7 Olives You Can Buy At Aldi, Ranked Worst To Best

They say everything's better with bacon, but I think everything's optimal with olives. Speared into a martini, nestled beside cheese and crackers, or sprinkled on top of pizza, olives have a way of elevating even the most mundane snacks on your plate. Aldi happens to offer an unexpectedly fancy array of products for such a small-format discount store. You'll find everything from basic canned black olives to queen-size green olives stuffed with little peppers or cheese. Of course they're all enticingly priced — but are they equally tasty?

A great olive should be firm, flavorful, and just briny enough to invite another bite. A bad olive can be mushy, metallic, or a forgettable space filler on an otherwise lovely antipasto platter. As a regular Aldi shopper and appreciator of olives, I set out to find which ones deserve to be taken home to your fridge or pantry and which ones are best left on the bargain store shelf. 

Whether you're looking to satisfy a salty craving, brighten an ordinary lunch, or build a charcuterie board that looks bigger-budget than it is, here are seven Aldi brand olives, ranked worst to best. A few delicious surprises may shake up next week's grocery list.

Aldi's Tuscan Garden black pitted olives met bare minimum expectations for a generic canned black olive. The flavor was mild, but borderline metallic, and the texture was softer and mushier than anyone would probably like. Many tumbled out of the water-packed can shriveled and broken from the get-go. The "large" label on is also a misnomer; I'd call these black olives medium-sized at best.

Comments on Facebook's ALDI Aisle of Shame Community echo my sentiments, with shoppers calling these olives "soggy," "off," and the only thing at Aldi "that is not worth buying." That says a lot, since a 6-ounce can only costs $1.75 at my Chicagoland store. 

Despite our collective disappointment, Instacart says these hand-picked ripe black olives from Portugal are an Aldi best seller. One serving (4 olives) contains 30 calories, 115 milligrams of sodium, and 3 grams of fat. They're a bargain best kept for weeknight salad and snack-time emergencies only. Fortunately, Aldi offers much tastier olive varieties in jars.

I love olives. I love blue cheese. So I fully expected the Specially Selected blue cheese stuffed olives to rank much higher than this. They looked promising in the jar: Pleasingly plump, generously filled, and perfectly poised for a fancy martini moment. Looks can be so deceiving.

After eating one olive, I really didn't care to have another. But, I did. And I confirmed: I am not on board with this combination of textures and flavors. The squishy green olives — an unspecified variety — lacked firmness and bite. And, when it came to the blue cheese filling, things got even worse: Muted and granular, it offered no creamy tang or personality. There was no signature blue veining in sight, but plenty of buyer's regret.

Maybe I was asking too much of this humble 7-ounce jar that sells for just $3.29. But, Aldi's in-house Specially Selected line generally delivers more premium-level deliciousness, particularly in the charcuterie-and-cheese department. Dropped into an icy cold cocktail, these blue cheese olives might firm up to be passable, but, as is, they don't deserve a spot on your snack board.

Specially Selected Kalamata pitted olives get mixed reviews from Aldi fans, and I can see why. On the one hand, they're irresistibly priced. At my neighborhood store, a 6-ounce jar is just $2.55. If I compare these to other grocery store brands, similarly sized jars from Walmart's Great Value and Target's Good & Gather sell for about $4.

On the other hand, Aldi's Kalamata olives don't exactly offer a true Kalamata experience. I expected the elongated, purply-brown fruits to have a meaty texture and a bold, salty, briny bite. But, these were noticeably softer and gentler. Packed in water, sea salt, and red wine vinegar, the flavor was surprisingly mild, but not altogether disappointing. In the end, I decided their easygoing character simply makes them more approachable and versatile.

Specially Selected pitted Kalamata olives are a product of Greece, where this type of olive originates. Since they're already pitted, these olives can go straight from the jar onto Greek salads, pizzas, grain bowls, or quick antipasto platters. They'd also work nicely scattered over rice, pasta with sausage, or roasted chicken and vegetables without commandeering the dish. While not super punchy in flavor, this is a fine, budget-friendly pantry staple that more than earns its keep.

According to shoppers in the ALDI Aisle of Shame Community on Facebook, some Aldi stores have refrigerated Kalamata olives "that are WAY better than the jarred ones." While I've never found those in my area, I have discovered this 7-ounce tub of mixed olives — and bought it over and over again. 

Priced at $2.85, the Park Street Deli Jubilee Assortment offers a medley of Kalamata, Picholine, and green olives in a marinade of canola oil, wine vinegar, herbs, and mustard seeds. This chilled combo comes across firmer, fresher, and zestier than most of Aldi's jarred olive options — the bright, lemony Picholines do a delicious job of lifting the quality and flavor. 

I would have liked to see more Kalamatas in this particular container, but that's not something I've encountered with past purchases. For under $3, these Aldi olives add low-effort luxury to charcuterie or party spreads, but they're also perfectly good to go on a random Tuesday night with pizza.

Aldi's stuffed Manzanilla olives fully delivered what the earlier jars did not: Punch, personality, and detectable quality. Despite their smaller size, they had a satisfyingly firm, meaty texture and a bright flavor that was tangy, salty, and briny in all the right ways. That red filling is pimiento, a mild red pepper that adds a cheerful pop of color plus a touch of sweetness to balance all that savory boldness.

While positioned as a budget buy from the in-house brand, Tuscan Garden, this jar is a product of the Seville region of Spain, where Manzanillas are a classic table olive. The name manzanilla actually means "little apple" in Spanish, and, for me, that somehow adds to their charm.

In the U.S., pimento-stuffed olives are often speared into old-school cocktails, such as martinis and Bloody Marys. But, I'm taking a cue from the Spaniards and eating these deliciously versatile olives straight up with crusty bread, cured meats, and, of course, cheese. They would be especially lovely paired with D.O.P. Manchego (one of the best cheeses you can buy at Aldi) and a glass of Specially Selected Rioja Riserva for an easy, Spanish-style tapas night. I found this tall 15.8-ounce jar of stuffed Manzanilla olives with pimiento to be a bona fide Aldi find for $2.55. 

The whole garlic cloves peeking out of these Aldi stuffed olives made a great initial impression. Then came the first bite: A briny, salty burst with just enough garlicky flavor to be exciting, but also savory and mellow. I can see why olive aficionados on Reddit call these Specially Selected olives "amazing" and "divine." Each olive is quite formidable in size — the nutrition label lists a serving as just two olives! 

Satisfying and substantial as they are, Specially Selected garlic stuffed olives are also likely to inspire "just one more" trip back to the refrigerator variety. Several fans in that unofficial Aldi subreddit say they're even better chilled, but I found them firm, crisp, and balanced right out of the jar at room temp. 

At $3.29 for a 7-ounce jar, Aldi's garlic stuffed olives are perfectly apropos for casual snacking. However, these beauties would also raise the bar on vintage cocktails or add surprising depth to otherwise ordinary pasta, egg, and tuna salads. Just chop them up and indulge.

I didn't expect Aldi's Specially Selected jalapeño stuffed olives to win me over. The green olive-green pepper combination didn't sound bad — I just assumed the more classic olive varieties would be more in line with my likes. Maybe it was the low-to-no expectations, but these olives surprised me in every which way. The texture was plump, firm, and fleshy, with a juicy little snap. The flavor bounced off my tongue so pickly and bright. 

I already knew I loved them, but then the jalapeño made itself known at the finish. That's not to say the jalapeño spice level was overwhelming. It landed so right, I immediately reached for another olive just to confirm my delight. 

Apparently I'm not alone in my adoration of these olives. My family members wholeheartedly agreed the jalapeno stuffed olives were the best of the Aldi bunch. They also get plenty of praise from Aldi fans on Reddit, who call them "phenomenal" and "so frickin good." My neighborhood Aldi tags the 7-ounce jar at $3.29, but I'd pay more. My next move is to slice and sprinkle them on top of a homemade pizza. Or maybe nachos.

For this ranking, I visited my Chicagoland Aldi store, which is home to more locations than any other city in the U.S., to buy every olive variety on the shelf. Back at home, I took notes on how each product presented itself in the (dented) can, jar, or refrigerated container. I then opened and portioned each variety into small individual bowls and tasted down the line. Sips of water and plain crackers reset my palate between each sample.

While olives are a simple pleasure, there were actually many things to consider: Aroma, texture, saltiness, acidity, brine, balance, and olive-to-stuffing ratio. The final order of worst to best reflects my personal tasting experience, though I also included some thoughts from my olive-obsessed family and Aldi fans in the r/Aldi subreddit and ALDI Aisle of Shame Community on Facebook. 

Aldi carries an ever-changing array of seasonal and regional products, plus weekly finds. Olive prices and availability reflect what I found at the Morton Grove, IL location.