Costco Plant Based Impossible Burger Patties Review
It was only a matter of time before Impossible Foods and other plant based “meat” companies were going to be at Costco. These patties may one day replace beef, but I don’t think we are there just yet.
Item Description
Costco sells 2 lbs of Impossible Plant Based Patties for $13.99. I purchased these Impossible Burger Patties when Costco had them on sale for $9.99 and the price per pound was $5. In this package you get 2 pounds of quarter pound patties, which makes 8 total plant based patties. At retail of $13.99, the cost per patty is $1.75, but when on sale that drops to $1.25 each. On sale, that price is very on par with ground beef and even the Kirkland Signature 100% Grass Fed Beef Patties.
These are made solely from plants and their main ingredient is soy protein concentrate. There is absolutely no beef or animal meat in this product at all.
First Impressions
I understand this isn’t real beef, but I am extremely disappointed with the look of these impossible patties. The shape of every patty in this bag is exactly the same. They are all perfectly circular and flat on both the bottom and top. It looks like somebody used a cookie cutter to make each and every patty. While beef patties can also be made in the exact shape as the Impossible patty, I’ve just never seen one marketed and sold this way, and I’m not sure if this is intentional or not.
Any frozen burger is going to be mass produced in a factory, and even other Costco patties look almost exactly alike one another. The problem here is that the Impossible patty all looks exactly the same and they look unnatural. I’m not sure if that is what they are going for, but it’s off putting to me. I don’t want to eat food made in a lab and then produced in a factory.
This is science created plant based food, but all I can think about is how this is food made in a production plant. I would have much preferred a little bit more roughness or texture on the edges instead it feels like I’m getting futuristic assembly plant food.
Another thing I immediately noticed was that the burger was thicker than a normal frozen hamburger patty. Most of the frozen patties sold at Costco are approximately half an inch thick, but this patty seems to be closer to three quarters of an inch thick if not bigger. It’s already a smaller sized burger at 4 oz, and due to its thickness, the burger patty circumference is smaller than a typical hamburger patty and small for typical hamburger buns.
I planned to eat these with Barowsky’s Jumbo Pitmaster burger buns sold at Costco, but the frozen patty is clearly too small for the bun. Once cooked and assembled, I had a half an inch bun overhang around the burger on all sides. You want your first bite to have meat and bread, but at least with these Impossible patties and Pitmaster buns, you are going to taste a lot more bread than Impossible meat.
As far as its comparison to beef, from frozen there is nothing that would tell me that this isn’t ground beef. There are small specs of “fat” or a fat substitute all throughout the burger, and the color of the burger is about right for a frozen hamburger patty. Its color is a little on the lighter side, but it’s not light enough to raise any red flags.
Costco Impossible Burger REview
I will say these did cook very nicely. It took me about 8 minutes or so to cook these on the grill from frozen. I ended up cooking them to “medium rare” and there was some pink in the middle, which was surprising to me. It really did look like rare ground beef and they did a good job with that.
With the finished product, I couldn’t tell that this was not a hamburger patty. They looked very similar, and I wouldn’t be able to distinguish it from a real ground beef patty. During cooking, a nice softish crust developed on the outside of the burger. It wasn’t crispy, but there were definitely some texture changes, and you could tell it was cooked more than the inside of the burger.
I haven’t had a veggie burger in a long time, but the rubbery texture of it did remind of a veggie patty. I don’t normally get this feeling or taste with regular hamburgers, so from that aspect, I think that would be a dead giveaway to me that this was a plant based burger.
Texture inside the burger looked spot on and just like a real burger. I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference unless I really examined the meat. The pinkness of the patty was very much like a medium rare burger.
Taste wise it was fine. No problems with texture, smell or taste, but it did lack the beef flavor. Sometimes, you get a nice juicy hamburger that oozes beef flavor, but this Impossible burger did not achieve that mark.
Again, these are only quarter pound burgers, and I would probably have to eat a double burger for a meal. But because of the shape and thickness of the Impossible patty, it would be a challenge to create a double burger where I wouldn’t have to unhinge my jaw just to take a bite
Final Thoughts
I bought these from Costco when they were on sale for $9.99, and I don’t think I’ll buy them again unless they are on sale. At $7 per pound retail, it’s not worth the premium over regular ground beef patties for me. I may pick up a pack if I’m throwing a backyard bbq just for the novelty or for vegetarians, but otherwise it’s not a food that is entering my meal rotation.
Costco Food Database User Reviews
Have you tried this item? Let the rest of the Costco Food Database community know what you think. Leave a rating and review for this product.
Greg Larkin is the founder and managing editor of Costco Food Database, the premiere site for honest takes on all things Costco food. A self-proclaimed Costco super-fan since childhood, Greg turned his obsession in a mission to properly rate and review all of Costco’s delicious buys. When he’s not busy navigating Costco aisles, you can find Greg smoking Kirkland Signature meats, meal prepping, or perfecting his homemade jerky recipes.
“I don’t want to eat food made in a lab and then produced in a factory.”
You’d rather eat food produced in a slaughterhouse?
Your 2/5 rating is an insult, these burgers are amazing! Guilt-free and good for the planet.