The 9 Best Items To Buy At Costco To Throw On The Grill This Summer

Summer at Costco feels like it should be a season in its own right. Between the family-sized BBQs on sale, charcoal stacks near the entrance, and bulk packs of grill brushes materializing in aisles that used to be full of household cleaning supplies, it's easy to get lost in all the bounty. But nowhere is that abundance clearer than in the freezer and meat aisles, where new products are added seemingly weekly. For those of us who organize our summer weekends around grilling season, this is the best time of year to shop at Costco.

As a food writer and blogger who has been shopping at Costco for more than 20 years, as well as the wife of a BBQ-loving Latino, I have strong opinions about what deserves a spot on my grill. This list is not about hot dogs and burgers, though they have their place in your rotation. What I was looking for are the items that would surprise you: the cuts you wouldn't necessarily think to pick up, and the products that justify the membership. These items will make your guests feel like they're dining in a BBQ joint in the American South, grilling in Argentina, or eating coal-fired seafood by the sea in the Greek islands.

To put this list together, I relied on years of personal grilling experience based on my own Costco hauls. For support, I turned to reviews from Costco fan communities, as well as coverage from food and barbecue websites. Here are my picks for the nine best items to buy at Costco to throw on the grill this summer.

I grew up in the Middle East, so kebabs are my version of comfort food. On weekends when I'm craving Middle Eastern food and don't want to settle for pricey or greasy take-out, The Falafel Company's Beef Kebabs from Costco have become my go-to solution. Hot off the grill, the flavor is as close as it comes to what I remember from a proper kebab shop: well-seasoned, charred and crispy around the edges, and juicy in the middle. 

Sure, you can make your own kebab blend, search online recipes for hours, and buy extras of spices you'll never use again, but even that doesn't guarantee you'll cook your kebabs without drying them out. This Costco product, on the other hand, is ready to grill and comes with almost foolproof instructions for bringing it to the right texture. Almost foolproof, I say, because you still have to watch your grill's temperature and ensure everything is cooked on the right heat.

The spice blend here is on point, actually tasting like it should, with pronounced garlic and paprika notes. The package comes with two vacuum-sealed pouches, each containing six kebabs, and is considered by many shoppers to be one of the best refrigerated meat products at Costco. They grill quickly, hold together well on the grate, and come out better than if you cook them in the air fryer or microwave. Accompanied by pita or flatbread, freshly sliced vegetables, and a few Middle Eastern dips, it's an unexpected grilled main your guests will remember.

If you love grilled shrimp on the barbie, then there's only one thing better: grilled wild sea scallops on the barbie. A properly scalloped scallop is a thing of beauty — a delicate cloud of muscle surrounded by a seared exterior that is hard to replicate any other way. The Kirkland Signature Raw Sea Scallops are some of the best wild scallops you can get for the price, and their size means they stay on the grate without falling through.

The method for grilling scallops is simple. First, it's important to pat these dry, as frozen scallops can be even wetter than fresh. Season with salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil, then let the grill do the work over high heat. Two minutes per side is all you need to get a hard sear on each side of these jumbo scallops, and they're ready for eating. 

If you really want to impress, however, wrap each scallop with bacon or pancetta before grilling. This way, the fat will render as they cook, basting them from the outside, and leaving you with juicy, flavorful scallops that you'd usually have to pay $30 for in a fancy restaurant. Instead, the Costco 2-pound bag is just over $56, and it sometimes goes on sale for around $45. Just don't forget to prep your scallops before grilling, and you should be set with one of the most unique things to throw on the grill this summer.

Tri-tip is a perfect cut for grilling, but it can be hard to find outside of California, where it has a devoted following. This makes Costco one of the few places in the country where you can find it fairly reliably, in the form of the American BBQ Company Santa Maria Recipe Beef Tri Tip.

The reason I love barbequing a tri-tip steak is that it is fairly inexpensive, while having a pronounced meaty flavor and a tender texture, as long as it is sliced correctly. The Costco tri-tip comes seasoned with garlic, onion, salt, pepper, and natural smoke flavor, making it easy to just take it straight from the package and throw it on the grill. But if you have the equipment and want to go the extra mile, this cut does even better if smoked. Start with low smoke and finish with a high-heat sear, giving you a crust that can rival any Texas barbecue.

My husband feels very strongly about meat, and he loves this beef tri-tip. In fact, this is our favorite Costco meat to grill alongside Brazilian picanha, which is sometimes found in the meat aisle at select Costco supercenters.

The St. Louis-style pork spareribs are one of the most consistently stocked items in Costco's refrigerated meat section during the summer. They come trimmed tighter than most grocery store racks, with uniform sizing across the three-pack, making cooking multiple racks at once actually manageable. This means neither rack dries out while the others catch up, giving you a better, more reliable BBQ result when cooking for a crowd.

At Costco, you can reliably get one of two St. Louis-style sparerib products: the Swift St. Louis Style Pork Spareribs or the Kirkland Signature Seasoned St. Louis Ribs. The former comes plain, ready for you to season, while the latter comes seasoned with a flavorful Greek Souvlaki-style dry rub.

Costco even often removes the membrane for you, which saves time and extra work. The reason many love the St. Louis style spareribs is that they are a forgiving starter cut for anyone looking to get into grilling. Cook this low and slow over indirect heat, and after a few hours of patience and a bit of a wet sauce slathered in the last 20 minutes of cooking, you'll end up with a perfect rack everyone will be talking about for days.

The Kirkland Signature Parmesan and Black Pepper Chicken Sausage is becoming quite the summer staple in our household, and in many others. They can always be counted on for a quick, easy meal that is consistently delicious and hard to mess up. They're also gluten-free, which can be hard to find in a prepared sausage.

The ease of preparation here comes from the fact that the Kirkland sausages are precooked, which considerably shortens the grilling time to about 10 minutes. Compared with the 20-plus minutes you'd need to grill raw sausage, these can be a godsend when barbecuing on a summer weeknight, when everyone is hungry.

The Kirkland sausages come in a pack of 3 pounds, which gives you 18 sausages. The flavor here is genuinely good, with a great balance between the savory depth of the parmesan and the heat of the black pepper. Even my kids love them despite the black pepper's delicate kick, though I usually have to pair them with a fair amount of ranch for little hands to dip into. I love them with mustard and grilled onions, sauteed onions and peppers, or a spicy caponata.

Getting wild King Salmon anywhere for a reasonable price can be a feat worthy of a trophy. And when it comes with Costco's seal of quality and relatively affordable prices, it feels even better. The Kirkland Signature Fresh Wild King Salmon Fillet can be found in Costco's fish refrigerators during the summer months, and it's probably my favorite thing to grill all summer.

Troll-caught, boneless, and skin-on, this fillet arrives ready to grill with minimal effort. The skin acts as a natural barrier to the grate, protecting the delicate fish from direct heat and helping you avoid overcooking it. My favorite way to cook it is on a pre-soaked cedar plank, heated on the grill. Simply lay the salmon on top, close the lid, and let the residual heat and smoke from the fire cook it without ruining its delicate flavor.

Costco sources great products, so the quality here beats any comparable grocery store. We buy this all summer long, along with half the country, and it's truly the cheapest and most reliable way to get fresh king salmon in season. Next time you're trying to decide between fresh fish and one of Costco's prepared frozen seafood items, save your money and disappointment and steer yourself back to this product.

One of the most popular veggie burgers on the market, the Impossible Plant-Based Burger Patties are a summer grilling essential for anyone cooking for vegetarians. These patties taste so close to real meat that I've managed to fool my brother-in-law and nephews several times! The texture and char these burgers develop on the grill is probably the most convincing on the market, making it an easy choice when looking for vegetarian alternatives to throw on the BBQ.

The Impossible burgers are ready in just five to seven minutes, which is one of the fastest cooking options on this list. They are also fairly reliably available at various Costco warehouses during the summer. I buy these all summer long as I try to cut back on the amount of meat I consume, and to accommodate the constant veggie guests at our cookouts. And on a busy and hot Tuesday, a plant-based burger that actually tastes good feels like an easy win.

The Costco-sized package comes with 4 ounces of veggie burgers, giving you an even 10 patties to spread throughout the weeks. At under $20, gluten-free and free of antibiotics, these are truly one of the best vegan BBQ options at Costco.

The salmon burger category is probably one of the hardest to nail in terms of premade products. Many patties fall apart on the grates at the merest touch, or taste overly fishy or frozen. The Trident Wild Pacific Salmon Burger is one of the few we've tried that satisfies everything you need in a fish burger while actually tasting good.

Each Costco package has 12 burgers in a resealable bag, with each patty delivering 20 grams of protein without fillers or preservatives, and with grill instructions right on the back. They develop a good crust while cooking, don't break apart on the grill, and taste like salmon rather than a sawdust-filled imitation.

We always keep a stack of these in the freezer as a lighter option at our barbecues, for guests who want something that isn't a beef patty or a sad approximation. The Trident fish burgers defrost quickly, cook fast, and pair well with coleslaw on a brioche bun. With this level of ease and convenience and at this price point, they're among the most practical items in Costco's freezer section during summer.

I will fully admit that the last entry on my list may not be for everyone. But hey, this is a list of unique items to buy at Costco for grilling this summer, and I couldn't gatekeep another one of my all-time favorite luxury finds for the grill. If you love grilled scallops, you're going to fall head over heels for grilled octopus. 

Grilled octopus can look like one of the most intimidating things to barbecue, but the Nuchar Cooked Octopus makes it easy to look like you did something extraordinary with minimal effort. It's cooked and vacuum-sealed, which means there's no boiling, no tenderizing, and, really, no prepping your octopus other than unwrapping the package and putting it on high heat. Pre-cooking lets you simply use the BBQ to develop color and char on the outside, which takes about 8 to 10 minutes per side.

What you end up with are charred, smoky tentacles with a texture that's tender on the inside and slightly crispy on the edges — the kind of thing that typically costs between $30 and $40 on a restaurant menu. I like to serve my grilled octopus with a grilled pepper sauce I cook at the same time, a squeeze of lemon, and good olive oil. If you want to feel like you're dining in a Greek taverna, the Nuchar grilled octopus is the most approachable entry point available at Costco.

Our list focused on the best, but also the most unique, interesting Costco items you can throw on the grill this summer. All products included in this guide were available at Costco at the time of publication, and I hope that they'll stay available for many years to come.

To build this list, I relied on personal experience with products I buy and cook regularly over the summer. It was supplemented with reviews on Costco shopper fan communities on Reddit, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, as well as coverage from food and barbecue aficionado websites.

As always with Costco, keep in mind that availability may vary by location and season. I recommend checking your local warehouse or the Costco Same-Day site before making a special trip for that delicious octopus.