Costco's Kirkland Signature Bacon, Ranked From Worst To Best

Humans have been making bacon for thousands of years. Since the Chinese began salting and dry-curing pork 3,000 years ago, people all over the world have enjoyed the best part of breakfast. Today, consumers have a wide range of options when it comes to bacon. From smoked and maple-flavored to thick-cut and crumbled, there are more ways than ever to enjoy this savory meat.

While taste matters when picking the right bacon, price can't be overlooked, and few places offer value quite like Costco. The wholesaler has a well-earned reputation for offering an impressive selection of meats, and bacon is no different. Under its in-house brand, Kirkland Signature, Costco stores offer four types of bacon: low-sodium, thick-cut, fully cooked, and regular.

With four Costco options, the real question is: Which bacon is the best? To find out, I tried out four Kirkland Signature varieties and put them in a head-to-head showdown based on taste and price. Read on to find out which Kirkland Signature bacon deserves a spot at your breakfast table and which is better left in the freezer section.

Pre-cooked bacon will never truly compete with the fresh version, but it's more about convenience than taste. In the case of Kirkland Signature Fully Cooked Bacon, the convenience is hard to deny. A 1-pound package contains between 48 and 50 strips, with each layer of bacon strips separated by parchment paper inside a resealable bag.

The bacon's cooking instructions are as convenient as you'd expect, with a microwave option to go along with a conventional oven option. For the microwave, about 6 seconds per piece is sufficient for sizzling bacon, while the conventional oven requires about 5 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. While the convenience is undeniable, the value is not. This is by far the most expensive bacon on the list, coming in at $16.99 for a 1-pound package. For comparison, the next most expensive option is closer to $6 per pound. So, is the convenience worth the added price? Yes, but only if convenience alone is your goal.

Taste-wise, this bacon is fine. It's fairly thin and flimsy, but the fat-to-meat ratio is solid. I cooked mine in the microwave so the meat wasn't super crispy, but it wasn't overly chewy either. It's not bacon you're going to get excited about, but it's also better than no bacon at all. It also means you don't have to get any pans dirty. In other words, Kirkland Signature Fully Cooked Bacon gets the job done.

This is standard, no frills bacon. Of course, it's sold in Costco-sized portions, so for $19.99 you can get four 1-pound packages, which equates to $4.99 per pound. As of this writing, that's a pretty good deal, with national bacon prices sitting at over $6.60 per pound on average.

Like most standard packages of bacon, there are roughly 16 strips per pound, and they come in a non-resealable package. I cooked this bacon on the stove top, though there is an option to microwave it for approximately 1 minute per slice, or until the meat reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit. I tend to prefer my bacon in the middle of the cooking spectrum — in other words, not floppy and pink, but also not brittle and black. The cooking process was easy, and the meat released what I would consider a typical amount of grease.

From a taste perspective, this is baseline bacon. Salty and flavorful, with a perfect ratio of meat-to-fat. I could easily eat an entire package myself, though my arteries would probably protest. If you're searching for a classic cut of bacon for anything from breakfast to your next barbecue recipe, Kirkland Signature Sliced Bacon won't let you down. Still, it's not my favorite of Costco's offerings.

Sodium tends to get a bad rap. While there are plenty of negative side effects to consuming too much sodium, salt does play several important roles in the body, including helping to regulate fluid levels and playing a key part in nerve transmission. In short, too much sodium is bad, while not enough is also bad. Really, it's all about moderation.

If you're looking to reduce your sodium intake, your choice of bacon isn't a horrible place to start. While its other nutritional stats are similar to standard bacon, Kirkland Signature Lower Sodium Sliced Bacon delivers on its promise by slashing the sodium levels from over 300 milligrams (as is the case for other varieties) to 190 milligrams per serving. The price is the same as the regular stuff — $19.99 for a bundle of four 1-pound packages — so the value is still there. But what about the taste?

I was pleasantly surprised by this bacon. The meat itself is indistinguishable from the fully-salted version, but the taste is closer to ham than the thirst-inducing bacon most folks are used to. I enjoyed the slightly meatier take. I don't consume bacon on a super consistent basis, so I'll probably stick to the traditional option, but if you're a bacon regular, the low-sodium version is also very tasty. I would also recommend low-sodium bacon for cooking because most dishes already have some salty component, so cutting back on the salty potency of your bacon might help to level out your dish.

I don't mean to be a bacon snob, but thick-cut bacon is almost always best. Sure, there are exceptions, but when you take bacon and give me more of it in every bite, it's a win. This thick-cut bacon is no different. Sold in bundles of two packages, each containing 1 ½ pounds of bacon, for $15.99, you're definitely paying slightly more for this meat. A single package contains about 33 slices of bacon.

This tastes like the mid-point on the sodium chart between standard and low-sodium bacon. It's flavorful, but also tastes less salty than the thinner strips. I cooked this cut in the oven, but pan-frying and microwave options are also listed on the packaging. The result was a very uniform cook and a crispy, hearty piece of meat from end to end. It may cost a little more, but ultimately, I believe that Kirkland Signature Thick Sliced Bacon is the best offering Costco has when it comes to bacon.

I'm going to be eating a lot of bacon for a long time. That's maybe the greatest takeaway from sampling each variety of Kirkland Signature bacon. Like most other items at Costco, only purchase if you're ready for quantity. The standard cuts both come with four 1-pound packages, while the thick cut was split into two packages, and the fully cooked option features a resealable package (because no one should consume 50 strips of bacon at once, however tempting it may be).

All of the Kirkland Signature bacon is quite good, and each fills a unique niche. If you're looking for convenience, go with the pre-cooked. If you're watching your sodium intake, be confident that the low-sodium option still tastes great. If you're just in the mood for some good bacon, the standard and thick-cut are both delicious options at a very reasonable price.

I purchased all of my bacon from my local Costco and prepared it at the same time using the directions listed on the back of each package, though there are plenty of ways to prepare this savory meat. I photographed everything and sampled the slices while they were hot, evaluating based on taste and texture.