We Tried The Absolute Best And Worst Beef Products To Buy At Walmart

We've all been there: standing in the refrigerated air of the meat section, trying to figure out which brand of ground beef to buy, which cut of steak to snag, or which package of burgers will satisfy a hungry family. Today, more than ever, supermarket shelves are stocked with different options, and Walmart is no different. As the largest grocery store chain in the U.S., Walmart is the go-to spot for many, so knowing what to get and what to skip is important — especially in the meat aisle, where costs can add up quickly.

I visited my local Walmart and picked eight items to cook and compare to help make your next trip to the store a little easier. Some items are more of a one-to-one comparison — for example, looking at two different types of patties — while others were chosen to add variety to my selection. You can find out more about the methodology at the end, but for now read on to find out which beef products stand up to the competition and which are better left behind.

Pork ribs tend to get most of the love for their frequent appearances in barbecues, leaving beef ribs feeling like a second-class meat. I'm here to say otherwise and campaign on behalf of boneless beef ribs because these were delicious. As with most meats, it's all in the preparation. To cook my 1.12 pound beef ribs, I seared them and then placed them in an Instant Pot with sauteéd onions and carrots, beef broth and some red wine. The result was akin to a beef stew and the meat became perfectly shreddable by the end.

At $12.29, this was the most expensive cut of beef I purchased and while it was tasty, there were only six ribs in the package. With only a few fatty spots, there was little lost in the cooking process, but somehow this one pound of meat felt like less than a pound of ground beef or even a third-pound burger. Still, if size is the only complaint I can muster, it's a sign of quality meat. Buy the ribs, but think about getting more than one pack if you're feeding more than two people.

Steak from Walmart just doesn't sound right. It's nothing against the nation's leading grocery store, but steak conjures images of a dimly lit restaurant, an extensive whiskey list, and a price tag that makes your eyes water. Instead, this is a quality piece of meat at a reasonable price. The flat iron cut I chose was just over half a pound and sold for $11.84 a pound. That makes this steak less expensive than the ribs and is proof positive that steak doesn't always have to break the bank.

I kept the preparation simple, opting for salt, pepper, and a hot gas grill until it was medium-rare. The result was a flavorful, meaty steak. The flat iron cut comes from the shoulder of the steer and is often marinated and used in dishes like fajitas but this cut can more than stand on its own. If you're seeking a single-serving, quality cut of meat at a reasonable price, you could do far worse than the flat iron steak from Walmart.

These prime rib beef steak burgers come in a pack of four patties, with an uncooked weight of 1.33 pounds. Compared to some of the other offerings at Walmart, these offer a much better burger experience.

These burgers held their shape on the grill and shrunk down almost perfectly to fit on a standard-sized hamburger bun. The taste was also miles apart from standard patties, and this prime rib version was juicier and much more tender than Walmart's chuck burgers. This felt like a beef patty that could be the centerpiece of a burger as opposed to a mere prop.

Still, this isn't the best burger I've purchased from the store. In general, I'm a firm believer that a homemade burger offers far more flavor than a store-bought all-beef patty. Given the price difference between premade burgers and ground beef, it's hard to justify paying an extra three or more dollars for the sheer convenience of patties. If you only need four burgers to begin with, skip the premade ones at Walmart and make your own.

This is the same ground beef used to make the chuck burgers that don't fare so well in the taste test, and while you wouldn't think there would be much difference in crumbled form versus patty form, there somehow is. That being said, this is a decent package of ground beef but perhaps not the best on the market. It's 80% lean, meaning 20% fat, and there's much less of the bloody juice that you find in other ground beefs. This sausage of ground meat contained all of the fat within the meat itself, offering more flavor.

I do have one gripe though, and that is with the packaging. While I'm not afraid of touching ground meat, I don't relish the task and the sausage-style casing of this product makes it nearly impossible to remove from the packaging without getting your fingers dirty. Still, for $5.63 per pound, it's not the worst value and it's not the worst meat you can buy.

Never underestimate the power of convenience in the kitchen. Most of us who love to cook have any number of devices that make one specific thing just a little easier — I have a tool exclusively for breaking apart ground beef as an example — but we sometimes forget that the foods we buy can also save some time and energy. The stir fry strips from Walmart are a time saver and they're absolutely fantastic.

The bottom-round steak is sliced bacon-thin and is super easy to marinate and cook on the stove. Each bite was incredibly tender, and I only came across anything that resembled a fatty or chewy spot once. Having hand-sliced plenty of steaks in the past for stir fries and fajitas, it was so nice not to have to go through the process of trying to cut consistently sized pieces. For $10.97 a pound, it is absolutely worth picking up a package of stir fry strips to make dinnertime a little easier and a whole lot tastier.

It's really no surprise that a steak comes in as one of the best beef products to buy from Walmart. What is surprising, though, is the price and what you get for it. At $11.97 per pound, this New York strip costs just 13 cents more than the flat iron steak but offers a bit more. More flavor, more fat — but good fat — and more meat.

My preparation was the same — salt, pepper, grill to medium-rare — and the results were a tender, flavorful steak with great marbling. This version of a New York strip steak was boneless, which, as someone who only cooks steak on occasion, I appreciate. The strip also offers a consistent thickness from one end to the other, allowing for a more even cook across the entire steak. It's a good piece of meat without any complicating factors and should absolutely be on your shopping list if you're looking for quality beef.

Everything on the packaging for Marketside Organic Ground Beef screams, "This is the responsible choice!" It's 85% lean, 15% fat, billed as organic, 100% grass-fed, and raised with "no antibiotics or added hormones EVER," as the packaging so clearly states. This beef should be good, so why isn't it?

From a cooking standpoint, it isn't different from any other ground beef I've slapped in a pan. It crumbles nicely as it browns and releases an appropriate amount of fat for its 15% billing. The flavor itself is fine — it tastes like beef — but the issue is the texture. This ground beef is flakey and seems to lack structure once it hits your mouth. I ended up putting this ground beef in a pot of chili, and it held up just fine when surrounded by copious spices, peppers, and tomato binders. However, chili is hardly a dish that demands high-quality beef because of the number of inclusions.

The price of the Marketside Organic Grass-Fed Ground Beef was $6.96, more than a dollar more than the other ground beef on this list, but higher price doesn't always mean higher quality. This beef says all the right things but, ultimately, can't deliver on its promises.

Culvers, the Wisconsin-based burger chain, used to have a catchy slogan that read, "A better brand of beef makes a Butter Burger better." That alliteration-heavy phrase is pretty easy to understand: the higher the quality of the beef in a burger, the better it tends to be. To test this theory, I purchased two different types of burgers: Walmart's standard third-pound chuck patties and a package of prime rib steak burgers.

At 20% fat, the chuck burgers are pretty standard but largely disappointing. When grilled, each of the four patties abandoned its original circular shape and turned into a deformed oval — less than ideal for enjoying on a round bun. They also lacked flavor. The burgers weren't bad per se, but the toppings and condiments carried the experience, leaving the patty itself as a drab vessel for everything else.

With a price tag of $8.43, these burgers weren't even that much cheaper than their prime rib counterparts, which clocked in at $9.74. If saving money is your number one objective, these are fine, but if taste plays any factor in your decision-making, skip these burgers.

Buying beef can be intimidating if you don't know what you're looking for, but Walmart offers plenty of solid options. The two steaks I sampled were fantastic, and more niche meats like the short ribs and stir fry strips should absolutely be part of your next meal plan. If you're looking for burgers, though, there are better options, and even the freezer section may offer similar quality beef at a lower price.

To determine the best and worst cuts of beef to purchase from Walmart, I visited my local store and tried to pick up a variety of beef products. I sought to compare some standard offerings while also trying a few unique ones. Each cut of beef was cooked, photographed, and sampled at my home, with evaluations based on taste, texture, and value.