Apart from roast potatoes, pigs in blankets are the best part of a Christmas roast dinner. These festive meaty treats provide a taste experience unmatched by any other item on your plate; a good one nails a combination of textures with succulent sausage wrapped in crispy bacon. It’s a mouthful of flavour, with hints of saltiness and smokiness that you just don’t get from a slice of turkey or any other meat you decide to have this Christmas.
Each year, we seem to always pick up pigs and blankets from Sainsbury’s, as that’s our most used supermarket, but I wanted to see how the other supermarket brands compare. I did a blind taste test of the pigs in blankets from Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi and compared them with ones from posh supermarkets Waitrose, M&S and Ocado. Here’s how the pigs in blankets scored out of 10.
1. Morrisons
These pigs in blankets were very plump and full and incredible after cooking them, so I was expecting great things from these pigs in blankets. Upon tasting them, I was disappointed.
These £5.25 pigs in blankets had thick crispy bacon that was spoilt by the much stronger taste of the sausage overpowered any smoky bacon flavour.
Rating: 4.5/10
2. Aldi
These pigs in blankets from Aldi looked jolly and tasted it too. They were very porky with a good sausage flavour, but were a little too salty for me. I was impressed when I found out that these were from Aldi after the blind taste test. Given the good flavour and low price, these are a good option.
Rating: 7.5/10
3. Tesco
Tesco launched a “pigs in blankets with gravy mayo” product in mid-November, but you’ll find its standard pigs in blankets in the frozen section too.
Right from looking at the pigs in blankets after cooking them, they didn’t hold up against the others. As well as the appearance, the taste of the pigs in blankets was not pleasant.
Rating: 3.5/10
4. Waitrose
The Waitrose pigs in blankets were over twice the price of the cheapest supermarket brands we tried – yet they were disappointing.
The bacon had a very sweet maple flavour, which made it difficult to taste anything else. Plus, the sausages had a mushy and greasy texture.
Rating: 6/10
5. Sainsbury’s
Out of the oven, Sainsbury’s appeared the neatest and would look delightful on any Christmas dinner plate.
Both the sausages and bacon had good flavour, but it’s no surprise I liked them, as these are the pigs in blankets I usually buy.
Rating: 8/10
6. Jolly Hog
The Jolly Hog are one of the branded pigs in blankets I added in the blind taste test, and they were packed with flavour. The Jolly Hog’s pigs in blankets are wrapped in double-smoked, treacle-cured back bacon for an extra tasty treat. They’re also seasoned with sage, nutmeg and black pepper. The only thing that brought the score down was that I found it to be slightly too peppery.
Rating: 8.5/10
7. Lidl
Lidl’s offer was pretty small, but they had a generous wrap of thick bacon. While the flavour is savoury, the festive goodie does lack a meaty depth.
Rating: 6.5/10
8. Ocado
Ocado stock Edwards’ honey and rosemary pigs in blankets, which were arguably the better-looking of all the pigs in blankets. However, the great taste just wasn’t there. It was overly sweet, and the bacon was quite fatty.
Rating: 5/10
9. M&S
M&S seemed to fare the cooking process the best and stayed quite true to their original size. At first glance, Marks and Spencer’s pigs in blankets looked like a winner, but the flavours did slightly let them down. The flavour from the bacon was beautiful, but the sausages were a little bland.
Rating: 7.5/10
10. Asda
Believe it or not, but Asda’s pigs in blankets came out on top in this blind taste test. I was shocked by this result, but they tasted incredible. There was plenty of bacon around the sausage that crisped up nicely, and the sausages were perfectly flavoured. The only thing stopping them from being a 10 out of 10 is that they could do with being a little bigger.
Not only do they look and taste great, but they are one of the cheapest pigs in blankets in this list, retailing at £3.97.
Rating: 9/10
