Hot cross buns from Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and M&S tested

There's less than a week to go before Easter weekend and, while many people will be looking forward to delving into the chocolate, there are sure to be plenty of hot cross buns around as well. Much like with many things, there seems to be a big selection available these days.

Supermarkets are wowing us with chocolate versions, salted caramel, apple, you name it. There are even savoury options nowadays.

But there's surely no substitute for the original and, with a few days left to get the pre-Easter shopping done, the M.E.N put buns from seven major supermarkets to the test.

This is what they found:

To keep things simple - and with the ongoing cost of living crisis in mind - we decided to taste test the most basic traditional version available in each supermarket. It was only Aldi where the basic one wasn't in stock, so we tried its luxury one instead. And in M&S, its standard one is a 'luxury' one anyway. Of course it is.

The others were from Asda, Sainsbury's, Lidl, Tesco and Morrisons - and just a quick glance over them shows how different they are, varying in size, glaze and quantity of fruit. We all agreed the ones with more glaze looked most appealing, Tesco's, Lidl's and Morrisons' looking particularly sticky.

All three felt a little dry to cut into mind and while the taste was OK, they weren't among the favourites. Asda's looked the biggest of all and was praised for its softness, but again, it didn't make the top three.

It goes without saying that they all taste fruity, but some have stronger flavours than others. The quantity of fruit and richness of the flavour helped M&S and Aldi take joint second place - both moist, with a thick texture and chunky pieces of fruit. There's something to be said for that 'luxury' label after all.

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But rather surprisingly it was one of the cheaper ones, Sainsbury's £1.10 pack of buns (reduced from £1.40 at the time of the test), that was the overall winner - with four out of five tasters preferring them to any other. They don't actually look as appealing, with very little glaze at all and not as packed with fruit as some of the others.

The winner - Sainsbury's (M.E.N)

But they're moist and flavoursome with a hint of cinnamon and just the right amount of everything. And when they work out at just 18p each, you'd struggle to find a better basic bun for your dough this Easter.

Here are the prices for the packs

1. M&S £1.90
2. Aldi luxury £1.19
3. Morrisons £1.15
4. Sainsbury’s £1.10
5. Asda 99p
6. Tesco 99p
7. Lidl 99p