Costco Is Testing Chicken Strips in Food Courts, Here’s the Details

The fact that the food court at Costco Canada sells chicken strips is something that always thrills me. I’m not sure why, to be honest: Chicken strips are pretty standard items that you can get anywhere, after all. I guess it’s just that thing of wanting what you can’t have, to be honest. As someone who lives in the UK, I know the feeling of staring at international Costco food court items with longing well – and US customers who have long been jealous of Canada’s chicken strips will also know this feeling.

Videos by Sporked

Well, to them I would say, be careful what you wish for. Costco US has just started testing chicken strips in some of its stores, and they haven’t exactly been going down a storm. Here’s the lowdown.

Costco US Gets Chicken Strips

Costco shoppers first started spotting chicken strips in its US stores a couple of days back, and so far, they seem to be available in a fair few locations around Chicago and Illinois. Portion-wise, the store is offering five breaded chicken breast strips for $6.99, and with that, you get a cup of dipping sauce. The order comes to 1,640 calories total, as per the menu image. An early review over at The Takeout confirmed that these things are pretty big, and the cup of sauce you get is also sizeable – so you probably won’t come away feeling hungry.

What you may also not feel, though, is satisfied on a flavor level. That same review was less than enthused about these strips, mainly due to the sheer amount of salt on each one. Apparently, these things are swimming in sodium, which makes it difficult to enjoy other potential flavors that shine through. Beyond that, the breading itself is hard and somewhat gritty. Oh, man. We had such high hopes!

You Had One Job, Costco

For chicken strip fans who’ve been clamoring for them at the Costco US food court for a while, we don’t doubt that this information will come as a crushing blow. Apparently, though, it’s a similar situation in Canada, where customers have begun to notice more recently that their own tendies are getting saltier and heavier on the breading. Perhaps Costco has done a wide-scale change-up of its recipe, and people on both sides of the border are now less than pleased. Go figure.

Costco can still bring this back, though – it just needs to reduce the salt levels. We know that’s easier said than done, but chicken strips have a bright future in its US stores (and in its UK ones, hint hint!), we just know it. And hey. We guess this is what testing is for, right?