The Top 3 Vegan Mince Pies in UK Supermarkets in 2020

I have tried and tested the fantastic range of vegan mince pies on offer in the top British supermarkets in 2020 and in this blog I’m presenting you with my reviews along with my top 3 – revealing the best vegan mince pies in the UK today!

A decent mince pie is an essential element of the festive period.  

I feel like there is potentially a lot to go wrong reputationally if you’re offering out bad mince pies.  You could whip up an absolute corker of a Christmas lunch, only to be let down at the last minute by a malicious mince pie and then that’s it, you’ll forever be remembered for poor mince pie selection.

Not only that, does anyone else feel like when you buy a box of mince pies for your home you are kind of buying yourself a present?  It’s not like you’re on your usual weekly shop picking up a batch of ‘on offer’ apple pies – mince pies are special.  You wouldn’t want to let yourself down with a bad box would you?

Now, I can already hear my Ma reading this in horror and shouting at the screen ‘why aren’t you making them?!’.  Because, Mother, has anyone really got time in the run up to Christmas to feed dried fruit with brandy, cut out pretty decorative pastry stars and then dust them delicately with icing sugar?

No is the answer to that.  Certainly not in my household.  I’ve got time to feed myself brandy, panic buy dresses because ‘nothing else fits’ and that is about it.

Interestingly (I doubt this is interesting) I learned a lot in this little mince pie experiment.  Firstly, I discovered that gluten free flour makes for a MUCH nicer pastry in almost every case.  Secondly that yes, there is such a thing as a terrible mince pie.  For a day that started off with the sole intention of just eating pies I was pretty pleased with those life-changing revelations.

Anyway, end of nonsense.  Let’s get on to the reviews.

Sainsbury’s – Free From Mini Mince Pies, Taste the Difference x 9 (275g)

Price:  £2.50 (28p per mini mince pie)

Gluten free?  Yes

Calories per mince pie:  112

Worth the calories?  Absolutely!

The best bits:

• The pastry is lovely and crisp.
• The design is pretty with stars on top.

• Very nice festive packaging.
• I quite liked the smaller size of the mince pie, they’d be good for Christmas Day.
• The flavour of the mincemeat was good – the spices were balanced and it had a bit of a tang to it which I liked – perhaps that was the brandy they say the pies are finished with?

What could be better?

• Not a lot really, I thought they were lovely! The only thing I would say is to make them deeper so you can have more filling because they weren’t overly ‘juicy’.

Rating:  8/10

Morrisons – Free From Mince Pies x 4 (220g)

Price:  £2 (50p per mince pie)

Gluten free?  Yes

Calories per mince pie:  211

Worth the calories?  No

The best bits:

• There is a pretty snowflake design on the top of the pies.
• They are perfectly adequate, just not super.

What could be better?

• The pastry tasted nice but was very crumbly which made them difficult to eat
• There wasn’t much flavour to the mincemeat, it was quite bland.

Rating:  4/10

Morrisons – Maple Crumble Mince Pies, The Best, Free From x 4 (192g)

Price:  £2.50 (63p per mince pie)

Gluten free?  Yes

Calories per mince pie:  189

Worth the calories?  Not unless you’ve got an exceptionally sweet tooth!

The best bits:

• The flavour of the topping with the maple syrup and oats came through nicely.
• The pastry was a good texture and it held together well.
• Pretty packaging and the pies look good – like mini treacle tarts.

What could be better?

• There was hardly any flavour to the mincemeat
• They were pretty dry overall. I feel that a deeper pie with some juicy mincemeat would have made them much better.
• Very sweet – too sweet for me and I’ve got a hella of a sweet tooth.

Rating:  5.5/10

Tesco – Plant Chef Mince Pies x 6

Price:  £1.25 (21p per mince pie)

Gluten free?  No

Calories per mince pie:  231

Worth the calories?  No

The best bits:

• They are the cheapest per pie out of all of the ones I tried. As a full sized mince pie they are even cheaper than the mini mince pies!

What could be better?

• These were the most disappointing to look at. There was nothing festive about them and they could have been mistaken for an ordinary apple pie. They were too dark on the edges of the pastry and looked like they had caught in the oven.
• They were under-filled.
• Very soft pastry that fell apart making them hard to eat. It was also dry and grainy and tasted stale.
• The mincemeat was bland and there was an overriding flavour of one spice (star anise I think) which was off-putting. I really didn’t enjoy these.

Rating:  2/10

Oggs – Luxury Handmade Mince Pies (from Sainsbury’s) x 4 (184g)

Price:  £2.50 (63p per mince pie)

Gluten free?  No

Calories per mince pie:  178

Worth the calories?  Yes

The best bits:

• These looked the most homemade of the bunch. They had a wonky star design on the top which I rather liked!
• They look really appetising in the box and it has a pretty, festive and colourful design.
• The mincemeat tasted different to all of the others which I didn’t dislike – it had a citrusy tang to it.
• Oggs is a vegan brand that uses environmentally friendly packaging.

What could be better?

• The pastry was a bit dry and crumbly.

Rating:  6.5/10

Waitrose – Free From Mince Pies x 4 (220g)

Price:  £2.50 (63p per mince pie)

Gluten free?  Yes

Calories per mince pie:  216

Worth the calories?  Definitely!

The best bits:

• These were absolutely lovely! Full of delicious tangy flavour with a harmonious blend of spices. Delicious!
• The pastry was sweet and crisp, I suspect partly due to the addition of ground almonds which gave it a bit of bite.

What could be better?

• The design was rather lacklustre which was a shame – nothing special or Christmassy about it.
• The pastry was very crumbly – crumbs on your Christmas jumper guaranteed!

Rating:  8.5/10

Aldi – The Foodie Market Free From Mince Pies x 4 (220g)

Price:  £1.35 (34p per mince pie)

Gluten free?  Yes

Calories per mince pie:  227

Worth the calories?  Absolutely not!

The best bits:

• I don’t think there were any best bits…

What could be better?

• I really don’t like the flavour of these. I don’t know what they’ve done to them but there is a harsh overpowering flavour (star anise?) which comes through far too strongly, followed by a slightly stale flavour from the pastry.
• The design was very basic.
• The pie was only about 2/3 full.

Rating:  1/10

Asda – Free From Mince Pies x 4 (220g)

Price:  £1.55 (39p per mince pie)

Gluten free?  Yes

Calories per mince pie:  212

Worth the calories?  No

The best bits:

• The texture of the pastry was crisp which I personally prefer to a soft pastry.

What could be better?

• The design was plain with no Christmas features.
• The pies were short on filling – about 2/3 full.
• The pastry tasted a bit strange – almost a bit stale? I wasn’t keen on the flavour.
• The mincemeat had hardly any flavour.

Rating:  3/10

The top 3:

1st Place – Goes to the Waitrose Free From Mince Pies with 8.5/10.  Whilst they were not the prettiest, they had a gorgeous pastry and a flavoursome filling.  Delicious!

2nd Place – Only by a touch goes to Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Mini Mince Pies with 8/10 because they are so darn cute to look at and taste good as well!

3rd Place – Is Oggs Luxury Handmade Mince Pies with 6.5/10.  Not quite up there on taste with the other two but still enjoyable and extra brownie points for being a fully vegan company.

So there you have it!  You can be safe in the knowledge that your 2020 mince pie selection will keep your reputation safe for another year.  If you’re in the mood to whip up some homemade mince pies then all the better but if not, there are some great options out there.

I’d love to hear your recommendations!  Send me a message on Instagram or Facebook @aveganvisit.

Prices correct as at 11/12/20.

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