PEOPLE Food Awards 2019: The Best Supermarket Products of the Year
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Introducing the PEOPLE Food Awards 2019!
Grocery shelves are packed with products promising great taste, easy preparation and healthy benefits—but do they really deliver? To find out, PEOPLE editors ate, drank and cooked more than 1,200 different items to find the most delicious new supermarket foods. Make room in your shopping cart this week because these winners—all featured in the July 15th issue of PEOPLE— are worth it.
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WINNER: BEST PASTA
Rao's Homemade Linguine
Slow-dried with a subtly bumpy texture, the noodles cook up perfectly al dente—firm, chewy, delicious—and absorb the ideal amount of sauce. “I added 20 bags to my wedding registry,” raved one tester.
Buy It! $3; raos.com
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WINNER: BEST SOUP
Campbell’s Well Yes! Sweet Corn & Roasted Poblano
Slightly sweet and smoky, it heats up in 2 minutes in the microwave and has a sippable spout. “Stash it in your desk—it’s the best work lunch,” said a tester.
Buy It! $2 each; amazon.com
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WINNER: BEST MEAL KIT
Food Network Kitchen Inspirations Korean-Style BBQ Kit
Just add steak (or chicken or tofu)—the flavorful rice, kimchi and sauce are included. “You can’t mess this up,” promised a tester.
Buy It! $4; foodnetworkkitcheninspirations.com
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WINNER: BEST PASTA SAUCE
Barilla Vero Gusto Calabrian Marinara
The Italian peppers add a natural sweetness—not the sugary kind you find in some other jarred sauces—and a hint of heat.
Buy It! $6 for 20 oz.; publix.com
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WINNER: BEST PLANT-BASED
RightRice Garlic Herb
The fast-cooking kernels—made with lentils, chickpeas and green peas—won’t turn mushy when cooked or reheated the next day. Plus each serving has 10g of protein.
Buy It! $4 for 7 oz.; amazon.com
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WINNER: BEST CANNED BEANS
S&W Indian Style Savory Sides
“I could’ve eaten this out of the can by itself!” a staffer gushed about these flavorful garbanzo beans stewed with peppers, onions and curry.
Buy It! $1.59; fredmeyer.com
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WINNER: BEST WRAP
Angelic Bakehouse Garden Wraps: Turmeric Sweet Potato
Made with sprouted whole grains and packed with protein and fiber, they'll add great flavor to lunch or weeknight enchiladas.
Buy It! $4.49 for 6; angelicbakehouse.com
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WINNER: BEST RICE KIT
Goya Paella
Rice, seasoning and seafood—it’s all in the box! Testers raved about the easy-to-follow directions (it's ready in three steps!) and flavorful results. “It brought me back to my days in Barcelona,” said one staffer.
Buy It! $7; walmart.com
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WINNER: BEST COOKIES
Fudge Covered Oreo
Cloaked in a layer of chocolate, the sandwich cookies are “sweet but not too sweet,” said a staffer. “The fudge shell also helps keep the wafers crispy when you dunk them in milk.”
Buy It! $3.29 for 12; target.com
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WINNER: BEST CANDY BAR
M&M’s Crispy Milk Chocolate Bar
It’s like two treats in one: Each chunky square of this bar is generously studded with colorful, crispy candies.
Buy It! $1.68; walmart.com
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WINNER: BEST CAKE MIX
Trader Joe’s Mochi Cake Mix
A cross between traditional cake and Japanese mochi (a sweet, rice-based dough), the results are delightfully custardy and bouncy with chewy, browned edges.
Buy It! $4; traderjoes.com
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WINNER: BEST GUMMY CANDY
Black Forest Gummy Bears
“I didn’t know gummy bears could taste so good!” a tester said of these soft, chewy candies made with real fruit juice and plant-based colors.
Buy It! $3.49 for 8 oz.; walmart.com
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WINNER: BEST POTATO CHIPS
Cape Cod Waves Sea Salt
Salty, crunchy and sturdy enough for dipping, this is the classic chip at its best. “I could polish off a bag in one sitting,” said one staffer.
Buy It! $3.79 for 7.5 oz.; target.com
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WINNER: BEST POPCORN
SkinnyPop Sweet & Salty Kettle Popcorn
Every fluffy kernel is lightly sweet, slightly salty and super-crunchy. Gobble them up by the handful—it clocks in at only 140 calories for a 2½ cup serving.
Buy It! $4.29 for 5.3 oz.; shop.skinnypop.com
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WINNER: BEST TORTILLA CHIPS
Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nacho
They start with a subtle nacho flavor but follow with a heat that continues to build. They had testers reaching for water and coming back to crunch some more.
Buy It! $4.29 for 9.75 oz.; walmart.com
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WINNER: BEST CRACKERS
Stacy’s Cheese Petites: Romano with Garlic & Pepper
Baked with real cheese, these bite-size crackers are perfectly salty, crispy and poppable.
Buy It! $5 for 4 oz.; walmart.com
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WINNER: BEST SNACK BAR
KIND Dark Chocolate Almond & Coconut
Both crunchy and chewy, each bar is full of roasted almonds and chunky coconut chips and drizzled with dark chocolate.
Buy It! $15 for 12 bars; kindsnacks.com
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WINNER: BEST NUTS
Whole Foods Market Kettle-Cooked Cacao Nib Cashews
“They taste like candy!” a tester raved about these plump, candied nuts studded with bitter, chocolatey nibs.
Buy It! $6 for 8 oz.; wholefoodsmarket.com
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WINNER: BEST HOT DOG
Nathan’s Famous Jalapeño & Cheddar Beef Franks
Stuffed with cheese and chiles, the sausages impressed staffers who liked the “meaty flavor that wasn’t too salty or spicy.”
Buy It! $5 for 5; heb.com
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WINNER: BEST BACON
Pure Farmland Applewood Smoked Bacon
Thick and marbled, the strips crisped up perfectly in the pan: “I see a lot of BLTs in my future,” said a taster.
Buy It! $5 for 10 oz.; target.com, Walmart stores
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WINNER: BEST TURKEY BURGER
Applegate Organics "The Great Organic Blend Burger": Turkey
No dry burgers here! Organic mushrooms are mixed into the patties, helping the turkey meat stay juicy and flavorful.
Buy It! $10 for 4; applegate.com
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WINNER: BEST FROZEN CHICKEN
Perdue SimplySmart Organics: Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Strips
Fully cooked and frozen, the lightly breaded strips take minutes to heat up—and come out plump, crispy and juicy.
Buy It! $10 for 24 oz.; target.com
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WINNER: BEST TUNA
Chicken of the Sea Infusions: Basil
Whether served over salad or eaten on its own (there’s a fork in the lid!), this wild-caught tuna with olive oil and sweet basil was a lunchtime favorite.
Buy It! $2.29 for 2.8 oz; amazon.com
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WINNER: BEST JERKY
Krave Cracked Peppercorn Gourmet Beef Cuts
Tasters gave high marks for “the perfect jerky texture” (not stringy or chewy like others we tried) and bold pepper flavor.
Buy It! $6 for 2.7 oz.; cvs.com
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WINNER: BEST FROZEN MEAL
Amy’s Mac & Cheese Meatless Pepperoni Bowl
The creamy, cheddar-smothered pasta cooks up remarkably firm and chewy—even in the microwave.
Buy It! $4.49; target.com
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WINNER: BEST PIZZA CRUST
Green Giant Cauliflower Pizza Crust: Tuscan
While other veggie crusts got soggy and fell apart, the “wheaty” texture (it's packed with 80 percent cauliflower), Italian spices and cornmeal-crusted base had tasters raving.
Buy It! $5; walmart.com
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WINNER: BEST BISCUIT
Pillsbury Grands! Sweet Hawaiian Biscuits
They bake up fluffy, flaky and buttery with just the right amount of pineapple sweetness. “Hello, biscuit of my dreams!” said a tester.
Buy It! $2; walmart.com
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WINNER: BEST SALAD DRESSING
Newman’s Own White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Staffers raved about its versatility—as a dressing and a marinade—and light, sweet-sour flavor. “It tastes homemade,” one said. Bonus: All of the profits from its sale go to charity.
Buy It! $4 for 16 oz.; newmansown.com
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WINNER: BEST SANDWICH SPREAD
Hellmann’s Classic Burger Sauce
It’s a condiment supergroup: Imagine the best of ketchup, mayo, mustard and relish coming together in one special sauce.
Buy It! $3.49 for 11 oz.; hellmanns.com
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WINNER: BEST RANCH
Twisted Ranch Black Peppered Parmesan
Get all the satisfaction of tangy ranch dressing with a cheesy, spicy kick. “Eat it with pizza—trust me on this,” urged a taster.
Buy It! $3.29 for 13 oz.; walmart.com
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WINNER: BEST SALSA
Pace Pineapple Serrano Chunky Texas Salsa
The hearty tomato salsa starts out sweet (that’s the pineapple) and builds to a medium-level heat (that’s the serrano chile).
Buy It! $2.47 for 15 oz.; heb.com
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WINNER: BEST NUT BUTTER
Justin’s Maple Cashew Butter
Salty, sweet, creamy, crunchy . . . check, check, check and check! This maple sugar-infused spread is the ultimate craving buster.
Buy It! $13 for 12 oz.; shop.justins.com
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WINNER: BEST CEREAL
Blueberry Cheerios
It’s the classic Cheerios flavor but with a pop of sweet berries (the O’s get that purple tint from a blueberry puree). “I now carry a bag of these in my purse—they’re my favorite on-the-go snack,” said a staffer.
Buy It! $4.79 for 19.5 oz.; target.com