Top 3 Best Vegan Mince Pies in UK Supermarkets (2024)

Want to know where to buy the best vegan mince pies in the UK in 2024?  We’ve tried them all and we’re revealing our top 3 vegan mince pies!  Read on to find out which supermarket mince pie offers the flakiest pastry and the juiciest fruit filling.

In the battle for the best vegan mince pies, the competition this year is strong!

In this blog, I’m reviewing the plant-based mince pies on offer in UK supermarkets in 2024 (including some of the glorious vegan gluten free mince pies available this year).

This year I am reviewing 13 different varieties of vegan mince pie. All have been taste tested both individually and side by side at room temperature to provide a review of the flavours and textures, along with a mince pie rank order; from best to worst.

So, let’s find out where to buy vegan mince pies in the UK this Christmas time!  

Click the quick links below to jump straight to the top 3, or to find out what the mince pies are like from your local supermarket.

Quick Links:

• The Top 3 Vegan Mince Pies 2024
• The Full Leaderboard
• How do the fillings compare?
• The vegan mince pies in my local supermarket:
  • Aldi
  • Asda
  • Co-op
  • Iceland
  • Lidl
  • Marks and Spencer
  • Morrisons
  • Sainsbury’s
  • Tesco
  • Waitrose
• Other Vegan Mince Pies (non-supermarket):
  • Greggs

Top 3 Best Vegan Mince Pies 2024

Here are the mince pies that came out top (and bottom) in my reviews, (including some wonderful vegan gluten-free vegan mince pies!).

Note:  Click on the names to take you to that specific review.

The Top 3 To Buy

The best vegan mince pies in UK supermarkets:

1. Waitrose Free From Mince Pies 8.5/10
2. Co-op Merry Mince Pies 7.25/10
3. Tesco Plant Chef Mince Pies 6.75/10

Special mentions also go to these tasty treats:

• Best non-supermarket option: Greggs Mince Pie 7/10
• Bargain mince pies: Lidl Favorina Mince Pies 6/10
• Best boozy vegan mince pie option: Sainsbury’s Free From Mini Mince Pies 5/10
• Best vegan gluten-free option: Waitrose Free From Mince Pies 8.5/10

The Bottom 3 To Avoid

Sadly, these three weren’t for us this year:

• Tesco Free From Iced Mince Pies 4/10
• Asda Free From Iced Mince Pies 3.5/10
• Asda Free From Mince Pies 3/10

Let’s get into the full reviews!

Asda Vegan Mince Pies

Here are the reviews for some of the Asda vegan mince pies available this year:

Asda Free From Mince Pies x 4 (220g)

Rating: 3/10

Price: £2 (50p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 222 calories

The best bits:

• Sadly, not a lot for these gluten free vegan mince pies

What could be better?

• The pastry was too thick and had a grainy feel in the mouth
• The pastry fell apart instantly on biting into them, making them difficult to eat
• The flavour was lacklustre, with no tang
• Some of the pies had been clumsily put together

Asda Free From Iced Mince Pies x 4 (225g)

Rating: 3.5/10

Price: £2.25 (56p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 226 calories

The best bits:

• Well filled
• Neat and uniform design with a crimped edge
• The gluten-free pastry held together better than the non-iced version

What could be better?

• The icing was too thick and overpowers the filling
• The mince pie filling lacked flavour

Co-op Vegan Mince Pies

Co-op Merry Mince Pies x 6 (approx 330g)

Rating: 7.25/10

Price: £1.35 (23p each)

Gluten-free? No

Calories per mince pie: 214 calories

The best bits:

• Juicy fruity mincemeat filling with a pleasant ‘tang’ and citrus undertones
• Well-filled with a good pastry to filling ratio
• Attractive star design
• These were the best of the Coop vegan mince pies on offer. They’re available on the main shelves (not the free-from section) but have been made to a vegan recipe and are therefore labelled ‘vegan’*

What could be better?

• The shortcrust pastry was a little lacking in flavour and it didn’t feel ‘buttery’
• Some taste testers felt the pastry was a little soft

Co-op Free From Mince Pies x 4 (220g)

Rating: 4.75/10

Price: £2.40 (60p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 218 calories

The best bits:

• Neat snowflake design with a little icing sugar dusted on top
• Crisp texture to the pastry

What could be better?

• Pastry felt thick and had a gritty texture; there are better vegan gf mince pies on this list
• Filling was lacking in both quantity and flavour

Lidl Mince Pies

These Lidl vegan mince pies were a pleasant surprise:

Lidl Favorina Mince Pies (344g)

Rating: 6/10

Price: £1.25 (21p each)

Gluten-free? No

Calories per mince pie: 223 calories

The best bits:

• Festive holly design
• Well filled, although not right to the top
• Relatively flavoursome filling with spice and citrus coming through
• Very reasonably priced

What could be better?

• The filling is not quite as juicy as some but still perfectly enjoyable
• The pastry was quite soft

Morrisons Vegan Mince Pies

Morrisons Free From Mince Pies x 4 (216g)

Rating: 6.5/10

Price: £2 (50p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 205 calories

The best bits:

• Well filled and the filling stayed fairly juicy for an open-top pie
• Pleasant albeit mild flavour to the filling – sweet with a slight tang and citrus flavours coming through
• These Morrisons vegan mince pies had a crisp pastry with an attractive star design

What could be better?

• The pastry had a powdery taste and feel in the mouth
• The filling, whilst good, was still a bit dry when compared to a closed-top pie; so serve these with a cup of tea!

Sainsbury’s Vegan Mince Pies

Here are some of the Sainsburys vegan mince pies available this year:

Sainsbury’s Free From Mince Pies x 4 (230g)

Rating: 5.5/10

Price: £2.20 (55p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 216 calories

The best bits:

• Fairly well filled with a juicy filling
• An interesting flavour; no real tang but you could taste the spice

What could be better?

• The pastry was grainy and had a slightly stale flavour
• The flavour of the filling lacked intensity and I missed the ‘tang’
• The design was plain and the pastry pale

Sainsbury’s Free From Mini Mince Pies, Taste the Difference (275g)

Rating: 5/10

Price: £3.50 (38p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 117 calories

The best bits:

• Attractive star design
• Brandy comes through in the flavour of the filling straight away
• The pastry was nice and crisp

What could be better?

• The filling tasted a little too sweet, with no real tang; the predominant flavour was brandy which some of you may enjoy, but is not for me personally
• The pastry was slightly grainy
• Overall they felt a bit dry in the mouth

Tesco Vegan Mince Pies

Let’s take a look at the selection of vegan mince pies Tesco has to offer this year:

Tesco Free From Mini Mince Pies x 9 (275g)

Rating: 4.5/10

Price: £3 (33p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 121 calories

The best bits:

• Attractive star design
• Crisp pastry
• Brandy flavour comes through

What could be better?

• The ratio of pastry to filling was a bit too high
• The pastry had a floury taste to it
• The filling could do with being more juicy, it felt dry
• The filling was sweet but not overly flavoursome

Tesco Free From Iced Topped Mince Pies x 4 (225g)

Rating: 4/10

Price: £2.25 (56p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 227 calories

The best bits:

• Simple design with smooth iced top and crimped pastry
• Icing thickness was about right, a better icing-to-filling ratio than the Asda Free From Iced Mince Pies.
• Crisp pastry

What could be better?

• Rather sweet.  If you have a sweet tooth and like an iced mince pie, these might hit the spot for you though.
• The filling lacked flavour

Tesco Plant Chef Mince Pies x 6 (approx 342g)

Rating: 6.75/10

Price: £2.15 (36p each)

Gluten-free? No

Calories per mince pie: 220 calories

The best bits:

• The filling was mildly spiced and flavoursome; the best of the Tesco vegan mince pies tested
• A crisp shortcrust pastry (although a little crumbly)
• Attractive double star design

What could be better?

• The mincemeat filling was a bit on the sweet side
• Some of the pies in the pack were lacking in filling

Waitrose Vegan Mince Pies

Waitrose Free From Mince Pies x 4 (225g)

Rating: 8.5/10

Price: £2.90 (73p each)

Gluten-free? Yes*

Calories per mince pie: 216 calories

The best bits:

• These were lovely! Full of deliciously tangy flavour. These Waitrose vegan mince pies had the best flavour of all of the mincemeat fillings tried, by quite some margin.
• The filling was juicy and moist.
• The pastry was sweet and crisp with a buttery feel. It doesn’t have that grainy feel like a lot of gluten free pastries.

What could be better?

• The design was rather lacklustre which was a shame – nothing special or Christmassy about it.
• Expensive at 73p each.
• A little messy to eat – bits of crumbly pastry and sugar go everywhere; crumbs on your Christmas jumper guaranteed!

Other Vegan Mince Pies (non-supermarket)

Whilst not from a supermarket, these Greggs mince pies are worth a mention, so if you’ve been wondering ‘are Greggs mince pies vegan?’ It turns out the answer is yes, Greggs does sell vegan mince pies!

Greggs Sweet Mince Pies x 6 (approx 420g)

Rating: 7/10

Price: £2.25 (38p each)

Gluten-free? No

Calories per mince pie: 281 calories

The best bits:

• The pie crust / pastry was buttery, crumbly and fresh tasting, as if they’d just come out of the oven (I think they do actually bake them in store!)
• The filling on these sweet pies was juicy and tangy with citrus undertones but less spiced than some; it reminded me of homemade mincemeat

What could be better?

• There were mixed opinions on the pastry – some felt it was too soft
• The filling had a slightly sharp, vinegary aftertaste. I can see why the reviews are mixed for these Greggs vegan mince pies! In one bite they can taste great and in the next… not quite as enjoyable. Overall, we liked them though.
• The design was lacklustre – too plain and shallow with nothing festive about these Christmas mince pies. However, they do have a rustic homemade feel to them which some may like.

Other UK Supermarkets

Unfortunately, these UK supermarkets were not able to be included in this year’s review:

Aldi Vegan Mince Pies

Unfortunately, my local Aldi store could not tell me whether or not they would be stocking vegan mince pies this year.

Iceland Vegan Mince Pies

Iceland stocks a pack of 6 mince pies, which are labelled vegetarian but look like they could be accidentally vegan mince pies.

I contacted Iceland three times to ask whether or not the mince pies are suitable for a vegan diet but did not receive a clear answer.

Marks and Spencer Vegan Mince Pies

I visited three large Marks and Spencer food halls in my area but none stocked vegan mince pies at the time of my visit, despite having a full range of non-vegan mince pies on the shelves. The ‘free from’ M&S mince pies were not vegan.

I enquired whether or not there would be M&S vegan mince pies in the Plant Kitchen range this year but the staff were not sure and I have not seen them in my local store to date.

How do the mince pie fillings compare?

The Leaderboard

Here are all of the mince pies that we taste-tested this festive season, ranked from best to worst:

1st Place – Waitrose Free From Mince Pies 8.5/10

2nd Place – Co-op Merry Mince Pies 7.25/10

3rd Place – Greggs Mince Pie 7/10

4th Place – Tesco Plant Chef Mince Pies 6.75/10

5th Place – Morrisons Free From Mince Pies 6.5/10

6th Place – Lidl Favorina Mince Pies 6/10

7th Place – Sainsbury’s Free From Mince Pies 5.5/10

8th Place – Sainsbury’s Free From Mini Mince Pies 5/10

9th Place – Co-op Free From Mince Pies 4.75/10

10th Place – Tesco Free From Mini Mince Pies 4.5/10

11th Place – Tesco Free From Iced Mince Pies 4/10

12th Place – Asda Free From Iced Mince Pies 3.5/10

Last Place – Asda Free From Mince Pies 3/10

So there you have it, I hope you have found this article useful and that it’s getting you in the festive spirit!

If you want to know where to buy plant based mince pies in the UK, pick from the top of the leaderboard and you can be safe in the knowledge that your 2024 mince pie selection will be a delicious festive treat.

I’d love to hear your recommendations for the best vegan mince pies UK!  Send me a message on social media @aveganvisit or an email at hello@aveganvisit.com to let me know which you think are the best plant based mince pies.

Check out these popular vegan Christmas recipes:

Additional information:

Prices are correct as of 15/11/24.

This is an honest review – all opinions are a result of me personally taste-testing each mince pie, which I purchased myself.  If there are any other plant based mince pies that you’d like me to taste test for you, just send me an email (I don’t need much persuading!).

*Always check the packet of the item you are consuming to confirm whether they are gluten-free mince pies or suitable for allergy sufferers because product ingredients and manufacturing methods may have changed or products may vary from what is stated here so we cannot guarantee that a product is gluten, milk or dairy free. This article is meant as a guide only.

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