Adilson Sochodolak/Shutterstock
If you reminisce about long summer afternoons when you were young, you might remember lunches of enticing bologna sandwiches. Bologna is a lunch staple for many people because of its unique taste and texture. If you’d like to recreate a youthful taste experience, or would just enjoy eating really good bologna, we ranked seven bologna brands to find the best in your local grocery store or deli.
Out of the seven brands we compared, Boar’s Head Beef Bologna tasted the best. It has the kind of flavor that creates memories. It should be noted that there’s no need to hesitate in purchasing this amazing bologna. Boar’s Head has bounced back from a 2024 listeria outbreak by quickly making improvements to its quality control processes, and it’s been confirmed that the deli meats are safe to eat.
Some of the other brands we tested, such as Oscar Meyer, didn’t necessarily taste bad, but their flavor was underwhelming compared to Boar’s Head. The taste tester used plain, unadorned bologna to sample their flavor, and on this front, Oscar Meyer didn’t stack up without cheese or bread to accompany it. Schmalz’s German Bologna, which is usually found exclusively in a dedicated deli, is very high-quality and flavorful, but ranks in the middle. It’s a good lunchmeat, but didn’t taste like conventional bologna, which is why it was placed lower on the scale.
The ingredients used to make bologna
Audrey Farnsworth/Chowhound
Bologna is a processed meat, usually a blend of beef, pork, turkey, or chicken that is finely ground and cooked in a casing, which is removed before packaging. The origin of bologna is Bologna, Italy, and is based on mortadella, a sausage made with spices, peppercorns, and other ingredients. The familiar form of bologna was created by Italian and German immigrants to the U.S., who brought versions of it from their homelands and made it into the American lunch meat that is popular worldwide. Bologna has less fat than mortadella, and is usually made with fewer spices. There are laws in the U.S. that govern how much fat bologna can contain, which limits it to 30% fat and 10% water.
The Boar’s Head we tested is a variety of beef of bologna, which is a bit fancier than the conventional lunch meat. We already know bologna tastes good on sandwiches, made simply with bread and mustard or mayonnaise, but bologna can also be used in a stir-fry. It’s versatile enough to be eaten any number of ways, even as a snack right out of the refrigerator.