Christmas just isn’t Christmas without mince pies. But with so many brands offering their take on this festive classic, how do you know which ones are worth your time – and taste buds? To settle the debate, we put 24 different varieties of UK mince pies to the test, scoring them on everything from taste to composure to crown the best (and reveal the worst) UK mince pie of 2024!
If you’re curious about our process or want to see the pies in action, check out the full taste test video on our YouTube channel here.
How We Tested the Pies
We kept things as fair and consistent as possible by focusing only on standard mince pies – no extra flavours, toppings, or fancy crumbles. Each pie was tested hot and scored from 0-3 across four key criteria:
- Composure/Crumbliness: Does the pie hold together or crumble into a mess?
- Generosity of Filling: Is it packed with mince meat or disappointingly sparse?
- Mouth-Feel: How does it feel to eat? Is it too dry, too sticky, or just right?
- Taste: The most important factor—does it taste like Christmas?
To level the playing field, we also applied modifiers based on whether a pie was marketed as basic or premium. If a pie was marketed as premium but scored low, it had its scored modified down further. Similarly if a basic mince pie did well it was modified up. This was done to reflect the fact that premium marketing should equate to a premium product!
Multipliers
Premium pies
| Score: | 11-12 | 9-10 | 0-8 |
| Multiplier: | 1 | 0.8 | 0.6 |
Basic pies
| Score: | 11-12 | 8-10 | 0-7 |
| Multiplier: | 1.2 | 1 | 0.8 |
Any ties in the final rankings were broken by price-per-gram, with more affordable options given the higher rank.
We tested pies from the following brands:
- ALDI: Holly Lane Deep Filled Mince Pies, Specially Selected All Butter Mince Pies
- ASDA: Exceptional by ASDA Luxury Mince Pies, Exceptional by ASDA All-Butter Mince Pies, Yummy, Yummy Shallow
- Co-op: Irresistible All Butter Pastry Luxury Mince Pies, Mince Pies
- Greggs: Sweet Mince Pie
- LIDL: Favorina Mince Pies, Deluxe All Butter Mince Pies
- M&S: Collection, Classic
- Morrisons: The Best Deep Filled Mince Pies, Rich & Fruity Mince Pies
- Mr Kipling: Deep Filled Mince Pies, Signature Collection All Butter Mince Pies
- Sainsbury’s: Taste the Difference Mince Pies, Mince Pies
- Tesco: Finest Mince Pies, Mince Pies
- Waitrose: Christmas All Butter Mince Pies, Christmas Mince Pies, No.1 6 Brown Butter Mince Pies with Cognac
The Results: The Best Mince Pies of 2024
After crunching the numbers, the Waitrose Christmas All Butter Mince Pies came out on top with a stellar score of 14.4. These pies impressed with their rich, buttery pastry and perfectly balanced filling, making them the clear winner. They are also not marketed as Waitrose’s premium mince pie, which help to boost their score further.
Top 5 Mince Pies:
- Waitrose Christmas All Butter Mince Pies (Score: 14.4)
- Waitrose Christmas Mince Pies (Score: 13.2)
- Co-op Irresistible All Butter Pastry Luxury Mince Pies (Score: 11)
- M&S Collection Mince Pies (Score: 11)
- M&S Classic Mince Pies (Score: 10)
The Worst Mince Pies
Not every pie brought holiday cheer. At the bottom of the list were the Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Mince Pies and LIDL Deluxe All Butter Mince Pies, both scoring 3.6. Despite being marketed as the premium offerings from these brands, they fell short in taste and composure, proving that a higher price tag doesn’t always guarantee quality.
Bottom 5 Mince Pies:
- Tesco Finest Mince Pies (Score: 6)
- ASDA Exceptional All-Butter Mince Pies (Score: 4.2)
- Mr Kipling Signature Collection All Butter Mince Pies (Score: 4.2)
- LIDL Deluxe All Butter Mince Pies (Score: 3.6)
- Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Mince Pies (Score: 3.6)
Surprises and Standouts
- Best Value: The LIDL Favorina Mince Pies ranked 9th overall but stood out for their incredible affordability, costing just £0.37 per 100g—the cheapest of the bunch.
- Premium Doesn’t Always Win: Some of the highest-priced pies, like the ASDA Exceptional Luxury Mince Pies and Tesco Finest Mince Pies, failed to impress, proving that fancy branding doesn’t always deliver on taste.
- Dominant Brands: Waitrose, Co-op and M&S each had two pies in the top six, proving themselves to be 2024’s go-to brands for this Christmas treat.
Watch the Full Taste Test
Want to see how the pies stacked up in real-time? Watch our comprehensive mince pie taste test video on YouTube here to see the scoring process, taste reactions, and more.
The Final Word
Whether you’re on the hunt for the perfect mince pie to serve this Christmas 2024 or just want to avoid the duds, our rankings have you covered. From the buttery brilliance of Waitrose’s top offerings to budget-friendly surprises from LIDL, there’s something for everyone.
Got a favourite mince pie we missed? Let us know in the comments below or join the conversation on social media. And don’t forget to check out our other festive content for more holiday inspiration!
