10 Chicken Products To Buy At Aldi And 2 To Avoid

Aldi is a budget-friendly retailer that is on our short list of fantastic grocery stores for everyday staples. Chicken is a lean protein that works with many different kinds of cooking. So when the two come together, it's practically perfection.

There are a lot of options, however, and figuring out what to put in your cart can be tricky, especially if you're getting ready for your first trip to Aldi. You can stock up on chicken dishes, raw chicken to cook, and frozen chicken dinners. Like many other products at Aldi, most of these are the in-house store brand.

We tried some of the most popular chicken items, plus some that we could easily incorporate into weeknight dinner, to see which were worth buying and which we'd rather avoid. Some of the most budget-friendly chicken products needed some extra prep, but they let us add protein to just about any dish. Our favorites let us get dinner on the table quickly while getting some major taste points at the same time. Here are our must-buy and better-avoided chicken products from the aisles of Aldi.

Want to switch up your ground beef with a leaner option? Ground chicken is the perfect answer, so we had to try the Aldi version to see if we could realistically use it with our favorite recipes. We whipped up chicken tacos using the Aldi taco seasoning and served them with tortillas, shredded cheese, and salsa, all purchased from Aldi. We were comparing the results to another taco option that we like, the ready-made chicken street tacos from Costco.

Our Aldi version took a bit longer, since we had to cook up the chicken, add the seasoning, and prep the toppings. But it's hard to beat the budget-friendly price. An entire pound of ground chicken costs around $3. With toppings and sides, this was enough to serve our family of four with some leftovers.

Ground chicken can be used for taco night, but it also makes delicious chicken chili and even meatloaf. It's cheaper than ground beef and typically less fatty as well, while still bringing in plenty of protein to your dish.

If you want to make the most of your budget when stocking up on raw chicken, go with the chicken thighs. You can make them in just about any way, including our deliciously savory honey soy marinated baked chicken thighs. This type of chicken is juicier than chicken breast, so it works particularly well when made in the oven. It's not as likely to dry out, so if you are constantly struggling with breast meat that is too dry, we highly suggest swapping it out for chicken thighs instead.

They're around $3.50 per pound for the boneless version and just over $2 per pound for the bone-in thighs. Compare this to chicken breasts or tenderloins, which are closer to $4 per pound, and it's easy to see why substituting chicken thighs is the secret way to cut down on your chicken costs.

Aldi's meat case has multiple sizes, ranging from packages with a few thighs to larger family packs. The Aldi Twice as Nice guarantee also ensures that we can get our money back (and get a free replacement) if we get any chicken that isn't super fresh. It hasn't happened yet, but it's nice to know that we have that reassurance.

Save money but keep convenience with crispy chicken strips. We gave these a try to see how they compared to the chicken nuggets that are on repeat in our household at the request of our kiddos. 

They're made with all white meat chicken rib meat, but it's the extra crispy exterior that makes these so tasty. There is a mixture of larger strips plus a few smaller pieces in the bag, but they're pretty uniform when it comes to thickness, so they cook evenly. We recommend sticking with the oven to get the best exterior texture. The microwave works in a pinch, but they didn't crisp up nearly as much.

You can eat them on their own with a little bit of barbecue or honey mustard, but they're also crispy enough to add texture (plus plenty of protein) to a big salad. Our kids were happy with the chicken strips, but didn't have a strong opinion about these compared to chicken nuggets. For the adults, however, the strips were much more flavorful and had a better texture overall. If you're struggling to get out of the nugget rut or just convince your kids to try something else, the crispy chicken strips are a good gateway to open up their culinary horizons. 

We'll start by saying that we really liked the end result when we cooked up the teriyaki seasoned chicken from Aldi. The cooked chicken had a lot of flavor, and the teriyaki marinade helped it develop a delicious crust on the outside. It was one of a few pre-marinated options in the meat department, and the one we were most excited to try.

The reason it's something we'll likely skip is how much extra work we had to put into making it. First, the instructions on the package said that we only had to cook it for a few minutes on each side, then enjoy deliciously moist chicken. As soon as we took the meat out of the package, we knew that we'd be making some adjustments since they are quite large and not consistent. There was no way that a few minutes on each side was going to be enough.

In the end, we cooked it on high heat until the outside browned, then let it continue in a skillet. After 20 minutes, the thicker parts were still pink while the thinner ends were starting to get dry. We sliced the chicken, then put it back in the hot pan with some chicken broth. That did the trick, and we got to enjoy a super flavorful dish. We'd recommend serving it over rice with some roasted veggies. But if you don't want to guess at the doneness, get thinner chicken breasts and add marinade yourself.

Don't just buy the honey barbecue chicken wings, stock up on bags, especially if you're planning some game day antics and want to serve a crowd-pleasing app. They come fully cooked, so all you have to do is heat and serve. We made them in the oven, but the microwave works for smaller portions in just a few minutes. Each wing is individually frozen, which keeps them from sticking together in the bag. You can pull out what you need, then reseal the bag to prevent freezer burn.

The combination of sweet and smoky in the sauce, which heavily coats each wing, is perfect. We enjoyed them without any dipping sauce, but you could add some zesty ranch to get even more flavor. Add some crunch to your plate with raw carrots and celery to replicate a plate of wings that you'd get at a restaurant for a fraction of the cost. 

Aldi also carries buffalo-style chicken wings that have a little bit more of a kick. But now that we've tried the honey barbecue version, these are going to be our go-to game day snack.

The Aldi grilled chicken breast strips bag is our go-to secret for adding protein to easy weeknight dishes. They come already cooked in a resealable bag that you can store in the freezer. We almost always have a bag in our freezer and toss them into everything from salads to stir-fry to pasta dishes. They don't have a really strong flavor on their own, but absorb sauces and seasonings really well. The pieces are uniform in thickness, but some end up being larger than others. That doesn't bother us since they cook the same, but if you want something that has a specific look, you may be better off grilling your own chicken from scratch.

You can make them in the microwave or oven, and we've tried both. Reheating them in the oven gets a slightly crispier exterior, but not so much that they'd be confused with breaded chicken strips. The microwave is much faster and our preferred method since we don't notice a huge difference between the two. However, we tend to use these in other recipes rather than eating them on their own. We cook them from frozen with sauce on the stove and bake them into casseroles.

We frequent the ready-made section at Aldi for quick weeknight meals. The broccoli and cheddar hand-stuffed chicken breast was a new-to-us pick, and we had high hopes based on the picture on the package and the ingredients list. While the aesthetics didn't quite live up to our hopes, the taste more than made up for any messy look.

There was a lot of cheese in the stuffing, but we could still taste the broccoli. The veggie pieces were pretty small, which helped them mix in with the cheese, but created a thicker version of broccoli cheese soup rather than a more veggie-filled version. We were okay with that, however, since it helped even our picky kids get excited about trying this dish.

The chicken was well seasoned and came pre-cooked. We just put the entire thing on a microwave-safe plate and zapped it for a few minutes. From pulling it out of the fridge to putting it on the dinner table took around 10 minutes, which is what we love about the premade dinners at Aldi. It tasted like something that we'd make from scratch, but only took a fraction of the time and almost no prep. It only comes with one large chicken breast, but with the stuffing, we were able to share it between four people along with some sides. The instructions recommended cutting the stuffed chicken into slices before heating, which would speed things up even more.

You can make the sweet and savory apple maple chicken sausages for breakfast or lunch. There was a little bit of a spicy kick, and we couldn't distinguish the apple as much as the maple flavor, which was much more prominent. They tasted good, just not what we expected based on the name of the sausage. They are thin, like other breakfast sausage options that we've tried, but have a thick casing. That means that they'll take a while to heat up through to the middle, and the outside gets charred quickly.

They cost less than $3, which is a good price for an antibiotic-free, hormone-free, nitrite and nitrate-free chicken sausage. You'd pay closer to $7.50 for a similar chicken breakfast sausage at another store. But, for even less, go with the fresh maple breakfast sausage from the meat department at Aldi. You'll get 4 ounces more, plus a much better texture. Pro tip: Cut your chicken sausage into bite-sized pieces and toss it into an egg bake for a simple, endlessly customizable breakfast that is savory and delicious.

Grab some easy lunch at Aldi when you pick up the cranberry almond chicken salad. A personal favorite, it can be easily spread over bread or crackers for a quick bite. There are large chunks of chicken, tart dried cranberries, and slivered almonds. The dressing is creamy but not too heavy, like some chicken salads. If you like the hint of sweet and tart from dried fruit, you'll love this chicken option. We've tried the similar classic chicken salad, but prefer the cranberry almond version because it has a lot more flavor.

You can get the larger 16-ounce tub or smaller 3-ounce individual servings in a 4-pack. Each one is individually sealed, so these are a particularly great way to get some protein on the go or in a packed lunch. They do need to stay cool, however, so make sure that you have access to a fridge or pack plenty of ice packs. This isn't a substitute for shelf-stable chicken salad kits.

Aldi doesn't have as many microwave meals as some other grocery stores, but the Southwest chicken quinoa one is pretty good for flavor and fueling up. Each bowl has 16 grams of protein from bite-sized chicken and quinoa. There's enough spice in the Southwest sauce to give the bowl a little kick without overpowering the rest of the ingredients with heat.

One of our favorite elements was the small pieces of the sweet potatoes and corn. They added a little bit of sweetness that worked well with the kick from the Southwest sauce. The bowl has black beans and small pieces of bell pepper. It's paired with brown rice, but the quinoa is a more substantial base. We preferred that, but if you really want rice, you won't find a lot in this bowl.

At $3.75 for an individual-serving bowl, this is one of the pricier options in the Aldi freezer case. But, it's still a good value compared to most similar-sized freezer meals at other grocery stores. So this is a definite buy for us and one we'd recommend stocking up on if you want easy lunches. 

Chicken broth and stock are a no-brainer for us, since we use them in everything from soups to casseroles. We grabbed the low-sodium chicken broth from Aldi to compare it with the name-brand, low-sodium version that we get from other grocery stores. This is our hack to control the amount of salt used in our cooking, since we can always put more in, but we can't take it out of broth that's too salty.

We used the chicken broth to further cook our teriyaki chicken. It added a lot of flavor, plus the moisture that our dish needed. We also added it to homemade tomato soup, where it worked as the base and added a savory element. In both cases, the Aldi version worked just like other, more expensive broths that we've used. We couldn't tell a difference, so we're definitely going to go back for this budget-friendly broth the next time we need some.

It's available in a standard 32-ounce carton, which is more than we need for most recipes. Fortunately, we learned the hack to freeze leftover broth in ice cube trays so that we can pull out just enough for future recipes.

You can't get a fresh rotisserie chicken at Aldi, and we've always had to make a special trip to another store on our way home from Aldi to get this budget-conscious protein. The closest you'll come is the pulled chicken by the deli meat. We've always been a bit skeptical, since it's hard to replicate the taste and freshness of a rotisserie chicken roasted in the store. But we gave it a try and were happy enough with this item, depending on how we plan to use it. 

On its own, the chicken is a bit dry but well seasoned. It has a nice savory flavor, but that's about all it has going for it. The pieces are a little bit inconsistent in size, with some large chunks and others mere shreds. When we sampled it cold and hot, it was just okay.

We added some barbecue sauce, which is one of our favorite preparations for other rotisserie chicken recipes, and put the meat on sweet rolls. The result had all of us asking for seconds. Bringing in barbecue transformed the chicken into a completely different dish. This would also be a great choice for red meat-free sloppy joes. We'd happily put this in our cart again, although we'd be sure to have some sauce on hand to doctor it up.

We tried chicken products from Aldi to see which were tasty and which we'd rather skip. The ones that earned the must-buy label from us also offered a great value.

Taste and texture were big considerations, but we also looked at universal appeal. Chicken is a pretty neutral protein that works with a variety of flavors. Our favorite options were ones that we could use in casseroles, soups and stews, or on their own. If a particular option required a lot of guesswork on our part to make it, we would be less likely to add it to a future grocery list.

A few, such as the chicken salad and the Southwest chicken quinoa bowl, made quick lunches that we could take to work or school. Others, such as the chicken thighs and broth, were good ingredients to stock up on at a great price for more general cooking needs.