I Tried And Ranked 15 Walmart Deli Hot Foods

I don't know about you, but whenever I've needed a quick, hot meal, my first thought has never been, "Let's head to Walmart." And, when I'm at the store, its hot deli section never catches my eye. I hate to say this, but (unsurprisingly), my instincts were spot-on. Between legitimate food safety concerns (I went to the store just after 10 a.m., and a few items had been sitting out since 7:50 a.m.) and general lackluster appeal, I can't recommend getting anything from Walmart's deli section.

However, I understand that occasional "feed me now" urge that comes when you're in the middle of a grocery run. If you're walking the aisles and simply can't resist the urge to nom on something hot, the below guide will tell you what's passably good and what you should definitely stay away from. As for me, I'll spend the rest of my day musing over the company's "Freshness Guaranteed" slogan, which is definitely more ear candy than an actual promise of edible food. 

Now, I don't want to give the impression that all of Walmart's prepared food options are bad — in fact, we've previously given its bakery cakes several accolades. Unfortunately, I can't extend the same applause to most of its hot deli section. The worst offender by far was its Angus cheeseburger. It definitely wasn't fresh — I bought it just over two hours after it was made — but I doubt I'd have been fond of it even if it was fresh.

I was dubious literally from the moment I touched this when pulling it out of the package. Despite sitting on a heater in a sleeve, the bottom bun was hard to the touch. I can excuse a soft bun when it's been wrapped up, but definitely not a hard one. Beyond that, the burger was hardly warm, the meat tasted old and dry, the bun was stale, and the cheese felt like glue in my mouth. I literally spit this one out the second I took a bite. There are some other offenders on this list, but none quite as bad as the cheeseburger.

I've been a chicken nuggets girl ever since I was old enough to eat solid food. I used to think it would be hard to ever find a chicken nugget I didn't like (until I did a taste test of fast food chicken nuggets), and popcorn chicken just catapults the kids' meal into a whole new territory. Crispy, crunchy, fried bits of boneless white meat? Yes, please.

Or, in the case of Walmart, no, thank you. Not that my expectations for this offering were high — they were middling at best, but I certainly didn't expect these to be among the lowest-ranked offerings here. I just can't give much praise to a stale, not-crispy, flavorless, and somewhat funky piece of chicken, and Walmart's popcorn chicken was all of the above. The main reason it ultimately got second-to-last place was that it didn't have any flavor to speak of, and all of the following at least had something going for them. 

Surely a mega-chain with unlimited resources at its disposal couldn't mess up something as simple as mac and cheese, right? Wrong. My experience with this dish was similar to my experience with the previous one in that my expectations weren't high, but I at least thought I wouldn't hate it. Unfortunately, I'd rather get my mac from a school cafeteria.

The cheese was the primary offender here. It was sticky, gluey, and tasted like Velveeta, yet also had virtually no flavor (aside from being way too salty). It didn't necessarily look great, but it did look far better than it tasted. I'd take boxed mac and cheese over this any day of the week; in other words, if you're craving some cheesy noodles, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. 

Similarly underwhelming were Walmart's pancake & sausage bites, which I quickly labeled, "Fine, but nothing stellar." They were at least more edible than the last few contenders, though that's not necessarily high praise. Still, they didn't taste "fresh" in the slightest, and I think I'd have been disappointed even if they were fresh from the oven. 

If you want a slightly sweet, sausage-filled corn dog (the exterior did not taste like a pancake) that's dry and a little hard, congratulations! This is the quick-fix breakfast for you. If that's not quite your speed, I can't recommend the above. In my humble (read: correct) opinion, you're far better off buying Aldi's frozen version of pancake & sausage bites to munch on the next time you want a snack-y breakfast or breakfast-y snack. 

I also didn't expect a simple rotisserie chicken to earn such a low spot, but alas, here we are. The grocery store rotisserie chicken is no novelty item, and with such a large landscape, each should at least be good, even if they don't match up to the standards Costco sets for the cooked bird. Walmart's stuck out like a sore thumb. 

Don't get a rotisserie chicken from Walmart if you want one that's moist, juicy, and flavorful. If you want some dry and bland meat, though, this should be your chicken of choice. There wasn't even any flavor in the skin, which shocked me. Whatever juice had been in the chicken seemed to seep out and find a new home in the bottom of the bag. In other words, I was not a fan, and I don't suspect many other consumers would be, either. 

Up next is another unfortunate disappointment from Walmart's deli section — but at least this one had some flavor! Walmart's spicy chicken nuggets definitely aren't anything to write home about, unless all you want to taste is spice. That's the only note I got from these bad boys, but hey, it's certainly better than nothing. 

Alas, the only good thing I can say about these popcorn chicken morsels is that they did indeed fulfill their promise of being spicy. Other than that, the bites were tiny, not at all crispy, and I still didn't like the actual chicken in these. Not being bland wasn't enough to earn these bites anything higher than 10th place in this piece, and if I'm being perfectly honest, I doubt the average consumer would find them very enjoyable. 

Let me set the record straight: I adore biscuit sandwiches. McDonald's bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit and I have had many lovely times together on road trips. I really wanted to like this one, and it did manage to make the top 10, but I suspect it lost a few points from being old — it was made over 2 hours before I arrived at the store, and no fresher options were available. 

For starters, the biscuit was hard, dry, and stale. The sausage patty was also far thinner than I'd expect from a breakfast biscuit sandwich. The egg and cheese were fine for having sat out for so long, but they were nothing noteworthy, and the sandwich just tasted like a really mediocre fast food biscuit — it didn't even come close to reaching McDonald's standards. Unfortunately, I'd advise giving this one a pass, too. 

Okay, now we're entering into "I probably wouldn't be scared of getting sick if I ate this whole entire thing" territory. Even though this corn dog was barely warm by the time I trepidatiously sunk my teeth into it, I wasn't completely disappointed with what I found, and I almost didn't spit out this bite. Almost. 

The flavors were all there — I got the meat from the dog and the mildly sweet, fried corn batter. Moreover, this was quite a hearty corn dog. Both the dog and the corn were thick and balanced each other out well, so this would have made for a pretty filling snack. I didn't love the texture of the exterior, which was kind of mealy from sitting in a wrapper for so long. At the end of the day, I'd call this fine, but it's still not something I'd seek out again. 

Up next we have Walmart's sweet and crispy chicken slider. It only fulfilled one of its titular missives, but that was enough to earn it seventh place on this list. I won't claim that the slider tasted at all fresh, but it was at least edible, a win for any item in this piece. 

This reminded me a little bit of Wendy's Maple Bacon Chicken Croissant, which I tried in a taste test of every Wendy's chicken item. I always like the nuance that a bit of sweetness adds to a savory chicken sandwich. However, the chicken wasn't crispy at all, and the whole slider was pretty small. I know sliders are supposed to be small, but this one would hardly qualify as even a snack, so I definitely couldn't give it any higher than seventh place here. 

I'm thoroughly obsessed with chicken sandwiches. It's my order of choice pretty much anytime I'm out to eat, and I had high enough hopes for Walmart's chicken sandwich based on its appearance alone. Given its placement in the top half of this list, I obviously wasn't fully disappointed with it, but this "Original Chicken Sandwich" still left much to be desired. 

The chicken on this sandwich had a funky "fast food" flavor of old grease, but not even in an endearing way — it just tasted out-of-date and, once again, gave me the impression that food safety may not be of the greatest importance to the "Freshness Guaranteed" team. On the plus side, the exterior was slightly crispy, and the bun had a fine flavor. Would I recommend this sandwich? It's still going to be a no from me on that front, but I'd at least consider it a better buy than previous contenders. 

In my mind, there's one thing giving this a leg up over the other hot deli foods at Walmart: It's not Walmart's own creation. Nathan's hot dogs are legendary, and that saved this offering from earning a lower spot on this list; indeed, it really wasn't horrible. 

I can't offer much praise to the bun. Its interior was fairly soggy from being wrapped up for so long, and it gave a gooey mouthfeel that didn't help the hot dog's case at all. On the plus side, the dog itself was pretty good. It didn't have much of a snap, and it definitely wasn't as fresh as a hot dog you'd get at the ballpark, but it would do in a pinch. Plus, I didn't feel as much trepidation with this offering as I did with the others from a food safety standpoint. It easily earned a place in this list's top five. 

Before you start thinking that Walmart's Lemon Pepper Rotisserie Chicken was a juicy, flavorful, savory protein worthy of incorporating into your weekly meal prep, we need to talk about a few things. Even though this rotisserie chicken earned a higher ranking than the store's "Traditional" variety, it still didn't merit much praise, and there's not a super wide chasm in quality between this and the previous.

This rotisserie chicken was slightly juicier than the last, but still drier than I'd prefer, and there were even feathers attached to one of the wings (which you can see in the picture above). It did have more flavor than the other chicken, too, but that's not saying much — and I didn't get nearly as much lemon pepper here as I would have liked. The skin (the best part of any chicken, IMO) was weirdly chewy and not very enjoyable. But I didn't have any food safety concerns here, and I could have kept it on hand to use for meal prep, which we'll consider a plus. 

Once I got past the top "crust" on these mashed potatoes, I was greeted by a pretty pleasant interior. Had the top not been completely solidified, this may have earned a second (or even first-place) spot on this list; as it stands, it could only make third, which is still a feat worthy of some celebration. 

Unlike the other side dish on this list (the mac and cheese), these mashed potatoes had some pretty decent flavors going on, though it definitely tried to overcompensate for any potential flaws by adding too much salt into the equation. However, it was also pretty herby, a pleasant surprise considering other lackluster options on this list. Its texture was smooth, and though the dish gave an "instant potatoes" vibe, I found it palatable enough to eat most of it. Each of the following two offerings was simply more flavorful. 

I was pretty surprised by Walmart's breakfast burrito, which wasn't much of a looker from the outside. I expected it to be just as bland and unpalatable as most of the offerings on this list. Fortunately, it wasn't, and I had the sneaking suspicion upon taking a bite that this would end up near the top of my list. Turns out, I was correct. 

The kicker? I'm not even a huge breakfast burrito girl! I think this one had salsa in it, which really helped give it some kick. It had a pretty strong onion-y flavor, too, and though it didn't have much textural variety to speak of, its flavors more than made up for that. Had it been fresher, I probably would have liked it even more; as it stands, it was a decent offering that deserves to be named as one of Walmart's better hot deli food options. 

The hands-down best offering from Walmart's deli section was its Sweet Heat Boneless Chicken Wings. I still wouldn't go as far as to call them the best boneless wings I've ever had, and I don't think they had the best sweet and spicy sauce, but when compared to the other offerings here, it simply couldn't be beat. 

Unlike the popcorn chicken that appeared earlier on this list, these boneless wings actually had some texture to them, much to my delight. The wings were also pretty flavorful. I didn't get much nuance, but they fulfilled their promise of being sweet and hot, which made the wings stand out among other competitors here. They were well deserving of the first-place spot on this list, but I have to repeat myself, at the risk of sounding like a broken record: I can't recommend Walmart's hot deli section in any capacity. Unless you're locked inside a Walmart facing apocalyptic conditions on the outside, I'd advise you to find your sustenance elsewhere. 

To do this ranking, I headed to my local Walmart and marched straight back to the unmanned deli section to grab one of everything on the shelf. The only offerings I excluded were the meal deals, which just bundled assortments of all of the dishes I tried above.

My ranking, in this case, ordered the items from "Do not touch this with a 12-foot pole" to "You could feel safe eating this if you were really, really hungry." I found very few of the items to be palatable, and you can bet I won't be seeking any of them out in the near (and probably distant) future.