The 35 Best Foods You Can Buy at Aldi

As a grocery fanatic and food writer, friends always ask me where to shop and what groceries to buy. To their surprise, I advise them to start at Aldi. It’s unlike other grocery shopping experiences. If you’re a first-time visitor, come prepared with a quarter to rent a shopping cart (don’t worry — you’ll get it back!), put away your brand loyalties, and don’t be shocked when you have to bag your own groceries. 

I have personally taste-tested hundreds of products across every aisle of Aldi, so when I recommend a product, you know that I’m speaking from the heart (er, belly). I have narrowed down my favorite Aldi buys to these 35 essentials. These groceries are as good as (or better than) the name brand, despite being a fraction of the price.

Pita chips have an irresistible crunch; they’re perfect for scooping up dips and crumbling over salads. Aldi’s Specially Selected Pita Chips cost less than $3 (much smaller bags at grocery stores near where I live in Georgia cost almost twice as much). And that’s not even the best part! Aldi’s pita chips are sturdy, yet perfectly crisp, and sprinkled with just the right amount of seasoning. These chips come in Sea Salt and Parmesan, and Garlic & Herb varieties.

Aldi’s chocolate selection strikes again with another winner — this time with the classic combination of milk chocolate and peanut butter. These bite-size treats are so legendary, shoppers make a special detour just for them. While each bag contains about 30 cups with a milky chocolate coating and smooth peanut butter filling, it still won’t be enough.

Another Aldi must-buy is the Belle Vie flavored sparkling water from PureAqua. The cans of effervescent water come in all of the classic flavors — plain, lemon, lime, and grapefruit. You can also find fruity flavors like blackberry and seasonal varieties. This is one time where comparison shopping is easy — boxes of a popular name-brand sparkling water are often shelved right next to Aldi’s store brand for a higher price.

Aldi carries a surprisingly wide variety of cereal, and I tested every single one to find my favorite. Milleville Honey Grahams cereal won me over because it tastes like a mash-up of two of my childhood favorites. It has the rippled texture and honey graham sweetness I grew up on with incredible precision, and a dusting of sugar that adds a Cinnamon Toast Crunch vibe too.

If you haven’t tried Aldi’s Specially Selected Double Chocolate Premium Brownie Mix yet, you are in for a treat. I taste tested all of the brownie mixes that Aldi carries and this one came out on top. With a double dose of chocolate (cocoa powder in the mix and chocolate chips in the batter), every square has that shiny, crackly top and perfect texture that straddles the line between chewy and cakey. Pro tip: If you are team fudgy brownie, just slightly underbake them.

I taste tested every bottle of olive oil that Aldi sells and this bottle of Specially Selected Extra Virgin Olive Oil was the best-tasting and most versatile. This olive oil has a robust, slightly grassy flavor (a great quality when it comes to olive oil). It is packaged in an elegant, green glass bottle that appears much more expensive than its $9 price tag. The oil is mild enough to be used as an all-purpose cooking oil, but has just enough personality to step up to finishing-oil status. 

Pasta is the backbone of my pantry (and probably yours too). Luckily Aldi sells high-quality bronze-cut pasta for less than $2 per one-pound package. This pasta is made from durum wheat semolina flour and made into a dough that’s pushed through bronze die. This manufacturing insight is of importance in the kitchen because pastas like these tend to have a slightly coarser texture, which helps sauces cling to them. Aldi sells fettuccine, linguine, chitarra, conchiglie, rigatoni, and penne pasta shapes.

Aldi is my go-to destination for high-quality chocolates at an affordable price. The award-winning German chocolates are smooth and rich with the perfect level of sweetness. Available all year round, shoppers can choose from chocolate varieties including dark, milk, mint, and orange-infused.

With their subtle green hue, buttery flavor, and nutty crunch, pistachios are among the best nuts to buy. While shell-on pistachios are my pick for snacking, Aldi makes it easy to splurge on the shelled variety when it’s just $4 per package. With zero shelling involved, its easier to add pistachios to sheet pan dinners, make-ahead lentil salad lunches, and sweet smashed cookies.

There’s been no bigger shock in all my years of taste testing grocery products than when a $1 box of stuffing mix from Aldi took the top spot among 20 competitors. Beating out name brands and boxes from high-end grocers, Aldi’s stuffing mix tasted the most like homemade with natural variety in bread size and texture and a well-balanced herby flavor.

Aldi’s cheese selection is one of the reasons I started shopping at the discount grocer. For years I’ve relied on Aldi when serving cheese and charcuterie for parties and holidays. There’s one cheese that I love above all others for it’s creamy, nutty flavor, but hate how pricey it can be at other stores. Now I buy Emporium Selection’s Le Gruyère Cheese so that I can sprinkle shreds of the cheese over mac and cheese, bake into a classic quiche Lorraine, or serve French onion meatballs with abandon.

Aldi carries caged, organic, cage-free, free-range, and pasture-raised eggs all at different price points. My pick is the pack of pasture-raised eggs, which sells for less than $3 a dozen and has the bright orange yolks I love. These eggs are the star of dishes like scrambled eggs and citrusy chess pie. 

Back in 2019 The Kitchn editors embarked on a mission to taste every salad kit we could get our veggie-loving hands on. While our editors enjoyed every one of Aldi’s offerings, Little Salad Bar’s Southwest Chopped Salad Kit was the ultimate favorite. The ready-to-eat salad is a mix of green and red cabbages, romaine lettuce, kale, carrots, and green onions (yum!) to be topped with tortilla strips, a four-cheese blend, and Greek yogurt jalapeño dressing. This taco salad-style mix won our hearts back then and hasn’t let go since.

I taste tested every single bottle of salad dressing that Aldi sells, and the Little Salad Bar Ginger Vinaigrette is the best one you can buy. This bottled dressing packs a punch with puréed ginger, carrots, savory tamari, and sweet apple juice.

The Specially Selected brioche loaves have been a favorite among Aldi shoppers for years. The sliced loaf comes in plain and chocolate chip varieties. With its soft texture, this brioche is perfect for French toast, grilled cheese, and BLTs.

If you love breakfast, what better place to start your day than Aldi? The cinnamon rolls from Aldi’s bakery aisle taste more like homemade than any other store-bought cinnamon roll I’ve tried — without any mixing, proofing, or rolling required. These frosted, ready-to-eat rolls are plush and soft right from the package, and are even better after a few minutes in a warm oven.

Would you believe some of the best supermarket brioche comes from Aldi? The chain has turned this eggy, buttery bread into rolls, buns, and loaves. While it’s hard to choose a favorite, the Specially Selected Brioche Rolls are the most versatile in the bakery aisle. The simplest way to enjoy the buns is to serve them with soups and salads, but don’t sleep on serving them as breakfast sandwiches or with hamburgers and BBQ pulled pork. 

Look no further if you’ve been searching for a store-bought loaf that tastes just like homemade. This bread has a tender crumb and chewy crust, and has won a permanent place on my shopping list. Use it to make your next cinnamon toast or deli-style reuben sandwiches.

These loaves of hearty sliced bread are a ringer for one of our favorite brand-name breads. Simply Nature Organic Graintastic and Seedtastic bread is full of grains and seeds that add texture and flavor to every slice. This bread is a fraction of the price of the name brand, so I rarely leave Aldi without it.

If you’re ever at a loss for what to make for workday lunches or quick heat-and-eat dinners, let me recommend Aldi’s Whole & Simple Southwestern-Style Chicken Quinoa Bowl. You’ll find hearty bite-size pieces of chicken breast, and chunks of sweet potatoes, black beans, corn, and bell peppers mixed with quinoa, brown rice, and a spicy chipotle sauce. It’s just like the bowl meals you make at home — except 100 times easier.

Decadent ice cream bars coated in a thick layer of nutty milk chocolate have always been a favorite treat reserved for special occasions. Now that I know Aldi sells them for just $3.49, every day is a special occasion.

Did your Aldi favorites make the list? Sound off in the comments below.