8 Nuts At Costco, Ranked Worst To Best

'Tis the season for indulgent snacking, and Costco has plenty of crunchy options if you're nuts for nuts. This time of year, the warehouse steps up its selection with roasted, seasoned, and sweet-glazed mixes that make mid-afternoon munching feel like a special event. You'll still find the usual pantry essentials, like bulk bags of Kirkland Signature pecan halves for baking the perfect pecan pie. But your shopping cart should also include a tasty nut blend that's ready to please family and friends, right out of the bowl. 

Costco nuts are generally of good quality, according to online ratings — the 3-pound bag of Kirkland walnuts gets 4.8 stars from over 6,000 reviews. Surprisingly, nuts are also one of the Costco food items customers return the most. While you could count on the wholesale retailer's generous refund policy, there's no need to wait in another long line. The Takeout has already sampled and ranked 8 popular snacking nuts for taste, texture, aroma, value, and nutrition. From spicy XL peanuts for game-day spreads to cinnamon-coated almonds for holiday soirées, these are the worst and best handfuls of the bunch.

Made with chili peppers, lime, and sea salt, Tajín Classico almost always lives up to its promise of making "Everything Bueno, More Bueno." Sadly, this nutty collaboration with Setton Farms doesn't deliver the goods.

I can admit to opening this 20-ounce Costco bag with high expectations: Premium California pistachios with that tangy-salty-spicy zing. But the burst of flavor and brightness just wasn't there. While mild, the spices were uncharacteristically unbalanced and overpowered by a smack of chili powder. And despite being "naturally seasoned," several taste-testers in my group detected a burnt, borderline artificial taste. A Redditor on r/Costco picked up on it, too: "The chili flavor can get kind of chemically fatiguing."

We've already been putting Tajín seasoning on popcorn, plantain chips, pork rinds, and just about everything else, so nuts seem like a logical collaboration. If you want to give this combo a try, skip the $16 Costco bag and toast your own nut mix at home. You'll find plenty of super simple recipes online using plain nuts, melted butter, and a fresh, even dusting of chili-lime Tajín.

Boasting 5,846 5-star reviews at Costco.com, this 2.5-pound tin of Kirkland Signature peanuts is clearly a customer favorite. The gleaming gold canister is definitely impressive in appearance, and the contents inside mostly live up to the hype. For starters, these are not your everyday peanuts. They're Virginia peanuts, a variety grown for their exceptional size and crunch.

Are these Costco peanuts actually "Super extra-large?" Several customer reviews suggest the labeling should be changed to "average size peanuts," and I'd say "slightly larger than average size peanuts" would be accurate. I'm willing to forgive Costco for overselling it a bit, because the overall quality here is good. These legumes offer a natural peanut flavor with a hint of salt, plus a decidedly snappy texture that comes from old-fashioned blister roasting.

While I can't find too much wrong with these classic peanuts, they're one-note and uninspired compared to other snacking nuts on our list. If you're a peanut-lover looking for something to munch on with a beer or cocktail, this container is a value-filled Costco food find under $10.

Costco carries a few different nut blends from Savanna Orchards. On shopping day, my local warehouse only had the honey roasted nut mix featuring cashews, almonds, pecans, and pistachios. While this sounds like the perfect mixture in theory, the nuts aren't evenly distributed in real life. My can offered mostly almonds (meh) followed by cashews. The pecans and pistachios were few and far between, and I'm not the only one who's disappointed. "You can literally count the pecans and pistachios in this mix," said one Costco.com reviewer. Others called the uneven blend "very misleading" and even "unfair."

Nut allocation aside, this roasted mix is very lightly coated with a layer of honey powder for a gentle sweet-savory flavor and crystallized crunch. These nuts aren't sticky or messy to eat, and they have the potential to be a crowd-pleaser served alongside bold cheeses or atop salads and ice cream. On their own, the Savanna Orchards mix is a bit too meek and mild for $15 a can — but it is a Costco bestseller.

Pistachios are naturally sweet and buttery, and the Wonderful brand has done a dandy job of coming up with some craveable flavor twists. The limited-edition cinnamon pistachios are my absolute favorite, but at Costco you'll find a 3-pound bag that skews more savory. These California pistachios are seasoned with salt and black pepper, plus subtle hints of garlic, onion, and lemon. They're balanced in flavor and fun to eat.

While these pistachios do come in shells, they're easy to pop open — no nutcrackers or pinched fingers required. I actually enjoyed the repetitive ritual of it all. If you're trying to avoid mindless munching on snacky foods, slowing down to crack open the shells can also serve as built-in portion control. That being said, pistachios are nutritionally a smarter choice than your average pretzels or chips. One 1/2-cup serving of Wonderful salt & pepper pistachios (about 49 kernels) provides 6 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and essential vitamins and minerals including vitamin B6, thiamine, copper, and manganese.

My gripes with these pistachios are mostly due to the packaging. The bulk bag is not resealable, so you'll need to transfer them to an airtight container to maintain flavor and crunch. I'm also a little mad the large, bright pistachios pictured on the bag don't honestly represent the nuts inside. Appearance-wise, the actual pistachios aren't the prettiest.

Hampton Farms super XL sweet honey peanuts were a major hit with Costco customers, and this hot honey edition comes into stores as a tantalizing follow-up. These small-batch Virginia peanuts are pretty impressive in every way: size, flavor, crunch-factor, and value. A 48-ounce bag — that amounts to 45 servings — was just $8.79 at my local Costco warehouse. As one r/Costco Redditor put it, trying them is "worth the risk for the price."

I'm glad I did, because my movie nights, tailgates, holiday parties, and afternoon pick-me-ups are now set with well-seasoned snacks for the season. Dry-coated with sugar and honey and a pinch of heat from paprika, this mix hits a multi-faceted crescendo of sweet, spicy, and savory notes. If you're craving something a little more adventurous, add this semi-bold bag of nuts to your next Costco haul.

When it comes to snacks, you can't go wrong with a classic. These OG Kirkland Signature mixed nuts have garnered great reviews for years, and currently carry a 4.6-star rating at Costco.com. What makes them "extra fancy?" That's actually a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) term for premium quality nuts that meet strict standards for size, appearance, and condition. This elegant blend of simply salted cashews, almonds, pecans, Brazil nuts, and macadamia nuts (note: no lowly peanuts) brings a variety of delicious flavors, textures, and wholesome nutrient profiles. According to a study at UCLA, mixed nuts provide a host of benefits, from improving heart health to brightening your mood.

If you're a Costco regular, you may remember the Kirkland mixed nuts used to come in a square plastic jar with a twist-off lid. Some customers are not happy about the switch to the resealable bag, citing issues with freshness over time. Here's the thing: Roasted nuts do have a shorter shelf life than unroasted or raw varieties. So if you spend the $18 for this generous 2.5-pound sack, transfer the mix to an airtight container at home. Store the nuts in a cool, dark place and try to eat them up within a few weeks. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, especially if you share.

The Kirkland Signature sweet heat snack mix isn't 100% nuts — but it's mostly almonds, cashews, and pecans — along with some sesame sticks and corn nuggets. Despite the small deviation, this nutty mixture easily qualifies as one of Costco's finest flavors.

An undeniable favorite among my taste-testers, this is not your average snack: Savory BBQ seasonings harmoniously mingle with honey-glazed sweetness in every surprising bite. Some of the almonds are crunchy cracker-coated, and the smoky flavors of paprika, habanero chili powder, and molasses bring extra warmth and comfort, without excessive heat.

Costco members seem to love it too. Online reviewers say they're "officially addicted," making multiple trips to the store to buy more. "This is the very BEST snack out there," wrote one customer on Costco.com. "I loved it so much, I got online and mail ordered five more bags." If you see this impeccable pouch on your next Costco run, be sure to grab one or two. The sweet heat snack mix seems to disappear and reappear on shelves randomly, and it's more than reasonably priced, at $10.99 for 24 ounces.

In our No. 1 spot, the Winter Cheer Nut Blend brought us the most merriment of all. It comes from Nebraska's Pear's Snacks, an award-winning, small-batch roaster with a delicious history that dates back over 100 years. While the company's website claims, "These aren't your grandma's snack nuts," this charming mix sure tastes like it was lovingly concocted in her kitchen. Extra credit goes to the real, wholesome ingredients: cashews, almonds, and pecans sweetly glazed with sugar, butter, molasses, and cinnamon spice. I picked up winter-perfect notes of comforting caramel and vanilla, but you won't find any artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives in this nut mix. It's also kosher and gluten-free.

These are all important distinctions when serving a crowd, but you may be tempted to keep this bag all to yourself. It will likely be the first to empty at my house — and not because it's a slightly smaller 22 ounces compared to the rest. For a ready-made, Costco-convenient nut mix, it's wonderfully fresh, artfully crafted, and surprisingly versatile. I added a sprinkle to my Greek yogurt this morning, but this seasonal blend would upgrade trail mixes, charcuterie boards, and winter salads to ambrosial levels.

From almonds and cashews to pine nuts and pistachios, Costco offers a huge variety of nuts for baking, garnishing, general munching, or gifting. For this ranking, we zeroed in on the most satisfying Costco finds for seasonal snacking (and hosting). These extra salty, crunchy, spicy, roasted, flavored nuts were then sampled and compared for taste, price, and overall crowd-pleasing attributes. The mixes that made it to the top of our best list were fresh, aromatic, and even a little decadent. Please note, nut selections and prices may vary by location.