The Costco Pasta and Meatball Take and Bake meal is an easy to prep dinner idea that is pretty tasty, a lot of fun and affordable. The meatballs are absolutely HUGE and you can have this meal on the table in under an hour.
Keep reading and we will cover cooking instructions, nutritional information and an overall taste test!
Heating Instructions
The heating instructions for the meal are pretty straightforward:
- Preheat your oven to 400F
- Remove the plastic lid from the tray.
- Place the tray on a baking sheet.
- Loosely cover the tray with aluminum foil.
- Place in the oven and bake at 400F for 50-60 minutes.
- The meal is done when the meatballs reach an internal temperature of 165F.
Let the pasta cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Huge Meatballs
Let’s talk about these meatballs!
There are three things you need to know about these meatballs.
- The first thing is that the meatballs are HUGE weighing in at over 3 ounces each.
- The second thing is that the meatballs are made from beef and pork so if you are someone who doesn’t eat pork then you should skip this meal.
- The third thing is that these meatballs taste just like the ones on Costco’s Meatball Sub which is to say, okay but not amazing.
Taste Test
From an overall Taste Test perspective I will score this meal as a 6.5 out of 10.
The rigatoni was tender, the marinara was flavorful and the meatballs were both filling and playful. Other than the size of the meatballs there really wasn’t anything that really stood out about the meal.
We ended up adding quite a bit of grated Parmesan cheese to the meal to kick up the flavor.
There was nothing bad about the meal. It was perfectly acceptable and easy dinner….just a little plain.
Even though the meal is a bit plain you could serve it with some fresh garlic bread and a Caesar salad and have a pretty tasty dinner with minimal effort.
Cost
The tray of Costco’s Pasta and Meatballs has a price of $4.49 per pound. The tray weighed in at 4.36 pounds for a total cost of $19.58.
I know I could make this same dish from scratch for about $14 but it would take me an extra 45 minutes and give me a pile of dirty dishes to clean.
I figure that paying Costco the extra $5-$6 to do the prep and cleaning for me is money well spent.
