For a lot of people the plant-based burger is the ultimate test of the progress of plant-based meats. They tend to grab the headlines more often than not. I've tried quite a few different ones, and I have to say I find they are mostly all very good these days. However, I do have a favourite!
I'm aware that I've scored almost all of these the same, so just to test my scoring method and to refresh my mind on some of the options I tried a while ago, I may do a couple of head-head comparisons soon (something like the most-expensive versus the cheapest). This may result in some score revisions.
Taste & Glory (formerly Naked Glory): 2 Quarter Pounders - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (discontinued)
Chilled / 2pk / 227g / £2.75
My favourite. Meaty in both texture, smell and flavour. I could say that I am blown away by these and it wouldn't be an overstatement. Truly great. Naked Glory seem to be on an unstoppable march to becoming THE gold standard in plant-based meats. Sadly the Taste & Glory brand is being discontinued so these look set to disappear forever. I am also going to note that there is a frozen version of these but they don't quite seem the same to me. Go for the fresh ones and be quick because they won't be around for much longer!
Beyond Meat: The Beyond Burger - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Chilled / 2pk / 226g / £5
This is the burger that gets the most coverage in the press. I have no complaints with the taste or texture of these burgers, in fact they are pretty amazing. What does cause a problem is the price, which works out at around double most of the others.
I recently had another one of these burgers, but from a cafe. I had to go back to the staff as I was convinced they had given me a beef burger by mistake. I've bumped this up to five stars from my original four star rating. Of course the price is still high, but the burger is just so good it wouldn't be fair to mark it down.
M&S Plant Kitchen: 4 Vegan Hamburgers - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Chilled / 4pk / 454g / £4.25
These seem to be a new addition for the 2022 summer so they may disappear at the end of the BBQ season. The standard price seems to be £4.25 for four burgers which works out pretty good compared to the other top brands. These can quite easily sit alongside the Taste & Glory at the top of my list. The burger cooks nicely, and has a great small, texture and flavour. Really good.
Please note that M&S are currently selling 3 different types of fresh (chilled) vegan beef-style burgers. I will try to get my hands on the others soon.
M&S Plant Kitchen: Vegan Steak Burgers - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Chilled / 2pk / £5.25
Another new addition for the 2022 summer range. These burgers are super thick and very chunky. They were really tasty and they looked stunning once cooked. However they are fairly pricey.
Meatless Farm: Plant-based Burgers - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Chilled / 2pk / 227g / £2.50
Another really good burger with a really good meaty texture and flavour.
Linda McCartney's: Quarter-pounder Burger - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Frozen / 2pk / 227g / £2.20
I don't like everything that Linda McCartney's brand sell, but this is a definitely a good burger!
Richmond: Meat-free Burgers - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Chilled / 2pk / 170g / £2
Equally as good as all the other four-star rated burgers. But bear in mind that Richmond are known for their pork products, so it should come as no surprise that these taste like pork burgers rather than beef burgers. And these are great if you want a pork-style burger.
Moving Mountains: 1/4 Pound Plant-based Burgers - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Frozen / 2pk / 227g / £4
Moving Mountains seem to be another really good producer of plant-based meats. These are very good. However, they suffer in the same way as Beyond Meat in the fact they are one of the higher priced options, and this makes me slightly less likely to buy them at their full price.
Moving Mountains: Plant-based Sausage Burgers - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Frozen / 2pk / 227g / £4
Another great product from Moving Mountains. I bought these to recreate a sausage McMuffin which was fairly successful. As with other Moving Mountains products, they seem to have a tiny bit of spicy-heat in them which is quite nice. They are very sausagey and have a super meaty bite - much more so than the original sausage pattie you would find in a McMuffin.
The No Meat Company: No Bull Quarter-pounders - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Frozen / 2pk / 226g / £2
I wasn't expecting to find such a nice burger in Iceland. Totally up there with most of the others, plus it's one of the cheapest, which is great for the pocket too!
Quorn: Ultimate Burger - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Frozen / 2pk / 227g
Considering Quorn's vegan products can sometimes miss the mark, I found these surprisingly good.
Birds Eye: Green Cuisine Meat-Free Burgers - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Frozen / 2pk / 200g / Approx £2.50
If I had to pick something that set them apart it would be that the texture seemed a little soft inside. They definitely do the job if you fancy a burger, but they're not quite the same standard as many options above.
Mae's Kitchen / Plant Menu: Vegan No Beef Burgers - ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Frozen / 2pk / 227g / £1.49
When I tried these they were labelled as Mae's Kitchen, but I think they now come under the Aldi Plant Menu brading. I'm not 100% sure if they are exactly the same recipe or not. These were perfectly acceptable vegan burgers and I enjoyed them. The real winner with these is that they are sold at a much more reasonable price than some of the other options. It's been quite a while since I last had them and have tried a lot of other options since then, so I can't quite remember of they are a three star or a four. I've given them four for now, but I'll grab another box (these will be under the Plant Menu branding) just to confirm if that is correct.
Plant-It: Meat Free Burger - ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
2pk
Burger was decent enough but probably middle of the road compared to some of the others here. Possibly a bit too smooth texture wise. Made with onions, mushrooms and beetroot. Seems to do the fake bleeding thing when cooking (I imagine that's the beetroot).
Vemondo (Lidl): Vegetarian Burger - ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (not vegan)
2pk /
A pretty decent offering from Lidl here. It has a good texture and flavour, but not quite as refined as the options at the top of the page, and sadly not vegan as it contains egg. I've given these three stars as they are not vegan.
Coming soon... Gro Burgers (which are Co-Op's own brand).
