The Best (And Worst) Deli Meat To Buy From Costco

While the range of departments in Costco stores is considerable, there's typically no more than a few of a given type of product. So, whereas there may well be more than a dozen kinds of deli turkey, for example, at a store like Kroger — which some might not know is the oldest grocery store chain in America — Costco stores will typically stock just a few brands of deli turkey. As a result of that philosophy, the selection in Costco's deli aisle is pretty limited.

I picked up and tasted seven different deli meats from my local Costco in the suburbs of Las Vegas, covering the majority of what was available, to figure out which were worth buying and which just weren't up to par. Since virtually all of its deli meats are sold in bulk, knowing what's good is especially important. Costco members looking for a quality sandwich protein should stick to what I found to be the best of Costco's deli meat department and avoid the worst of its limited selection.

The sole organic deli meat on the shelves at my local Costco was the Dietz & Watson Organic Roasted Turkey Breast. One bulk package from Costco contains three individually wrapped, 9-ounce packets of sliced turkey, retailing for $17.99.

What first stood out to me about my Dietz & Watson organic turkey was its texture, which was adequately firm and meaty without veering into tough territory. That was matched by a solid flavor, balancing an identifiably meaty character with a pronounced saltiness. At one point, I tried a bite of a King's Hawaiian roll with nothing more than some Dietz & Watson turkey on it — the meat was so moist and flavorful I didn't find it lacking, as would typically be the case with plain deli meat and bread. More than just an adequate deli meat, then, I thought my Dietz & Watson Organic Roasted Turkey Breast was just about as good as anyone could hope for from a store-bought sliced turkey.

Thanks to some strategic partnerships, Costco's Kirkland Signature brand is always affordable compared to its competitors. Whereas my 27-ounce package of Dietz & Watson turkey was $17.99, I paid $12.99 for 40 ounces of Kirkland Signature Oven Roasted Turkey Breast, divided into two 20-ounce packets. While Kirkland Signature's product might not be organic like Dietz & Watson's turkey, the former nevertheless highlights its lack of nitrites and nitrates.

When I first tried my Kirkland Signature roasted turkey breast, I didn't taste much and found it to be distinctly lacking in meatiness. After a few moments, however, the flavor of its seasoning emerged. To my palate, it was pretty much identical to the seasoning on Costco's iconic rotisserie chickens.

As a fan of those iconic rotisserie chickens, I reversed my initial impression and found myself enjoying my Kirkland Signature turkey quite a bit. While the natural turkey flavor may be missing, its ample seasoning is enough to make the Kirkland Signature Oven Roasted Turkey Breast a successful deli meat on its own terms.

What makes Black Forest ham different from regular ham is the fact that it's dry-cured with various spices, meaning it's typically darker in color and matched with a smokier, saltier flavor. Kirkland Signature packages its take on Uncured Black Forest Ham in a single 28-ounce container for $10.49. Just like Costco's proprietary roasted turkey breast, its packaging advertises a lack of added nitrites and nitrates.

I tried my Kirkland Signature Black Forest Ham after both Costco turkey products, and the ham's thickness was what stood out first. However, that ended up being a bit of a negative quality, as it bordered on being excessively chewy, worsened by a hard outer rind. Its flavor, meanwhile, was dominated by smoke. I'm typically a fan of smoky flavors — for example, I love what peat does for whisky — but the smoke in my Kirkland Signature Black Forest Ham missed the mark.

Its ingredients, for what it's worth, are pretty natural, with the ham coated in natural flavoring. I suspect that latter category may cover liquid smoke, because the ham's smoky flavor tasted a bit artificial to me. Since that smoke dominated the experience and lingered in its aftertaste, I ended up finding my Kirkland Signature Uncured Black Forest Ham to be a little lackluster.

For roughly $1.50 less than the Black Forest Ham, Costco shoppers can instead opt for Kirkland Signature's Extra Lean Uncured Ham in a considerably larger, 48-ounce quantity. As is typical for the Kirkland Signature brand, its uncured ham is free from added nitrites or nitrates, artificial colors, and artificial preservatives.

Especially compared to the turkey products I tried, I found my Kirkland Signature uncured ham a little chewy, despite being pretty thinly sliced. That wasn't a problem, because it was firm and meaty, falling short of rubbery. I found its flavor equally salty and a little smoky, but rather than defining the experience, those elements accentuated a slightly fatty, umami-rich meatiness at its forefront. That meatiness is what lingered in its aftertaste.

Altogether, nothing about it felt special or out of the ordinary, but that was what made it work — especially considering its natural ingredients, I found the Kirkland Signature Extra Lean Uncured Ham to be an adequate and enjoyable baseline deli ham option.

At an $11.99 price point, Costco sells a Hillshire Farm deli meat variety pack, containing separate packets of Oven Roasted Turkey Breast and Uncured Honey Ham, each 16 ounces. Hillshire Farm's deli meat contains no added nitrites or nitrates, artificial flavors, or artificial preservatives, just like the Kirkland Signature products on the shelves beside it.

My first impression of both Hillshire Farm meats was that they were sliced super thin. Despite that thinness, my turkey was a little dry. The turkey's flavor also came up short, tasting merely salty and lacking virtually any other identifiable characteristics. The flavor of the honey ham, meanwhile, was aggressively sweet first and foremost, underscored by a mild smokiness that didn't mesh well with the honey.

Theoretically, value would be the primary reason to opt for this sort of variety pack. But when Kirkland Signature offers both better prices and higher quality, there's really no reason for Costco shoppers to choose Hillshire Farm's product over the comparable products from Costco's house brand.

Kirkland Signature Reduced Sodium Italian-Style Dry Salame is made with no artificial colors or flavors, but its ingredient list includes both sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate, setting it apart from the standard Kirkland Signature deli meats. So, Costco shoppers prioritizing a lack of nitrites or nitrates should choose one of a few alternative deli meats instead. Costco sells its salami in bulk 32-ounce packages, divided across two separate packets.

It's a shame about Kirkland Signature Reduced Sodium Italian-Style Dry Salame's added nitrites and nitrates, because this was easily my favorite of all the Costco deli meats I tried. As any good dried Italian meat should be, my Kirkland Signature salami was salty, meaty, and oily. That was underscored by the slightest vinegar tang, presumably from the wine in its ingredients list.

Thanks to its bold flavor — especially paired with its advertised lower-than-average sodium content — the Kirkland Signature salami is perfect for a charcuterie board, or even some of the 12 best ways to use deli meat beyond a sandwich or charcuterie board. While it's certainly not great for you overall, Kirkland Signature's Reduced Sodium Italian-Style Dry Salame is enjoyable for the pure indulgence it offers, ranking among the very best deli meats at Costco.

A good prosciutto can be one of the simplest yet most enjoyable meats in a quality deli department. There's a reason it's the Italian meat that Giada De Laurentiis adds to mashed potatoes, for example. Costco sells 18-month-aged Prosciutto Di Parma packaged under the Citterio brand. At a price point of $14.69, it comes in two 12-ounce packs.

Costco's Citterio prosciutto let me down pretty much right off the bat, providing none of the indulgence that makes the best prosciutto such a treat. I got plenty of fat, but it lacked the sort of oiliness I loved in my Kirkland Signature Dry Salame. Instead, it fell into the territory occupied by the excess of chewy fat sometimes found on a mediocre steak.

Also missing was an identifiable meatiness — while prosciutto is supposed to be thin, I found this particular prosciutto's thinness led to a lack of pork character. My overall impression, then, was lightly salty, too chewy, and underwhelming in flavor. For prosciutto, skip Costco's selection and head to a place that specializes in Italian meats instead.

My selection of products covered the majority of deli meats available at my local Costco in the Las Vegas suburbs. With that said, I prioritized as wide a selection of deli meats and brands as possible — in other words, the couple of products not included overlapped, to some extent, with at least one item I did include.

I purchased all seven deli meats in one Costco trip, and tried them shortly after bringing them home. I ate at least one slice of each deli meat all in one sitting. Most bites of each kind of deli meat I tried were plain. In some cases, I added a bit of meat to a King's Hawaiian roll to see how the experience might change were it part of a sandwich. My assessments of each item are based entirely on this experience, not on any past thoughts I might have had about the featured products. Prices are accurate at my local store as of writing, but may vary depending on the location.