15 Popular Items From The Whole Foods Hot Bar, Ranked

No dinner plans? Well, as long as you live near a Whole Foods Market, you don't need any. Theoretically, you could probably carry out a solid meal every single evening on your way home from work, if you so desired. And when the options are this good, the probability of us cooking tonight dwindles with every taste. The hot food bar offers everything, including creamy, dreamy macaroni and cheese; a lighter side dish like steamed vegetables sprinkled in za'atar seasoning; vegan main courses like warming, savory spinach dal; and a big hunk of meat covered in barbecue sauce. We love a little diversity in our prepared food.

The Whole Foods hot bar has a lot going for it in terms of looks and convenience, but how do the food options actually taste? Some were just okay, some were quite nice, and some knocked our socks off. You deserve to know what's what, especially since your judgment might not be at peak performance if you're wandering in hangry at the end of a long day. Luckily, we ranked them for you — and we know exactly what you should get.

Steamed vegetables are not just for those minding their nutritional needs. We are actually big supporters of all kinds of modes of cooking vegetables since variety is the spice of life. But speaking of spice, this melange of carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower comes topped with the lesser-known seasoning blend, za'atar. This seasoning hails from various regions of the Middle East and thus has various interpretations. Across the board, za'atar is savory, slightly umami, and slightly sweet; it might show up as cumin, oregano, coriander, sumac, marjoram, sesame seeds, and more. 

You can see why this might be a really nice, unusual way to give some novel flair to run-of-the-mill steamed vegetables, and we agree. That's why we wish there was more of it — a lot more. There wasn't enough spice to provide much of any flavor profile at all. Also, as you can see in the photo, the vegetables came in large chunks, which is an issue when they are undercooked — the carrot was pretty hard to cut into.

Here is the first of the Indian-inspired foods we tried at the Whole Foods hot bar. There were lots of options, and we love to see it, especially if you don't have a solid Indian takeout spot nearby. Unfortunately, this Chicken Vindaloo wasn't as good as take-out, even the mediocre ones. It just didn't have enough flavor. Honestly, it's the age-old issue of Whole Foods hot bar fare. Many of the items could have been better if they tasted a little more robust. 

If you don't like spicy stuff, you'll do alright over here, because there just was not enough spicy, savory flavor. Cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves ... you would almost think that this is the recipe for gingerbread cookies, not a main course. But most gingerbread doesn't include garlic and peas, so there's that. Anyway, this chicken dish didn't bring enough of that lovely push and pull of spicy (as in hot) and spiced (as in utilizing warm, aromatic spices like cinnamon and cloves), so it fell a little flat.

Look, we know this is potentially the least sexy vegetable pairing anyone could imagine. Once upon a time, it would have involved Brussels sprouts, but now the world knows that a good sprout can be dang delicious. But zucchini, the overflowing produce of summer that people get sick of because they have too much to know what to do with, and red cabbage, the Depression-era favorite that stains anything in the vicinity a deep maroon, are seemingly a match made in the middle of nowhere. Whole Foods begs to differ. We scooped this dish up diligently but ate it with much more optimism. It's actually really tasty. 

The zucchini, often watery and bland, is plump and juicy. The cabbage, often somewhat stinky and flaccid, is tender and full of hearty, slightly briny tasting notes. Who would have thought we would end up enjoying it? Maybe it was a one-time thing, but we're confident that we'd even choose it on our own terms next time.

Are you looking for a lighter, more casual, nutrient-dense macaroni cheese, maybe made with Greek yogurt or chickpea pasta? Look away, then, because this Macaroni and Cheese is not for you. Oh well, guess that means there's more for us! This stuff is just so, so indulgent. Look at that picture, and now imagine looking at a whole tub of it glowing in the middle of the Whole Foods hot bar next to collard greens and chicken wings. It's cheesy, it's carb-y, and it's the ideal comfort food. 

This macaroni and cheese proved just as irresistible when we tasted it as when we gawked at it. We couldn't believe how creamy, thick, and rich it was. Maybe too much so, because we could only eat a few forkfuls. If you really look at the pic, you can see how few "noodles" are actually visible underneath those layers and layers of bright-yellow cheese ... a little goes a long way, and we think it's a little over the top.

Orange chicken. The words call to mind one of our absolute favorite fast-casual meals, courtesy of the inimitable Panda Express. That chicken is barely detachable under a solid, candylike coating of greasy, chewy yet crunchy, fried, flavored batter that tastes more like orange Skittles than the fruit that grows on trees. Nevertheless, it's crazy good, and variations like Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken are top-sellers and customer favorites. 

We were so excited to try the Whole Foods version, and even though it's neither sour enough nor orange enough, it's still got it. There's still sweetness, though here it's at the exact right level, not glaringly obvious like at Panda Express. The sour notes (rice wine vinegar, perhaps?) are the right element to emphasize, but they could have been even bolder. We love some good sourness in our meals! Also, maybe because it's more natural, the orange flavor is slightly muted, but that's to be expected and excused when it tastes much more fresh and authentic.

Just about every food we test and rank has some good qualities and some bad qualities, and that makes our job a little more interesting. It would be much easier to rank dishes on a scale of one to 10 than deal with all these mixed bags — but we press on. In Whole Foods' BBQ Chicken, we were prepared for the worst. Look at the ridiculously huge size of each piece of chicken, and look how much of that rust-colored sauce is spread all over it; we thought it looked dicey. 

The BBQ sauce proved us right, because it's too thick, sweet, and cloying. But the chicken underneath is really good chicken. Wow, did this chicken exceed our expectations. It's juicy, succulent, fork-tender, and full of subtle flavor without having soaked in too much of that overt sauce. We would absolutely go back for this chicken, even if we're scraping off some of the red stuff and using the chicken as the basis of a whole new meal.

Well, well, well, how did we end up right back over here again? Close to the classic pulled pork at our local Whole Foods, we saw a fiery red-orange counterpart called Achiote Pork. The treatment is similar to pulled pork, in its tendrils and nuggets of juicy roasted meat, but the flavor is expanded upon. "Achiote" (or annatto) refers to the seeds that give food an electric color and slow-burn, slightly spicy, slightly bitter flavor. If you aren't big on spiciness, don't worry — this is widely tolerable to a range of palates. 

Each bite of pork had everything good about the classic pulled pork that we just tried, only more pizzazz. Since annatto is more elusive that, say, regular chile pepper, we were less accustomed to the flavor and therefore more intrigued. Plus, the ingredients include hibiscus, cilantro, orange juice, and pickled onions, among many other things, so you can see why our taste buds were over the moon. Overall, we loved it. If you put this on your plate alongside an array of Whole Foods sides, this time, no one will be talking about the collards or cauliflower.