The Aldi Eggplant Cutlets Reddit Is Calling 'Horribly Bitter'

Eating your daily servings of vegetables can be easier said than done, and it's especially difficult if your produce is too bitter or tough. Thankfully, there are some ways to deal with bitter vegetables. For example, cooking collard greens with lemon and salt will get rid of the bitter taste, and using some bread in the cooking process will offset the bitterness in asparagus. But if you've bought prepared vegetables, you might not have as much flexibility in their preparation.

Although some people avoid buying produce at Aldi because it spoils quickly, this isn't an issue with frozen vegetable dishes. But recently, customers have been finding issues with Season's Choice Eggplant Cutlets. On the Aldi Reddit, one person posted a photo of the package with the caption, "Anyone else having an issue with these being horribly bitter?"

This shopper wasn't alone, and many other people agreed that the eggplant cutlets weren't all that tasty. Plus, the brand's frozen and breaded eggplant fries were also bitter. One Aldi customer who bought the eggplant fries said they threw two boxes away because the product was "inedible." Others got luckier, with one person writing, "the ratio for me was 90% fine, 10 % bitter."

If these cutlets from Aldi's frozen aisle are usually a hit with you and your family, you've dodged the bitter eggplant. Usually, people are raving about these eggplant cutlets and fries. An Instagram post from 2019 called the frozen eggplant fries "super yummy," and in 2021, Reddit raved about the cutlets. In this post, one person said the cutlets were great for eggplant Parmesan and "made for a quick, low calorie lunch. I was honestly surprised how well I liked these, definitely worth it." While some people also found the eggplant bitter then, most comments were positive.

Ultimately, in the Reddit post where the eggplant's bitterness was originally brought up, people concluded that this might have been a quality control issue rather than the norm. One person commented, "I've bought the fries before and loved them, but the last ones were bitter too." If you have a box of the cutlets or fries sitting in your freezer, there might be a way to improve the taste. Another Reddit user suggested, "You may be able to salvage them by salting them, which draws out the bitter moisture, then patting them dry with a paper towel."

While you're waiting for a new shipment of frozen eggplant cutlets to come in, try making our recipe for baked breaded eggplant. Although it'll take more time than just popping pre-made cutlets in the air fryer, this recipe takes under 30 minutes.