Trader Joe's Vs Aldi: Which Store Has The Better Salad Kits?

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is prep salad for the week. Buying a bunch of ingredients to spend the last bit of evening free time chopping away can be really tedious, let alone expensive — especially if you are prepping for one. You end up with extra produce that sits in the fridge and goes bad, or you eat the same salad over and over, which just continues to wilt as each day passes. Luckily, many grocery stores carry a variety of salad kits these days, for only a few dollars each. 

Aldi and Trader Joe's are two grocery chains that stock their own salad kits, each with dressing and toppings included. There are tons of styles to choose from, which is great for mixing it up during the week. But how do you know which ones are worth trying? I decided to pick up a few salad kits from both chains, choosing a Caesar salad kit, a Southwest-inspired kit, and an Asian-inspired kit from each, and set out to see which grocery store makes them the best. I organized the Aldi and Trader Joe's salad kits by salad style, but read until the end to find out which chain takes the ultimate crown.

Over the years, Caesar salads have solidified their spot as a go-to classic. Whether it be a casual eatery, a high-end restaurant, or your local grocery store, chances are you can find a Caesar salad on the menu or in the aisles. There are tons of riffs on the original, like grilled chicken Caesar salads for extra protein, or even Caesar salad pizza. However, nothing can beat a traditional Caesar.

The Aldi Little Salad Bar Caesar chopped salad kit came with a bag of shredded romaine lettuce, a packet of shredded parmesan cheese, a packet of cheese and garlic crouton crumble, and a packet of Caesar dressing. Since it's a chopped version, it varies slightly from the classic, but I quite enjoyed it. The smaller bits of lettuce and the crispy crumble allowed for more surface area for the dressing. Everything was thoroughly incorporated together, so each bite had a little bit of greens, cheese, and crunch. 

Arguably, the most important component of Caesar salads is the dressing. Aldi's version was adequately creamy with tanginess as the dominant flavor. Its dressing includes distilled vinegar as a prominent ingredient, which explains why it has that tartness. Overall, you can't go wrong with the Aldi chopped Caesar salad kit. It hits all of the marks it should, giving that crisp, fresh flavor, cheesiness, crunch, and tangy creaminess.

Trader Joe's prides itself on selling high-quality products at an affordable cost, with over 20% of the products sold being organic. It's no surprise, then, that Trader Joe's would carry organic salad kits. The TJ's organic Caesar salad kit follows the classic style. The kit itself is heavier than Aldi's and uses larger pieces of Romaine lettuce. The salad kit comes with croutons, parmesan cheese, and dressing. The inclusions are similar to Aldi's, except the Trader Joe's croutons were large chunks rather than crumbles. Some of the Romaine lettuce had midrib pieces, adding an extra crunch factor. 

In terms of the Caesar dressing, it was creamy and slightly thick, allowing it to coat every piece of lettuce. The flavor was not as tangy as Aldi's. It wasn't as immediately intense, but it was very well balanced. There were the classic Caesar notes of garlic, with sharpness from Dijon mustard. A subtle but present taste of lemon came through, giving the dressing a brightness that pulled it all together. 

Overall, the dressing tasted light, complex, and acted as a perfect pairing to the crisp greens. Both Aldi and Trader Joe's had comparable freshness, crunch, and cheesiness, so it all came down to the dressing. Overall, the Trader Joe's dressing had a better balance of flavors and a brightness that elevated the rest of the ingredients without overpowering them. In the end, the Trader Joe's organic Caesar salad kit came out on top.

Asian-inspired dishes can be a broad category. For the Aldi Little Salad Bar Asian chopped salad kit, the dressing has ingredients like ginger, sesame oil, and soy sauce, which are ingredients that can be found in a range of Asian cuisines. The greens include both red and green cabbage, kale, green leaf lettuce, carrots, and green onions. The salad kit also included a packet of wonton strips and sliced almonds. 

This isn't the type of salad you'd go for if you are looking for a super authentic dish, but if you want something that has a nice flavor and fills you up, it definitely does the job. I am a fan of crunchy salads, so I enjoyed this one. The cabbage and carrots, along with the crispy wonton strips and almonds, ensure a crunchy bite every single time. The wonton strips were nice and airy, with a strong crunch that remained even after being coated in the dressing. The green onions gave the dish a nice, mild onion flavor. Visually, the green onions, carrots, and red cabbage gave the salad a colorful appeal. In regard to the dressing, it was sweet and tangy, with a lingering taste of sesame oil. The sesame oil provided a nuttiness that was necessary to balance the other flavors.

Trader Joe's has a few Asian-inspired salad kits, but this one was most similar in terms of components to Aldi's. Trader Joe's described this salad kit as being Thai-inspired, taking specific influence from the traditional Thai dish pad Thai. Like Aldi's salad kit, the Trader Joe's peanut and crispy noodle salad kit also included cabbage, carrots, and green onions. For the crunch factor, fried vermicelli rice noodles and dry-roasted peanut bits were used. The dressing, which was described as a peanut-lime dressing, was creamy and jam-packed with flavor. 

Crushed red pepper gave the dressing a bit of heat, while agave syrup added some sweetness. Thai lime leaves, spearmint, and cilantro offered citrus notes and herby layers. The spearmint and cilantro came through in the dressing. When I first tasted it, the mint hit me immediately. I was surprised by it at first, but it worked well with the citrusy peanut sauce. The cilantro flavor was prominent as well, since there were also fresh pieces in the salad itself. 

The only caveat about this salad was the crispy rice noodles, which were airy and light, but became soggy quickly and ended up lost amongst the other ingredients. However, the peanut bits filled the crunch gap that the noodles left behind. While Aldi's salad kit was tasty, Trader Joe's had a much more complex flavor profile, making it take the top Asian salad spot out of the two.

You may have heard of Southwestern cuisine, from traditional fry bread, the bacon-wrapped Sonoran hot dog, or the Southwest salad itself. Southwestern cuisine is the beautiful amalgamation of culinary traditions from Native Americans, Mexico, Spain, and cowboys. It's known for the use of chiles, as well as the use of the "three sisters," which are corn, squash, and beans. Southwest cuisine tends to have a kick of spice to it, and the Aldi Southwest chopped salad does not disappoint. The base of the salad kit had green and red cabbage, green leaf lettuce, kale, carrots, and green onions. There was a packet of shredded white cheddar cheese, a packet of tortilla strips, and a chipotle ranch dressing. The salad itself had a great balance between softer lettuce leaves and crunch. 

We eat with our eyes, and the salad mix itself was visually vibrant, with pops of purple, green, and orange. The tortilla strips were super crispy, and there was cheddar cheese powder on them, which paired well with their corn-forward flavor profile. The dressing was a creamy, bright orange chipotle ranch sauce. If you are a fan of spice, this dressing hits the mark. Deep smoky, spicy notes came first, followed by subtle sweetness from sugar and tomato paste. The salad tasted fresh, crispy, and wonderfully spicy.

The Trader Joe's Southwestern chopped salad kit had similar qualities to the Aldi's Southwest chopped salad kit, with green cabbage, lettuce, carrots, and green onions. Trader Joe's opted for cubed pieces of cotija cheese, which is an aged Mexican cheese. TJ's salad kit also included tortilla strips, and small bits of radish and cilantro laced in the salad mix.

This salad kit had some solid components. The radishes added a peppery bite and crispness, while the tortilla chips were salty with a corn flavor. The pumpkin seeds were both nutty and sweet, and the cotija cheese was soft and mild. When looking at the elements themselves, Trader Joe's salad seemed more authentic to Southwestern cuisine. Mexican cheese was included as well as ingredients native to the Americas, like avocados and pumpkin seeds. 

However, the dressing can make or break a salad. The spicy avocado dressing included in this salad kit wasn't up to par. It wasn't terrible by any means; it was just very light. I didn't get too much spice or avocado flavor from it. It had a tiny hint of spice, but was more salty and sweet than spicy. Cilantro notes came through more than the avocado. The salad itself was still yummy, but the Aldi salad kit just came up ahead in terms of the dressing.

For this salad kit comparison, I made sure to look at all of the salad kits that Trader Joe's and Aldi currently provide, and try to find kits that had a similar cuisine style or base ingredients. Next, I considered the freshness of the ingredients, the texture of the salad itself, as well as the ingredients individually, the flavor of the dressing, and the overall taste of the salad as a whole.

When it came down to the salad kits, it was a close matchup. I often found myself going back and forth, and once I made my initial choices, I went back and tried them all again just to ensure my opinions remained consistent. That being said, Trader Joe's had two salad kits that persevered, and one that was close. Trader Joe's came out on top because of the little details. The salad kits were texturally more interesting and had more complex, but still balanced, flavor profiles. There was a broader range of unique but cuisine-relevant ingredients that elevated the kits, like using aged Mexican cheese or Thai lime leaves. 

Although Aldi's salad kits were also tasty, they were a bit plain in terms of ingredients and didn't have the same quality of wanting a third, fourth, or fifth bite. They weren't as exciting on the palate. When taking each factor into consideration, I found that Trader Joe's salad kits met these qualities more so than Aldi's.