‘Unusually soft, mushy, oddly bland’: the best (and worst) baked beans, tasted and rated by Felicity Cloake

Baked beans are one of those homely foods that are so familiar that most of us don’t give them even a second thought on the shelf – we reach for our usual brand, tick it off the list and reserve our mental bandwidth for more exciting foodstuffs. After all, just how different can a tin of beans be? To my surprise, I discovered very striking disparities between the ones I tested, so if you’re someone who routinely decants excess juice or reduces the sauce to achieve that authentic school dinner effect, you might be better off simply switching allegiance. Similarly, the sugar content varied between 9% of your recommended daily allowance to 13%, so if that’s a concern, look out for reduced- or no-sugar brands instead.

There’s a significant price difference between supermarket own labels and the leading brands, too. If you’re after a gourmet experience, I’d recommend the Bold Bean Co’s rich tomato baked beans (£3.50), because they remind me of those homemade beans you sometimes get with a fry-up at fancy cafes: intensely savoury and packed full of herbs. They don’t qualify here, because they are to ordinary baked beans what rye sourdough is to white sliced, but they’re bloody lovely all the same. That said, you can’t go wrong with any of our best buys served on buttered toast with a light dusting of grated cheddar. Small pleasures don’t come much cheaper.

Best all-rounder
M&S baked beans in a rich tomato sauce

_{50p for 400g at Ocado}
★★★★★

These have a very appetising, rich colour and, like all the best baked beans, a dash of vinegar to balance out the sweetness. There’s lots of sauce (the tin holds only 49% beans), but when said sauce tastes this good, who cares? (Note that, though these are the only ones I try that aren’t thickened with modified maize starch, they do contain various extracts and flavourings. Organic varieties are a better bet if you’re trying to avoid ultra-processed ingredients.)

Best bargain

Morrisons baked beans in tomato sauce

_{45p for 410g at Morrisons
50p for 410g at Amazon}
★★★★☆

Large beans in a thick, tangy sauce with a well-rounded, almost savoury flavour – this has more seasoning than most of its rivals, and you can taste it. Classic baked beans at a good price, but beware the high sugar content.

Best splurge

Branston baked beans in a rich, thick, tomatoey sauce

_{£1 for 410g at Ocado
£1 for 410g at Tesco}
★★★★★

Quite simply, the king of beans. Twice the price of the own-brands, but worth every penny, especially in comparison with its better known and more expensive rival. If you like your sauce thick, deliciously savoury and generously seasoned with salt and sugar, give these a try – once you taste them, you’ll never go back.

And the rest …

Heinz Beanz

_{£1.40 for 415g at Ocado
£5.25 for six 415g cans at Amazon}
★★★★☆

It can’t be denied that the brand synonymous with baked beans knows how to woo the eye with plump, perfectly cooked beans in a sauce that’s thin enough to show them off in all their creamy beauty. That sauce, however, doesn’t live up to the premium price tag – it’s thin and sweet. I think Heinz is riding off its reputation at this point.

Bramwells baked beans in a rich tomato sauce

_{41p for 410g at Aldi}
★★★☆☆

Winner of a blind tasting last year by consumer group Which?, these have a thick, almost gloopy sauce but a nice colour and a decent, if unexciting flavour, which is perhaps what people want from their morning beans. Again, I can’t pick up the spices or onion listed in the ingredients. Solid, but I wouldn’t rush to recommend them.

Asda baked beans in a rich tomato sauce

_{42p for 410g at Asda}
★★★☆☆

The fruity, tomatoey flavour of this sauce reminds me, rather comfortingly, of tinned tomato soup. I can’t taste the onion powder or paprika, though from the colour of them, there’s a lot of the latter. If you have a sweet tooth, these are the beans for you.

Waitrose Essential baked beans in tomato sauce

_{55p for 420g at Waitrose}
★★★☆☆

The most highly seasoned tin I try, but the watery orange sauce is definitely second fiddle to the real stars: the nicely cooked beans. That said, I pick up a weirdly meaty aftertaste that puts me off a bit, but I’ll be honest, with some grated cheese, I probably wouldn’t notice.

Sainsbury’s baked beans in tasty tomato sauce

_{40p for 400g at Sainsbury’s}
★★☆☆☆

Copious amounts of sauce with a fairly one-dimensionally sweet flavour, despite the fairly average sugar content. Nothing offensive here, just a wee bit underwhelming.

Tesco baked beans in tomato sauce

_{43p for 420g at Tesco}
★☆☆☆☆

Unusually soft, mushy beans in a sauce that, given the relatively high sugar and salt content, is oddly bland, and thickened with maltodextrin as well as the usual modified maize starch. Just dull.

Ocado baked beans in tomato sauce

_{43p for 420g at Ocado}
★☆☆☆☆

There are lots of small, broken beans in here, suggesting they’ve been overcooked, and they come floating disconsolately in a pallid, thin sauce. Really disappointing. (On the plus side, these have the lowest sugar content of all the beans I try, so if you’re looking for haricot beans on a budget, just give these a rinse: they’re a lot cheaper than the plain kind.)