The best supermarket own-brand baked beans we’ve bought & tried (top 4)
As you can probably tell by the top image of this article, I love baked beans (that's a photo of me putting 9 cans of baked beans through a self-scan at Waitrose). They're high in protein, low in fat, and versatile.
Every UK supermarket brand has its own version of baked beans, and you might think that they're all pretty much the same in terms of taste and quality. But having tried most of them, I can confidently say that is not the case. In fact, some supermarket own-brand baked beans that I've tried have been really bad.
I thought it would be useful to round-up the best supermarket own-brand baked beans that I've bought and tried, so let's get into it:
Waitrose Essential Baked Beans
Yes, I'm aware that there is a "fancier" version of these baked beans sold by Waitrose under the 'Duchy' label (we also included them in this article), but trust me when I say that the Essential Waitrose baked beans are better. I've published an entire post about these baked beans for anyone that wants a deep dive, but in short - they're tasty, especially high in protein (a whopping 33g of protein per can), and cheap. Learn more and buy them here - waitrose.com
Co-op
Let me first just give a shoutout to the wonderful label of these baked beans from the Co-op - rightly reminding us that as well as being delicious, baked beans are also 1 of our 5 a day. What I love most about the Co-op own brand baked beans is the sauce - not too runny and a little thicker, which reminds me of Branston Baked Beans (if you haven't tried them, they're great). These are usually about 49p per 400g can, learn more and buy them here - coop.co.uk
M&S baked beans
As is the case with Waitrose, M&S is great for own-brand products (and flowers too), so I wasn't surprised when I tried the baked beans from M&S and tasted how good they are. The tomato sauce that is used for the baked beans is really rich and tasty, plus at 50p per can they're not an expensive product at all. Learn more and buy them here - ocado.com
Waitrose Duchy Organic baked beans
It's really hard to find organic own-brand baked beans at any of the supermarkets, but Waitrose has them, and they're great. We'd say that these are slightly tastier than the Essential Baked Beans from Waitrose, but they don't have the same protein content. Plus, they're almost double the price. Learn more and buy them here - waitrose.com
I tried lots of baked beans for this guide, and genuinely feel that these 4 are the best of the bunch. If I had to choose the worst own-brand supermarket baked beans, I'd say Tesco and Lidl are probably the worst I tried. Let me know what you think of this guide!
Finn H
Finn is the editor of You Well and has been writing about travel, health, and more for over 10 years.