I Tried 15 Aldi Deli Salads – And This Is The One I'll Have At Every Cookout

While you want people to be talking about the salad you brought or offered at a cookout, you don't want all that talk to be bad. Luckily, Aldi carries several deli salads that can be good solutions if you don't have the time to cook, as well as some that I'd never recommend. 

Between the Park Street Deli and Aldi brands, there are a few salad categories available: chicken salads, potato salads, pasta salads, bean salads, and Mediterranean-inspired salads. While I'm a frequent Aldi shopper, I'd never tried these, which is why I wanted to buy every deli salad that my local store had, try them, and analyze their flavor and texture.

I learned a few things from trying all the deli salads at Aldi. First of all, the best ones are the ones that come in multiple sizes and seem to be popular among customers. Secondly, I learned that there's one brand I will never touch again, while the other brand is a good bet no matter which salad you pick. Read on to learn which ones are good, which ones are bad, and which one is my pick for bringing to cookouts in the future.

To determine which Aldi deli salad would be the best for a cookout, I tried every deli salad available at my local Aldi. I had a heaping spoonful of each one and tried to get a bite that contained all of its components. 

I judged the salads on whether they tasted like I expected and whether I (or others) would enjoy them. I also assessed whether the texture was good or off-putting. Ultimately, my favorites left me the happiest, didn't have an off-putting texture, and would hold up well when served outdoors. 

Aldi has three chicken salad varieties, and this is the classic one. Out of the three, this is the one I'd buy if I were to purchase chicken salad again. It even ranked highly on this review of the best store-bought chicken salads. The store sells this salad both in a 16-ounce size and in a four-pack of salad singles.

What you get is pretty much what you would expect from classic chicken salad. It has a balanced flavor and texture, and the mayonnaise-based salad is creamy without tasting overly mayonnaisey. There are both solid and shredded chunks of chicken in the mix. Plus, there's an occasional contrasting crunch from celery and onion, though neither flavor takes over. 

The Park Street Deli Cranberry Almond Chicken Salad appears to be a popular option for Aldi shoppers and comes in both a 16-ounce and four-pack singles option. However, the flavor and texture profile is different enough from the Classic Chicken Salad to make it a distinctive alternative.

What I first noticed when taking a bite of the cranberry almond chicken salad was that it was both sweeter and more oniony than the classic chicken salad. They seem to have a similar base, but it has almost twice as much added sugar (7 grams per ⅓-cup serving versus the 4 grams in the classic salad). Like with the Classic Chicken Salad, there are crunchy pieces of celery and onion to contrast with the soft chicken. Plus, you get interesting little pockets of sweet and tangy cranberry, as well as almonds, which provide a different type of crunch than the veggies do. It's a solid choice, but it ranks second for me among the chicken salads.

I was excited to find the Park Street Deli Bacon Ranch Chicken Salad because it sounded intriguing. Rather than finding it near the regular deli salads and cheeses, it was close to the deli meats and the take-and-bake pizzas. While it's certainly different, I don't see it ever achieving the popularity level of the other two chicken salads and eventually coming in a four-pack.

This one has an interesting contrast between sweet and salty flavors. It seems to start with a similar base as the Classic Chicken Salad. However, while it still has crunchy celery, it doesn't contain fresh onions. Instead, it just has onion powder, which dials down the onion flavor tremendously. The sweetness level is the same as the classic chicken salad. However, I found it overly salty from the bacon. It has about twice as much sodium as the classic version (700 milligrams versus 340 per ⅓-cup serving). In addition to salt, the bacon also provides a smoky flavor. However, it didn't taste particularly like ranch-like to me.

Aldi has three types of potato salad, all sold under the Aldi brand. If you twisted my arm and asked me to choose one, Aldi's Original Potato Salad would be the one. It comes in a large 32-ounce tub, which makes it perfect for sharing at cookouts. However, I'd never personally take it to one.

When you think of traditional Southern salads, this particular variety may come to mind. It's both mayonnaise- and mustard-based and contains hard-boiled eggs and pickle relish. Plus, it has several crunchy fresh veggies: onions, red bell peppers, and green onions. While it has celery seeds, that flavor doesn't come to the forefront, nor is it too sugary or oniony. I liked that it had both creamy and cubed potatoes. However, where it broke down for me was the rubbery boiled eggs, the extreme amount of mayo, and the overwhelming sweet pickle relish flavor. There are far better store-bought potato salads out there.

I've had good mustard potato salads, but Aldi's Mustard Potato Salad is probably the worst representation of the genre. There was absolutely nothing good about this one. The fact that it's half the size of the classic version (16 versus 32 ounces) may hint at its lower popularity among customers.

This potato salad starts going wrong with the amount of mustard it uses and keeps getting it wrong at nearly every turn. If you think of the strongest yellow mustard you've ever had and then imagine eating it straight by the spoonful, then you'll get some idea of the mustard experience here. However, it also is weirdly sweet, with 6 grams of sugar per ½-cup serving compared to the 4 grams in the original version. It also has far too much mayo for a mustard potato salad. There's dill pickle relish for added flavor and crunch, but it seems to fight rather than complement the mustard flavor. The only positive is that it gets extra crunch from peppers, onions, and celery.

Of the three potato salads, I was most excited to try the Aldi Steakhouse Potato Salad, as it looked like the tasty sour cream-based potato salads I've experienced in local barbecue places. This potato salad uses red potatoes and has a mayo and sour cream base. Plus, it contains bacon and red onions. It's a great combination usually, but this one didn't remotely meet my expectations.

This is yet another Aldi-brand potato salad that's completely ruined by its sweetness. There's no reason for this potato salad (or any potato salad, in my opinion) to be sweet. When another Tasting Table writer ranked store-bought potato salads, including this one, their sentiment was the same: It's just too sweet. Whereas the mustard one was already too sweet with 6 grams of sugar per ½-cup serving, this one has 9 grams of total sugar. Why? What was Aldi even thinking? This could have been great, but alas.

Although its larger size suggests that it's going to be great, that isn't always true, especially with Aldi's Macaroni Salad. Perhaps many unsuspecting people come in to grab macaroni salad for cookouts and potlucks, but I can't imagine them buying it again on purpose. While this was the first truly awful and completely inedible salad I tried of the bunch, it wouldn't be the last.

I'm not sure what happened here, but all the ingredients tasted old. It was like Aldi's chefs dug in your grandma's cupboard and pulled out the box of elbow macaroni that had been sitting in there for 10 years and used it to make the salad. While they were at it, they found an old jar of greasy, old mayo at the back of her fridge in a plastic squeeze bottle and used that for the base. Once again, it was oddly sweet for a normally savory salad and had 5 grams of sugar per ¾-cup serving. Trust me: You're never going to be asked to bring macaroni salad to a cookout again if you bring this abomination.

There are four Aldi-branded pasta salads beyond macaroni salad. In my Aldi, a dozen Aldi Caprese Pasta Salads were available, while only a few of most of the others remained. I should have caught the hint that this was going to be one of the worst of the bunch.

An ordinary Caprese salad contains tomatoes, mozzarella balls, basil, and balsamic vinegar. However, if you're expecting all those ingredients plus pasta, like I was, you're going to be disappointed. The tomatoes are sun-dried and woody, the basil is dried and doesn't contribute to the flavor profile, the vinegar is white wine vinegar (and not good), and I couldn't find any mozzarella in mine even though it's listed among the ingredients. However, the worst part is that the pasta somehow managed to be hard and gummy at the same time. This one is only fit for the trash can or a cookout with your enemies.

The Aldi Jalapeño Popper Pasta Salad was another salad I was excited to try, especially since I've heard friends brag about loving this pasta salad flavor from other grocery stores. However, this was the absolute worst Aldi salad I tried. I had to choke down a whole spoonful like a picky child eating vegetables. Then, I found myself needing to chase it with various beverages to rid my mouth of the awful taste it left behind.

This pasta salad contains mayo, sour cream, cream, and cream cheese as a base, which sounds kind of amazing. However, it's overly vinegary and also contains lime juice. It tasted to me as though someone had added pickled jalapeños and dumped in most of the pickling vinegar with them. The pasta was on the undone side of al dente, and the jalapeños packed plenty of heat. Even if you enjoy jalapeños as much as I do, you probably won't want to bring this salad to a cookout with people you actually like.

After trying the other two Aldi-brand pasta salads, the Aldi Rotini Pasta Salad tasted downright normal. It's what you'd expect from an Italian pasta salad. I probably wouldn't ever buy it on purpose because it's nothing special, and I can make a better one at home, but it would be passable for a cookout. Although, nobody is necessarily going to be raving about it.

All the flavors and textures worked well in this salad. The pasta had the perfect level of firmness, and the peppers were nice and crisp. The olives are very flavorful and don't taste cheap. There's also a slight vinegar flavor, but it's solid and perfectly balanced with the ingredients. It represents an ordinary cookout option, which can sometimes be just what you want.

The Aldi Dill Pickle Pasta Salad seems to be a local favorite, since it was almost gone before I got there. If you're looking for a pasta salad for your cookout that's a little different than usual, it could be an option. But I personally wouldn't buy it.

While the pasta texture is gummy, which makes me like it less, the flavor is somewhat redeeming. It's another creamy pasta salad with a mayo base. However, it also contains white vinegar. Here, the vinegar works together with the dill pickles and mayo to make a flavor combination that actually works. The taste isn't horrible, but the pasta texture makes it one I wouldn't buy for a cookout. 

If you're looking for a different type of salad to bring to a cookout, Park Street Deli has a couple of good bean-based salads that might be contenders. I would say that, of the two, the Park Street Deli Chickpea Salad is my favorite.

The chickpea salad is surprisingly good. While it also contains edamame, the chickpeas are definitely the star, as they have a rich and almost meaty flavor. While there are carrots and peppers, I barely noticed them. I unexpectedly encountered a few sweet cranberries, but they don't overtake the flavor profile. It has an oil and white vinegar base, but the vinegar flavor isn't as noticeable, which I liked. It has Italian seasonings as well, but cumin is the main player. If I wanted to bring a bean salad to a cookout, this is the one I'd choose, and I'd feel fairly confident about it.

The Park Street Deli Black Bean Salad was also good, but it paled in comparison to the Chickpea Salad. It doesn't look so great because there are squished beans and whole herb stems, but the flavor and texture turned out to be fine. If you're looking for a more vinegar-forward bean salad, this is the one you want.

I enjoyed the contrast of textures between the soft black beans and kidney beans and the crunchier cucumbers, green peppers, corn, and onions. The vinegar flavor is far more prominent here than in the Chickpea Salad. The parsley is also a notable part of the flavor profile. The vegetarian in my house who was most looking forward to this salad didn't care for it, and I can't imagine buying it again based on my personal tastes. However, I'm sure some people might like it.

I thought the Park Street Deli Greek Feta Salad was good for what it is. However, it's not spectacular enough to merit a spot at a cookout. You could make a better version yourself with practically no effort.

The flavors in this salad are especially strong. Feta is usually a strong-tasting cheese, but the fact that this feta has been soaking in the juice of strong olives makes it even more pungent (not necessarily in a bad way). Both olives had strong flavors, with the Kalamata olives being strongest. I preferred the green olives, but they just made me want to break out my much better jar of Castelvetrano olives from the fridge. I find it odd, though, that the olives and feta are floating in canola oil instead of olive oil. Honestly, you'd be better off bringing a few jars of your favorite olives to a cookout, along with Aldi feta and your favorite olive oil.

The Park Street Deli Taboule Salad doesn't look like much, but it's excellent. I'd have no reservations about bringing this one to a cookout at all. It may not be as familiar as potato or pasta salad, but enough people have encountered taboule at Mediterranean restaurants for it to still be familiar.

What I liked most about this salad was just how fresh and tasty it is; Aldi definitely used a herby taboule recipe. The parsley and tomatoes lost their bright color a bit, but the parsley is still crunchy and the tomatoes are flavorful and not mealy. This is the type of taboule where the parsley is more prominent than the bulgur wheat, which turns it into more of a refreshing salad perfect for contrasting all the heavy dishes at a cookout. It has just the right amount of olive oil and lemon juice to make it zesty but not too acidic, and the onions aren't overpowering. I also really enjoyed the addition of black pepper, which lingered on my tongue after each bite. Honestly, I can't find any fault with this salad, and I think it would be well received at a cookout.

If I'm bringing just one dish to a cookout, it would be the Park Street Deli Taboule. It was right up there with the Park Street Deli Classic Chicken Salad. When I went to my fridge in the days following the taste test, these are the only two that I pulled out to eat every time. Meanwhile, all of the Aldi-branded salads got pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten. Honestly, after this little experiment, I'll never be getting Aldi-branded deli items to try on purpose.

The parsley in the taboule makes it nice and fresh-tasting. It also stands out more than familiar sides like potato salad, pasta salad, and coleslaw. And the fact that it's parsley-centric makes it a nice palate cleanser for any richer and creamier foods you might encounter at the cookout, offering a lighter bite than one of the creamier salads. I also think it would taste as nice at any temperature. So, if you have to wait a while for everything to be ready, it's still going to be just as good sitting out a while.