15 Gourmet Foods Hiding At Walmart

Walmart is often associated with low-priced everyday essentials (even though Aldi and Costco may have better prices on some items). In any case, it's the world's largest grocery retailer, and as such it has a wide range of items which also encompasses some higher-end stuff. For one thing, it's an unexpectedly great place to buy high-quality ground beef. It also has a private label brand called Bettergoods which offers high quality items such as mushroom-truffle pizza and macarons (both of which made our list of the best Bettergoods products). If you look closely, you can spot all manner of gourmet goodies hiding in plain sight on Walmart store shelves.

This list merely scrapes the cream off the top, but it includes a little bit of everything. Walmart has super-fancy bread and sparkling wine if you're planning an Omar Khayyam-esque picnic, but there are also premium cheeses and chocolates if you'd like to make it a more substantial meal. If you're cooking up something yourself, we've listed some ingredients that put the "haute" in haute cuisine, including exclusive cooking oils, a fancy fungus, and a very pricey spice. Not every item may be in stock at your local Walmart, but everything should be available for shipping or delivery if not.

Walmart's bakery items include some surprisingly premium baked goods, among them the Marketside Rosemary Boule. This artisan-style bread is soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, and has a delicate herbal flavor, yet it's shelf-stable so you won't need a hacksaw to cut it the day after purchase. (Would that other artisan loaves could say the same.) Left intact, this boule would be great for a gourmet muffuletta, which is the signature sandwich of the state of Louisiana. It could also be sliced thinly to accompany a charcuterie board.

A lot of store-bought balsamic vinegar brands aren't the real deal, but you can find the genuine article for sale at Walmart. De Nigris balsamic is produced in Modena and bears the Protected Geographical Indication seal that testifies to its authenticity. It comes in two varieties, Smooth Taste (which is recommended for use in cooking) and Tangy Taste (which is preferred for cold dishes like salads). An 8.5-ounce bottle of the former sells for $9.24 while the same size bottle of the latter is priced at $6.24.

Truffle oil may have suffered a loss of reputation in recent years (Martha Stewart has publicly dissed the stuff), but whole truffles retain their place in the culinary pantheon. At Walmart, you can purchase a jar of Gourmanity Tartufi Whole Black Truffles in Brine which is imported for Italy for $19.20. Of course, you only get 1.76 ounces for that price, but a little goes a long way when shaved over pasta. The brine can also be used to flavor sauces or make elegant dirty martinis.

Once upon a time lobster was abundant in coastal regions. So much so that it was considered "cheap eats" in colonial America. My, how times have changed. This shellfish is now so expensive that most of us see it as a luxury item. When you're in the mood to splurge, you can find Wild Caught Cold Water Lobster Tails fresh at Walmart. An 8-ounce package containing two tails costs $16.27, though what products are available seems to vary considerably across the United States.

Floral flavors are always fancy, and certain spices like cardamon also elevate the tone of an otherwise simple item like fruit jam. Bettergoods Raspberry, Cardamom, and Rose Fruit Spread combines all of these elements to make a one-of-a-kind toast topper or thumbprint cookie filler. (If the latter suggestion inspires you, here's how to make the signature indent in thumbprint cookies.) The spread comes in a 10-ounce jar and sells for $4.92.

Gruyère is the name of a region, but gruyère cheese doesn't need to hail from this area in order to be sold as such. If you want the real deal, though, you can purchase Emmi Le Gruyère, which is produced in Switzerland and holds the AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée) designation certifying that it was made with traditional methods within the Gruyère region. Walmart sells 6-ounce blocks of this cheese priced at $7.97.

Figs were once known primarily for appearing in Newton cookies, but foodies adopted this forgotten fruit back in the 2010s and used it in the jam that became a ubiquitous addition to charcuterie boards. Figs in non-pureed form were soon to follow, including chocolate-dipped figs which add another flavor dimension to the sweet dried fruit. Walmart's entry into the latter category is Bettergoods Milk Chocolate Sun-Dried Figs, which are exactly what their name says they are. They're packaged in 13-ounce tubs that sell for $9.42.

Back during the pandemic, I started a podcast highlighting recipes from my eclectic cookbook collection. The episode for July (my son's birthday month) included, at his request, a retro recipe for escargot. The problem was I needed to get them in a hurry and edible snails aren't easily found in Wisconsin supermarkets; with one exception, that is. A Walmart about 10 miles away carried cans of Roland Escargots. I bought them, I cooked them, we ate them, and they were really quite good. Should you have any snail-based recipes you're dying to try, Walmart sells a 7.76-ounce can for $5.90.

Fats go in and out of fashion, but one of the trendiest ones now is beef tallow, an ingredient you can actually DIY by melting down the trimmings from an especially fatty brisket. If you prefer to buy your beef tallow it's not sold at every grocery store, but Walmart is once again the exception. In fact, Walmart carries a rather luxurious kind: Carrington Farms Wagyu Beef Tallow, which costs $12.52 per 14-ounce jar. Walmart shoppers can use it for cooking, but some people employ it in their skincare regime. (If you're going to rub beef fat on your face it might as well come from a high-end cattle breed.)

Extra virgin olive oil may not be as fashionable as beef tallow at present, but it's a classic that never goes out of style. Partanna Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil is not only sourced entirely from Sicilian-grown Castelvetrano olives, it's also unfiltered and packaged in a dark glass bottle to help it last longer. Each bottle bears the date the olives were harvested, so you know it's pretty high-end stuff. Walmart sells 750 milliliter bottles of this Italian import for $19.97.

We've all heard it so many times it's become a meme, but to the vintners of France's Champagne region it's no laughing matter; if they haven't produced the wine, it's not Champagne, but is instead just sparkling wine. Not that there's anything wrong with the latter, since Italy, Spain, and California all produce good bubbly. If you really want to impress, though, there's nothing like the real thing. And yes, you can get it at Walmart, where a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé Champagne sells for $88.59.

Tiny food can be either cute or sophisticated, and Lindt Mini Pralines clearly fall into the latter category. Each 3.4 ounce box sells for $9.97 at Walmart and contains 20 miniature Swiss chocolates. These tiny treats come in both dark and milk chocolate and are filled with a variety of flavors, including almond, caramel, hazelnut, nougat, macchiato, praline, and raspberry.

If you were to post photos of yourself eating gelato and tiramisu in Italy or even at an Italian restaurant, your friends would surely be envious. Boasting of an expedition to Walmart is unlikely to evoke the same sentiment unless you should happen to pick up Talenti Italian Tiramisu Gelato Layers. This dessert consists of mascarpone gelato, cold brew sorbetto, and fudge sauce layers separated by vanilla cookie pieces, and may very well elicit FOMO in anyone who doesn't have it in their own freezer. Walmart sells 10.4-ounce tubs for $5.48.

You might think of the Walmart bakery as a place to pick up a simple sheet cake for a kids' party, but it also carries layer cakes attractive enough to serve at an adult gathering. Among them is the Marketside Dubai-Style Chocolate Cake. It has a similar flavor profile to the mid-2020s viral candy it was named after, with a pistachio filling surrounded by chocolate cake layers. A 5-inch, 14-ounce cake is priced at $12.84.

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world, mostly because it's a pain to produce. Walmart sells it in teeny-tiny quantities — each jar of Spice Islands Spanish Threads Saffron holds just 0.9 grams of the stuff (which is less than ¼ the weight of a single sugar packet). The price is $10.12, which works out to over $300 per ounce. This is actually not as terrible as it sounds since some grocery stores charge up to $1,000 per ounce for a small pinch of saffron. Luckily, even a small amount can make a big difference in your paella or bouillabaisse.