Costco is the promised land of bulk buying. You walk in for paper towels and walk out with a cart full of steaks, a patio set, and a vague sense of accomplishment. But here’s the thing: not everything in that massive meat department deserves your money. In fact, some of Costco’s most popular cuts have developed serious reputations for disappointing quality, and loyal shoppers are getting louder about it.
I’m not talking about the legendary $4.99 rotisserie chicken (that bird remains untouchable) or the USDA Prime ribeyes that professional chefs actually recommend. I’m talking about three specific meats that keep showing up in complaint threads, return lines, and expert warnings. If you’re loading up your cart at Costco this weekend, skip these three and spend your money on the stuff that’s actually worth it.
3. Kirkland Signature Raw Chicken Breasts (The Worst Offender)
Let’s start with the meat that has generated more Reddit fury than almost any other Costco product: Kirkland Signature raw chicken breasts. If you’ve bought these in the last couple of years, there’s a very good chance you’ve already experienced what thousands of frustrated shoppers are talking about.
The problem has a name, and it’s called “woody chicken.” When you cook these breasts, instead of getting the tender, juicy result you’d expect, you end up with something that’s tough, stringy, and almost crunchy. One Tasting Table report documented a Reddit user who said, “After 20+ years of chicken breasts being a staple in my diet, Costco’s woody breasts have ruined chicken for me. It’s almost a phobia now.” That’s not a casual complaint. That’s a person who quit chicken.
And they’re not alone. A massive Reddit thread with over 447 comments became one of the most discussed Costco food topics of 2025. Commenters described the texture as “biting into a bunch of rubber bands bound together” and called it “snappy chicken.” Others reported that every single breast in a package had either a woody or spaghetti-like texture. One shopper said it plainly: “I’m done.”
Here’s what’s going on. Modern commercial chickens are bred to grow incredibly fast. The muscle develops so quickly that it essentially bypasses proper protein development, creating a surplus of fat and connective tissue that gives you that awful, almost wooden chew. The issue is visible if you know what to look for. White striations running through the meat and off-colored bruising are telltale signs. You can also press-test a fresh breast; if it feels stiff and unyielding, put it back.
But here’s what makes this even more frustrating: it’s not just the regular Kirkland chicken. The organic line is affected too. According to Mashed, customers on Facebook and Reddit have reported that Costco’s organic chicken breasts are stringy, smell like sulfur, and sometimes arrive seemingly spoiled. “Stopped buying this meat, it’s so stringy like lab-grown meat,” one shopper wrote. A study examining 179 chicken breasts found that over 70% had issues, with nearly 20% classified as “woody.”
The size of Costco’s chicken breasts compounds the problem. Smaller 4-ounce breasts tend to go to restaurants, leaving retail shoppers stuck with 10 to 12 ounce monsters that are difficult to cook evenly. You either have to thaw them, slice them in half, and babysit the temperature, or accept that the outside will dry out before the center is done.
Some shoppers have tried workarounds like sous vide, pounding with a mallet, or marinating in pickle juice. These help a little, but they don’t fix the fundamental texture issue. If you want reliable chicken breasts, Costco regulars recommend switching to brands like Bell & Evans, Rocky, Smart Chicken, or Wegmans organic. Air-chilled chicken is also a better bet, as it avoids the water bath that standard processing uses and tends to produce more tender, juicier results.
Reports suggest Costco CEO Ron Vachris has been investigating the problem. But until something meaningfully changes, this is the one Costco meat purchase most likely to leave you frustrated, and it’s sitting right there in the meat case looking perfectly normal.
2. Kirkland Signature Farmed Atlantic Salmon
Costco’s farmed Atlantic salmon has become one of the most returned meats in the store, and when you hear the specific complaints, you’ll understand why.
The problems start with texture. Multiple customers have reported to The Daily Meal that unfrozen filets have a mushy consistency that falls apart in an unappetizing way. That’s bad enough. But the smell complaints are even worse. Shoppers describe an unpleasant, off-putting odor that’s immediately noticeable when you open the package.
A Costco employee offered an explanation for what might be going on: the affected fish had likely been sitting on the sales floor for several days, with temperature fluctuations between the display case during the day and overnight cooler storage degrading the quality. That back-and-forth temperature cycle is not kind to fish.
And then there are the parasite reports. Yes, actual parasites. Customers have documented finding worms embedded in the salmon meat. Some were even spotted wriggling inside the packaging. Now, parasites in fish are not unheard of in the broader seafood industry, and proper cooking eliminates them. But visually discovering them in your dinner is enough to put anyone off farmed salmon for a good long while.
The combination of mushy texture, bad smell, and parasite sightings has made this one of the most complained-about items in Costco’s entire meat and seafood department. If you want salmon from Costco, the frozen wild-caught options are generally a much safer bet. The freezing process is actually your friend here, as it locks in freshness at the point of processing rather than relying on the cold chain staying perfect from warehouse to your kitchen. But those unfrozen farmed Atlantic filets? Walk right past them.
1. Pre-Cut Filet Mignon Steaks
This one might surprise you because filet mignon sounds like the fanciest thing you can throw in your Costco cart. It’s the cut that shows up on fine dining menus everywhere. So when you see it at Costco for a price that seems almost too good, it feels like you’ve found a cheat code. You haven’t.
The issue is all about butchering, or more accurately, the lack of it. A professional chef who ran a fine dining restaurant for nearly 18 years wrote about this for The Daily Meal: Costco’s pre-cut filet mignon steaks are not properly trimmed. The “chain,” which is a hard strip of fat that runs along one side of the tenderloin, is left on. The silverskin, a tough, papery membrane, is also left intact. And sinew and other connective tissue may be hanging around too.
If you’ve ever had filet mignon at a nice steakhouse and then tried to recreate that experience with a Costco filet, this is probably why it didn’t work. Those tough, chewy bits that no amount of cooking will soften? That’s the stuff a proper butcher would have removed before it ever hit the display case.
According to a Costco employee, this is actually a deliberate cost-saving measure. By skipping the labor-intensive trimming process, Costco keeps the price lower. That sounds great until you realize you’re paying for weight that includes inedible connective tissue. The “deal” isn’t as good as it appears on the price tag.
For anyone who doesn’t know how to trim a filet (and let’s be honest, most home cooks don’t), you end up with a steak that’s supposed to be the most tender cut on the animal but instead has chewy, unpleasant sections running through it. It’s a disappointing experience, especially when a pack of Costco steaks can easily run $50 to $75 or more.
The expert recommendation? Skip the pre-cut filets entirely and buy a whole tenderloin roast from Costco instead. You’ll get significantly better value, you can trim it yourself with a sharp knife and a couple of YouTube tutorials, and you can cut steaks to whatever thickness you prefer. It takes maybe 15 minutes of work, and the difference in the final product is night and day.
So What Should You Actually Buy?
The good news is that Costco’s meat department isn’t all disappointment. There are some genuinely excellent buys if you know where to look.
USDA Prime steaks are the crown jewel. Costco’s buying power lets them stock Prime beef, which represents only about 2% of the American meat supply and is usually reserved for high-end restaurants. Professional chefs and butchers consistently recommend these. Weekend shopping gives you the best chance of finding them in stock.
Red king crab legs are another standout, especially given supply constraints that have made them harder to find elsewhere. Tasting Table notes that Costco’s pricing on these is strong, particularly after recent seasons were canceled due to low stock.
And of course, the $4.99 rotisserie chicken remains one of the best deals in all of grocery shopping. It’s the one Costco chicken product that hasn’t been plagued by the woody texture issue, and it consistently delivers for the price.
The bottom line: Costco is still a fantastic place to buy meat, but you have to be selective. The raw chicken breasts, farmed Atlantic salmon, and pre-cut filet mignon all look appealing in the case. They all seem like great deals. But once you get them home, cook them, and sit down to eat, that’s where the disappointment kicks in. Skip those three, redirect your budget to the proven winners, and your Costco hauls will be a whole lot better for it.
