15 Top-Rated Salty Snacks from Aldi, Ranked

To step through Aldi’s door is to waltz into glorious, off-brand snack heaven. The Germany-founded grocery chain — with a rapidly expanding presence in the U.S. — has been landing on everyone’s radar lately thanks to its outrageously low prices, and we have Aldi’s private label brands to thank for that. You’ll find snacks from Simply Nature, Clancy’s, Millville, Southern Grove and beyond — you may not have heard of the brand, but you’re certainly familiar with the flavors.

Aldi serves up product dupes that are conspicuously similar to (and sometimes even better than) the real deal, along with unique off-brand oddities that make it a goldmine of cheap goodies. I recently took a stroll down the Aldi snack aisle, diving into a selection of its top salty munchies — from umami-loaded potato chips to tangy, savory crisps — to rank them from worst to best. I built this ranking based on flavor, texture, and pure, unadulterated snackability to pinpoint the top salty delights (and a few worthy of a hard pass) at everyone’s favorite budget grocer. So get your appetite primed and have a cold drink ready, because we’re about to get salty.

Trail mix is usually all about sweet and salty, but some unique mixes offer a savory smack of umami instead. Unfortunately, the Southern Grove Cheddar Crunch Trail Mix will have you reaching for candy-filled mixes once again — anything to cleanse your palate of this cheesy abomination. The Cheddar Crunch mix consists of pecans, pepitas, almonds, peanuts, and the (alleged) pièce de résistance: dried cheddar chunks. But, what was supposed to be this mix’s highlight ended up being its greatest downfall, landing this snack in the dreaded last place spot on my list.

Overall, this trail mix tasted more like excessive salt than anything else. I expected cheese-flavored dust to coat all of the nuts, but instead, the cheddar taste came from some scarce chunks of dried cheese. The flavor of the cheese chunks was just like that of regular cheddar, but the texture — not dry enough to be crunchy but too crispy to be reminiscent of regular cheese — was appalling. Instead of satisfying a craving for cheese, it made me wish I had opted for a block of sharp cheddar and some salted nuts on the side instead of this off-putting, too-salty mix.

The snack aisle wouldn’t be complete without iconic peanut butter pretzels. I love how the pretzel pops when you bite into them, unleashing a wave of creamy, salty-sweet decadence amidst the crunchy pretzel. It’s the perfect flavor and texture mash-up. I had heard good things about Clancy’s Peanut Butter-Filled Pretzels, but these rumors of a tasty treat at Aldi proved to be nothing but tall tales.

The pretzels completely flopped when it came to texture. Taste-wise, they had an excellent ratio of sweet to salty, with a nice sprinkling of chunky salt on the outside that wasn’t too overpowering. But the peanut butter inside the pretzel nuggets was chalky and crumbly, not smooth and satiny like it should have been. It was hard to tell if the peanut butter was dry from age or if the crumbly, dusty filling was intentional. Either way, after just two pretzels, my mouth was completely dry, and my aspirations for this classic snack were completely eviscerated, leaving me with nothing but a 24-ounce bag of disappointment.

Simply Nature is Aldi’s house brand, featuring some non-GMO and gluten-free foods and healthy, cheap snacks with no artificial ingredients. Among its snack lineup are white cheddar puffs — an elevated, gluten-free take on the quirky, neon-orange cheese puffs from our childhoods. They’re made with real cheese, so I anticipated a punch of sharp, creamy, salty flavor. But, what I got from these puffs was more of a bland oil taste than any actual cheese.

Although the Simply Nature brand touts foods that are allegedly healthier than traditional snacks, the Simply Nature White Cheddar Puffs had a greasy, oily residue that put them in the same tier as potato chips. As for the cheese flavor, it was subtle, but it was clear that the white cheddar dust was derived from genuine ingredients — I just wish it was more of a burst of flavor rather than a whisper. They were also much smaller than I thought they would be, making it hard to get a full, satisfying bite out of them.

The Savoritz Shallot and Chive Mini Bagel Sandwich Crackers are made to mimic the flavor of a bagel — wheaty, salty, and dusted with aromatics, complemented by a thin layer of cream cheese filling. Their layered construction and light, toasty color made them look delicious. I was particularly impressed by the speckles of color from the shallots and chives. It looked like these crackers really went all-out.

Although the sandwich crackers were sufficiently salty, they were also far too sweet for an onion-forward snack. A touch of sugar complements umami ingredients like shallot and chive, but Savoritz went way overboard. These crackers are also really, really tiny. This might appeal to some snack lovers looking for a poppable treat but might turn off those looking for something with a more satisfying bite. I was impressed by their texture, which was soft, buttery, and slightly crunchy. However, the excessive sugar was too much of a distraction to make these crackers a worthwhile Aldi buy.

When you need a quick snack to stave off hunger and provide some healthy fats to boot, nuts are the clear choice. Aldi’s Southern Grove brand offers an all-inclusive mix of peanuts, pecans, almonds, Brazil nuts, and cashews dusted with sea salt. The container claims the mix is less than 50% peanuts, and I have to give a hand to Aldi for addressing this mixed nut faux pas.

There was a great variety in the Southern Grove Mixed Nuts, with large chunks of pecans, plenty of cashews, and quite a few buttery Brazil nuts. The nuts appeared to be middle-of-the-road as far as quality. They weren’t loaded with bold, earthy flavor like high-quality nut mixes, but they weren’t dry and bland like the bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. My major qualm was with the sea salt — there was way too much on this nut mix. If you find this snack in your Aldi cart, make sure to look for a blood pressure monitor from the Aisle of Shame, too.

Sometimes, when you crave a salty treat, you don’t want something covered in cheese, oil, or enough salt to put the Dead Sea to shame. That’s where snacks like the Savoritz Everything Bagel Flatbread Cracker come into play. The matzo-like crackers are ultra-thin and topped with chunky sea salt, sesame seeds, caraway seeds, onion, garlic, and canola oil.

As soon as I opened the box, I was blown away by how large the crackers were — the box only fit about a dozen of them. They were obviously intended for spreading dips on top and not dipping directly because trying to break them in half to dip more comfortably resulted in a crumbly mess. Without any dips or spreads, these crackers are a bit boring. The flavor of sesame overpowered the onion and garlic, but I appreciated the amount of salt — enough to give them zest but not enough to make them overbearing. They weren’t as crunchy as I had hoped, but with hummus, they would make a satisfactory, savory vegan treat.

Aldi’s Simply Nature Cheddar-Flavored Cauliflower Crackers are the healthier, gluten-free, plant-based version of Cheez-Its, and although they’re not as deliciously addicting as the king of cheese crackers, they’re still one of the best vegan options at Aldi. The crackers are primarily made of cauliflower and rice flour, with added vegetable flavors for a much more nuanced taste than classic cheese crackers.

The faux cheese flavor of the square crackers was mild but still apparent, offering a nice hint of umami. However, the crackers had more of a mixed vegetable taste from spinach, broccoli, carrot, tomato, and mushroom powder that — along with a lack of oiliness — made them taste garden-fresh. But the most prominent garden flavor of all was, unfortunately, cauliflower. Usually, it’s preferred when cauliflower crackers mask the potent earthiness of the cruciferous veggie, but it was front and center in these Simply Nature crackers.

There were plenty of chip options from Clancy’s, but I went with a classic kettle chip to get a good idea of the chip’s texture and quality without flavor dust convoluting my impression. I picked kettle chips because — as a proud potato chip purist — I believe there are no other potato chips worthy of anyone’s attention (I’m sorry if this offends any ridges lovers, but you’re wrong).

Clancy’s Kettle Chips had an excellent balance of ingredients; the salt and oil were distributed evenly across all chips, without too much of either ingredient throwing the flavor off-kilter. The bag was decently full, as opposed to a lot of chip bags that are 50% air (looking at you, Lay’s). However, I had some qualms with the thickness of these chips — or rather, lack thereof. I stand by the belief that kettle chips should be thick, with a satisfying crunch. Clancy’s chips were a bit thin and wimpy, making them a decent choice for a budget snack but far from the best kettle chips out there.

Cheese-stuffed olives are typically found on a charcuterie board among plenty of other snacking options, but who’s to say you can’t just crack open a jar of these salty, succulent morsels and go to town? Not me. Aldi’s Specially Selected Blue Cheese-Stuffed Olives are a decent choice for an unconventional snack that satisfies salt cravings with a punch of flavor, but they’re not safe from pitfalls.

I’m sure I don’t have to be the one to tell you that bleu cheese is very pungent. Its intense flavor isn’t for the faint of heart, so too much cheese could have easily made these olives hard to stomach, but too little would have made them bland and boring. I’m happy to report that the ratio was perfect. The cheese was bold and tangy, but not too potent, and the olives weren’t so salty that they drowned out the cheese taste. While the cheese flavor was superb, the same couldn’t be said for its texture. The olive brine made the cheese watery, giving it a slimy consistency that was a little difficult to look past.

Some snacks thrive off simplicity, and Clancy’s Sea Salt Popcorn is one of those simple, budget-friendly snacks that’s worth adding to your regular grocery order. It’s a solid option for a limited-ingredient salty treat (a rare find in the snack aisle) since it consists of just corn, oil, and sea salt.

When it comes to popcorn, I’m team large-and-fluffy-kernels over small-and-crunchy. Clancy’s popcorn leans on the small and crunchy side, which is a con for some popcorn fans and a pro for others. The salt amount wasn’t excessive but enough to be considered salty. However, the salt distribution was a little off, so give the bag a shake before diving in.

Hardly any unpopped kernels lingered at the bottom — a telltale sign that I wasn’t dealing with a low-quality bag of popcorn here. This neutral, lightly buttery snack would fare well as a blank canvas for tasty popcorn add-ins, like curry seasonings, candy, or homemade movie theater butter. On its own, it’s a pretty boring — albeit good quality — snack.

Since Simms — Aldi’s in-house jerky brand — is obviously packaged to mimic Jack Link’s, I expected it would be a worthy contender to the famous jerky brand. There are a few different flavors of Simms brand jerky at Aldi, but I went with the original for the same reason I chose plain kettle chips — to get a clear idea of the jerky’s quality, taste, and texture without superfluous ingredients getting in the way.

Everyone has their jerky preferences, but I can’t stand when jerky is so tough that biting into it is like a jaw workout, and the fear of losing a tooth or two is real. This wasn’t an issue with Simms Original Beef Jerky. The strips of beef were incredibly tender, thick, and expertly salted. I noticed a slightly sweet, artificial aftertaste that was off-putting after a few pieces, but hey — at least this weird taste will encourage you to take it slow with this otherwise delicious jerky.

Plantain chips are an excellent salty snack choice when regular old potato chips are getting tired and pretzels are starting to lose their luster. They have a natural, subtle sweetness that adds nuance and complexity to a snack. Aldi’s Mariquitas Classic Original Plantain Chips proved to be a quintessential example of this classic, Latin American-inspired chip.

The plantain chips had a light salty coating and no added flavors, so the natural, sweet earthiness of the chips could shine. They were extra thin but still substantial enough to dip or stuff into a sandwich for a little sweet crunch. I genuinely enjoyed everything about the taste and flavor of these chips — but there was one glaring defect. 

I was so appalled by the amount of air in the bag that I couldn’t possibly give this snack a higher spot on the list. A bag that’s half air is common and bad enough, but this large bag had to be about 75% air. Talk about a waste of packaging and a surefire way to create a dissatisfied customer.

Mexican street corn, otherwise known as elote, is having a big moment right now, and I’m absolutely here for it. The flavor of the traditional snack — consisting of cotija cheese, mayo, lime, and bold spices — is unique enough that brands have been capitalizing on its newfound popularity with tons of elote-inspired snacks. Clancy’s jumped on the street corn bandwagon with its Mexican-Style Street Corn-Flavored Dippers, which are essentially elote-flavored Fritos.

I was thoroughly impressed with the chips. These extra-large corn chips were brimming with an intense flavor that was a little sweet and intensely tangy. The initial salty, zesty taste is accompanied by a wave of heat that’s rare in chips. I know most spice lovers will agree that, usually, when a product claims to be spicy, it only has a subtle hint of heat. These chips, however, had me reaching for something cold to drink, which I couldn’t have been happier about.

That said, even though the seasoning was bold and complex, it had an artificial taste that gave me flavor fatigue after only a few chips. But a fresh dip like sour cream or guacamole would work wonders in toning down this unpleasant aftertaste.

A snack of tortilla chips with a fresh, veggie-based dip is a wholesome alternative to greasy potato chips or calorie-dense nuts when the craving for salt strikes. Simply Nature’s Multigrain Tortilla Chips are particularly wholesome with all-organic, fiber-rich corn, brown rice, flaxseeds, and a sprinkle of sea salt that brings the natural sweetness of their ingredients to life.

The tortilla chips lean on the saltier side, but the salt doesn’t drown out the bright, earthy flavors in the organic corn, rice, and flax. They’re neutral enough to dip in just about anything, but they’re flavorful enough to be a worthwhile snack all on their own — a rare feat for tortilla chips. This is also one of those rare times when the actual product — a delicious-looking golden yellow speckled with seeds — appeared more appealing than the image printed on the package. My only qualm rests in the chip’s density, which was a little flimsy, making dipping in more substantial dips like guacamole a challenge.

And finally, we crown the king of this salty snack showdown: Clancy’s Pub-Style Seasoned Pretzels. I know what you’re thinking: How can boring old pretzels be the best salty snack in this ranking? Well, these aren’t your grandfather’s pretzels. These outrageously delicious pretzels are seasoned with a creamy, herby dusting made with parsley, onion, and garlic. They’re bold, herbaceous, tangy, and downright delicious right out of the bag.

The seasoning on Clancy’s Pub-Style Seasoned Pretzels is incredibly zesty, but the flavor doesn’t get tired too fast, like other tangy snacks. The balance of herbs and aromatics to creaminess is exceptional, and the pretzels were sprinkled with just the right amount of seasoning so that they didn’t overwhelm my taste buds after eating more pretzels than I’d care to admit. The pretzels are delicious on their own, but sour cream and onion dip or beer cheese would take them to a whole other level. They have the perfect crunch and consistency — not so crispy that you might crack a tooth, but substantial enough for dipping and providing a satisfying crunch.

Since each of these snacks is vastly different, I didn’t compare them to one another. Instead, I gave each its place in this list based primarily on perceived quality and overall taste, along with a lesser focus on texture and presentation. Given that this ranking focused on salty foods, I factored in whether or not a snack could use a little more salt or if it was heavy-handed. I also checked for signs of obvious low quality — like too much air in the bag, tons of crumbs, and cheap-tasting greasiness. I cast aside my biases in savory treats to rank each item fairly so you can load up on just the best of the best that Aldi’s snack aisle has to offer.