8 Things Professional Bakers Buy At Costco

Known for its affordable prices and expansive assortment of items, Costco Wholesale has become a popular place for shoppers looking to stock up on groceries. Since 1976, Costco's unique membership format has made it easy for customers to buy bulk versions of quality products. This has made the store desirable to families, restaurant owners, and professional bakers. While professional bakers tend to purchase their kitchen products from a variety of different places, Costco is a valuable tool for many when it comes to sourcing high-quality items without breaking the bank.

From pantry staples to kitchen essentials, professional bakers rave about a variety of items stocked on Costco's massive shelves. To learn more about some of Costco's most-loved baking items, we interviewed three professional bakers about the must-have products that they (and you) can buy at Costco today. For this article, all prices referenced will be based on the website listing of my local Costco location in New York, New York.

No baker's pantry is complete without a bag or two of sugar, and for professional baker Odette D'Aniello, Costco is her go-to place to stock up on raw sugar. As the CEO of Celebrity Cake Studio and Dragonfly Cakes, D'Aniello needs to buy items in large quantities, and when it comes to value and taste, Costco offers professional bakers like her the option to buy raw sugar that is not just affordable but also of an incredibly high quality.

D'Aniello shared that her kitchen loves using Costco's raw sugar, saying: "It has great crystal size and flavor, and it's ideal for recipe testing when we want to see how a less-refined sugar behaves in cakes, fillings, or crumb toppings without committing to a massive bulk order." She also notes the taste of this sugar, stating that, "It has a more nuanced flavor that we've been playing with lately in our recipe development." One 6-pound bag of Sugar in the Raw from Costco costs just $10.49, ensuring that cooking with raw sugar is financially accessible for a large demographic.

One item that is a staple in practically every bakery is pure vanilla extract. Known as one of the most important and most expensive baking items, buying pure vanilla extract at Costco can be a smart and economical option for bakers working on a large scale. Susan Gravatt, a baker and the blogger behind Susan Brings Dessert, explains: "... with vanilla, which can be expensive, it's nice to be able to buy a larger bottle or pack of bottles at a better value."

Gravatt is not the only baker who heads to Costco to buy pure vanilla extract. Marissa Stevens, the recipe curator behind the website Pinch and Swirl, also finds herself stocking up on this item, particularly the Kirkland Signature Pure Vanilla Extract, which costs $13.99 for a 16-ounce bottle. Stevens emphasizes her support of this item, saying: "The Kirkland vanilla is real vanilla, not imitation, and it's just as good as brands that cost twice as much."

Another baking staple that Odette D'Aniello finds herself buying at Costco is almond flour. Unlike some of the other items on her list, D'Aniello finds herself stocking up on almond flour less often, but as she explains, "... when we need it we get it at Costco." She elaborates: "We don't use it daily in the bakery because almonds are a major allergen and we have strict protocols around cleaning and sanitation when we bring allergens into the bakery."

While cooking with almond flour can be tricky (and sometimes ruin your bakes), some recipes, especially gluten-free ones, require its use. D'Aniello shared that "... for home testing, specialty cakes and pastries, or gluten-free experiments, Costco's almond flour is reliable, finely ground, and consistent." If you are looking to use gluten-free flour in your next recipe, Costco sells a variety of options, including its Kirkland Signature Blanched Almond Flour, which costs $16.49 for a 3-pound bag.

Like many of the other items on this list, butter is an absolute essential for many bakers. Cooking with butter can be difficult, but it does serve as the base for many recipes, making it a great item to buy in large quantities. Baker Marissa Stevens explains: "As a recipe developer and food blogger, I'm constantly testing recipes, so I go through baking staples faster than most people. Buying larger quantities at Costco saves me hundreds of dollars every year."

When shopping at Costco, Stevens buys both American-style and European-style butters. She elaborates, saying: "If you're wondering why the two butters, I test recipes with both American-style and European-style butter so my recipes work with whatever my readers have on hand." She continues: "... I also want to be able to recommend the higher-fat European-style butter when it makes a real difference, like in shortbread or pie crust where butter is a primary flavor." 

Not only is the butter quality at Costco up to Stevens' standards, but the Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter she loves is also well-priced there, at $19.28 for 32 ounces. "The European-style butter is particularly expensive at standard grocery stores; buying it at Costco saves me at least 25%," she states. 

Costco isn't just a great place to grab pantry staples; it's also a preferred place to buy produce. While Costco is known for having a great assortment of frozen fruits, baker Odette D'Aniello shared that one of her favorite items to buy at Costco is fresh fruit and berries. She explains: "We buy berries and fresh fruit at Costco when we're making custom cakes with fresh fruit fillings to order or working on new flavors."

Baking with fresh fruit is not always common, as it can be more difficult than baking with frozen fruit. However, when a recipe calls for it, going to Costco to buy fresh fruit at a competitive price is D'Aniello's preferred option. She elaborates, saying: "Since we use fresh fruit relatively rarely, Costco allows us to buy just what we need at peak quality without excess waste." While the price per fruit does change seasonally, Costco's fresh produce has earned rave reviews for its quality and affordability.

Parmigiano Reggiano is known as "The King of Cheeses," but it can also be an expensive ingredient to add to savory desserts and baked goods. For bakers looking to save money on Parmigiano Reggiano, Costco offers an affordable option. In addition, Costco's Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is not fake, unlike some other cheeses on the market. Recipe developer Marissa Stevens explains: "Buying a big wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano at Costco and grating it myself is so much cheaper than those little containers at the grocery store."

There are several Parmigiano Reggiano options available at Costco, including a massive 10-pound block of Agriform Aged Parmigiano Reggiano available for $199.99. Like the other items on this list, buying Parmigiano Reggiano at Costco is not only a financially responsible option, but it also ensures that bakers maintain a high standard for the ingredients used in their kitchens. While bakers often source foods from a variety of places, it is clear that for many, Costco is a store that they do not skip.

As a baker, Odette D'Aniello loves to get creative with her recipes. One way that she continues to keep things innovative in her kitchen is by incorporating unique ingredients into her bakes. She finds herself grabbing juices from Costco, which helps her test out tropical desserts before committing to buying the more expensive ingredients at scale.

D'Aniello explains: "Costco is also great for juices we use in fillings like guava juice for cooking down with cornstarch to make a guava jelly!" Using guava juice from Costco helps D'Aniello spark baking creativity without having to buy fresh guava. She says, "It's an easy way to experiment with tropical or fruit-forward flavors, before scaling them up and having to go through the process of sourcing less common fruits and juices."

Costco sells two-packs of 64-ounce Sun Tropics Organic Guava Nectar for $7.25.

Beyond buying ingredients, Costco is also a great place for bakers to stock up on the baking tools they need to keep their kitchens up and running. Baker Susan Gravatt explains that, "Beyond ingredients, Costco also deserves a nod for baking essentials like parchment paper, aluminum foil, and heavy-duty plastic wrap." 

Recipe developer Marissa Stevens also noted her appreciation of Costco's baking essentials, praising its affordability. She stated that: "... parchment paper isn't glamorous, but I go through rolls of it. Costco's multi-packs save me a ridiculous amount compared to buying single rolls elsewhere." While there are several brands of these items offered from Costco, items recommended from two bakers include the Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil, which costs $28.99 for two rolls, the Kirkland Signature Stretch-Tite Plastic Food Wrap, which costs $14.99 for two rolls, and the Kirkland Signature Non-Stick Parchment Paper Rolls, which cost $16.49 for two rolls.