The Best Costco Meats To Throw On The Grill This Summer

It's time. Whip out those punny aprons. Invite over friends, family, and the neighbors you actually like. Set up the badminton and the corn hole. Make sure cousin Steve finally contributes at least a six-pack to the festivities. In short, get ready. For grilling season is upon us. There are the particulars to be concerned about, like the order in which you cook your food and when exactly to throw on the corn on the cob. But, first and foremost, you have to equip yourself with the right arsenal of meats.

Good thing Costco exists. Not only because you need a $1.50 hot dog for lunch now and again (i.e. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). The world's biggest member's-only grocery chain is known for its wide, high-caliber selection of grill-able proteins. The challenge for you, meat-master supreme, is which ones to choose for a summer of char and sizzle? There are the usual suspects, like steak and ribs, but how about some seafood options or overlooked cuts of beef? The world is your (grilled) oyster.

Here are 12 of the best Costco meats for the grill-happy. Whether you go nuts and grab them all at once depends on both your freezer space and your tolerance for schlepping a weighty shopping cart. Nothing wrong with pacing yourself, however. You do have a few, short, fleeting months of summer left.

Don't worry about the fact that you can't seem to get your BBQ ribs to restaurant-quality level. There are ways to fix that. The most important thing, many would agree, is that ribs are definitely involved in the grilling proceedings. Heck, for some meat-centric barbecue bacchanals, this is basically the veggie on the plate. Therefore, which rib offering does one select from the hamlet of Costco-ville?

The Swift brand St. Louis-style pork spare ribs are a solid go-to. The great thing about this rack is that they have a tighter trim than a lot of other grocery-store ribs. That equals less time devoted to preparation and more to looking cool while grilling them. It also means the cooking itself isn't as difficult.

You'll want to check to see if the membrane (also known as the silverskin) is there or not. Usually, Costco takes care of that for you ahead of time. If not, you'll just need to get a butter knife in between the membrane and the meat, create separation, and, with a paper towel, you should be able to literally pull it off the rack. Again, hopefully Costco's done the work for you and allows you to concentrate on showing off your tong stance for Grill-Tok. 

It's quite possible that the ribeye is the king of grilled meat. You can marinate it, rub it, or season it sparsely, and you'll still get a tender, juicy, fatty, fantastic steak-eating experience (although some experts say to avoid a wet marinade altogether and only go dry). Garlic butter is also an excellent ingredient to involve in this meat masterpiece.

Costco's choice cut of the boneless ribeye has been compared to a local butcher's as far as quality goes. The marbling is generally a thing of beauty and they are also pre-tenderized, which makes the $20-per-pound price tag a pretty good deal. You can also buy the ribeye in bulk, without any butchering, if you wanted to pay even less and put in the blue-collar effort like a people's champ.

Because of the richness of the ribeye, you want to make sure to pick sides that will balance that out. You want brightness, freshness, crunch, acidity; things like slaw, grilled asparagus, perhaps a citrus salad, or even Brussels sprouts. Anything that'll make mouths want to go back for more of that steak.

You know burgers are going to be on tap at some point (who are we kidding, every point). And, it's not to say that just any ground beef will do when it comes to your patties. Sure, once people are a few cold ones in, as long as there's something beefy and flat with cheese on it between bread, they'll be happy. But, why not push oneself and make the best burgers possible? Would George Washington have settled for a mediocre burger on the Fourth of July? (Bad question: Burgers weren't around at the time. And, Washington, like most of the Founding Fathers, drank a lot of alcohol, so he probably would've eaten anything you handed him at a barbecue.)

Costco's Wagyu ground beef is the minced meat you want in order to make an outrageously good burger. A three-pack of a pound each will run you about $22 or $23, so less than $8 a pound. Not bad when you consider that's about as cheap as, say, Aldi's run-of-the-mill ground beef. And, what you get with Wagyu is just a superior grilling experience. The fat in the meat melts much more easily, which infuses the cooked patty with juiciness and ramps up both the texture and taste. 

Do you have some guests coming over that aren't meat eaters or prefer the pescatarian lifestyle? Do you just want a delicious, satisfying fish to throw on the grill, especially since there are tricks to avoid overcooking that anyone can employ? Do you want us to stop asking rhetorical questions and get right to the point? Fair enough. Costco's salmon fillet is not only a bargain choice for a seafood grill, it's a quality one, too.

The pre-filleted offerings are often less expensive than what you'll find at the likes of Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. Granted, grilling salmon can be a bit trickier than beef or pork, due to its fragility and flakiness (the same characteristics that make it delicious, of course). But, cooking it over direct heat can also get the most out of it.

If you're comfortable flipping the fillet, for an all-around char, then you want about five minutes on each side, skin-side down first. If you'd rather not do the flip and risk meat getting stuck on the grill, leave the skin-side on the grill for a full ten minutes. You'll still have the crispiness on that side and all will be well in grill-world.

Kirkland's air-chilled chicken drumsticks are just a lot of bang for the buck. For less than $10 you get a haul of about 20 drumsticks. Prorate that out, and you can feed a hungry gathering for an amount that really won't break the bank (feel free to Venmo-request participants anyway though). And, if you grill them right, they'll be requests for more parties, and more drumsticks, and you'll have to head back to Costco again and again — but you'll be the most popular griller in town, so it'll all be worth it. No guts, no glory; reps are earned, not given.

You can go the extra distance to really make these suckers sing, by removing the skin and boiling them first, which can lead to fantastic grilling (even if you use foil to avoid a mess, especially when barbecue sauce is involved). It's also a good idea to set up a two-zone grill for your tender chicken drumsticks — a hot side and a cooler side. The cooler side will be used to first render the fat and the hot side will be utilized for the finish, crisping them up beautifully.

If you're Brazilian, you already know about picanha. Not only do you know it, you've crowned it the king of steaks. It's the selection for which people at Brazilian steakhouses turn their coaster to the green side: A cut of meat that people just shouldn't pass up. Good news is, you don't have to be Brazilian to acquire, cook, and serve picanha thanks to Costco. 

Also known as sirloin cap, or in Costco's verbose case, beef loin top sirloin steak, picanha is a fat-topped cut of meat that cooks really fast (making it perfect for the grill), and requires little seasoning and no sauce (although a dry brine can be applied). Make sure to cut it against the grain, though, so the muscle fibers aren't too long and it can maintain the tender, beefy fattiness that is its trademark. If you want to go the full rodizio experience, you can impale them on one of those giant skewers with some grilled peppers. Just make sure to give everyone a pillow for their eventual food coma.

Peasants, laborers, prisoners, even livestock. In the nineteenth century these were the people and animals who were tossed lowly lobster for the pickings. A poor person's food until it wasn't, lobster today will usually set you back more than you'd like — whether it's on a roll, in a fine-dining restaurant, or from the supermarket. Costco, however, is pretty decent when it comes to cost and portion. (Although, like from any grocery store, you want to make sure lobster smells fresh, not fishy.)

Generously sized, tender, sweet, and reasonably priced, grilling Costco's lobster tail is a ticket to summer seafood heaven. The wild, warm-water tails can be very sizable, even shockingly so to some customers. Warm-water lobster meat isn't as firm as the cold water variety, while also having an often sweeter, more subtle flavor than the latter.

The warm-water ones also take better to strong, flavorful seasonings, so you can go to town with Asian or Cajun spices if you so desire. It's also recommended you cut open the shell of the tail with scissors in order to baste the meat with butter, which, you might've heard, goes pretty well with lobster.

We all should give a shout-out to the loin primal. It's the area directly under the vertebrae of the cow, and it provides some of the best cuts of meat, including filet mignon, porterhouse, T-bone, and, of course, the New York strip. Costco's boneless choice cut of the strip has all the deep, beefy, commanding flavor notes you expect from this slice of beef.

A great way to cook the strips is to utilize the reverse sear method, which involves cooking the steak with indirect heat in the oven, then finishing it off on the grill to get a crispy outer layer. As long as you time it right, there should be no worry about serving out a strip that pleases the masses (or, you know, just the spouse and kids).

You can also save money and go with the whole roast, unbutchered. This allows you to size and portion the meat out as you see fit, freezing whatever you don't use immediately (or leaving it, at most, two or three days in the fridge). One YouTuber was able to conjure 14 strip steaks for only $116 with this approach.

Hey, if Guy Fieri is telling you this is the budget-friendly steak you should be throwing on the grill, it's probably best you listen. (His hair looks like a crown for a reason.) What the Mayor of Flavortown is referring to is tri-tip: The flavor-packed, tender, generously marbled cut of meat that's made to be grilled and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Extracted from the sirloin portion of the cow, these cuts are beefy and low in fat. Costco's tri-tip roast runs between $15 and $16 per pound, at least for the choice cut. And, those bad boys are ready to go right out of the packaging. Rarely is there any trimming required.

You can go with some basic seasoning and be perfectly happy, but tri-tip also works well with marinades and rubs. Costco even sells a tri-tip that's already seasoned and marinated, making your life that much easier (at least in terms of grilling). When a tri-tip is done right, the finished product looks so sexy that Redditors have actually put NSFW warnings on the pics they've posted.

You don't have to be from Wisconsin to know your way around a brat, and you certainly don't have to be from Germany. Bratwursts are a lip-smacking bun-filler for a backyard barbecue that any griller can utilize. Kirkland Signature Original bratwursts come 14 to a pack, running you less than a dollar per brat. They're great in the smoker, if you want to go that route. But, grilling them is quick, easy, and gets you the snap that everyone wants.

One Redditor suggested incorporating brew into the brat: "I used to boil them in beer, butter and onion and then crisp them up on the grill." Numerous others agreed with getting some onions and beer in on the action — even non-alcoholic beer for the steadfastly sober sausage-eaters.

Others also noted that just grilling them as is works perfectly well, since they stand on their own. "Simple and delicious" in the words of one of the commenters. YouTuber Bob Diff even put Costco's brats head-to-head with Johnsonville, with the former coming out on top in his estimation.

Beef and pork may be the meat stars of the grill, but lamb can easily step in and upstage the old headliners. You can go big and buy the Swift All Natural Lamb Loin Chop 10-pack for for as low as $180 when it's on sale (each pack contains four chops at four ounces apiece). Get yourself the right marinade and seasoning to offset the lamb's gamey-ness, and you'll have your guests proclaiming "beef shmeef" and "pork shmork." (And not just because they're super fun to say.)

With all that said about marinade and being gamey and whatnot, one Redditor was perfectly happy cooking the chops with just a bit of salt, proclaiming "wow were they good." Another Redditor even declared that "Costco lamb loin chops are 100% the best meat deal in America." Massive words there, especially when you consider America has a lot of freaking meat in it. 

Yet another commenter offered a little cooking advice along with their (much quainter) praise: "The boneless leg is lovely. Remove the ties, open it up and marinate it in goodies of your choice. Then cook it flat on the grill. Dee-lightful." Thee-ank you for the tip.

We've come to what's probably the steakiest of all fish. In fact, you can pretty much cook tuna steak just like a beef steak. You want the grill to be extremely hot — around say 500 degrees — so that when you place that tuna on you get that nice sizzle sound (we also eat with our ears, you know). Just a couple of minutes on each side should do it, so as not to overcook the meat and lose that fatty goodness in the middle. If you're buying fresh, you have no reason to worry about it being a bit underdone.

And, Costco sells its tuna fresh. It also sells a vacuum-packed bulk option for bigger BBQ bashes, containing 26 or 27 individual steaks, weighing six ounces each. Review after review from members on Costco's website say a lot of the same, laudatory things: Perfect portion size, excellent taste, easy to cook, top-notch, awesome value, restaurant-level quality.

Obviously, if you're just cooking for yourself or a handful of folk, you can grab the two-packs of tuna fillets. It's not quite the same deal as the bulk buy, but, then again, that's usually the case with any product. Either way, you'll get a seafood helping with the vibes of a steak.