9 Aldi Trail Mixes, Ranked Worst To Best

My appreciation for trail mix has increased with age. When I was a kid, trail mix was just candy with obstacles (namely nuts, seeds, and fruit). But now, I see it as a harmonious and intricate blend of different components, all of which bring their own flavor and texture to the table. If it's done well, it's a great way to refuel midday, eat on the go, or enjoy as a unique topping on ice cream.  

My favorite grocery store, Aldi, boasts a surprisingly extensive selection of trail mixes. One of its many private-label brands, Southern Grove, carries no shortage of them. There are sweet ones, savory ones, nutty ones, and candy-focused ones. The brand even used to carry my favorite trail mix, one that was chock-full of peanut butter cups, cherries, cashews, and almonds. When I saw that my local Aldi stopped selling it, I was admittedly distraught. But instead of letting myself sink into despair, I used it as an opportunity to expand my horizons and sample Aldi's trail mixes to, hopefully, find a new favorite. 

That's why I stocked up on several of its popular trail mix flavors, tasted each bag, and ranked them from worst to best. The highest-ranked trail mixes boast an impressive balance of bold flavors, sensible and intentional quantities of each component, and enjoyable texture. You can read more about my methodology at the conclusion of this piece. 

Honey is an excellent ingredient to add to trail mix because it can help balance out the bite and add just enough sweetness to complement a fatty, rich nut like cashews or peanuts. But use too much of it, and you're in for a roller coaster. This was the case with this trail mix, which took "honey" way too far. 

Like the Chocolate Peanut Butter Explore Trail Mix, every piece in this bag was coated with honey, which gave the components a gritty texture and granulated sensation on my fingertips. It contains honey-roasted peanuts, almonds, cashews, sesame sticks, and butter toffee peanuts (which are noticeably crunchier than the other components). There was absolutely no reprieve from the sugar. The only time I thought, "Hey, this isn't so bad," was when I let the sesame sticks sit in my mouth so that the coating of sugar could dissipate. Pairing sesame sticks with honey is an absolutely divine move on Aldi's part, and I would have enjoyed them more if my palate wasn't front-loaded with so much sugar and sweetness. I also loved the honey-coated cashews, which offered the perfect rich flavor and sweet contrast. 

As expected, I also wasn't a fan of the toffee peanuts. Their flavor was much sweeter than every other component, and I felt like I was going to break my teeth on them every time I took a bite. I think Aldi could have gotten away with two honey-roasted components and front-loading its mix with more savory elements. 

As a kid, I had distinct memories of buying Archer Farms' (Target's in-house brand at the time) S'mores Trail Mix. I felt so healthy, considering it had nuts somewhere in it ... I think. All I remember were the s'mores components, and boy did this trail mix bring some of those memories back.

Aldi's version brings together peanuts, "yogurt flavored coated artificially flavored marshmallow bites" (a mouthful), milk chocolate chunks, graham cracker cookies, and milk chocolate marshmallow flavored truffles. In other words, this trail mix is just a bag of sugar, plus peanuts. And the peanuts really feel like they were an afterthought — a box that needed to be checked so that Aldi could get away with calling this trail mix a trail mix. They don't do anything except get in the way of everything else. The truffles, which taste like a cheap, vanilla cream-filled Russell Stover candy, taste so sweet and artificial that I wanted to pick them out of my bag and toss them into the trash. 

When you get a piece of graham cracker, a yogurt-coated marshmallow piece, and chocolate, it's a nice bite, albeit a sweet one. Kids won't complain about this trail mix because it's so sugary, but you'd be hard-pressed to see me adding another bag of it to my cart. While not as overwhelming as the Honey Nut mix, it's still not one I'd buy of my own volition. 

How had I never thought to add crispy cheese pieces to trail mix? Aldi knew what it was doing with its Cheddar Crunch Trail Mix, which combines crunchy and fatty cheddar pieces with almonds, pepitas, peanuts, and pecans (the latter of which I thought was a little out of place, but I digress). The cheddar pieces are the star of the show here. They're just indulgent enough to make me say "wow," and they really make the bite unique. However, there are far too few of them in this mix, and I was troubled to see that they were the only cheese-adjacent product in this entire mix. The other nuts and seeds were entirely bland — maybe a little salty, but not nearly enough. If you had removed the cheese pieces entirely, the mix would lose its savory and cheesy appeal. 

As it stands, this trail mix is something I could see myself using as a crouton replacement for salad toppings. The nuts would highlight a spinach- or kale-based salad well, and like all of the nuts that I sampled for this mix, they are quite fresh. But there has to be a greater emphasis on the "cheddar" component of the label. Perhaps some knock-off Cheez-Its (Aldi makes a great Savoritz cheese cracker) or some cheese puffs would help it a little. It might push it into snack mix territory, but at this point, I don't really care. 

I realized very quickly that folks who don't like a sweet trail mix go for the product that ranked above this, and people who like eating "candy with obstacles" instead opt for Aldi's very aptly named Indulgent Trail Mix. Does anyone really need to eat a trail mix jam-packed with peanut butter, semi-sweet and white chocolate chips, dried cranberries, golden raisins, peanuts, and cashews? Probably not. But it's here if you want it. 

The main issue I have with this trail mix is that the chips — in all three forms — are not very high quality. They're like the cheap Toll House chips you'd stir together into a cookie batter (and honestly, this mix is probably sweet enough to add to some beginner-friendly cookie recipes). The nuts are an afterthought and are kicked to the curb as the candy and sweet fruit pieces cause utter mayhem in every bite. There's not enough salt on the nuts or otherwise to cancel out the sweetness, so I was left with this lingering aftertaste on my palate that wasn't at all pleasant. 

Could Aldi use about half as much candy and fruit in this recipe? Yeah, probably. But then it would lose its "indulgence" status. However, I think a truly indulgent trail mix is one that is balanced, flavorful, and still has enough sweetness to make its presence known — meaning not this one. It's not my pick of the litter, but it still wasn't as sweet and overwhelming as my lower-ranked picks. 

The Mountain Trail Mix is a very simple product, and it's honestly what I would think of first when someone mentions "trail mix." This mix keeps it simple, with raisins, peanuts, cocoa gems (read: knockoff M&M's), almonds, and cashews. Based on the look of the bag, I was amazed by how many nuts were in this bag compared to raisins. All too often, I have to settle for trail mixes that are about 99% raisin, which depletes the purpose of a trail mix altogether. This one goes really hard with the peanuts, almonds, and cashews, and tosses in a handful of raisins for good measure. 

I'm almost glad that Aldi shortchanged me on the raisins and the cocoa gems in this trail mix, seeing as they do very little for its flavor or texture altogether. The raisins aren't plump and juicy, and the cocoa gems are just mediocre. While the crunch of the candy shell is satisfying to come across every couple of bites, the sheer number of nuts in this mix provides more than enough crunchiness for me. 

If you gave this trail mix to a kid, I don't think they would like it all too much, seeing as how there is too much work (the nuts) for very little reward (the chocolate candies). However, this mix showcases what Aldi does best. The nuts are crunchy, fresh, inoffensive, and honestly about as good as it gets. That said, the lack of exciting elements or novel flavors in this mix caused me to tire of it quickly. 

If you aren't a fan of peanut butter, you better stay far, far away from this Explore Trail Mix. Almost everything in it is centered around something peanut butter-adjacent. There are peanuts, peanut butter-filled crunchy candies, milk chocolate peanut butter cups, peanut butter-filled pretzels, peanut butter chips, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. So, what the label told me right off the bat is that this trail mix is 99% candy and 1% nut, which wasn't a good start. 

I expected that the flavor would be cloying and almost cheap, seeing as how knock-off peanut butter cups, candies, and chips rarely taste like the high-quality, decadent peanut butter brands that I've come to know and love. And I can say that notion is partially true, but the peanuts and the peanut butter pretzels help offset the cloyingness and make it taste more balanced and savory. Unlike many of the other trail mixes I sampled, Aldi does not make anything in this bag an afterthought; all of the components are present in every single bite. That said, I think there was just a little too much peanut butter going on in this mix. I could have done without the semi-sweet chocolate chips, considering there was already more than enough chocolate in the mini peanut butter cups. The pretzels could have also been thinner and snappier (and, dare I say, not filled with peanut butter), which would have made the texture less monotonous. 

I'll let you in on a secret here, dear reader: I am not a fan of Dijon mustard, nor am I a fan of honey mustard (cue gasps). They're overrated. But after trying this trail mix, I might consider myself a convert. 

First of all, I want to give whoever decided to put honey mustard and onion-flavored sourdough pretzel pieces in the mix a big ol' kiss — because wow. They are crunchy, light, and don't overwhelm the bite, but still offer enough of a flavorful punch to warrant there being so many of them. The pretzel pieces are joined by roasted almonds and cashews, which play backup dancers to the pretzels. Based on the three-ingredient composition of this trail mix and the number of pretzel pieces, I would be more inclined to classify this as a snack mix than a trail mix. But technicalities aside, it's good. 

The pretzels offer a unique balance of sweet honey and unmistakable mustard flavor. There were a couple bites that I could feel the mustard go straight to my sinuses, almost mimicking the burn of horseradish. It's not for every type of eater, but if you consider yourself a mustard lover, it's a trail mix I would definitely recommend picking up. As much as I liked the boldness of its flavor, I couldn't help but miss the other trail mixes, which have a more multi-dimensional pairing of sweet, salty, and savory in every bite. But I will be buying a bag of the Honey Mustard Trail Mix again, even if you will not be. 

Lean in, dear reader, so I can tell you yet another secret: I don't like ranch. I like its flavor, but the texture of gloopy ranch dressing is anything but pleasing. However, I could really get along with this Zesty Ranch Trail Mix, which brings in an element we have yet to see: spice. Jalapeños dot the components, which include smoked jalapeño-flavored blanched almonds, jalapeño-flavored cornbread crisps, and crispy pepper pieces. There are also ranch-seasoned cashews and pretzels in this mix, but I think they were just included to check off the "ranch" box. The jalapeño dominates the ranch in every way. Their bite isn't particularly fiery, seeing as out of the mildest and hottest peppers available, they're one of the tamer varieties, but they do offer a lingering piquant bite on the tongue. The peppers are fresh, approachable, and inviting — all good things for a zesty trail mix to have.

I expected that this trail mix would deliver more on the "ranch" component of the label, and I think those fresh herbs and buttermilk undertones would have served the components well. But Aldi saw jalapeño and ran with it, and it came to the detriment of the bag's other components. Even the "cornbread" chips, which taste like Aldi's almond flour crackers, were given the short end of the stick. I even laughed when I saw Aldi markets these as being "cornbread," as they bear no resemblance to the soft, skillet cornbread I've come to know and love. All in all, it's not a bad trail mix — it's just not what the label insinuated it was. 

Based on the Mountain Trail Mix, I knew Aldi was capable of making a really good product that highlights what the mix is supposed to be about: the harmony between the nuts and the dried fruit. This one is candy-free, though it does contain chunks of dark chocolate, which are much richer and more complex than the cheap milk chocolate in the other trail mixes I sampled for this review, hence why I don't consider them to be "candy" per se. The nuts, including almonds and massive walnut halves, are remarkably fresh for a bagged trail mix. They lack any of the rancid undertones that I've come to expect with cheap trail mixes.

Not only was I excited to see the size of the nuts in the bag, but I was practically giddy at seeing the cranberries that were nestled in it. The dried fruits are such a beautiful pairing with the rich chocolate and fatty nuts. The flavor of this trail mix, as a whole, is rather clean and sterile. There are no dusty residues, salts, or overwhelming cloyingness. The components are all put on center stage together, without any single element left in the nosebleeds. 

I could definitely see myself getting a bag of this to take on a hike. While it lacks the snacking and guilty indulgence quality of the other varieties, it's still a fantastic option. I don't know why anyone would buy the Mountain Trail Mix when this one is on the shelf right next to it. 

I am a frequent flyer in the trail mix aisle at the grocery store, and I have pretty high standards for what I expect from this snack food. A great trail mix has several features. For one, I should be able to eat the individual components or grab a handful at one time, scarf it down, and be equally satisfied by both. In that sense, this food is only as good as its weakest component. As such, I expected bold flavors and elements that balanced one another out. The highest-ranked Aldi trail mixes not only affirmed the flavors listed on the label but also offered a unique synergy between their components that created a satisfying, snackable bite. I should feel compelled to put my hand back in the bag and grab another handful, rather than just do a one-and-done. I also examined the balance and quantity of the respective components in the trail mix and how this related to the bite, flavors, and overall mouthfeel of each one. 

All of the products tasted for this ranking are from Aldi's in-house nut and fruit brand, Southern Grove. In order to level the playing field, I sampled each of these trail mixes on the same day the bag was opened, eating each individual component before trying a random handful (or two). Inventory varies based on the store, but if yours carries some of my top-ranked options, I highly recommend stocking up on them.