Trader Joe’s vs. Aldi: Which Store Offers the Best Sweet Snacks?

If you love buying snacks and sweet treats at Trader Joe’s and Aldi and feel like the two brands seem somewhat similar, you aren’t just imagining it. There’s indeed a connection between the two. Long story short: What we know as Aldi was founded by brothers in Germany in the 1940s. By the 1960s, the siblings disagreed on whether they should sell cigarettes in the store, thus resulting in them splitting the business into Aldi Sud and Aldi Nord. Aldi Nord purchased Trader Joe’s in 1979 and started operating under that moniker.

I wanted to see how similar the two companies are, so I pitted them against each other to see which makes the better sweet snacks. I miraculously have a Trader Joe’s and an Aldi across the street from each other, making this an easy mission to pull off. Trader Joe’s items were around seven dollars more expensive, so if you’re looking at budget alone, then you might want Aldi’s options. 

However, there are other factors in play for this taste test, such as flavor (the most important), texture, appearance, ingredients, weight, and overall value (of the weight-to-cost ratio). I may mention sustainability, but this is not a deciding factor in this particular tasting, although, it can certainly be something to consider. Let’s try a very chocolate-forward range of sweets.

Let’s start with the obvious here. These cookies are pretty dissimilar, from appearance to taste to texture. Although the Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Dipped French Butter Cookies and Aldi’s Specially Selected Dark Chocolate Coated Butter Cookies are both deemed butter cookies, that’s where the similarities end. 

The TJ’s butter cookies are fully coated and dipped in a thin layer of dark chocolate. These have a delicate, crisp texture and a round shape, while the cookie center is buttery and delicate. The Aldi ones are topped with a thicker layer of chocolate, and the underside is bare, revealing the cookie. These are very similar to the Lu Petit Écolier European dark chocolate biscuit cookies that I grew up with, which give me a nostalgic feeling. This treat is more like a digestive biscuit than a butter cookie. I didn’t pick up on any buttery notes like the TJ’s one. The cookie is very firm and crunchy and would work nicely dunked into a cup of coffee. 

The Trader Joe’s cookies are slightly cheaper, but not by a lot. Seeing as these are so different, the winner is ultimately going to range based on your taste. I liked them both for different reasons and would call this a tie. You can’t go wrong with either one, but they offer totally different experiences.

Now we move on to both brands’ versions of an Oreo dupe. Trader Joe’s Chocolate Vanilla Creme Joe-Joe’s are among the brand’s most popular chocolate treats. These sandwich cookies are incredibly dark; they are practically black in color. TJ’s is flavored with natural flavors and lists vanilla bean specks as one of the ingredients, which is quite sophisticated for a store cookie. When you open the Trader Joe’s cookie, it has obvious vanilla flecks in the creme center, giving it an elevated appearance to the otherwise white cream. The cookie itself has a rich cocoa flavor and a firm, crisp texture that snaps as you take a bite. Think about dunking a cookie in milk only to lose it at the bottom, just to have to fish it out with your fingers. In that case, the TJ’s treat would hold up without falling apart. 

The Benton’s Original Chocolate Sandwich Creme Cookies from Aldi are a rich, dark brown color with a white cream center. The packaging says (in tiny letters) that it is artificially flavored. While firm, they are not nearly as crunchy as the TJ’s option, so this could be a decision-maker if you want a not-as-crisp dessert. Based on the sugar content of each, the Joe-Joe’s are not quite as sweet. Although Aldi’s is a better value — you get nearly one ounce more, and it’s about 50 cents cheaper — I deem Trader Joe’s the winner of this round. I also prefer the vanilla bean, natural flavorings, and rich cocoa taste.

Both of these dark chocolate delights are similar to Brookside açai blueberry, which you can find at many grocery stores. The Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Covered Powerberries come in an 8-ounce pack. The “powerberries” are made with real fruit juice comprised of açai, pomegranate, cranberry, and blueberry. The texture is very soft on the inside; the fruit piece in the center and the chocolate mesh together and melt as you chew. It doesn’t give you much of a mouthfeel other than chocolate. This is pretty sweet with a generic, mild fruit flavor. Because it’s made with multiple juices, it doesn’t taste like any one in particular. 

Texture-wise, the Choceur Superberries Blueberry Açai one has more chewiness to it, making it feel substantial as you sink your teeth into it. Upon biting it in half, the Aldi chocolates have a square piece of the fruity center, whereas the Trader Joe’s one is more like a disc (akin to the name brand Brookside ones). The Aldi creation is blueberry açai flavored, made with Fair Trade Certified cocoa, and comes in a 7-ounce pack. 

The Choceur candies ranked dead last in a taste test for Aldi chocolate candies purely because a fruity, gummy, and chocolatey combination may not suit everyone’s taste. And I have to agree with this sentiment for both brands. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t stand out. They’re fruity but nondescript. Because they’re pretty similar in taste, I’d mark these as equal. The value difference is marginal, so that isn’t a big deciding factor. It boils down to whether you want a candy that melts in your mouth or one that’s moderately chewy.

These peanut butter cups are extremely similar in taste. However, the appearance discrepancy is pretty apparent. Both have a milky chocolate exterior that melts nicely on the tongue, the chocolate pairs wonderfully with the creamy peanut butter for the perfect chocolatey, nutty profile. It’s a beloved combination for a reason. Aldi’s has a subtle salty profile to give the flavor depth, while TJ’s is marginally sweeter with a higher sugar content.

The Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups come in a see-through plastic container, and each one is wrapped in a paper wrapper — like you’d see with a Reese’s cup. They also have a small marking on top where you can see that the chocolate was dipped and then dried, giving it an almost homemade appearance. For one dollar more, you also get one pound (compared to Aldi’s 12 ounces), making TJ’s a much better value. 

The Choceur Peanut Butter Cups from Aldi have a slightly snappier chocolate shell texture. The appearance is noticeably messier, almost chalky. It looks like they got beaten up, tossed, and jostled on the journey to the store, whereas the Trader Joe’s ones are more polished.

These two do a really good job of mimicking each other, but I’d pick TJ’s as the winner based on appearance and value. I like the individually wrapped paper. This is the one to choose if I were putting them on display for a party. However, the Choceur cocoa comes from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, if that is a big factor for you.

Now we move on to the only non-chocolate item on this list, which is much needed. Both of these items are located in the store’s bakery section, near other baked goods and breads. The Trader Joe’s blueberry muffin has a thicker base, but it’s shorter and stouter. It has a sugary top to give it almost a crispy coating, which offers a fun morsel of texture. It has whole blueberries speckled throughout the inside of the pastry. The berries look fresh, plump, soft, and purple and don’t have an overpowering flavor or scent; the muffin itself is cakey, dense, and tasty.

The Aldi Bake Shop Blueberry Muffins have a somewhat sad and soft streusel topping; the muffins are noticeably taller than the TJ’s ones and have a distinctly artificial berry aroma. The muffin itself has a pale blue hue because it is colored with annatto but doesn’t have a lot of depth as far as the flavor and texture. The blueberries are very dark, practically black, and don’t have the purple-blue shade that I associate with the fruit.

Despite the Trader Joe’s muffins costing a bit over one dollar more, they win this one by a long shot. I prefer the cake-like flavor and texture without the artificial flavoring that overwhelms the senses. I would highly recommend these; they taste and appear high-quality in their paper wrapper. My only suggestion is to scour the shelves for the one with the furthest best by date to ensure freshness.

Can you go wrong with chocolate-covered almonds? Not really, because both these companies offer great options. Both the plastic containers and almonds themselves look very similar, with a comparable shiny, snappy chocolate coating. I’d mark these are the most similar items on this entire list. There’s only one difference that I could spot, or should I say, taste?

Although both have dry roasted almonds, Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Almonds are more crunchy and have a more prominent roasted flavor — as in they had a deeper nutty taste and darker color. There is slightly less chocolate, whereas the Choceur Dark Chocolate Almonds one has a thicker coating. The Aldi one wasn’t as nutty, despite also being dry roasted. By appearance alone, you wouldn’t be able to tell which is which, but I could point out the TJs’ one after that first crunch. 

Although the TJ’s nuts are $3 more, you get 16 ounces of product instead of Aldi’s 10 ounces; therefore, Trader Joe’s is a much better deal. There’s not a lot of difference between the almonds, except for the quantity and a slight nutty nuance. While Trader Joe’s might seem initially expensive, it’s still more cost-effective if you’re on a budget. I would pick the TJ’s one for the value and flavor of the nuts. Chop them up to toss on your chocolate almond bark for a chocolate-charged dessert, but you could incorporate them into oatmeal, trail mix, or as a topping for an ice cream sundae.

If you like caramel, then each brand offers a unique option. While they’re similar in theory, the shape and flavor profile are different, which means you may have a preference for one over the other. I have previously tried the caramels from Trader Joe’s for an article on sweet treats to get from TJ’s for your Valentine, and they are a solid candy. They have a buttery caramel interior and a medium amount of chocolate (not thin-dipped, but not too thick, either). They are thin but wide, while the Choceur dark chocolate sea salt caramels are thick squares.

The Aldi ones have coarse salt sprinkled on top, adding dimension to the mostly buttery, cocoa-y treat, which I enjoyed. The packaging notes that they are a Rainforest Alliance Certified option. But texture-wise, they are very chewy. I popped a small misshapen one that was half the size of the rest in my mouth as I was driving, and it felt like I was chewing the caramel for half my drive. I understand that is the nature of caramel, but the chocolate had melted and already been swallowed, leaving me with a wad of caramel.

I’d recommend cutting it in half or taking small bites to avoid this problem. Both caramels are pretty similar — chewy with notes of butter and chocolate — but I’d mark Aldi as the winner of this one because of the salt, which introduces a fantastic profile to the otherwise sweet squares. But the Sanders dark chocolate sea salt caramels from my Costco Candies taste test are even better.

To pick comparable products, I scoured Trader Joe’s and Aldi’s websites to find the most similar items. For example, TJ’s carries a range of gummies and cookies, but Aldi didn’t have anything similar from its own brand(s) – it only carried Haribo gummies. Therefore, a lot of these products are chocolate-covered in some way — which I’m not mad about, but I would’ve enjoyed more range. 

I made my decision on which is best based on factors such as taste, texture, appearance, ingredients, weight, and the value of the items — value was calculated based on cost per ounce. For example, Aldi’s chocolate-covered almonds cost $4.99 for 10 ounces, and the Trader Joe’s one is priced at $7.49 for 16 ounces; TJ’s is a slightly better value per ounce despite the price difference.

I visited my local Aldi and Trader Joe’s in the San Diego area to purchase these items. Since they’re all sweet, they are relatively easy to find in the aisles; you don’t have to go all over the store to find them. Many of the items on this list are quite similar to one another, but others were not as easily comparable. I regularly shop at both stores and enjoy their products, and while Aldi puts up a good fight and offers great items (the Aldi’s Specially Selected Dark Chocolate Coated Butter Cookies are top tier), TJ’s is the winner of this sweet treat taste test.