It’s a common misconception that just because someone is a professionally trained chef that means they spend an exorbitant amount of money on groceries. Sure, they might splurge on artisanal mushrooms and have a pantry full of various oils and spices, but realistically, most chefs are happy to shop at the supermarket just like the rest of us. Especially when you consider how expensive groceries can be today, more and more cooks of all skill levels are finding savvy ways to save without skimping on quality. And what better way to get both than by shopping at Aldi?
Despite their esteem, even professional chefs know that the budget-friendly grocery chain is a hotbed of high-quality goods you can keep stocked in your pantry at a fraction of the price of other retailers. Whether it’s a unique bronze-cut pasta or an exceptional olive oil, there’s a lot more to Aldi than first meets the eye.
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With that in mind, we went straight to two chefs to find out which seven Aldi pantry staples they swear by so that you can cook like an elite chef too. You might just be surprised by their picks. Read on to find out which chef-approved Aldi items to add to your grocery list this week.
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Aldi Pantry Staples Chefs Swear By
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Aldi’s pantry finds are pretty impressive, so for a quick guide to help you figure out what’s worth taking up space in your cart, we caught up with Chef Dennis Littley of Ask Chef Dennis and Homebody Eats‘ recipe developer Chef Jessica Mode to compile a list of the main Aldi pantry staples you need in your kitchen. Here are the seven Aldi items that pro chefs keep on hand.
1. Specially Selected Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Aldi
Chief among any chef’s arsenal is a bottle of really good olive oil. It’s an essential ingredient in a variety of dishes and salad dressings, great as a finishing oil for soups or grilled meats, and perfect for serving up with crusty bread. But if you’ve taken a gander at premium EVOO prices lately, you might be inclined to reach for a cheaper alternative that ends up being just OK.
Luckily, Aldi’s Specially Selected Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a beautiful expression of a mid-range olive oil that won’t set you back more than $13, and both Littley and Mode recommend using it in your kitchen. “A good extra-virgin olive oil is one of the most useful things you can keep in the pantry,” Littley says.
Mode agrees. “While you always want to taste-test a bottle of oil to confirm that it’s high-quality, this one has many of the traits I look for, including a harvest date and a certification label that it was produced and bottled in Sicily,” she says.
2. Aldi Canned Beans
Aldi
If you have a can of beans, you’ve got a meal—or at least the beginnings of one. You’d be hard-pressed to find a pantry staple more essential than a can of the protein-packed vegetable, and Aldi has some of the best prices if you’re looking to stock up.
“Beans are inexpensive, versatile and an easy way to make a meal more substantial,” Littley says. He likes “keeping a few varieties in the pantry because you can use them for soups, chili, salads, side dishes and plenty of other quick meals.”
Whether you’re in the market for kidney or navy beans, garbanzos or another variety, Littley agrees that if you’re stopping at Aldi, make sure you grab at least a few cans. And looking ahead to holiday season, the wallet-conscious retailer almost always drops prices on canned goods down to practically pennies.
3. Priano and Specially Selected Dried Pasta
Aldi
Another undisputed pantry heavy hitter is an array of dried pastas, and Aldi might as well be a pastaficio. Not only does it have the usual shapes like spaghetti and rigatoni, but you’ll also find fusilloni, lumaconi and a variety of other seasonal shapes you can’t find anywhere else. Not to mention that most of their pasta is bronze-cut, and every pro chef knows that bronze-cut is better for clinging onto sauce. Both Littley and Mode recommend Aldi’s Priano brand, with Mode specifically mentioning chitarra as her go-to pick. “Aldi’s version is bronze-cut, which is the gold standard for dried pasta since it leaves the surface rough and allows the sauce to grip better,” she says.
4. Chef’s Cupboard Breadcrumbs
Aldi
Breadcrumbs are indispensable in the kitchen when you’re looking to amp up the texture of a dish or fry up something crispy. They’re cheap and require virtually zero prep, and Aldi has a variety of options in stock for all your culinary needs.
Littley prefers the panko variety and says he likes “keeping panko breadcrumbs in the pantry because they’re an easy way to add a crispy texture to foods without making things complicated.” He likes to use breadcrumbs in his easy Chicken Milanese recipe.
5. Baker’s Corner Dark Chocolate Morsels
Aldi
Even if you aren’t the kind of person who finds themselves sneaking bites of chocolate in between prep for dinner (guilty as charged), having a stash of chocolate morsels on hand is kind of a non-negotiable.
Not only do they make a great snack when you need a sugar rush, but according to Mode, Aldi’s Baker’s Corner Dark Chocolate Morsels are perfect for all your baking needs. “These morsels are great because they are larger than the average chocolate chip, creating puddles of chocolate. They’re my favorite to use on chocolate chip cookies,” she says.
6. Happy Harvest Canned Tomatoes
Aldi
Although we’ll stand 10 toes down on the opinion that fresh tomatoes are best during a very short window of time right at the tail end of summer, Aldi’s Happy Harvest canned tomatoes are a versatile and delicious pantry staple that you can lean on when those precious ruby red gems fatefully go out of season.
“I always like having canned tomatoes on hand because they can serve as the base for a sauce, soup, stew or an easy weeknight dinner,” Littley says. “They’re one of those pantry staples that can save you when you haven’t planned dinner ahead of time.”
7. Priano Balsamic Vinegar of Modena
Aldi
In addition to all the other pantry staples worth having on hand in the kitchen, Aldi’s Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is a hidden gem you’ll be glad you added to your cart. It’s tangy and intensely fruity, with a slightly musky aroma that works well in a variety of dishes.
Mode says it’s “perfect for making vinaigrette dressings or marinades.” For her, it’s such a great find because “this product is actually from Italy. Shoppers know this because of the IGP label on the bottle, indicating the authenticity of the product being produced in the region of Modena.”
Related: The 9 Best Red Wines Under $25, According to Wine Experts
Other Aldi Pantry Staples Chefs Use
With so many chef-approved finds littering the shelves at Aldi, it’s kind of impossible to stop at just seven. Luckily, we’ve gathered just a few more so you can round out your grocery list and grab everything you need to make dinner like the pros.
1. Simply Nature Organic Chicken Broth
Aldi
Chicken broth is another pantry non-negotiable, and Aldi’s Simply Nature Organic Chicken Broth is a pretty solid option. It’s definitely not the same as spending hours making your own from scratch, but to be honest, most store-bought chicken broth is all the same anyway. And if that’s the case, you might as well save a little cash on it if you can.
2. Northern Catch Smoked Oysters
Aldi
If you’re not in your tinned fish era like everyone else seems to be, you might just need to find the gateway tin that’ll kick-start your obsession. While you can (and should) consider Fishwife now that it’s on Aldi shelves for a limited time, Aldi’s own private label Northern Catch Smoked Oysters are a great place to start.
They’re far enough out there to push you out of your comfort zone, and who knows, you might just end up liking them. Pro chefs love these tasty tinned mollusks as a quick and flavorful addition to a bowl of pasta or by themselves on top of toast. Aldi also sells a version with red chili pepper if you like a little more heat.
3. Southern Grove Shelled Pistachios
Aldi
Pistachios are one of those little luxuries that most people know cost more than more standard nuts, but they’re willing to shell out (pun intended) the extra cash anyway. They’re rich and buttery, seamlessly finding their way into desserts or savory dishes with equal success, but does that endless versatility mean they have to cost more? Aldi sure doesn’t think so.
While they’re definitely not as cheap as pecans or peanuts, Aldi’s Southern Grove Shelled Pistachios clock in at about $1 or $2 less than you might spend at other retailers, which is cash you can put toward other items in your shopping cart.
4. Specially Selected Pasta Sauce
Aldi
If you’re stocking up on pasta, you might as well throw some sauce in the cart too, and of course Aldi’s jarred options are pretty much on par with the fresh stuff. Although chefs of all skill levels agree that you can’t really pick a bad one, for the most part they reach for the budget-friendly retailer’s Specially Selected Premium Marinara Sauce and often laud it as a dupe for Rao’s. And although you’ll find both brands on the shelves, Aldi’s private-label option costs nearly half as much.
Recipes Using Aldi Pantry Staples
After you’ve stocked your pantry with all these chef-approved staples, you might be looking for ideas for what to do with them. Sure, you can just heat up pasta sauce and spoon it over spaghetti noodles, but why not use a few extra ingredients and make a pasta bake or amp up your beans?
If you need a little inspo, we’ve rounded up a few recipes below that you can make with some of the ingredients from your Aldi pantry staples run.
1. Chef Chris Valdes’ Cuban Black Beans
Courtesy Chris Valdes
Just because you’re already taking the time to make authentic ropa vieja doesn’t mean you have to make the beans completely from scratch too. Instead, you can just pop open a can of black beans from Aldi and make Chef Chris Valdes’ quick and easy Cuban Black Beans. No one even has to be the wiser.
2. Dolly Parton’s Chicken Cobbler
Courtesy Nathan Hutsenpiller
Leave it to Dolly to give us a comforting and delicious recipe chock-full of pantry staples that you can whip up in no time. Her hearty chicken cobbler is rich and easy to throw together, and, just like the Iron Butterfly herself, it’s impossible not to fall in love with it. What better way to remember her than by adding this homey Southern dish to your dinner rotation?
3. Reese Witherspoon’s Grandma’s Corn Salad
Courtesy Kenn C. Bivins
You can’t get any easier than using canned corn to make a quick and easy salad, and Reese Witherspoon’s grandma, Dorothea, knows a thing or two about making a good one. Dorothea’s corn salad is bright and punchy, perfect for these last few days of summer. Plus, it’s endlessly customizable with pantry staples that you can pick up for pennies on the dollar at Aldi, so we call that a major win.
Sources:
Dennis Littley, better known as Chef Dennis, is a classically trained chef, culinary educator and founder of Ask Chef Dennis, a top-30 U.S. food blog that reaches more than 2 million readers and 1 million social media followers each month. His extensive career spanning over 45 years makes him a trusted voice for home cooks everywhere. Jessica Mode is a culinary instructor and pastry chef in St. Louis, Missouri, as well as a recipe developer for Homebody Eats. She personally shops at Aldi at least once a week, and after going to culinary school in Italy, she has some pretty strong opinions about what to keep in your pantry to make easy weeknight cooking and weekend entertaining accessible and possible.Related: The 23 Best Dolly Parton Recipes You’ll Want to Make on Repeat
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