Sam's Club Vs Costco: Which Has The Best Bakery?

It's difficult to dip into Costco or Sam's Club to grab the necessities — toilet paper, soy milk, a 65-inch 4K LED television with a wrap-around screen — and not find yourself in the bakery section coveting the goods. Both warehouses dedicate a goodly amount of square footage to their respective bakeries, and both churn out fresh creations augmented by a few delivered options here and there. Sometimes, you just have to treat yourself, even if mega-sized muffins and buttery croissants weren't in the plans.

But one of these colossal commercial centers is bound to be superior to the other in the bakery game, and you should have a handle on which it is before you dive headlong into the sugary, floury goodness. I put on my private eye hat (figuratively speaking) and scouted out some of the more noteworthy baked selections from Costco's Kirkland and Sam's Club's Member's Mark to do side-by-side comparisons and learn the truth about their quality and relative pricing structures. I'm lucky to have one of each with in half a mile of each other in my neighborhood to make shopping easy; if you aren't quite as fortunate, you may not have the option of comparison shopping without covering a ton of territory.

To keep you from having to zip back and forth and spend your time and money, I've got an information drop that will aim you in the right direction next time you need a warehouse baked goods hit.

Costco muffins are the stuff of legends, nicely-sized bakes that taste more like cake than traditional muffins do. Tasting them again after years was a treat for me; they seem richer than I remember, and they've definitely drawn down to a more sensible size for a pack of eight for $6.99, breaking down to 87 cents per muffin. There's a reason these triple chocolate muffins are considered the best Costco dessert.

Sam's Club tries to keep up with its own muffins, which are similar enough to stand in for Costco's but for more than a dollar less per pack. At $6.74 for six — $1.12 a piece — the per-muffin price is slightly higher than Costco's 87-cents-a-piece price point. But the size also appears to be almost twice that of Costco muffins, a visual trick that can sway your decision-making process before you realize what you're getting yourself into. Sam's Club muffins turn out to be more spongey and cake-like; they also come in a variety pack that includes apple streusel and lemon poppyseed in addition to the chocolate chunk. But when tasted side by side, Costco's are much more rich and chocolaty, like a chocolate-chocolate chip pound cake poured into muffin wrappers.

Winner: Costco's triple chocolate muffins taste like a swoon-worthy brownie recipe you can't resist.

There's some discrepancy when it comes to specialty breads and rolls at Sam's Club and Costco. Where Sam's caters to a more traditional shopper with items like sandwich and dinner rolls, Costco shows flair with thoughtful items like rustic ciabatta rolls and pita pockets. Rather than trying to find an overlap that may not have worked, I opted to sample Sam's Club yeast rolls and Costco's pitas to see how well each selection lives up to its own standard. This gave each warehouse a chance to shine separately.

Sam's Club's dinner rolls are sweet, petite, and come in a mighty large bag that's sure to feed a whole crowd for $3.98 for 24, or a mere 16 cents a piece. Costco's pita pockets come in a pack of nine for $6.99, or 77 cents a piece; the pockets are tender and wheaty, the perfect alternative to regular bread for wraps instead of sandwiches. They'd also toast up nicely for homemade pita chips. And they're generously sized, so each one counts as more than a single serving if you want to make them go further.

Winner: Both Sam's Club and Costco offer fantastic specialty breads, depending on what your tastes might be.

Based on the online listings I saw when choosing sourdough breads for this roundup, I expected to see traditional rounds or loaves at both Sam's Club and Costco. But after arriving on site, I found only a specialty loaf loaded with cherries and berries at Costco, which shifted my taste test quite a bit. It rang up at $9.99, a bit more than the $7 for standard sourdough I'd seen listed. While a loaf of regular sourdough at Sam's Club is $3.76 in my area, there happened to be an orange, cranberry, and walnut boule for $7.96, which seemed like a perfect competitor. So I shifted gears and went for the artisanal loaves instead.

With its earthy crust and nuts-and-berries blend, the Sam's Club seasonal loaf tastes like a slice of autumn on a plate. It's just sweet enough to feel decadent. It's one of the autumn-ready secrets of Sam's Club bakery you'll wish you knew about sooner. Costco also does a decent job with its squared-off specialty loaf, studded with cherries and finished with a toasty top. But it's a little drier and less flavorful than the Sam's deluxe sourdough. A schmear of cream cheese or a pat of butter would fix the situation, but on its own, it's not quite as enjoyable.

Winner: Sam's Club conjures up a supreme seasonal sourdough that's one of the warehouse's best fall food options.

I've had Costco croissants on several occasions and was always impressed by how authentically bakery-fresh they are. Just having options like this in the world of warehouse shopping is an exciting prospect for fans of the fresh, buttery bakes that break into hundreds of layers and hold your favorite spreads beautifully. A dozen cost $5.99 at my location — 49 cents a piece, which is almost an unbeatable deal. Sam's Club is only slightly lower at $5.96, also about 49 cents per croissant, can possibly top it, but only if the quality is close to or better than Costco.

It turns out Costco has more buttery-tasting croissants than the version at Sam's Club. The texture is softer too, letting the layers peel away and reveal the airy pockets in between. The Sam's Club croissant is a little tougher and has more of an oily flavor. The overall size may be similar between the two, but the extended shape of the Costco croissant makes it seem far more substantial too. They're well worth the extra 6 cents a piece. They're also primed for a toaster-friendly hack that makes them into an unmissable breakfast treat. 

Winner: Costco, for the buttery flavor, extra-lightness, and more surface area for spreads and fillings.

If you're in the mood for bakery-style cookies when you're coasting through Sam's Club, be prepared to buy 18 of them at a time, and pay $7.48 or so for the whole tray. At Costco, you'll have to take home 24 and shell out $9.99 for the privilege, but you'll get a variety pack that pulls together chocolate chunk, white chocolate chunk, and oatmeal raisin. There's only a 6 cents per-cookie difference between the two, with Sam's 41 cents to Costco's 47 cents, which could make a big difference if you're not in the market for two dozen cookies. It all hinges on whether you like what you get.

By providing a dedicated pack of chocolate chunk only, Sam's Club gives the cookie game a valiant effort. But the quality just isn't the same; Costco comes up with a buttery soft-bake cookie that matches Sam's cookies in size but goes far beyond them in flavor and consistency. Sure, you may have to really love chocolate chunk in order to make the purchase, but there have been much harder decisions to make.

Winner: Costco, for a variety pack with softer-bake cookies with more buttery flavor and better chocolate chunk coverage.

Sam's Club makes it too tempting to pass up a bag of bagels when the price is $3.47 for six, or 57 cents a piece. Costco pricing its pack of eight at $4.99 — 62 cents a piece — is no match budget-wise, especially if you have an overall spending limit instead of a per-piece price expectation. But everyone knows it's more sensible to buy great bagels that will get eaten instead of mediocre bagels that won't, which makes the decision a bit trickier.

Prepare to pay a little more for a better bagel. Costco handily beats Sam's Club with larger, tastier bagels. I went all-in on the everything bagels from both stores and found that not only was there more bagel to love, there was noticeably more seasoning scattered about. Sam's Club seems to play it safe rather than getting grandiose, but in this instance, that sort of hedging works against the finished product.

Winner: Costco bags up a better everything bagel than Sam's Club.

Though both Sam's Club and Costco bakeries do their best to offer a sweet and hearty selection of baked goods from breads and rolls to cookies and muffins, Costco consistently turns out items that exceed expectations in quality. Quantity and price may be higher as well, but the taste and texture you get for your money justify the need to spend a little more. Even when new items appear and shove familiar favorites off the shelf, they seem to be given the utmost attention.

While Sam's Club certainly won't disappoint fans of flavorful baked goods — and the prices are sure to satisfy — I found there to be just a little less magic in most of the items I tasted. Granted, my comparison was contained to a limited set, and other products might have turned the tables toward Sam's instead. Judging by the sample set, I was more impressed with Costco and deem the warehouse the better bakery overall.

All options came from the Kirkland and Member's Mark brands, since these are the items available specifically at Costco and Sam's Club. One of the biggest advantages Sam's Club has over Costco is consistency of available products. Years of finding out Costco's website listings don't accurately reflect actual stock on hand once you get to the store has taught me to hang on loosely when choosing. By contrast, Sam's Club is much more sure and steady, with a dependable selection of items rather than the often-capricious mix Costco is known for.

To keep things balanced and reflective of general shopping patterns, I chose price-inclusive items and worked around the more expensive selection like tuxedo cakes and oversized cookie trays. Those are less of a regular purchase and are likely to be go-to picks that shoppers have their own staunch opinions about. Instead, my picks were items I'd opt for on a standard trip as part of my regular stock-up shopping. I also examined the per-piece price to provide a more specific picture of what your spend actually gets you, though with prices coming from the Phoenix, Arizona area, it will vary by region.