11 Italian Items To Never Skip At Aldi

Whether you're planning an elaborate Italian-inspired feast at home or you like to have Italian products to throw together a quick and easy pasta at a moment's notice, Aldi has you covered. This budget-friendly store is known for its pantry staples, but the grocery chain also boasts impressive specialty items that can make whipping up an Italian or Italian-ish meal easier than ever.

But which Italian products at Aldi should you specifically look for the next time you're in the store? We've chosen some of our personal favorites and scoured the internet for recommendations from others to give you the 411 on what to try. From sauces to sausage to cheese and beyond, Aldi has a lot of what you need to make your at-home Italian meal dreams come true. Pick up these items at your local Aldi and spend time in the kitchen with friends and family as you put together a delicious Italian meal.

If you ask me, salad dressing is usually better when it's homemade. You have complete control over the ingredients, and you can add whatever flavors you love most to the mix. But there are times when the idea of having to make a salad dressing — on top of all the other cooking you're doing — seems like too much work. That's when you might want to turn to Aldi's Tuscan Garden Zesty Italian Dressing. It packs a bold tanginess and a bold punch of garlic. Adding it to a pile of greens will transform even the most basic chopped lettuce into a full-on salad.

Although this stuff is good on green salads, I think it works best in pasta salad. The pasta soaks up all that flavor, and the oil in the dressing provides enough fat to prevent the pasta pieces from sticking together. Many Redditors seem to agree, and some even consider it a dupe for Olive Garden's beloved Italian dressing. Keep it in your fridge, and your Italian-inspired salads will be a lot easier to make from here on out.

Aldi's Specially Selected Italian Bread Loaf isn't exactly a ground-breaking product — after all, it's just a simple loaf of bread. However, I think it makes an excellent addition to your Aldi Italian food haul. First of all, I love that this is a take-and-bake bread. That means you're supposed to put it in the oven when you get home, and the crust will get nice and crusty, while the inside of the bread becomes warm and pliable. 

In fact, it almost tastes like you're eating a fresh loaf straight out of the oven. The bread has an airy springiness you don't always find in store-bought bread. Sure, it might not be quite as good as the fresh bread you get from an Italian bakery, but we're working with what we've got here. I also appreciate the fact that you're getting a whole, unsliced loaf when you choose this product. Whether you want to cut it into slices yourself or use it whole, tearing off chunks as you go, you'll be able to do it.

There's something about chicken sausage that makes it an excellent addition to such a wide variety of meals. First of all, chicken sausages are usually pre-cooked, which means that you basically need to heat them up (and, ideally, get a good char on them). Additionally, they tend to taste lighter than pork sausage, making them a great option when you're craving that spiced sausage flavor but are still looking for something that's not so heavy. Aldi has an excellent chicken sausage in its lineup: the Never Any! Mild Italian Chicken Sausage.

These sausages are seasoned with bell pepper and onion along with a generous amount of mozzarella cheese, making them perfect for incorporating into various Italian dishes. Although the front of the package shows them served hot dog-style, I think they shine in a pasta dish, especially when you work in complementary flavors. Pick them up the next time you need to have an easy protein source for the week.

There's nothing like a good homemade Italian pasta sauce. However, there are times when we all need to turn to a jarred pasta sauce instead. Having pasta sauce at home means you can make a simple meal at any time, even if you don't have fresh tomatoes, dairy, or other necessary ingredients. But if you're looking for a jarred pasta sauce that's a nice step up from a basic red sauce, look for Priano Calabrese Pesto with Red Peppers at Aldi the next time you're there.

Made with sweet red peppers, it has a subtle sweetness that plays a nice counterpoint to the pesto's more savory notes and fragrant nuttiness. It works well with pasta, of course, but it can also function as a sandwich spread. It offers a layer of creaminess on the bread without being quite as heavy as, say, mayonnaise or olive oil.

Want to nosh on a quick appetizer while you're making dinner, or want to serve your guests something to snack on when they come over for a drink? Aldi's Specially Selected Wood-Fired Garlic Provola Flatbread is a solid option. This frozen dish isn't exactly substantial enough to be a meal, but it makes for a tasty savory app with a cheesy garlic sauce on doughy flatbread.

One Redditor says that this flatbread is rich without being overly garlicky. People recommend drizzling balsamic glaze on top or cooking it in a toaster oven and finishing it with basil and Parmesan cheese. Another Redditor gave the Aldi product a 10 out of 10 rating, and several commenters agreed about how good it is. If you want to turn it into a complete meal, consider baking it with a few slices of prosciutto, then pile on arugula once it comes out of the oven.

Personally, I think ciabatta is one of the all-time best kinds of bread. It's light, airy, and fluffy, making it ideal for building sandwiches. But ciabatta is one of those breads that tastes so much better when it's fresh. If you can't find fresh ciabatta, though, Aldi's Specially Selected Ciabatta Sandwich Rolls might be the next best thing. These rolls are super fresh for a packaged grocery store product, and they have that springiness that you look for in this kind of bread.

Yes, they're particularly perfect for sandwich-making, but that's not all they're good for. Cut them in half to make an excellent toast or open-faced sandwich, or tear chunks off a roll to dip into soups or any other saucy dishes. And, although this may be an unconventional use for ciabatta, you can also use it to make an incredible stuffing for Thanksgiving.

Sun-dried tomatoes are an excellent ingredient to keep stocked. They pack an incredible amount of flavor in an unassuming package, offering a savory, salty, and deeply umami punch to whatever dish you incorporate them into. But you don't have to spend a ton of money at the fancy grocery store in your neighborhood just to get a solid jar of them. Head to your local Aldi to pick up these Tuscan Garden Sun-Dried Tomatoes. It's a relatively simple product, available at an approachable price point, and the tomatoes have an excellent texture. I also love that they're julienne-cut, which means you won't have huge chunks of chewy sun-dried tomatoes in your dish.

I'm not the only one who adores this Aldi Italian product. These sun-dried tomatoes get rave reviews online, with Redditors saying that the product blew their minds and even that it's life-changing. If that doesn't sell you on a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, I don't know what will.

Sure, plain pasta will get the job done when you want to throw together an easy Italian dish at home, but why not make things more interesting by cooking up a pack of Aldi's Priano Cheese Tortellini? It's not much more expensive than a box of pasta, and it makes for a super flavorful meal, especially when paired with a pasta sauce from Aldi. (This is an excellent place to use that Priano Calabrese Pesto with Red Peppers.) It's made with ricotta and other seasoned cheeses, which provide a flavorful yet approachable pasta filling.

Some filled pastas have quite strongly flavored fillings. That can be nice sometimes, but when you're looking for a dinner staple that you can mix and match with other ingredients, choosing a cheese tortellini is the way to go. The flavor profile of this tortellini is neutral enough to work with just about any sauce or pasta add-in you want to enjoy.

When you need to add creaminess and flavor to a dish in a flash, cheese can often do the trick, particularly when you're working with Italian dishes. I'm an especially big fan of Parmesan cheese, which has a salty and umami flavor profile that makes everything it touches more delicious. Of course, if you really want to experience the best you can get from Parmesan, you'll buy an actual block or wedge of the stuff, and the grated kind that comes in those green containers is also an option when you're feeling lazy. This Emporium Selection Shredded Parmesan Cheese is kind of the halfway point between these two cheese extremes. You don't have to do any grating to get it on your pasta, but it offers a bit more texture than the powdery variety.

This product is not exactly groundbreaking, but it offers good value and will taste excellent in all of your favorite Italian dishes. That shouldn't come as too big a surprise, though, considering how many top-notch cheeses Aldi sells.

If you're looking for a solid gnocchi that's not too pricey, try looking for Priano Gnocchi at your local Aldi. This potato gnocchi is relatively affordable and can make your pasta nights a lot more interesting. Its chewy texture makes for a more decadent, toothsome bowl of pasta, whether you boil it and cover it with a store-bought sauce or prepare it some other way. I think it tastes excellent when it's pan-fried, so it gets nice and crispy — no boiling required, so you can get dinner on the table fast.

The best part? This pasta cooks exceptionally quickly, making it an excellent choice for busy nights. If you decide to use the pan-frying method, they'll take under five minutes to cook, while boiling this gnocchi requires only two to three minutes of your time. Who doesn't love a speedy Italian-inspired meal?

You can always make garlic bread from scratch if you want that freshly baked flavor, but what about those times when you're feeling particularly lazy? That's when you may want to try L'Oven Fresh's Parmesan Romano Garlic Bread. Not only does it feature that strong, garlicky flavor you're looking for in a good garlic bread, but it also delivers a slight cheesiness that makes its flavor that much more interesting — you don't have to add anything to make it shine.

According to a reviewer who tries Aldi products, this loaf can be frozen and then reheated whenever you're ready to eat it. That makes it a perfect selection on busy nights when you want to serve something alongside your soup, bowl of pasta, or whatever other Italian or Italian-adjacent dish you're eating. Of course, if you want your garlic bread to taste as fresh as it possibly can — or you simply don't have an Aldi in your town — then you're probably better off making it at home. Check out this delicious garlic bread recipe for that bold, cheesy flavor you love.