21 Aldi Bakery Items Ranked Worst To Best

Very few people will mistake packaged grocery store bagels for the real thing. They're smaller, the crust is entirely different, and the insides lack the exquisite doughy softness you get from a bagel shop. While finding better bagels than those sold in New York delis is nearly impossible, any bakery bagel beats any packaged bagel. Still, grabbing a bag of bagels while getting groceries is convenient and cheap, so almost everyone has settled for the lesser bagged bagel at some point.

Although most Aldi locations don't carry them all, there are many kinds of bagels to choose from. Whether you like plain or everything, cinnamon raisin or blueberry, seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice, or diet-friendly skinnies or keto bagels, L'oven Fresh has a taste for everyone. We decided that everything bagels might resemble our favorite New York bagel shop. Spoiler alert: it was unlike any bagel sold in a New York bagel shop.

These bagels have plenty of toppings, the way an everything bagel should. Real New York bagels use more salt and garlic in their topping, but the dough gives it away as a grocery store bagel. They lack the oomph of authentic bagels, with no chewiness. They're heartier than toast, but that's about all. If you don't live somewhere selling bona fide bagels or looking for convenience, this bagel-adjacent product is fine.

Chocolate chip cookies are one of life's simple pleasures, and using chunks of chocolate instead of chips only makes them better. We knew we had to try these Bake Shop Chocolate Chunk Cookies and could hardly wait for the chunky chocolate sweetness. Unfortunately, although these cookies feature hearty pieces of chocolate, they aren't well distributed throughout the cookie. If you routinely share cookies with someone that hates chocolate, you could break them and find parts that please both of you, but we would have preferred more chunks.

If you love soft, chewy cookies, these are terrific. We found them almost underbaked, but different strokes and all that. Unlike many bakery cookies, they weren't sickeningly sweet; we thought the balance of sweetness was perfect. Redditors point out that canola oil in the cookies can make some people perceive a fishy smell, so if you're sensitive to that, you should keep it in mind.

While we probably won't repurchase these cookies, everyone's preferences differ. Try them out to see if they're the cookie of your dreams.

We were so excited to grab these Kitchen Sink cookies; peanut butter cookies with chunks of chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter chips, pretzels, and coconut sounds like the mélange of sweet and salty everyone needs in their life. Redditors sing their praises, noting they are impossible to resist, but we were pretty disappointed.

The disappointment stemmed from needing help distinguishing the flavors listed on the label and missing the promised sweet and salty bite that satisfies our brain's desires. Don't misunderstand: these cookies taste good. The peanut butter cookie flavor and the white and dark chocolate flavors come through. Past that, however, things went downhill. The coconut flavor was absent, and we mistook the pretzels for nuts until we reread the label. The crunch was evident, but the texture wasn't pretzel-like. The salty afterbite never materialized, which was surprising because we attributed the cookie texture to the number of nuts only to realize that it must have been pretzels.

You'll love these cookies if you want a sweet, soft peanut butter cookie full of chocolate. Still, you could be disappointed if you're expecting sweet and salty.

Notoriously difficult to make, many of us turn to bakery croissants to satisfy our inner Parisian. Croissants are the ultimate French pastry, a yeasted dough laminated with tons of butter that produces a flaky, rich pastry that's sublime with a cup of coffee. These Specially Selected All-Butter Croissants are petite, a boon for anyone watching their diet. While they can't be considered good for you, at 210 calories and 9 grams of fat, they only have a third of the calories of traditional croissants.

If you sample these croissants right from the package, you're likely to be disappointed by their bland breadiness. At first bite, we were unimpressed. However, our opinion changed dramatically once we warmed them in the toaster. Heating them changed their texture enormously and made them taste authentically French. Redditors declare these croissants a winner whether you heat them in the toaster oven, microwave, or air fryer, and we're sold. Whether you want to make a sandwich, toast them for luxurious croutons, or enjoy them as the French do, with café au lait, these little beauties will soon be a favorite.

Aldi's house brand, Specially Selected, is known for quality and convenience. There's nothing like a warm, crusty loaf of Italian bread. Whether you want to make a sub, garlic bread, or enjoy bread and butter with your meal, you can't go wrong with Specially Selected Take and Bake Italian Bread. As the name implies, you can pop it into the oven for just ten minutes and enjoy bread that tastes like it's freshly baked.

No worries if you don't want to bake it; this bread is fully cooked from the package. Feel free to slice it for toast or a sandwich, but be aware that the crust will be softer without heating it. Some testers enjoyed that softness, while others preferred the crunch, so baking is your preference. While this won't replace bread from a panetteria or a homemade loaf, Specially Selected Take and Bake Italian Bread is a suitable choice if you're at Aldi and want to serve fresh, hot bread with a family meal.

Garlic knots are always yummy, whether you like them for mopping up extra pasta sauce, as a side with soup, or as late-night snacks. While the origin of the garlic knot is hotly debated, these little twists of pizza dough brushed with olive oil, garlic, and herbs are beloved by all. As New Yorkers with easy access to authentic pizzeria knots, we were skeptical of these garlic knots by one of Aldi's house brands, L'oven Fresh. The ingredient label is long and complex for a humble dough snack, listing margarine made from soybean oil, soy lecithin, palm oil, and a vegetable oil blend of canola and cottonseed oil.

We steeled ourselves for the school cafeteria version of garlic knots as the timer on the toaster oven counted 6 minutes. Taking them out of the bag was an experience of sliminess – all those oils make an unattractive white coating on the knots. Much to our delight, though, these knots are actually fabulous. They brown to a crisp exterior, but the inside stays meltingly soft, making it a fight to the finish with your dining companions.

We must admit that food chemistry comes through for the win: the combination of oils tastes rich and buttery, and the blend of salt, dehydrated garlic, and parsley gives all the flavor of the neighborhood pizza joint. These are a terrific, convenient option with any meal, but pro-tip: buy two bags. You'll eat them.

The distinctive Reese's label on these cookies made us grab them, thinking they had peanut butter cups. Still, instead, these cookies are dotted with the other Reese's candy, Reese's Pieces. Yes, E.T.'s favorite candy makes a great cookie, and if you aren't sold yet, Aldi lets you choose between a chocolate or a peanut butter cookie base for your Reese's Pieces. We tried both kinds, and they are solid cookie choices.

The chocolate cookie edged out the peanut butter in our book, tasting somehow peanut butterier. While we aren't sure how that could be, the peanut butter candy and the chocolate cookie are a match made in heaven. The texture of both cookies is soft and chewy, and the chocolate cookies tasted homemade. These cookies are very sweet, which might please those that watch their desserts, since one cookie can quickly satisfy a craving. Plenty of candy is in every cookie, and the slight crunch of Reese's Pieces contrasts nicely with the cookie's softness.

These might not be your favorite if you prefer a crispy cookie, but soft cookie lovers will repeatedly turn to these.

Naan is a mouthwatering flatbread from India that's beloved worldwide for its savory versatility. Whether you use it to scoop up curries, as a pizza base, for sandwich wraps, or to dip in hummus, naan makes everything better. Aldi fans on Reddit can't get enough and top it with everything, including pesto and goat cheese.

The mini naan makes a perfect snack or lunchbox addition. For this review, we tried the large size and made a Mexican pizza with salsa, chunks of chicken breast, spinach, peppers, and cheddar. It was soft and pillowy inside but hearty enough to hold all those toppings and eat with our hands. We loved this naan, and there are endless possibilities for meal planning.

While this naan tastes amazing, we missed the extra flavor from the slightly charred spots you'll see on authentic naan, whether fried in a skillet or baked in a tandoor. This is a minor complaint, though, and it won't stop us from making this naan a regular item on our Aldi shopping list.

If you're like us, toast studded with raisins with a swirl of cinnamon in the middle instantly takes you back to childhood. Warm and sweet, with the inviting smell of cinnamon filling the kitchen, it's quick comfort food that takes less than five minutes to prepare. While making your own cinnamon bread isn't incredibly complicated, Aldi's house brand, L'oven Fresh, makes cinnamon swirl bread with or without raisins (we see you, raisin haters!) that brings your favorite toast to your plate even faster.

We love this bread. It's excellent toasted with butter and makes gorgeous French toast. If you're a sweet and savory connoisseur, try it as a bacon and egg sandwich. Depending on our mood, it needs more cinnamon flavor, but a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar does the job without a fuss. The slices are on the small side, so please be sure to use caution to avoid blackened toast. You can't go wrong with this cinnamon-raisin treat, whether you eat it with your morning coffee, as a snowy day snack with hot chocolate, or when late-night munchies hit.

This breakfast pastry is irresistible, whether you call them cinnamon rolls or cinnamon buns. The distinctive cinnamon-sugar ribbon swirling through the rich pastry with a gooey sugar glaze turns us into kids again, craving that sugar high. Cinnamon rolls can be made in your kitchen, but they're high maintenance. Even those willing to do the work probably would only make them for extraordinary occasions.

Aldi's house brand Bake Shop comes through with their Cinnamon Rolls. These treats look less than impressive in the package; they lack the gorgeous round shape we expect and are completely coated in white frosting. We were prepared to be underwhelmed, but after a few minutes in the toaster oven, we didn't care that their shape was more parallelogram than neatly circular, and the amount of frosting was suddenly just right.

They are soft with an exquisite cinnamon sweetness, and the frosting makes them gooey but, surprisingly, not overly sweet. These seem reasonable for those watching their diets, with only 240 calories and 6 fat grams per roll. We would keep these on our shopping list because they taste homemade without hours in the kitchen.

Many of us consciously choose foods that improve our health and well-being, and Aldi has our back. You don't need to count macros or stick to a keto diet to know that certain carbs can wreak havoc on your blood sugar and your waistline, but sometimes it can be tough to find swaps for products we love that are packed with white flour. L'oven Fresh Low Carb Tortillas taste exactly like flour tortillas but deliver a punch of health benefits: with only 60 calories, 15 grams of fiber, and 4 grams of protein, these tortillas are phenomenal for wraps, quesadillas, burritos, and even pizzas.

In case you buy whole wheat tortillas to avoid the white flour trap, rest assured that the L'oven Fresh Whole Wheat Tortillas are just as tasty as the original variety, though oddly, they contain one less gram of fiber. We recommend warming these tortillas no matter how you use them; it makes them pliable and gives them a truly authentic flavor. They heat up beautifully in the oven, microwave, or charred directly over the flame if you have a gas stove.