Gwynedd Stuart
If the arrival of fall has you watching Hocus Pocus on repeat, busting out your coziest flannel shacket even though it makes your armpits sweat, and buying up every pumpkin spice product this side of the Mississip, then you have to get to Aldi asap. The discount grocer’s seasonal aisle is absolutely stacked with Aldi fall items, from pumpkin spice bagels (surprisingly, not bad) to flavored nuts that are cozier than that Lenny Kravitz-style oversized scarf you’ll be wearing for the foreseeable future.
Two years in a row, we filled our cart with more than two dozen Aldi fall items and tasted them all. And while they’re all affordable products (we walked out spending less than 100 bucks), there’s no reason to spend your hard-earned fall haul money on Aldi fall foods that are mid or worse. What we have here are the eight best Aldi fall products you’ll find on shelves this year. ‘Tis the (spooky) season, baby.
The following article contains affiliate links that may generate a small commission to us when you make a purchase through the link. Learn more about how we work with affiliates here.
- Millville Pumpkin Spice Instant Oatmeal
-
To review some of these Aldi fall items, I had to set aside my ambivalence about the pumpkin spice flavor profile. Would I personally enjoy eating oatmeal with this much nutmeg and ginger in the mix? No, but I think pumpkin spice fans will like it a lot. Like the apple cinnamon pretzels, these oats are rescued by just a touch of salt—in fact, I’d take things a step further and add a pat of salted butter and just a touch of maple syrup to balance out the spice. The best things about this instant oatmeal? It cooks up great in the microwave—the oats are tender but firm. It’s a hearty, satisfying fall breakfast.
Credit: Merc
- L’oven Fresh Pumpkin Spice Bagels
-
I know, I know. Pumpkin spice bagels sound weird, right? Well, they are. But these make the list because the pumpkin spice flavor is decently unobtrusive (if you like a lot of spice, you probably won’t like these), the bagels are nice and chewy out of the toaster, and they taste REALLY GOOD with Benton’s Pumpkin Maple Spread, which is one of the better Aldi fall foods on this list. If you buy these, make sure to buy that and some salted butter, too. Yum.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Bake Shop Bakery Apple Cider Donuts
-
If you’ve ever had apple cider donuts fresh from an apple orchard, these Aldi apple cider donuts probably aren’t going to wow you. They’re a little dry, and they don’t have that fresh-from-the-fryer oiliness that makes a drive to the country worthwhile. They are good, though. They’re cakey and coated with cinnamon sugar. I didn’t try heating them, but I suspect a few seconds in the microwave would enhance some of their better qualities and soften them up a bit. They’ll certainly be good dunked in hot apple cider.
Credit: Merc / Aldi
- Creme Filled Pumpkin Spice Wafer Rolls
-
This is a nice, respectable after-lunch cookie. The wafer is very crisp and delicate and the filling is spiced and sweet—perfect for dunking in tea or coffee. And I’m a sucker for a tin like the one these cookies come in. It’s perfect for squirreling away some apocalypse cash in the pantry.
Credit: Merc / Aldi
- Benton’s Pumpkin Maple Spread
-
If you like apple butter, then this is one of the Aldi fall items that should find its way into your cart. It’s apple butter-esque, but it actually tastes like squash—pumpkin is the #1 ingredient—and it’s a little more gelatinous. It’s like squash baby food but 1,000 times sweeter. I slathered this on one of the pumpkin spice bagels, and it was great, but I would really freak out for this in some fall-flavored linzer cookies. This jar of pumpkin jelly came home with me.
Credit: Merc
- Pumpkin Cookie Sandwiches
-
These are like little whoopie pies and they’re GOOD. The cookies are soft baked and a little pumpkiny, but our favorite part is that the cream cheese frosting in the sandwiches actually tastes like cream cheese! The tang is a really nice touch and keeps the cookies from being just sweet sweet sweet. This is a surprisingly nuanced lil Aldi fall treat.
Credit: Merc / Aldi
- Bake Shop Bakery Pumpkin Sliced Loaf Cake
-
Okay, speaking of baked goods, I am pleased to report that you can g’head and unbookmark that recipe for pumpkin cake and just buy Aldi’s version instead. It tastes pumpkin-y (yes, there is actually pumpkin in this), but the pumpkin puree doesn’t weigh it down. These slices of loaf cake are unbelievably moist and fluffy. As my colleague Justine Sterling put it, “It’s so light and not at all claggy” (which means it’s not dense and gummy, just in case you don’t watch The Great British Bake-Off). This is one of the best Aldi fall products to toss in the breakroom at work when morale needs a boost. Everyone will like you a little bit more.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
- Bake Shop Bakery Pumpkin Cake Roll
-
Besides being extremely aesthetically pleasing, this Swiss roll cake from Aldi is a knockout in the flavor department, too. It’s very spiced, much more spiced than the pumpkin loaf cake, but the spice blend is heavy on the ginger, which works nicely. The cake has an almost gingerbread-y flavor as a result. (Worth noting: Unlike the loaf cake, this cake doesn’t actually contain pumpkin, but we won’t hold that against it.) The flavor of the cake is unreal when you get a bite with the slightly salty, cream cheese frosting. Put this in some tin foil and say you made it yourself. No one will question you.
Credit: Merc / Instacart
Aldi Fall!
Aldi Fall!
Aldi Fall!
Aldi Fall!
Aldi Fall!
Aldi Fall!
Aldi Fall!
Aldi Fall!
Other Aldi fall products we tried
Specially Selected Apple & Cinnamon Brioche Ring, Southern Grove Pumpkin Spice Almonds, Clancy’s Drizzled Pumpkin Spice Kettle Corn, Clancy’s Pumpkin Spice Yogurt Covered Pretzels, Choceur Pumpkin Pie Caramel Clusters, Benton’s Apple Pie Sandwich Cremes, Benton’s Pumpkin Spice Mini Biscotti, Benton’s Salted Caramel Apple Spread, Millville Cocoa Sea Salt Instant Oatmeal, Choceur Assorted Belgian Chocolate Apples, Choceur Assorted Belgian Chocolate Pumpkins, L’oven Fresh Harvest Bagels, Snickerdoodle Almonds, Apple Cinnamon Pretzels, Deutch Kuche Roasted Pepper and Cheddar Strudel, Deutch Kuche Pork Schnitzel, Specially Selected Fall Harvest Mac and Cheese, Specially Selected Pumpkin Maple Bisque, Specially Selected Butternut Squash Bisque, Clancy’s Maple Kettle Corn, Apple Cider Cake Bites
Ariana Losch
Jessica Block
