The Hack For Getting Chicken Parmesan From Costco's Food Court Menu

Whether you're craving a famously large and cheap hot dog or a tube of dough stuffed with chicken and cheese, the Costco food court has some delicious but wildly unhealthy food items that fit the bill. One thing that isn't on the menu though is chicken parmesan. Although Costco sells a premade chicken parmesan in the grocery section, a hot version isn't offered in the food court.

A mainstay of Italian American cuisine, chicken parmesan or chicken parmigiana is typically made with breaded chicken breast (either butterflied or flattened with a mallet) covered in red sauce, and topped with melted cheese (usually provolone or mozzarella) and served in a sandwich or with a side of pasta. If you find yourself at Costco and are craving this deliciously cheesy and tomato-rich dish, TikTok user LORAfied (@lorafied) has an easy Costco food court hack – all you need is a packaged chicken Caesar salad, a slice of cheese pizza, and an extra plate.

In the video, LORAfied takes the chicken off the Caesar salad and puts it on a plate. Next, she says, "This is where things get a little crazy!" before scraping the cheese and sauce from the pizza onto the chicken. She garnishes the entire thing with a package of grated parmesan that comes with the salad and voila, you have chicken parmesan — albeit a bastardized version. 

What makes chicken parmesan so irresistible, is the combination of sweet and tangy tomato sauce paired with melted cheese and a warm chicken filet perfectly seasoned with Italian spices. It feels like a warm hug in poultry form. While the Costco food court version of chicken parmesan checks some of the boxes — there's melted cheese and red sauce – the chicken portion is essentially cold and unseasoned. The pizza-salad-mashup provides a convenient serving of protein in a pinch, but if you want chicken parmesan that's cheesy, garlicky, and irresistible – not to mention, hot — you might want to skip it.

If you're dying to combine the toppings of a cheese pizza with another Costco food court entree and the idea of eating cold chicken doesn't sound appetizing, consider using a hot dog. In a separate Costco hack video, Taco Tycoon (@tacotycoon420) shows how you can dress a Costco hot dog with the toppings of a pepperoni pizza to create a "pepperoni pizza dog." On the other hand, if you have your heart set on chicken parmesan, it's probably best to just buy Costco's premade version and warm it up at home. Not only will your meal be fully heated, but the seasoned chicken will make it taste better overall.