USDA Choice Black Angus Ribeye Steak

Aldi is, in my experience, an underrated place to get steak. The selection is a little limited on account of Aldi’s size, but the grocer still manages to stock some of the more popular cuts. I’ve bought strip steaks to make fajitas, and I’ve purchased other steaks to serve as entrees.

One of my favorite steaks is a ribeye. While it’s one of the most expensive steaks at Aldi, it’s moderately priced compared to cuts in other stores. What’s more, I like how the marbled fat helps add flavor to the meat. I have fun cooking it up, to say nothing of how fun it is to eat it.

I first wrote about the Aldi ribeye back in 2016, alongside some of the other Aldi steaks. This year, I decided to revisit Aldi’s flagship steak.

USDA Choice Black Angus Ribeye Steak is an Aldi Regular Buy. You can find it in stores every day, back in the store’s refrigerated fresh meat section. At post time, the ribeye costs $11.99 a pound, which currently ties it with strip steak as the most expensive cut of meat per pound that Aldi sells. Each ribeye is a little different in size — most of the ones I saw were between 1.25 pounds and 1.5 pounds — so the total cost will vary.

The package states that the steak is a product of the United States. Different Aldi divisions may use different sources depending on location; our ribeye bore the designation EST. 85M, which according to the USDA corresponds to Cargill Meat Solutions, a subsidiary of the agribusiness giant Cargill and a common source for Aldi meat in the Midwest.

Nutrition and other information. (Click to enlarge.) 

To cook the ribeye, I used a tried and true method passed along to me from a professional chef: I brush all sides of the steak with olive oil and then season it with salt and pepper. I then cook the steak on medium high heat over the grill. Sometimes I cook the meat with the grill closed, but this time around I cooked the steak with the grill lid open. I kept a close eye on the steak, including testing it with my digital instant read thermometer when it looked to be approaching done. After cooking, I loosely topped it with foil and let it rest for a bit before cutting.

Part of the steak, cut.

I’ll say this: Aldi serves up a mean ribeye. It’s rich, flavorful, and when cooked right tastes great. The meat is tender and didn’t last long with our testers. As advertised, the fat adds a rich flavor to the meat during cooking, and the end product goes terrific with a good starch and salad.

The Verdict:

Aldi might not be the first place you think of for steak, but the grocer has a few good ones. The ribeye is currently the priciest cut, and we think it delivers: it cooks up nicely and tastes terrific, especially alongside the right side dishes. Not a bad place to look for a decent steak.