1 week Ago By [email protected] (Bobby Lewis)
Store brands don't often have fans, but Costco has sold many quality, in-house items over the years. As products debut, Costco shoppers are frequently excited to try them and see which new offerings are good, which are less appealing, and which flop entirely. So far, 2025 has been promising for new Costco items, with exciting debuts all over the store, from the food court to the alcohol aisle and the bakery to the freezers.
The strawberry banana smoothie is a great shopping companion when looking for the bakery's garlic parmesan butter dinner rolls and brown butter sugar cookies. Over by the frozen foods, Costco is also shaking up its potato game with Kirkland Signature crispy french fries. Meanwhile, Kirkland Signature vodka and soda cans are an attempt to appeal to a steady market for hard seltzer beverages.
Reviews may be slightly mixed for some of these items, but they're all exciting enough to try. Brown butter sugar cookies Costco's new brown butter sugar cookies are driving fans up the wall. Brown butter adds a toasted nuttiness to the soft, chewy treat for a more elevated flavor than your typical sugar cookie.
And the sprinkle of sugar crystals on top of each one gives a delightful crisp to every bite. One Reddit user raved, "If you see these do not hesitate, GET THEM!!" But shoppers are curious why Costco sells brown butter sugar cookies in packs of 21 . It's unclear why the chain eschewed a more traditional 24-count, but fans have suggested the culprit is shrinkflation — selling fewer cookies for the same price that a 24-pack might have cost.
Between the history of shrinkflation allegations at Costco and generally high egg prices, shrinkflation-like chicanery is possible. However, the rich, nutty flavor means they're absolutely worth trying, even if it feels like there should be three more cookies in the box. Kirkland Signature crispy french fries Costco finally has a Kirkland version of the frozen favorite Ore-Ida french fries.
The Kirkland Signature crispy french fries were released at the beginning of 2025 and received rave customer reviews. One Reddit user wrote that the fries are "too good," adding, "They are the perfect thickness, and they air fry beautifully! I have been eating them way too often, but they taste so good." "I honestly think they are better than a lot of restaurant fries," said another user , who recommended a relatively low and slow cook in the air fryer.
Some have found the fries to be underwhelming when prepared as directed, so feel free to tweak the cooking to your pleasure. Fans of these fries note that, of course, they're even tastier and crispier when cooked in oil, like a traditional deep fry. However, you can strike a balance between the two by tossing the fries in a small amount of oil before cooking them in the air fryer, adding more crunch and flavor than the standard preparation.
Garlic parmesan butter dinner rolls Costco's new garlic parmesan butter dinner rolls are just as rich and decadent as they sound. The rolls come pre-baked in a round metal tin with a clear plastic cover, though you may not initially recognize them as dinner rolls. The bread is slathered with so much garlic butter that shoppers commonly mistake it for iced cinnamon rolls.
And for people who think recipes don't call for enough garlic, you can reportedly smell the garlic through the plastic lid. The thick topping melts all over the bread when reheated at home, saturating each roll in garlic butter. Despite that, the rolls stay nicely crunchy on the outside and soft inside.
It's a surprising achievement for bread that sits in a lake of garlic butter, and it's just part of why they're a must-buy for all butter lovers. Strawberry banana smoothie This might not touch the iconic status of the hot dog combo , but Costco's food court has a delicious new smoothie for fruit lovers. Fans say the strawberry banana smoothie strikes a pleasant balance between its two named ingredients and makes for a delectable sweet treat while shopping.
The strawberry banana smoothie replaced the older fruit smoothie on Costco's food court menus. Although its predecessor blended more fruits than its replacement, this smoothie has more servings of fruit — five versus four. In addition to more fruit, the strawberry banana smoothie has more added sugar than the fruit smoothie, which had none.
Some have balked at the new smoothie's 25 grams of added sugar — the same as a mini can of Coca-Cola – to say nothing of the fruit blend's 69 grams of natural sugar. Kirkland Signature vodka + soda Costco also has a good in-house alcohol selection — at least in regions that allow Costco to sell alcohol. For people lucky enough to live near one such store, Kirkland Signature's new vodka and soda cans are a tasty approximation of the popular High Noon Sun Sips.
Kirkland's vodka and soda lineup is made with vodka, real fruit juice, and no added sugar for a 100-calorie can available in a variety of flavors. Reviews on the assorted flavors vary, but many people find them to be a close approximation of High Noons. One strong selling point for Kirkland's vodka and sodas is the price point.
Spirit-based seltzers like High Noon are generally more expensive than malt-based seltzers like White Claw, and even fans of High Noon admit that the brand can be somewhat pricey. However, like with Costco's other name-brand alcohol dupes, Kirkland's lower markup makes its vodka and soda cases a few dollars less expensive than High Noon..
