99 for 12 ounces,” wrote a Reddit user in one such discussion, succinctly summing up just what makes the product worth purchasing.
9. Veroni Antipasto Italiano
Veroni
Sometimes sliced Italian cold cuts are best as the star of the show rather than as a mere sandwich protein — charcuterie boards are perpetually among the trendiest snack-y dishesfor a reason, after all. For customers who prefer to snack on their cold cuts or even those want to construct some epic Italian sandwiches, Costco sells a variety pack of Italian cold cuts produced by the Veroni brand. Like Citterio, Veroni does plenty of business domestically, but originated in Italy.
Each package of the Veroni Antipasto Italiano comes with ample slices of smoked prosciutto, dry cured pork shoulder, salame Toscano, and salame Calabrese. According to one Reddit user, their Italian husband found that Veroni’s meats are comparable to the what he eats back home. “When he took his first bite he stopped and stared at it for a few seconds before asking me where I got it from,” they wrote. “He said he’s never had Italian meats in the States that taste like they do in Italy, but this stuff from Veroni is the real deal. Now we buy it every time we do a Costco run!”
10. Asaro Organic Castelvetrano Olives
Asaro
Even if most olives sold in the U.S. are divided into deceptively simplistic black, green, and maybe Kalamata categories, the range of olive varieties is vast and numbers in the hundreds. Castelvetranos are unlike any of those three common types of olives, both milder in flavor than a typical American olive and texturally crisper. Costco customers have access to organic Castrelvetrano olives produced by the Asaro brand.
Of course, Costco warehouses typically stock at least a couple different kinds of olives, and customers who have sampled a variety of options find the Asaro Organic Castelvetrano Olives the best of them all. One Reddit user is a fan of the product, outlining in detail just what makes them so great. “Unlike many jarred green olives, they’re in a saltwater brine with no vinegar, and pitted but without pimento stuffing, so you just get a nice mild but meaty olive flavor,” they wrote. “For the most part I just shamelessly eat them out of the jar, but the flavor/texture also makes them a better candidate for mixing (tuna salad, pizza toppings) than more common green olives. (Again, no vinegar helps). These are probably the best olives we’ve found at Costco.”
Methodology
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Determining the best Italian foods at Costco meant first compiling a list of Italian foods available at Costco warehouses. That required combing through the inventories of the Costco website and the distinct website for Costco’s grocery delivery service. Then, a general internet search for Italian products at Costco revealed some additional items not listed in either inventory but available at stores all the same.
With that list established, a product made the final cut if there were plentiful, positive posts about it online. In the end, the vast majority of relevant opinions came from Reddit, simply because that’s handily the foremost source of Costco product discussion — while there are plenty of YouTube and Instagram influencers highlighting Costco products, their commenters more often write that they want to try said products rather than share their own assessments. These items, then, first qualified as Italian products available at Costco. They then retained their spots on the list due to significant quantities of positive online comments, most of which came from Reddit.
Dining and Cooking