Vegan Taste Test: Best Supermarket Mince Pies


A selection of vegan mince pies from various supermarkets for our Christmas Taste Test. Many supermarkets now do both regular and posh mince pies, with the latter having butter pastry. That's fine with us vegans as it means the regular pies are likely to be clear of dairy fat. We took three lots of pies and compared them, hot and cold, to see if there is a clear favourite. UPDATE: includes two sorts of ASDA mince pies.



First a rundown of vegan mince pies availability at the nation's supermarkets this Christmas:

Tesco: Everyday Value pies only
Sainsburys: No vegan mince pies (except gluten-free ones in the free-from aisle)
Morrisons: Lattice topped mince pies only
Asda: Mince pies / Smart Price Mince Pies 
Aldi: Mini mince pies only
Lidl: No vegan mince pies

So our Taste Test pits Tesco against Morrisons, Aldi and ASDA

A review of the gluten-free mince pies we bought from Sainsburys is posted separately.


We took each of the mince pies and sampled them cold (at room temperature) straight from the pack and also served hot, with a little Alpro single dairy-free cream.

Tesco Everyday Value Mince Pies

The pastry is not too stodgy when eaten cold which is good, but it could be crispier. Fully filled with a firm fruity mince, but nothing aromatic or uplifting from the mince when heated. These pies are essentially what Mr Kipling pies used to taste like a few years back. A decent all round mince pie.

Verdict: Good all round pies
Veganoo Score: ★★★☆
Morrisons Lattice Topped Mince Pies

Thick pastry which is a little stodgy eaten cold, but these pies are transformed eaten hot with the most tasty and flavoursome minced fruit of the three. The mince filling is a little runny and syrupy, particularly when heated... beware of scorching syrup if you heat these in the microwave!

Verdict: Best eaten hot
Veganoo Score: ★★★☆
Aldi Mini Mince Pies

The best of the three pies on offer when eaten cold thanks to thin and crispy pastry. Not quite as special when heated, but still tasty... just lacking that heady scented flavour you get from great mince pies. We think these pies are the best of the three all round though.

Verdict: Taste Test Winner
Veganoo Score: ★★★★☆






ASDA Mince Pies

Excellent eaten cold, with nice crispy pastry and really flavoursome fruity mince. These pies also warm up very well, although the jammy fruit does tend to get blistering hot. The pastry is not too thick on these pies which is an advantage. We think these pies are a joint champion of our mince pie taste test.

Verdict: Great mince pies
Veganoo Score: ★★★★☆

ASDA Smart Price Mince Pies

A budget mince pie that disappoints from first bite. Too much pastry and too little filling. The pastry is very bland and stodgy. The fruity filling lacks flavour, and this isn't redeemed served hot. The fatty pastry isn't improved when warmed up either. 

Verdict: Stodge
Veganoo Score: ★★☆☆☆








It's hats off to ASDA and to budget supermarket chain Aldi who are the joint winners of our vegan mince pies taste test. Beware of the full sized pies if you head down to Aldi this week though - they contain dairy. Only the Aldi mini mince pies in packs of nine are dairy free.



Ingredients panels from the packs we reviewed:


Tesco
Morrisons
Aldi
ASDA mince pies ingredients are listed in our separate post








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2 comments:

  1. We have just discovered that Waitrose essential mince pies are also vegan.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Iceland's 12-pack of mince pies are vegan too, and they are highly rated in the reviews I've seen.

    ReplyDelete

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