The Best Pastrami at the Grocery Store

The best pastrami is salty, savory, lean, and—spoiler—you’re most likely to find it behind the deli counter at your local grocery store. Yep, the best deli pastrami comes from the deli. Trust me. I ate a lot of pastrami, including the pre-packaged stuff from the other cold cuts department. It just can’t hold a candle—or a garlic dill pickle, as it were—to the freshly sliced stuff. 

First, if you’re sitting there like, “What is pastrami? Is it just corned beef with a little more sex appeal?” we have a whole explainer on the subject, but, in short, it’s beef brisket that’s seasoned and smoked after it’s been brined. 

Not all pastrami tastes smoky, and that’s okay—but we really liked being able to taste a touch of smoke in some of these. Other than that, we wanted nice, tender beef that’s well-seasoned and peppery and would taste really good on rye bread with a squirt of brown mustard.

Here’s the best pastrami at the grocery store.

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Best Lightly Seasoned

Primo Taglio Naturally Smoked Pastrami

Safeway

Primo Taglio pastrami, which we had sliced at the deli at our local Vons (an Albertsons-owned grocery store), is a little bit of a format buster. It’s very lightly peppered around the edges, so lightly that at first I didn’t think it was peppered at all. Honestly, this made me worry that it wouldn’t be flavorful, but it really is. Whatever is in Primo Taglio’s brine is really great—the meat is salty, but there’s a hint of sweetness, too. If you like super peppery pastrami, this might not be your jam, but if you want flavor that’s really seeped into the meat, this is some of the best deli pastrami. 

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Lean

Boar’s Head Top Round Pastrami

Pavilions

If you’re the kind of person who shouts “I said lean!” at the butcher counter, this Boar’s Head pastrami is the pastrami for you. It has a drier quality, like it’s made with a really lean piece of brisket. This claims to be smoked, but I didn’t really detect a smoky flavor—it’s much more like New York deli pastrami than, say, smoky Montreal-style brisket. We really loved the finely ground pepper around the edges. This is the best pastrami for sandwiches loaded with horseradish mayo and melted Swiss—some fatty stuff to complement the lean beef. 

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

Boar’s Head Romanian Style Pastrami

Kroger

Fun fact: Pastrami originated in Romania. So I guess you could say that all pastrami is Romanian pastrami, but this Boar’s Head pastrami is definitely different from the Top Round variety. This has a mild smoky flavor that was absent in most of the other pastrami we tried. And it appears to be rubbed with paprika instead of pepper—that spicy, fruity flavor tastes so good with the smoked meat; arguably better than black pepper! Boar’s Head usually nails it and turns out they make the best pastrami, too. 

Credit: Merc / Kroger

Rating:

10/10

Sporks