25 Best Aldi Groceries — What to Buy at Aldi

As a grocery fanatic and food writer, friends always ask 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 deposit for a shopping cart, put away your brand loyalties, and don’t be shocked when you have to bag your own groceries. 

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 just $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 fettucce, 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.

Egg prices have been one of the biggest food stories of 2023, but if you’re an Aldi shopper you may not have noticed. The stores carry 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 $5 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, 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 bottle dressing packs a punch with puréed ginger, carrots, savory tamari, and sweet apple juice.

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 are 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 workday lunches or a quick heat-and-eat dinner, let me recommend Aldi’s Whole & Simple Southwestern-Style Chicken Quinoa Bowl. You’ll find hearty bite-sized pieces of chicken breasts, 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 100x 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, everyday is a special occasion.

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