5 Costco Snack Sized Nuts, Ranked

Steven Luna/Mashed

Whether you grab a bag on your way out the door or keep a stash in your dashboard for on-the-run snacking, having Costco snack-sized nuts on hand provides an easy source of natural energy. There are no M&M's or sugary dried cranberries included to derail your protein and healthy fat dietary plans, just an array of nuts, roasted and salted to maximize crunch and flavor. And with two different boxes available — a 21-pack with cashews, pistachios, and mixed nuts and a 30-pack with cashews, peanuts, and almonds — there are plenty of single-serving pouches to feed a family, an office, or just a hungry snacker looking for healthier munchies.

Not all of these nuts are likely to measure up equally, especially with the variety presented. Even the cashews from the different collections could be distinct enough to warrant shoppers discovering one as their favorite over the other. I had to know which single-serving nut selections were the best Kirkland Signature label snacks for the money and which were better off being deleted from my shopping list. Since they're not available individually, I created a ranking from bottom-drawer bites to top-shelf treats from among the six different selections to figure out how they all shake out.

Steven Luna/Mashed

It's not often that almonds disappoint me (maybe the first time in history that sentence has ever been written). I've enjoyed Kirkland Signature almonds sold in the 3-pound bag for years, always knowing they're perfectly roasted and gently salted, a great snack or addition to kitchen creations. But there's something different about the snackable version that makes them seem like the lesser nut among all the other options. It's too bad, since you can only get the box cashews and peanuts with almonds included — no mix-and-match possibilities here.

What goes so awry with these almonds? For starters, they could be roasted a little longer; they're a bit on the soft side and kept getting stuck in my teeth, a feature that never fails to annoy. The sea salt needs to be coarser too. It seems to be applied as a coating that feels like a fine powder rather than a larger-grain shake-over. It imparts a gritty mouthfeel and makes the finished product overly salty, a strange criticism considering how much of a salt freak I am. It's good to keep in mind that a serving of almonds is smaller than you think — 12 nuts, to be precise — especially when these semi-crunchy duds offer more than twice that in a single pouch. There's no reason to treat yourself so badly just for the sake of snacking.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Pistachios are one of the most overlooked nuts around, omitted from most mixes and snack selections in favor of holding their own status on the snacking nut family tree. Finding out Kirkland Signature pistachios are a member of the 21-pouch box made me a little giddy. I knew they'd be shelled, since pre-packaged snacks are prepped for convenience. Nut fans may not know why pistachios are so expensive, they just know that having access to a discounted version in multiples is an enticing prospect. And that made finding out how unsatisfying these were once I had them in my grubby little snack-happy mitts a major disappointment.

Somehow, these pistachios are about half the size of the ones I'm used to. True, they've all been shelled, so they're much easier to eat by the handful. But the reduced size strips them of their fuller identity, turning them into more of a pine nut — not what I expect from a proper pistachio. The roasting reduces the usual hint of sweetness too, giving them a monotonous savory flavor instead. Even for true-blue pistachio fans looking for a markdown deal, these nuts fall short.

Steven Luna/Mashed

As unlikely as it might seem, there's a hierarchy when it comes to snacking peanuts. The difference between Spanish peanuts and dry-roasted peanuts is as distinct as night and day, especially to those of us who depend on peanuts as a dietary staple. This sort of rigorous discernment put Kirkland Signature peanuts in the hot seat. Considering peanuts aren't actually nuts at all but a legume that comes from the pea family, these little goobers have a lot of weight to pull, especially being surrounded by the other premium nuts in the box.

Fortunately for us all, they avail themselves well. The toasty flavor of Kirkland Signature peanuts walks the line between tasting like a gently smoky essence and a slightly floral note, making for a strangely elegant blend. Some dry-roasted peanuts can feel too crunchy, with a gritty texture that makes chewing difficult. Not so with this little packet; the consistency is smooth, even, and easy to bite into without losing a filling or feeling like you might chip an incisor. Overall, it's a sweet and tender peanut with just enough salt to enhance the flavor without making my tongue swell.

On the flip side, they're just peanuts, the cheapest crunchy snack in the nut section. You can get a 2.5-pound Kirkland can for around $9, so spending extra just for pre-packaged portions seems unnecessary. Still, you'll be happy to munch on them if you choose the 21-pouch box they come in.

Steven Luna/Mashed

You're not messing around when you stash Kirkland Signature cashews in your snack pack. It's like an astrological sign; you know what you like, and you don't bother with the lower-level options in the nut ecosystem. So if you're going to pay warehouse prices for cashews in pre-apportioned packages, they'd better be something special. You'll have multiple pouches to work your way through, and nobody wants to be disappointed repeatedly.

So do these cashews live up to the promise? They certainly do; the selections from both boxes appear to be identical to my tricky palate, which places them both in the No. 2 ranking. There's a gentle roast that makes them nicely dense and toasty without adding excessive crunch. The buttery flavor is present from the first bite to the last, lending a creamy element that seems refined and upscale. Since cashews are so expensive, taking advantage of this premium nut in a warehouse-priced multipack is a no-brainer for bargain hunters who like their crunchy snacks a little more luxe. If you go for the 30-pouch box, you'll get 10 bags to enjoy, versus seven bags in the 21-pouch box.

Steven Luna/Mashed

Now we're talking satisfaction: This blend of nuts shakes up the tastes and textures so you get a unique combination every time your fingers reach into the bag. This Kirkland pack contains almonds and cashews, similar if not identical to the dedicated packs in the box. But it also features pecan halves and macadamias, which add enough taste and textural variety to turn a simple snack into a single-serving celebration. That little twist packed such an unexpected punch that it pushed the other pouches out of the way and moved the mix all the way to the top of the list.

It's not just the blend that works incredibly well here; it's the texture, too. The roast on each nut type is decisively dialed in, from the sandy outer coating of the pecans to the soft interiors of the macadamias. You don't even have to be looking for reasons to eat more pecans; you can do it for the sheer enjoyment and reap the health benefits at the same time. The cashews and almonds are on point here as well, serving up enough contrast to make the combination feel like a party in a plastic bag. This is the snack nut pack I'd hide from my kids so I could keep them all for myself — all seven pouches. I bet you'd do the same.

Steven Luna/Mashed

I grabbed boxes of each variety of Kirkland Signature nuts at my local Costco and started digging in pretty readily. To really get the gist of what each packet offers, I limited myself to one or two of each nut at first, letting the texture and taste register fully before making an assessment. This allowed me to discern the roast, density, and inherent flavor of each type of nut while also taking the salt content into consideration. The blend of all four aspects created a profile of each snack pack, even allowing me to tell the difference between the almonds in the dedicated pack (not so great) from the mixed nut pack (very satisfying).

Once I knew what I was working with, I went back for seconds to see how complete snacking from each pouch might alter the experience. An aspect like the over-salting of the stand-alone almonds was a clear issue that reduced that pouch in the rankings. In contrast, the soft tooth of the pecans and the smoothness of the macadamia nuts helped elevate the mixed bag overall, while the unexpectedly smaller stature of the pistachios worked against that selection.

While price was a consideration (the 21-pack box ends up being $1.28 or so per pouch and the 30-pack box $0.73 per pouch), I didn't let that sway my assessment of the quality or the enjoyment factor. In my view, it's worth paying a little extra for snacks you know you'll like.