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Costco’s private label, Kirkland, is popular for creating products with some of the best price-performance ratios on the market. The in-house brand offers everything from baby wipes to gasoline, but some of its most popular items lie in the categories of food and drink. For example, Costco’s Kirkland Signature Aged Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese tastes great and comes from Italy — but it doesn’t have a high price tag. Many of the in-house brand’s other products are also priced low and authentically sourced, including many of Kirkland Signature’s olive oils. While most of the chain’s versions of this ingredient are good, we found one product in particular that stood out in our ranking of Costco Kirkland Signature brand olive oils.
From the five oils that we tested, the Kirkland Signature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil came out on top for its rich and well-rounded flavors. Free from any sharp notes, this product offers good value for the price. It comes in a large 2-liter bottle, so it can be used for daily cooking and still last a while. Some Kirkland products use low-quality ingredients, but that’s not the case here. This extra virgin olive oil only costs a few dollars more per liter than the losing option on our list, the Kirkland Signature Olive Oil. Simply put, it’s worth splurging on this organic choice, which is sourced from the Mediterranean region and is made by cold pressing select organic olives.
Cooking with extra virgin olive oil
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While some chefs use extra virgin olive oil as a finishing oil, this Mediterranean staple works very well for cooking, too. Of course, a refined version, such as the lower-ranked Kirkland Signature Olive Oil, will have a higher smoke point, arguably making it more suitable for deep frying. However, for almost any other use, from sautéing to roasting, you can go with the extra-virgin option.
To assuage concern about olive oil’s relatively low smoke point, various studies and reports have found that it actually holds up better to heat than most other oils. Therefore, you can go ahead and buy that large, cost-effective bottle of Kirkland Signature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and confidently use it for almost any of your cooking needs.
One thing to keep in mind when cooking with this ingredient is that it has very distinctive tasting notes. Anything you cook in olive oil could take on a herby, lightly peppery flavor. Another factor to consider is cost. While Costco makes it relatively easier to purchase large quantities of quality ingredients, over the long run, using a more generic option is still significantly cheaper. Higher heat often dulls some of the flavors of a high-quality olive oil, so you can keep a cheaper choice on hand for those days you want to use large quantities of oil. Still, for everything else, you can stick to extra virgin olive oil.
Dining and Cooking