I Tried the New $8 Costco Bakery Find That Has Shoppers Divided, and It’s (Almost) Perfect

Costco’s rolls might not get as much love as the store’s buttery croissants or any number of the hefty pies. (The peanut butter chocolate pie is so good, it inspired a copycat.) But the artisan rolls and all-butter rolls have been quiet favorites of several editors here at Cubby sister site, The Kitchn. 

Then earlier this month several Costco superfans spotted a new tray of dinner rolls slathered in a garlic Parmesan butter, and the people couldn’t stop talking about them — for better or worse. In the name of journalism, I dragged my partner to a nearby warehouse on a Sunday afternoon to see if I could find them (fortunately for him, we only had to make one stop — unlike last time).

The TikTok account CostcoHotFinds posted a video about the rolls on April 1 (several commenters thought it might be an April Fool’s Day joke, but luckily for all of us this new bakery find is, in fact, really real). It took a little time for the rolls to, err, roll out across stores, though. Since then, they’ve been spotted in the bakery section fridge cases at Costco locations across the country.

The 12 dinner rolls are priced at $7.99. They get their flavor from butter (the second ingredient listed), Parmesan cheese, and granulated garlic. They come in an oven-safe aluminum tin and bake for 25 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 375°F covered with foil, and then another five minutes with the foil removed. 

The reviews on social media were a bit mixed. Creators and commenters called them “perfect,” “amazing,” and “too good,” while others were “not impressed” with the “too garlicky” (or “too salty”) flavor. I grabbed a tin, then snaked my way through self-checkout and Sunday traffic to get home and try them for myself.

I removed the lid from the plastic container, and WOW — even before baking in the oven (aka still chilled), these rolls emanated butter and garlic. As someone who taste-tested 18 blocks of butter in under 30 minutes and adds extra garlic cloves to every recipe, this thrilled me. Still, I reserved full judgement until the piping-hot rolls were out of the oven. 

Did I burn my mouth a little? You betcha, and I would do it again. The rolls are pillowy-soft and loaded with buttery, garlicky flavor. That flavor is particularly concentrated in the bottoms of the rolls, which soaked up much of the compound butter like a sponge while baking. I highly recommend serving them with a side of napkins.

I can see how the garlic might be a bit much for some, but not me. I actually dipped the interior of my roll into a puddle of melted butter in the tin for even more garlic flavor. I agree it was a little salty for my liking — then again I find a lot of foods to be that way, so take that with a grain of salt. (I couldn’t resist.)

One commenter suggested using them for sliders, and that is exactly what I plan to do with the remaining rolls. My vote: classic meatballs.

Buy: Kirkland Signature Garlic Parmesan Butter Dinner Rolls, $7.99 for 12 dinner rolls at Costco

This article originally published on The Kitchn. See it there: I Tried the New $8 Costco Bakery Find That Has Shoppers Divided, and It’s (Almost) Perfect