The Most Delicious Frozen Vegan Foods At Aldi

If you haven't shopped the vegan food selection in the frozen food aisle at Aldi, you've been missing some real gems. Many of Aldi's vegan items are good enough that you don't have to be a vegan or vegetarian to enjoy them. Of course, we've come across a few duds (chickenless fries, we're looking at you). But for the most part, people looking to eliminate meat as well as other ingredients like eggs, dairy products, and honey from their diets can really find some delicious vegan offerings at Aldi.

You'll find vegan products throughout the store, and a lot of them are Aldi's Earth Grown brand. The Earth Grown brand allows you to more easily identify its vegan products because they're boldly labeled "vegan" in the top left corner. However, the freezer section has far more vegan products than just the Earth Grown brand. Some of them are probably accidentally vegan, but they're vegan nonetheless. While you won't find many of the items on our list every week, it's worthwhile to keep looking every time you visit. You also may want to grab several packages of products that turn out to be favorites since they'll likely not be around for long.

Before you try Earth Grown vegan meatballs, you need to know that they're soy-based and attempt to mimic real meat's texture and flavor. So, if you're looking for a meat-like vegan meatball, these are an excellent choice. They're not available all the time, so fans tend to stock up when they do find them. Redditor u/AccordingChallenge says they "did a happy dance right in front of the freezer" the last time these showed up at Aldi.

Aldi has both classic meatless meatballs and zesty Italian meatless meatballs. While the classic ones come pre-spiced with garlic and parsley, the spice flavor is very light. We've found them good enough to eat alone, but they're even better when sauced up for pasta, dipped in barbecue sauce, or cooked into some other meatball dish. Since the texture mimics beef, you can also crumble these up for faux ground beef in recipes as well. If you're looking for meatballs with more flavor and oomph, we suggest the spicier zesty Italian meatless meatballs, since they not only have garlic, but also onions, basil, and other Italian herbs.

A vegan chocolate cake? Yes, please. While Aldi doesn't have a bakery churning out fresh cakes every day, you can find some pretty good ones in the freezer section. Unfortunately, they're rarely vegan. So, it's a real treat when you can find one of the Earth Grown vegan chocolate cakes peeping out of the freezer. You certainly won't see this around all the time, so you'll want to snatch it up when it's available.

These cakes have a rich, dark chocolate flavor that comes from semi-sweet Belgian chocolate. Belgian chocolate is an excellent choice for a vegan chocolate cake since it uses more cocoa and cocoa butter than other chocolate varieties. It also has a purer flavor that comes about through an intense heating and mixing process called "conching." So, Earth Grown's vegan chocolate cake has a superior flavor than if it just used ordinary cocoa powder. As such, it's a cake that both vegans and non-vegans can enjoy together. Redditor u/Obvious-Staffe648 said they've been searching Aldi for it for years because it was the "best. cake. ever."

Not every food company gets vegan cheese right, but Earth Grown does when it comes to frozen cheese sticks, which are kind of like the fried appetizer cheese sticks you sometimes get at restaurants. The real question you're dying to have answered is whether they "perform" like real fried cheese sticks. Redditor u/fever_mp3 says that they have "more of a creamy texture than a stretchy chewy texture like a traditional cheese stick." These definitely aren't healthy since the main ingredients are oils, flours, and starches. But it can serve as an every-now-and-then treat, which is all you can hope for since they're not available year-round.

Earth Grown also has a vegan cheddar stick. Redditor u/Jaffool says they like the texture of the imitation cheddar ones better than the imitation mozzarella ones since they're not as "gooey and sticky." Honestly, it's going to be a matter of personal taste, so you may want to try both.

When you go out for burritos at most Mexican restaurants, the more common vegan ones you can get have nothing in them but beans and maybe veggies if you're lucky. Finding a pre-made vegan burrito in Aldi's freezer section can be quite thrilling because it's a loaded vegan burrito you don't have to make for yourself. So far, the only varieties we've seen have been the plant-based Southwest chick'n burrito and the chick'n and peppers burrito.

In addition to beans, the Southwest chick'n burrito comes with a chipotle- and tomato-based enchilada sauce, vegan faux chicken, fire-roasted corn, fire-roasted peppers, and vegan mozzarella cheese. Meanwhile, the chick'n and peppers burrito has a tomato-based sauce, fake chicken, vegan mozzarella cheese, onions, and both green and red peppers. All those ingredients make for a tasty burrito that will also leave you satisfied rather than needing to find something else to nosh on in the kitchen. While you can reheat these burritos in the microwave for two minutes, you may like them even more in the oven since they come out crisp.

Remember those days when the only really good vegetarian option on a restaurant menu anywhere was the eggplant at Olive Garden? Season's Choice eggplant cutlets and eggplant fries help you relive those memories at home without as much work as you would spend preparing eggplant on your own. Both are vegan and come pre-cooked and pre-breaded, so all you have to do is reheat them and serve them with your favorite sauce and sides. The cutlets are great served over pasta and covered with marinara sauce (we like to use Rao's, which you can also sometimes buy at Aldi) and vegan cheese for faux eggplant parmesan.

Eggplants are among the seasonal items Aldi sells that customers wish were available year-round. You'll probably see them come around a couple of times a year, so keep your eyes open for them. Redditor u/MinnieAngie goes as far as to call the fries "dangerously good." Customers suggest crisping them in the air fryer and serving them with marinara for the best possible flavor and texture experience.

Veggie kebabs, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob aren't the only vegan choices when you've got the grill fired up. Whether you're barbecuing at home or want to make sure you have some vegan options when you've been invited to someone else's barbecue, Season's Choice vegetable grilling trays are a brilliant invention. The package contains a metal grilling tray full of seasoned and pre-cut veggies. So, all you have to do is unwrap it and pop it on the grill once it's hot and ready.

One variety you may find during grilling season is the carrots, roasted potatoes, and broccoli grilled vegetables grilling tray. In addition to the veggies, they contain olive oil, salt, and seasoned vegetable stock. One nice thing about these trays is that if you don't end up with a grilling opportunity as soon as you think, you can bake them in the oven instead.

You'll want to pay attention to the ingredients before buying because not all of these trays are vegan. For example, the roasted peppers, onions, and green asparagus variety contains cheese cultures. And if you are vegan because of allergies, you'll want to note the allergy warning for various rogue ingredients like eggs, milk, and fish that don't show up in the actual ingredient list.

One of the most useful vegan frozen finds at Aldi is something you wouldn't expect — frozen avocado chunks. If you like avocados, you've certainly experienced the phenomenon of waiting for the one on your kitchen counter to ripen, only to remember it when it's past being appetizing. The perfect avocado seems to only exist for a day or two, which is why being in the mood for avocados doesn't always match with the timing of having a ripe one in your kitchen. However, by keeping Season's Choice avocado chunks in your freezer, you'll always have a ripe avocado when you need one.

When we first heard Aldi fans singing the praises of these avocado chunks, we had to give them a try because we were dubious about their texture, flavor, and color after they'd been frozen. But they really are as good (and pretty) as fresh avocados for making all your favorite recipes like smoothies, guacamole, and avocado toast. It turns out that the secret to a good flavor and texture experience comes down to thawing it out the right way. We like to put ours in the microwave on half power and heat it in 10-second spurts for about 30 seconds. We find them just right when they're still a little cold, but mainly thawed. You don't want them getting too warm in the microwave, and you also want to eat them within a month or two of purchase because they don't seem to maintain their quality forever.