The best mince pies 2025 – tried and tasted
We put the supermarket and big brand mince pies head-to-head to find out which is the best – and which to avoid.
Saga Magazine
We put the supermarket and big brand mince pies head-to-head to find out which is the best – and which to avoid.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without a mince pie. They are great warm with brandy butter, cold with a cuppa or a perfect gift to leave out for Santa.
The best are delicious, made of a buttery pastry filled with a sweet mincemeat of fruit and spices, while the worst leave you with a mouth full of dry tasteless pastry, or nauseous from their sickly sweet jam-style filling.
You can choose from classic mince pies, luxury varieties boasting extra butter and alcohol or, more recently, ones including a variety of surprising flavour combinations.
The choice can be bewildering at what is already a busy time. So, to help you decide which mince pies to buy in 2025, we gathered a testing panel to taste those on offer in the supermarkets along with other big brands, to find out which ones are the Christmas crackers, and which to avoid.
All our tasting was done in one sitting, with all the pies cold and without any cream or other accompaniment.
Pies were quartered to ensure all testers had the right balance of filling and pastry.
Heating does improve mince pies, but for consistency of testing we tested them straight out of the box.
Our testers were looking for a good amount of filling in each pie. Mincemeat should be mostly dried fruit, flavoured with spices and brandy, so our testers wanted to be able to taste this in their pie and also feel a texture of fruit in the mouth.
The balance between pastry and filling is important: too much pastry and you won’t taste the mincemeat, plus you could end up with a mouthful of tasteless powder that is difficult to swallow.
Some pies had all-butter pastry, some were “butter-enriched” and some contained no butter at all. But whatever the blend, we were searching for a pastry with taste which was properly cooked.
The Aldi Specially Selected All Butter Mince Pies won our best classic mince pie category and scooped the overall best mince pie prize.
Our testers felt that you don’t need to spend extra on more expensive versions when the Aldi offering could work for any occasion.
In second place, and second in the same classic section, were the Marks and Spencers Classic All Butter Mince Pies, with a lovely blend of buttery pastry and spiced mincemeat.
Aldi also won the top luxury mince pie category for its Ultimate All Butter Mince Pies – which are more like tarts than pies.
Moving on to the flavoured mince pies, and these were more hit and miss this year. Winners were the Waitrose Golden Limoncello Mince Pies, which won praise among lemon-lovers.
However, this category also saw the worst performer, the Lidl Deluxe Speculoos Almond Mince Pies. The Biscoff-style filling overpowered everything else and left our tasters feeling slightly queasy. This offering earned a unanimous thumbs down.
RRP: £1.49 (pack of six)
Everyone liked the look of these pies, which had a pretty design and some colour to the pastry.
The pies were well filled and the filling had texture. The mincemeat was fruity, not too sweet and had the right hint of spice and bitterness. Our testers described the taste as “zingy” and with a “hint of marmalade”.
The pastry was buttery and well cooked, there was a bit too much for some, but it didn’t ruin the pie.
If you are looking for a good quality, traditional mince pie, then this is it. It’s one to eat alone or share with friends and family – we doubted that Santa would get a look in.
All our testers said they would go out and buy these, even in preference to the “luxury” mince pies.
RRP: £3 (pack of six)
Last year these pies left our testers disappointed, but M&S has upped its game this year.
The pastry felt a little soggy but had a nice buttery taste. The filling had fruit and a nice cinnamon flavour. However, those on a budget should note that these are more than double the price of others in the same category.
RRP: £1.25 (pack of six)
These were a great budget buy. They looked nice, but a bit soggy and on tasting, they weren’t crumbly at all.
But testers agreed that they had a lovely spicy mincemeat and if they were popped in an oven they could turn into a lovely festive treat.
RRP: £2 (pack of six)
The pastry held together well and the description is spot on – they are very well filled.
The pies smelt nicely of spice and fruit, they weren’t too sweet and you could taste some spice.
The pastry had a nice buttery taste, but lost points for being dry.
RRP: £3 (pack of six)
These pies had a thin bottom and tasters said the pastry was bland rather than buttery. There was a lot of fruit and sugar but not a lot of spice.
Everyone agreed they were too sweet, and disappointing overall.
RRP: £1.25 (pack of six)
Unfortunately these didn’t taste as joyous as our testers had hoped. They looked manufactured and plain.
The pastry was short but not too bitter, however the the mincemeat was jammy and sugary with no spice.
RRP: £1.25 (pack of six)
These had a home-made look, with some appearing a bit lopsided. They held together well, but none of our testers enjoyed the filling.
“It’s like jam!” said one. They couldn’t feel any texture of fruit and all felt that there wasn’t enough filling for the amount of pastry.
The pastry had no real taste. Iceland recommends serving them warm, which we didn’t do in our taste test, but which could only improve them.
RRP: £1.25 (pack of six)
These looked dry and on tasting our team said there was no taste to the pastry apart from sugar.
The filling was jammy and sweet with no spice to be tasted. These were the lowest scoring in the category.
How to warm your mince pies in an air fryer
“There is nothing better than warm mince pies at Christmas,” says expert Sam Milner.
“If you are reheating mince pies in the air fryer, then follow the golden rule of reheating at 160ºC/320ºF – as you don’t want to be cooking the mince pies again or drying them out.
“Then air fry them for about 4 minutes. You can add an extra minute if your air fryer is a little slow.”
Sam Milner is the author of a range of best-selling air fryer cookbooks.
RRP: £2.59 (pack of two)
These are really big – more like a tart than a pie. Testers were divided over whether these were too big for one person, but everyone agreed that this is one where you need a plate – you can’t get away with eating it in one hand.
Testers liked the juicy taste of the mincemeat and its texture – you could feel the fruit in it. However, although there was spice, there could have been more.
There was a bit too much pastry overall, but the taste of the mincemeat still came through.
Everyone agreed that these were mince pies they would eat again.
RRP: £3 (pack of six)
These mince pies looked attractive, with nice detailing. The pastry had a lovely buttery taste, the mincemeat had a nice texture and they were some of the few pies in which our team could taste the peel.
Not bad at all and cheaper than many of their rivals.
RRP: £3 (pack of six)
Another attractive looking pie. They had a thin base, but it meant it wasn’t soggy. Testers commented that the mincemeat had a lot of fruit in it, it wasn’t just jam and the taste of spice came through.
Not bad at all and cheaper than many of its rivals.
RRP: £4 (pack of six)
Testers liked these pies, but some felt there should have been more filling in them – especially considering the price.
The taste was nice, not too sweet, the fruit came through and there was spice as well.
The pastry is made with wheat flour and “wildfarmed” flour. It had a delicious smell, and was buttery in taste and crisp to eat.
RRP: £4 (pack of six)
These mince pies boast a few taste awards, but our testers were not blown away by the filling.
“It’s jammy, without any texture,” said one and others agreed. The filling tasted of sugar, fruit and alcohol, but with no spice to help cut the sweetness.
Everyone liked the pastry, which had a darker buttery taste to it than all the others and a nice crunch.
However, the sugary pastry and the sweet filling combined proved too much for all our tasters.
RRP: £2.84 (Pack of six)
The pastry on these wasn’t as good as the Tesco mince pies, but it was better than many of the pies.
Testers didn’t get much spice or alcohol from these, but they were fruity and not as jammy as many on offer, so not a bad pie, just not a stand out.
RRP: £2.49 (pack of six)
These boasted a crumbly butter pastry with a lightly spiced mincemeat laced with brandy.
Our tasters commented on the very thick pastry which dominated these pies, but which lacked a buttery taste.
The filling was very jammy and no one could taste any spice or brandy. They looked nice, but unfortunately the taste was disappointing.
RRP: £3 (pack of six)
Iceland says these have an all butter shortcrust pastry filled with a mincemeat of fruit, spice, brandy and port.
“Oooh marmalade!” one taster said. And they were right. A nice amount of bitterness which worked well.
But these pies were let down by the dry powdery pastry, which overpowered the pie. It was a shame when the filling was so nice.
Our team tried two of the vegan mince pies on offer for Christmas 2025.
Favourite was the Asda Plant Based OMV! Merrily Vegan 6 Mince Pies (RRP: £1.98 for six). They did have soggy bottoms, but the filling had a nice spicy taste and wasn’t too sweet.
The Greggs Merry Little Moments Mince Pies (RRP: £2.60 for six) were popular in 2024, but this year the ones tasted weren’t as nice. Testers could taste the fruit, but no spice came through. The pastry also wasn’t as nice as the Asda pie.
Once again there were plenty of contenders vying for the crown of most unusual mince pie. The best still left our testers with mixed emotions – are they really any better than a good traditional mince pie?
While the worst? Well, let’s just not go there ever again.
RRP: £4 (box of four)
If you love lemon then you will enjoy these. These pies are very sweet and very lemony so don’t expect any taste of the mincemeat coming through. Tasters said the pastry was nice and crisp too.
Think of it as a festive lemon pie.
RRP: £2.29 (pack of six)
A larger tart rather than a pie. Testers appreciated the crunch of the pastry with these ones too.
However the almond taste didn’t come through as strongly as the testers expected. The main flavour was of jam and the pastry. Our team said it was a shame the rum mince tarts aren’t for sale this year – they were the flavoured winners for 2024.
RRP: £2.98 (pack of four)
These pies boast an all butter shortcrust pastry pies, filled with mincemeat and caramel and then topped with almond Florentine.
Our team expected these to be sweet, and they were. The liquid in the filling meant that the Florentine topping had no crunch to it. It’s an interesting concept but would have worked better without the caramel as it drowned out any taste of mincemeat.
RRP: £3.50 (pack of four)
Only in the small print do you discover that these mince pies also contain a layer of caramel along with the apple and fruit mincemeat.
It’s another pie that would have been better without the caramel, as it drowned out the taste of apple or mincemeat.
The crumble topping was nice, but another overly sugary offering.
RRP: £2.29 (pack of six)
These pies have a chocolate pastry base filled with mincemeat, a layer of caramel then a top of cocoa crumb.
“It’s like a chocolate biscuit isn’t it?” one of our testers remarked.
And they had a point. These pies reminded our team of a dryish biscuit, with chocolate, spice and a bit of caramel. The team once again struggled to find any hint of a mince pie taste.
RRP: £2.99
These tarts from Lidl are filled with a spiced biscuit spread and sweet dried fruits mixture, topped with flaked almonds.
They taste like a Biscoff tart. It may have been the sheer quantity of mince pies being eaten, but this one pushed our testers over the edge. The verdict was that they were over-sweet and only tasted of biscoff – and that’s it. The worst of all 26 on test.
Save yourself some money and buy a packet of Biscoff instead.
The supermarkets are a stocking a variety of gluten-free mince pies for 2025. We'’ve had good reports on the Waitrose Free From Milk & Gluten Free Mince Pies (RRP: £3) and M&S Collection Made Without Wheat Gluten Free 4 All Butter Mince Pies (RRP: £4).
A big thanks to our hosts at Goytre Hall for hosting our tasting session.
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