Costco Amylu Cranberry Jalapeno Chicken Meatballs Review
Active Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Ease: Super Easy
Cost: $12.47 for 2-Pack
I really wanted to love the Amylu cranberry jalapeno meatballs that I see often on my weekly Costco runs, and to be honest, these meatballs weren’t… bad.
Sure, the cooking instructions were easy enough, but one of the reasons I hadn’t previously purchased them was because I just wasn’t sure what to serve them with. Cranberries, jalapenos, and chicken go well together, but they don’t necessarily go that well with many sauces or traditional meatball sides.
Luckily, I bought them the same week I purchased the sweet kale salad at Costco, and these meatballs tasted pretty good alongside one of my new favorite purchases. It’s just that they didn’t wow me enough to make me want to rush back and buy them again any time soon.
Read on to find out what to serve with the Amylu cranberry jalapeno chicken meatballs, if they’re worth the Costco price, and if they’re even worth adding to your shopping list.
Costco Amylu Cranberry Jalapeno chicken Meatballs Review Score - X/10
Flavor - 7/10
Preparation - 9/10
Cost - 10/10
Flavor Rating
The flavor of these meatballs was good, but it didn’t really stand out to me that much — so much so that I’m not sure I would buy them again. At least the cranberry jalapeno version.
Sure, they had a nice heat to them, but I couldn’t really taste the cranberries that much.
And you could still taste the cranberry and jalapeno flavors enough that you wouldn’t be able to serve them with a sauce that didn’t complement those two ingredients.
Preparation Rating
I make all meatballs (from scratch, frozen, fresh, etc.) in the toaster oven, on a sheet pan with a rack. This is the easiest way, in my opinion, to make meatballs.
Since the Amylu chicken meatballs are sold in the deli section at Costco, they took only 10 minutes to heat up, and only five minutes of prep time — tops. Thus, they scored very high on preparation.
Cost Rating
You get four times the number of meatballs at Costco that you’d get in a regular grocery store (and chicken meatballs can be kind of pricey at regular stores), so I rated these a 10 out of 10 for cost.
Amylu Cranberry Jalapeno Meatballs Cooking Instructions
The cooking instructions on the Amylu chicken meatballs are pretty straightforward. These meatballs are pre-cooked, so you just need to heat them up until they reach an internal temperature of 165 F.
There are two main methods to cook these meatballs: oven and stovetop.
You could also warm them up in a sauce, but I truly have no idea what type of sauce you would cook them in, as the cranberry and jalapeno doesn’t jive well with tomato sauce or cheese sauce. (I did serve these as sweet and sour meatballs in a sauce I made with Stonewall Kitchen hot pepper cranberry jelly, but aside from that, I have no idea what other type of sauce these would taste good in).
Here are is the breakdown to cook these chicken meatballs in the oven and on the stovetop.
OVEN/TOASTER OVEN (PREFERRED)
This is the best way to cook these meatballs (In my opinion), as you only need to lay them on a wire rack on a baking sheet and cook at 350 F for about 10 minutes.
I found this cooking method to be the easiest, and the meatballs browned up nicely on all sides. You’ll also notice that the meatballs have wire browning marks on them already, so they’re super easy to just heat and serve.
STOVETOP
You could also cook these meatballs in a skillet on medium-to-medium-high heat for about five-to-ten minutes. Again, super easy, but you just have more active prep time, as you’ll need to keep an eye on the meatballs to ensure they don’t burn on the stovetop.
ideas TO USE COSTCO Amylu Jalapeno Chicken Meatballs
One of my biggest challenges when I made these meatballs was figuring out how the eff to serve them.
Did I make the executive decision to buy them? Yes. Did I do this to myself? Abso-freakin-lute-ly. But was I going to let it derail me? Um… maybe?
I had to dig deep into my psyche to find a way to prepare these in different ways (after all, I had 30 meatballs to eat, thanks to Costco).
After a week of eating these meatballs, lunch after lunch, I came up with the three best ways to serve them: in a warm kale salad, as sweet and sour meatballs, as hors d'oeuvres, and in a meatball sandwich.
KALE SALAD
This is truly the best way I found to serve the Amylu cranberry jalepeno meatballs. And it just so happens to be the first method that I tried!
I roasted the greens in the Costco sweet kale salad on a sheet pan in the toaster oven, pre-heated to 350 F, for 10 minutes, and topped them with the cooked chicken meatballs. I also added some of the poppy seed dressing that came in the salad kit.
Because I had some leftover mashed potatoes, I added those too, because, why the heck not?
SWEET AND SOUR MEATBALLS
Heat up some cranberry jalapeno jam in a sauce pan with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. Add Amylu cranberry jalapeno meatballs to a bowl and carefully pour the sauce over the meatballs.
HORS d'oeuvres
Make the sweet and sour meatball recipe above. Place sauced meatballs onto a baking sheet lined with tin foil. top each meatball with a slice of brie cheese. Broil the meatballs until the cheese is melted.
MEATBALL SANDWICH
These cranberry jalepeno meatballs would also be great in a meatball sandwich (with flavors that complement those of the meatballs). Here are the instructions to make this sandwich:
1. Toast 1/2 of a baguette (sliced lengthwise).
2. Top one side of the bread with with slices of brie cheese, and broil the bread and cheese in the toaster oven.
3. On the other side of the bread, spread a cherry or pepper jam. Sprinkle some arugula on this slice.
4. Add the Amylu meatballs (preferably slice in half so they don’t slip and slide around) onto the arugula.
5. Carefully close up your sammy with the bread with the melted brie cheese.
Costco Amylu Cranberry Jalapeno Chicken Meatballs Nutritional Information
Servings Per Container: About 15
Serving Size: 4 Meatballs (87g)
Calories: 160
Total Fat: 8g
Saturated Fat: 2.5 g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 75mg
Sodium: 580mg
Total Carbohydrate: 8g
Dietary Fiber: 0g
Total Sugars: 6g
Includes: 2g Added Sugars
Protein: 14g
Vitamin: D 0mcg
Calcium: 11 mg
Iron: 1 mg
Potassium: 156mg
Costco Amylu Cranberry Jalapeno Chicken Meatballs Ingredients
INGREDIENTS: Chicken Raised Without Antibiotics, Cranberries (Cranberries, Sugar, Sunflower Oil), Contains 2% or Less of: Jalapeño Peppers, Evaporated Cane Sugar, Maple Sugar, Spices, Chipotle Pepper, Kosher Salt, Extract of Rosemary, Vinegar.
Amylu Chicken Meatballs FAQs
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Amylu cranberry jalapeno chicken meatballs are available at Costco and other grocers.
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This is a tough one! I’ve served them with the Costco sweet kale salad, in a sweet and sour meatball sauce, and in a French meatball sandwich.
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You can cook them in the oven at 350 F for 10 to 15 minutes or in a skillet on the stovetop on medium-high for around 10 minutes.