Unhealthy Foods To Avoid At The Costco Bakery

There is a diverse range of products to choose from at Costco and because of that it is easy to get lost in the labyrinth of the never-ending aisles. However, one section at the back of the store that you might be drawn to just by your nose is the bakery. Once you make it there you will be greeted with a variety of pastries, baked goods, and bread. Some these delicacies are made in-house from scratch, but others come pre-made and are reheated. The same can also be said for whether or not Costco's bakery is Kosher; certain locations in some states are certified as a kosher bakery and some aren't.

Now, you may be tempted to put some of these mouthwatering baked goods in your cart to take home and devour. But before you make that purchase and take that bite, we want to inform you about which of these bakery items aren't the healthiest. To determine which items were unhealthy, we reviewed the recommended daily intake for certain nutrients and how a higher intake of them as well as certain ingredients can affect your health. To learn more about the investigation process, visit the methodology slide at the end of this story. And don't worry, any unsold Costco bakery items are donated to food banks, homeless shelters, and churches, so they aren't going to waste.

We are going to kick this list off with a beloved baked treat, the chocolate chip cookie. The Kirkland Signature Chocolate Chunk Cookies come in a 24 pack and a little hidden secret of the Costco bakery is that you can actually purchase them frozen to bake at home.

One of these chocolate chunk cookies is 210 calories, meaning that the entire package has a total of 5,040 calories. According to the nutrition facts, a single cookie has a daily value of 4 grams of saturated fat — which makes up for about 20% of your daily allowance of 20 grams. The FDA considers this amount of saturated fat high and recommends choosing foods that have a lower daily value percentage. MedlinePlus explains that too much saturated fat in your diet puts you at a higher risk for heart disease and strokes as it can cause cholesterol to build up in your arteries. It can also cause you to gain weight. In addition, one cookie has 16 grams of sugar, which makes for an eye-popping 64% of the recommended daily intake for women and 44% of the recommended daily intake for men by the American Heart Association.

Cinnamon rolls here in the U.S. are different from the ones in Sweden where the pastry originated. Sweden's version have cardamom spice for a deeper flavor and are topped with pearl sugar. Meanwhile, American cinnamon rolls are known for being sticky and smothered in frosting — the Kirkland Signature Cinnamon Rolls that come in a six-count with cream cheese frosting certainly are.

A single roll has 430 calories, which takes up 21.5% of the 2,000 daily calorie diet the FDA uses when providing advice on nutrition (though every person's individual caloric and nutrition needs are different). A roll also has 11 grams of saturated fat, more than half of the recommended daily amount. In addition, there are 65 grams carbs, or 24% of total carbs — which consist of all types of carbohydrates such as sugars, starches, and fiber — in one cinnamon roll. According to the Mayo Clinic, the body needs 130 grams of carbohydrates a day to meet the body's energy needs, but notes that it should be composed of healthy carbohydrates like fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. So, while you are eating half of the total carbs you need, they are not necessarily the carbs bodies can use for the most energy, which means if you still want to incorporate those in, too, you may go above that recommended amount.

The White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookies from Kirkland are like the chocolate chunk ones come in a 24-count, but a single cookie of these has slightly more calories at 230 calories. The cookies also have a higher amount of saturated fat with 5 grams, or 25%, a higher daily value percent than recommended by the FDA. A higher intake of saturated fat can result in heart disease, a stroke, or weight gain.

Besides the somewhat high saturated fat content the cookies also have 17 grams of sugar per cookie: The recommended consumption per day of added sugars by the CDC is 50 grams. This means that one of these cookies takes up 34% of the suggested daily amount of added sugars.

Another very tempting dessert option from the Costco bakery is the 12-inch Kirkland Signature Plain Cheesecake. Customers are supposed to get 16 slices out of the cheesecake if they follow the recommended serving size of 4.5-ounces — which Costco makes easy by putting lines on top of the cake.

Each slice of cake has 420 calories and is not the healthiest, as they also come with 18 grams of saturated fat, or 90% of your recommended daily value. In addition, a single slice of cheesecake has 24 grams of added sugar, taking up almost half of the advised daily consumption of 200 calories or 50 grams of added sugar. There is also 115 milligrams of cholesterol in a single slice, and with the suggested daily intake being 300 milligrams, that means it occupies more than ⅓ of that. The Mayo Clinic reports that high levels of cholesterol can cause plaque to build up in your arteries putting you at risk for a heart attack or stroke.

The Kirkland Signature Cream Cheese Danish comes in a four-count and is an easy breakfast or snack. A single danish has 500 calories, with a little over half the recommended amount of saturated fat at 11 grams, and almost ¾ of the advised quantity of added sugar with 36 grams.

In addition, the danish has 470 milligrams of sodium, putting it right of the 20% of the daily value which the FDA recommends staying under. According to the FDA, the total daily consumption of sodium that you want to stay under is 2,300 milligrams. So, you have room to play with, but that is still a decent amount of sodium in one food item, along with the higher levels of saturated fat and sugar. The American Heart Association states that nine of 10 Americans consume too much sodium and elevated levels of sodium can put you at risk for an enlarged heart muscle, headaches, kidney disease, osteoporosis, stroke, heart failure, high blood pressure, kidney stones, and even stomach cancer.

The Kirkland Signature Butter Croissants are a Costco bakery favorite that recently went up in price. The croissants come in a 12-pack, and after the bump in price, are $6.99 — or about $0.58 per croissant. Well, after we break down the nutritional facts of the croissants, the higher price might not be the only reason shoppers should go elsewhere for croissants.

One croissant is 300 calories with 8 grams of saturated fat. That is just under half of the FDA recommended daily amount gone in a single croissant, which some people eat for breakfast — meaning that they still have two meals left in their day. That, plus the 350 milligrams of sodium, which is probably as high as it is due to the butter that is used in the baking process, and this croissant is pushing you towards high blood pressure. Just do you, your health, and your wallet a favor find a croissant that is cheaper and healthier.

Chocolate and peanut butter is an extremely popular and loved flavor combination. So, Costco knew exactly what it was doing when it released the Kirkland Signature Peanut Butter Chocolate Cream Pie.

However, before the chocolate peanut butter lovers race to buy it, they should take a look at the nutrition facts and see if it's the right pie for them. The recommended serving size is 128 grams, or 6% of the pie. And in that 6% alone, there is a staggering 25 grams, or 125% of saturated fat, which is almost double the 13 grams of saturated fat that the American Heart Association advises consuming in a day. And that's only if you or another member stick to the suggested 128 grams, and we doubt that you or anyone else is going to be breaking out a scale to measure that out, so there is probably going to be an even higher saturated fat content than we measured.

The Kirkland Signature Mini Carrot Cakes with Cream Cheese Icing are probably one of the cutest pastries from the Costco bakery. However, the adorable decorations on them might be a distraction to keep people from looking at the nutrition facts as it might dissuade them.

Although the mini carrot cakes come in a six-count, there are 12 servings per container. This is because the serving size of the cakes is half a cake, but let's be real, who is only eating half? So while each serving size is 380 calories, each cake actually has 760 calories. If we continue to look at the nutrition facts of the cake as whole, then the mini carrot cakes are fairly unhealthy. A single cake has 16 grams of saturated fat, or 80% of the advised daily amount, a cavity inducing 58 grams of added sugar, or 116% of the recommended consumption a day, and 760 milligrams of sodium, or 34% of the suggested daily intake. Overall, this pastry breaks all sorts of health recommendations and should be left out of your cart.

In addition to the cream cheese danish, Costco has the Kirkland Signature Cherry Danish which, as expected, comes in a four-count. Possibly due to the fruit filling, the cherry danish has just slightly less calories with 440 calories per serving instead of the 500 calories per serving of the cream cheese danishes.

The cherry ones also have 12 grams of sugar per danish, which is less than half the amount of sugar the cream cheese danishes have. While this is definitely worth noting, an abundance of added sugar can lead to weight gain, obesity, type two diabetes, and heart disease. The pastry does still have a rather high saturated fat content at 11 grams, or 55% the recommended daily intake. It also has a decent amount of sodium with 470 milligrams, which is 20% of the 2,300 milligrams that the FDA advises staying under. The American Heart Association notes that besides the serious health conditions that excess sodium can cause, it can also lead to increased water retention resulting in puffiness, bloating, and weight gain.

Apple pie is an American dessert staple, and Costco decided to tap into this popularity with its Kirkland Signature Double Crust Apple Pie. Unfortunately, the baked good is not even close to a healthy dessert option.

The pie is meant to have 16 servings in it, each of which are 350 calories. Although, that's only if you follow the serving size, and, unlike the Kirkland Signature Plain Cheesecake, there are no lines to mark where you should cut. A serving size also has 4 grams of saturated fat, right at the 20% mark that the CDC advises staying under, 24 grams of added sugar, or 48% of the recommended daily amount, and 350 milligrams of sodium, or 15% of the suggested daily intake which, while under 20%, still isn't great. An article from Harvard Health Publishing references a 15-year study from Jama Internal Medicine that found people who got 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% increased chance of dying from a cardiovascular disease.

Along with the cherry and cream cheese danishes, Costco also sells the Kirkland Signature Almond Danish, which is by far the unhealthiest danish out of the three. A single danish is 760 calories, which is almost double the amount of calories in the cherry danish.

Furthermore, the almond danish has 23 grams of saturated fat, or 115% of the recommended daily amount, 135 milligrams of cholesterol, which is 45% the suggested daily intake, 370 milligrams of sodium, or 16% the advised daily quantity, and 30 grams of added sugar, or 60% of the advocated amount per day. That is 12 grams more of saturated fat and greater than double the amount of cholesterol in the other danishes, it is also 18 grams of sugar more than the cherry danish. It seems the only bright spot is that the almond danish has less sodium than the others. Honestly, at this rate, it might be best to steer clear of the Costco danishes in general.

The Kirkland Signature Pecan Pie is a baked good that most often pops up around Thanksgiving and for the holidays. It is a 70-ounce pie that like most of the other pies Costco sells is meant to have 16 servings in it. A single serving of the pie has 540 calories, 4.5 grams of saturated fat so just over the recommended 20%, 37 grams of sugar, and 66 grams of total carbohydrates which takes up 22% — a decent chunk — of the needed 130 grams. So, all combined, it's not really the healthiest pie.

In addition, the pie is made with the ingredient called carrageenan, a natural thickener. While there is no hard evidence that carrageenan is bad for you there have been multiple studies that have suggested that it can have negative effects on your health including inflammation, bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, glucose intolerance, and colon cancer.

The Kirkland Signature Pumpkin Pie is another dessert that pops up around Thanksgiving and the holiday season. Honestly, the amount of these pies you see stacked on tables at the wholesaler can be mind boggling. The pumpkin pie is a tad smaller than the pecan one at 58-ounces with only 12 expected servings instead of 16.

Each serving or slice has 320 calories, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, or 18% — so just barely under the 20% —, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, which is right at the 20%, and 28 grams of added sugar, or an astounding 58% of the recommended daily consumption. The baked good rides a fine line with the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol as they are still relatively high numbers but not as bad as some of the other items on this list. However, it then blows past that line with the amount of added sugar in the pie solidifying it as unhealthy.

While the Kirkland Signature Tuxedo Chocolate Mousse Cake isn't necessarily expected to be healthy considering it is a chocolate mousse cake, it still felt important to include in our list. While it may not have the Costco cake filling that customers can't get enough of, the chocolate mousse cake is still popular with members.

The cake is 12 servings with each serving having 370 calories. There is a fair amount of saturated fat at 11 grams, more than half the recommended quantity per day. The cake also has a decent amount of added sugar with 23 grams; just under half the suggested daily consumption of 48 grams. The CDC highlights cakes as one of the leading sources of added sugar in the U.S., along with other desserts, sweet snacks, and sugary beverages.

Another chocolate cake that Costco sells is the Kirkland Signature Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse Filling. Although it may not be the same as the All American Chocolate Cake that was a fan-favorite Costco bakery item that was discontinued, it is somewhat comparable as it also has layers of chocolate cake and fudge icing.

The cake is meant to be 16 servings that are 390 calories each and, like the Kirkland Signature Plain Cheesecake, has lines to indicate where to cut. Whether or not shoppers decide to follow those lines is up to them. A serving of the cake also has 7 grams of saturated fat, or 35%of the recommended daily amount, as well as 44 grams of added sugar, or 88% of the advised daily consumption. That is almost a full day's suggested intake of added sugars gone in just one slice of cake, not to mention a third of the recommended daily amount of saturated fats, as well.

In order to compile this list and inform you about which Costco bakery items are unhealthy, we located each item's nutrition facts and then compared their nutrient values to the recommended daily value from organizations like the FDA and CDC. We made note of the ones that went over the suggested amount and have ingredients that are seen as possibly damaging, then researched the negative effects that those nutrients and ingredients can have on someone's health so as to educate you. But, as always, everyone's individual nutritional needs and goals are different, and you should make informed decisions about your health with a doctor.