The $4.99 ALDI Find I Buy Every Time I Go—It Tastes Like a Restaurant’s

When we go out to eat at an Italian restaurant, my husband usually orders spaghetti and meatballs. It’s one of his favorite meals in the whole world, so when I can, I make it from scratch. However, this isn’t as often as he would like because meatball-making usually makes a mess of my kitchen.

So, I was really excited to discover Priano Restaurant-Style Meatballs in the freezer at ALDI.

What I Love About ALDI’s Restaurant-Style Meatballs

A package of ALDI’s Priano Restaurant-Style Meatballs weighs a pound and a quarter, and it contains about 20 meatballs, each about the size of a golf ball. It only costs $4.99, less than what a pound of beef often costs. According to the label, one serving is three meatballs, so there are almost seven servings per package.

Realistically, most people will eat four or five meatballs, so there are really four or five servings per bag; and in my experience, the average teenager will eat eight or nine, so one bag will feed two to three hungry teens. 

These meatballs are made of ground beef and ground pork, and they also contain Romano and Parmesan cheeses. They’re seasoned with onion, garlic, spices, and soy sauce. When you open up a package, you can smell the Italian seasoning right away.

How I Make ALDI’s Restaurant-Style Meatballs

The meatballs are easy to prepare. The package provides instructions for cooking them in a microwave, on the stovetop, or in the oven, but since they’re already cooked, the easiest method is the microwave. Two to four meatballs cook within a minute in my microwave, but your microwave might take a little more or less time.

Besides the absolute ease of cooking them, these meatballs also taste pretty darn good for frozen meatballs. I like the hint of soy sauce, which lends a touch of umami to the savory Italian flavors. 

My husband loved them, and my son approved of them. Though both prefer my homemade meatballs, they thought that ALDI’s version was a good substitute. 

The first time I made them, I added them to spaghetti with jarred marinara sauce, and dinner, with a bagged salad, was finished in less than 20 minutes. I also nuked them and some sauce in the microwave one morning for an easy Thermos lunch for my kiddo. 

The meatballs are perfect for an easy sub sandwich, and if you have some ready-made pizza dough and sauce, you can make meatball calzones, too.

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