The 5 Best Whole Foods Hot Bar Items, According to Pro Taste Testers

Remember during the pandemic when we thought buffets and salad bars were toast? Well, we lost some icons (RIP Souplantation), but the Whole Foods hot bar and salad bar live on. The hot bar in particular is an embarrassment of options—but, obviously, not everything you see is worth its weight, especially when you’re paying by the ounce. 

We recently loaded into the Sporked mobile (aka my Kia Niro) and set off on a journey to our local Whole Foods. We each grabbed a couple of those little brown cardstock boxes and piled at least a few bites of every single Whole Foods hot bar item inside, then retreated to the comfort of my car and dug in. Things we expected to love were mid at best! Things we thought would suck were great! Before you spend $12 a lb on pasty meatloaf, mushy mac and cheese, and flavorless green beans, allow us to direct you toward the stuff on the Whole Foods hot bar that’s actually worth buying.

Mashed Potatoes 

When we tasted these mashed potatoes we were like, damn, these things must be made from scratch. And according to a former Whole Foods employee with insight into their back-of-house procedures, they are! These mashed potatoes are SO creamy—even sitting in a chafing dish couldn’t dry ‘em out. If a full box of this hefty side dish didn’t cost $50 or something insane like that, I’d eat a whole box.

Turkey

You’ll find FAT slabs of turkey on the Whole Foods hot bar. My colleague Justine Sterling referred to it as a “turkey steak” and that feels like the correct branding. There’s gravy in the pan with the turkey, and, when we visited, there was lots and lots to spoon over the meat. The gravy is salty and so is the meat, almost like it was brined. Between the high salinity and the thickness of the slabs, we were stunned to discover that the meat wasn’t at all dry. Isn’t that wild? For hot bar turkey? I said aloud, “I feel like the turkey and mashed potatoes are better than what you’d get at Thanksgiving dinner,” and I meant it! 

Charbroiled Chicken

Don’t have the time or energy to marinate a bunch of chicken in Italian dressing and then cook it on the outdoor grill? Maybe the weather sucks and you’ve pulled the ol’ Weber is in its cocoon in the garage for the season? GET THIS CHICKEN. It rules. 

Parmesan Potatoes

These potatoes are SO tender, creamy, and savory. They’re absolutely covered in melty strands of shredded parmesan. Delish. Get these with the artichoke chicken—they work really nicely together (although we didn’t think the chicken was good enough to include on its own; it’s pretty oily, but the potatoes will sop that up real nice).

Pork Carnitas

The pork is a little dry, but the flavor is nice and meaty and tangy. Tangy-meaty, is how we referred to it. This is good, tasty stewed meat that’s gonna kick ass in some tacos or in a burrito bowl—and, get real, you’re not making carnitas at home! Have you ever seen the taco-stand man make carnitas? It’s actually kind of complicated if you do it correctly. The best Whole Foods hot bar items should save you time (since they may or may not save you money).