7 best vegan burger in UK supermarkets in 2024 – Tried and tested by vegans

We’re on the hunt to find the best vegan burger available at the supermarket. Find out the best for plant-based patties for flavour, texture and price to enjoy at your next burger night or BBQ

Vegan burgers have taken the supermarket shelves by storm in recent years, with each new brand competing to be the consumer’s favourite.

According to GlobalData, the UK meat-substitutes market is currently worth $713m and is expected to reach $1.01bn by 2026¹.

While we love seeing companies invest in plant-based meats for meat-free meals, it can be hard to know which is the best vegan burger in the supermarket.

But don’t fear, we’ve taste-tested the top supermarket meat-free burgers to help you with your decision-making.

Burgers at the ready, let’s get tasting.

Burgers that we reviewed:

• Beyond Meat Beyond Burger
• Heura Original Burger
• Meatless Farm Quarter Pounders
• M&S Vegan Hamburgers
• Moving Mountains 1/4lbs Plant-Based Burgers
• Linda McCartney Vegetarian 1/4lbs Burgers
• Richmond Meat-Free Burgers
• Aldi Plant Menu Ultimate No Beef Burgers

How we tested

To cook the vegan burgers, we used a griddle frying pan with a small amount of oil. We wanted the burgers to get a nice char.

Usually, our vegan burger recipe would include tasty toppings like vegan cheese, gherkins, fresh red onion, and a good dollop of relish. But to ensure we got the full, unadulterated taste experience of the meat-free burgers, we tested them plain (bun-free).

Each burger will be ranked from 0 to 10 (zero being the lowest, ten being the highest) and ranked in a ‘best for’ category including best for price, best supermarket burger, and overall champion.

So what makes a good vegan burger?

To us, the perfect plant-based patty is all about texture and flavour.

We like our burgers to be not too tough and not too soft, they need to have a firm texture with a nice char on the outside and a juicy, meaty centre. They need to have enough flavour to outshine the bun and combine well with any condiments.

1. Best vegan burger: Heura Original Burger – Editor’s choice

Score 9/10
Price: £4.39 for 2

It may not be the cheapest option, but the winning spot for our overall ‘best vegan burger’ award goes to Heura. This meat-free patty cooked to perfection and provided the juicy, meaty, and umami taste that I was looking for.

The patty was thick and firm and had a great texture that was authentic to a traditional burger. The flavour from the extra virgin olive oil made a perfect fat replacement, giving the burger a meaty taste that replicates a beef burger. Unlike some of the other burgers, the Heura patty was not greasy.

To me, the quality of the burger justifies the price. I also recognised that the patty was significantly lower in saturated fats than the other competitors, taking it straight to the top.

Heura’s Original Burger is perfect for the vegan BBQ season as the texture would easily withstand being kissed by flames, rather than crumbling under the pressure as some vegan burgers do.

It’s also ‘meaty’ enough to be loved by both vegans and meat-eaters alike.

You can find Heura Original Burger at online The Vegan Kind Supermarket, Heura Foods, and Plant Organic.

 Nutritional information:

• Main ingredient: Pea protein
• Made with extra virgin olive oil
• Protein: 15.1G per 100G
• Fat: 6.5g per 100G
• Calories: 145 per 100G

Cooked from chilled

2. Best vegan burger for flavour: Beyond Burger

Score: 8/10
Price: £4.00 for 2

The vegan patty from Beyond Meat has always been our go-to and for good reason – it’s delicious! It’s a contentious point, but the thing I loved most about this burger was how much like a traditional meat burger it tasted – both in terms of the flavour and the juicy texture. Quite simply, it’s a vegan burger that could fool a meat-eater.

Beyond Meat’s burger chars nicely and gives a smokey taste that is too good to resist.

Despite its great taste, the Beyond Burger is high in fat and calories. In fact, Beyond Meat’s burger has over three times the amount of fat compared to Heura’s burger. Although we know that burgers aren’t a health food, Heura has demonstrated that a great-tasting burger doesn’t need to be so high in fat.

You can find the Beyond Burger at most supermarkets and online.

 Nutritional information:

• 19g of plant protein
• Gluten-free
• Calories: 252 per 100g
• Fat: 19g per 100g
• Main ingredient: pea protein

Cook from frozen

3. Best vegan burger for the price: Aldi Plant Menu Ultimate No Beef Burgers

Score:8/10
Price: £1.99 for 2

The Plant Chef burger was launched to rival Beyond Meat, providing a super meaty burger without the hefty price tag.

Aldi’s plant-based patties are a great budget-friendly alternative to Beyond Meat. The thick body is studded with vegetable fat that releases into the burger once cooked, ensuring that each mouthful is juicier than the last. My only criticism would be that they are almost too juicy and they release a lot of oil once cooked that could be off-putting for some.

Although the quality of the burger doesn’t match Heura’s Original Burger, these burgers are an excellent alternative if you’re having a large number of people round for a BBQ or burger night without having to splash the cash.

You can find Aldi’s Ultimate No Beef Burger in the freezer aisle of Aldi stores.

 Nutritional information:

• Main ingredient: Pea protein
• Calories: 224 per burger
• Fat: 14.8g per burger
• Protein: 15g per burger

Cook from frozen

4. Best own-brand supermarket vegan burger: M&S Vegan Hamburgers

Score: 7.5/10
Price: £4.00 for 4

What’s the difference between a regular burger and a hamburger? Essentially it’s how the fat is added to the meat when producing cow-based burgers.

Attempting to replicate that style of burger-making, M&S’ Plant Kitchen vegan hamburgers were a welcome variation to the other contenders. To the eye, the burgers were visibly pinker thanks to the inclusion of beetroot. Additionally, the hamburger was speckled with red peppers, white onion and black pepper for a deeper, smoky flavour.

Unlike some of the burgers, the texture of the patty was softer. When cooking, I was able to press down on the burger to make it thinner and allow the edges to caramelise – similar to a Smash burger.

Personally I wish the burger had more of a bite to it, the texture was slightly too soft for my liking, but I know that others might like this.

You can find M&S Plant Kitchen Vegan Hamburgers in the chilled aisle of M&S stores and Ocado.

 Nutritional information:

• Main ingredient: Soya protein
• Protein: 11.2g per 100g
• Fat: 14.2g per 100g
• Calories: 212 per 100g
• Gluten-free

Fresh from the chilled aisle, but freezable

5. Best gluten-free vegan burger: Meatless Farm Quarter Pounders

Score: 7.5/10
Price: £2.75

Finding vegan gluten-free products these days may seem like a challenge, but Meatless Farm’s Quarter Pounders are a great meat-free and gluten-free alternative for those still craving a meaty burger.

At first glance, I was very impressed by these burgers. They were a larger size and when cooked they kept their firm shape.

They were flavoured nicely with black pepper for a hint of spice. Interestingly, the ingredients list includes ‘blueberry concentrate’ which I was intrigued to taste however the salty flavouring was too dominant so any hint of blueberry was lost in the mix.

A great amount of oil was released during the frying process and once cooked the burger had a layer of grease on top (similar to the Aldi burger), which wasn’t visually pleasant. I’d be cautious about frying these over flames on a BBQ to avoid grease fires on the grill.

You can find Meatless Farm Quarter Pounders in most major supermarkets and online.

 Nutritional information:

• Gluten-free
• Main ingredient: Pea protein
• Protein: 17g per 100g
• Fat: 14.2 per 100g
• Calories: 217 per 100g

Suitable for freezing

6. Best frozen vegan burger: Moving Mountains 1/4lbs Plant-Based Burgers

Score: 7/10
Price: £4.00 for 2

After only eating Moving Mountains’ burgers at restaurants, I was excited to try them at home and see if the flavours were still restaurant quality.

Found in the frozen aisle, I was taken aback by the price of the frozen patties. Moving Mountain’s 1/4lbs Burgers appeared to be smaller in size and thickness compared to the Meatless Farm Quarter Pounders.

The flavour of the burger was good, it definitely reminded me of the Moving Mountains burgers that I’ve enjoyed at restaurants. However, the quality didn’t match up.

Don’t get me wrong, the burger was still very tasty, but the price versus quality compared to the other burgers was hard to ignore. Nevertheless, it’s a good option to have in the freezer for those days when you need some comfort food in a hurry.

You can find Moving Mountains 1/4lbs Plant-Based Burgers at Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, and The Vegan Kind Supermarket.

 Nutritional information:

• Main ingredient: Soya and pea protein
• Contains wheat
• Protein: 15g per 100g
• Fat: 20g per 100g
• Calories: 266 per 100g

Cook from frozen

7. Best vegan burger for protein: Linda McCartney Vegetarian 1/4lbs Burgers

Score: 6/10
Price: £2.50

Linda McCartney’s range has been our saving grace for some time. If all else fails, a pack of McCartney’s iconic vegan sausages will always come to the rescue.

The brand’s 1/4lb burgers were larger in size compared to others and also the highest in vegan protein.

That being said, compared to the other patties, the Linda McCartney burger fell short of flavour. Although they have hints of umami, I found the texture to be quite dry.

You can find Linda McCartney’s Vegetarian 1/4lbs Burgers at most major supermarkets.

 Nutritional information:

• Main ingredient: Soya protein
• Low in saturated fats
• 21.1g of protein per burger
• Calories: 253 per burger
• Fat: 14.8g per burger

Cook from frozen

8. Best vegan sausage patty: Richmond Meat-Free Burgers

Score: 5/10
Price: £2.00

I know this is a ‘best vegan burger’ list, but Richmond’s meat-free burgers divided me with the flavour of its patty.

I had high hopes for Richmond’s Meat-Free Burgers after falling in love with its vegan sausages. However, I found that the flavour of the burgers was very similar to the sausages.

I can’t decide if this is a good thing or a bad thing. For an authentic burger taste, I’m not sure these quite hit the mark, but I imagine they’d taste great in a breakfast sandwich topped with scrambled tofu and vegan bacon.

You can find Richmond Meat-Free burgers at most major supermarkets.

Nutritional information:

• Main ingredient: soya and wheat protein
• Fat: 6.52g per burger
• Protein: 12g per burger
• Calories: 142 per burger
• High in saturated fats

Cook from frozen

Hungry for more? Check out our best vegan bacon alternatives

Reference

1. Just Food

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