Best beef burgers: tastiest supermarket burgers revealed

Getting ready to fire up the barbecue? Our consumer taste test reveals the best of the supermarket burgers, with three winning options to choose from.

Our 70-strong panel tried out 11 premium beef burgers from supermarkets, including Asda, Lidl, Morrisons and Tesco, alongside two big brands: Edwards and Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

Top picks included options from Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Tesco, and some are good value if you're looking to keep costs down.

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Best beef burgers

Morrisons, Tesco and M&S beef burgers stood head and shoulders above the rest in our test.

Their superior flavour, combined with crowd-pleasing texture, aroma and appearance impressed our tasting panel, with Morrisons and Tesco tying for the top score overall.

Best Buy: Morrisons The Best Steak Burger, 78%

£3.75 for 340g (£1.10 per 100g)

Joint top-scorer, and cheaper than average, Morrisons burgers were one of the highest rated for flavour. 

An impressive 83% also said the texture was spot on, while more than three-quarters found the colour appetising.

Seasoning and consistency were also enjoyed by most, and these burgers also had the least saturated fat of all the burgers on test.

You get more for your money with these versus the M&S burgers, but as a result some found them a bit too thick.

Available from Morrisons.

Best Buy: Tesco Finest Aberdeen Angus Beef Burgers, 78%

£4 for 340g (£1.18 per 100g) 

Matching Morrisons on overall score, Tesco's flavoursome burgers were praised by our consumer tasters.

We found that 89% loved the colour and texture, and 86% said the seasoning was perfect. And more than 80% felt these burgers had a good consistency.

Some found them a bit chunky, with 61% saying the burgers were too thick, but this aside they were a hit.

Available from Tesco.

Best Buy: M&S British Dry Aged Beef Burgers, 76%

£5 for 300g (£1.67 per 100g)

M&S's burgers were another crowd-pleaser with an excellent flavour and good ratings across the board.

They scored highly for their meaty flavour, seasoning, level of moistness and texture, and the colour was generally well-liked.

Some 83% of testers thought the thickness of these burgers was spot on and they also have the least salt of those we tested.

They are pricier than average, but they do at least live up to the price.

Available from M&S (in-store only) and Ocado.

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How Asda, Lidl, Sainsbury's, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and other beef burgers compare

Most of the supermarket burgers did reasonably well, with Co-op and Sainsbury's proving the next best options.

Restaurant brand Gourmet Burger Kitchen fell behind the pack though, scoring poorly for both texture and flavour and coming last overall.

• Co-op Irresistible Hereford Beef Burgers, 73% A well-liked burger with a good consistency and texture, according to more than 70% of tasters. At least two thirds of them were also happy with the colour, thickness and meaty flavour. A third felt that the seasoning was a bit underdone.
  £3.70 for 340g (£1.09 per 100g). Available from Co-op.
• Sainsbury’s British Beef Steak Burgers, Taste the Difference, 73% Another popular choice, this burger’s looks, juiciness, texture, meaty flavour and thickness were enjoyed by the majority. More than a third wanted an extra shake or two of seasoning, though.
  £3.50 for 340g (£1.03 per 100g). Available from Sainsbury’s.
• Edwards Welsh Beef Steak Burgers, 72% These burgers looked and smelled appetising, with a nice texture and good moisture levels according to more than two thirds of our panel. A little more seasoning would have helped, and more than a third thought that they were too thick.
  £3.60 for 320g (£1.13 per 100g). Available from Amazon, Aldi, Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
• Asda Extra Special Aberdeen Angus Beef Steak Burgers, 70% Most said Asda's burgers were the perfect thickness, and their colour and texture were rated reasonably well, too. However, more than a half wanted extra seasoning while a third found them a bit dry and lacking in meaty flavour. £3.75 for 340g (£1.10 per 100g). Available from Asda.
• Lidl Deluxe Aberdeen Angus Quarter Pounder Beef Burger, 70% Reasonable all-rounders with good thickness, moistness and texture, but lacking in flavour. More than 60% would have enjoyed extra seasoning while more than 40% wanted a stronger beef flavour.
  £2.99 for 340g (81p per 100g). Available from Lidl.
• Waitrose No.1 Dry Aged British Beef Steak Burgers, 70% Not bad. Three quarters enjoyed the thickness and colour. Consistency was rated well and 60% enjoyed its texture. More than half felt that the seasoning was lacking and 41% wanted a stronger meaty taste.
  £5.50 for 340g (£1.62 per 100g). Available from Waitrose.
• Aldi Specially Selected Aberdeen Angus Beef Quarter Pounder, 69% A bit on the bland side: 60% wanted more seasoning while for 41% a stronger meaty taste would have improved matters. Colour, thickness, texture and juiciness were all good, and these were also the cheapest on test.
  £3.15 for 454g (69p per 100g). Available from Aldi.
• Gourmet Burger Kitchen Beef Burgers, 61% Disappointing. More than half found that these burgers too dry and overly coarse in texture. The beef flavour wasn’t rated highly, either, and half of tasters wanted more seasoning. 
  £4.75 for 342g (£1.39 per 100g). Available from Ocado and Waitrose.

Are beef burgers healthy?

Beef burgers are best enjoyed as an occasional treat. While they pack a good punch of protein, they're also typically high in saturated fat and salt.

We noticed a fair bit of variation between brands. Morrisons burgers were much lower in saturated fat than M&S, for example. 

Lidl's burgers had the highest calories, fat and protein per 100g. They have double the fat content of the burgers from Asda and Edwards.

Does higher beef content make for better burgers?

Beef content varies in the burgers we tested, with some containing around 85% (Edwards), while others are nearer 99% (GBK). But our results show no relationship between higher beef content and better scores.

So what else goes into a burger? Most contain wheat substitutes, such as rice flour, gram flour and corn flour, to help with binding ingredients together. All the burgers we tested are gluten free.

Other additions are typically for flavouring, such as garlic, rosemary and mushrooms. We did spot some unexpected things on the ingredients lists, including kelp and green tea. The M&S burgers contained mushroom and kelp, possibly to add flavour, while Sainsbury's offering contained green tea. This may be because it's sometimes used to help preserve food for longer.

Can you cook beef burgers in an air fryer?

There are many ways to cook a burger. Grilling is a popular choice, but they can also be cooked in the oven, fried or on the barbecue. On average, grilling takes about 15 to 20 minutes from chilled. 

Air frying is an increasingly popular option, and are handy for containing splashes of fat or if you only need to cook a couple of burgers.

If your burgers have been in the freezer, ensure they're completely defrosted before cooking. However you cook your burger, ensure that any pink colour has gone and it's piping hot before you dish it up.

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Beef burgers and animal welfare

The animal welfare symbol that regularly crops up on beef burgers is the Red Tractor logo. However, this is no guarantee of better welfare than the UK's legal minimum.

Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Edwards, Lidl, Morrisons and Tesco all display the Red Tractor logo on their packaging. The other products tested don't display any nationally recognised animal welfare symbols.

M&S and Waitrose regularly occupy the top tier in Compassion in World Farming's business benchmark for animal welfare, while Sainsbury's is currently on tier two.

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How we tested beef burgers 

The beef burgers were tested in May 2024 by a large panel of consumers who regularly buy and consume beef burgers. The make-up of the panel broadly represents the demographic profile of adults in the UK. 

Each burger was assessed by 70 people. The tasters rated the taste, texture, aroma and appearance of each, and told us what they liked and disliked about each one. 

The taste test was conducted blind, so our testers didn’t know which brand they were trying. The order in which they tasted the burgers was fully rotated to avoid any bias. Each person had a private booth, so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.

The overall score was based on:

• 50% flavour
• 20% appearance
• 15% aroma
• 15% texture

These weightings are based on how consumers rank the importance of different attributes of beef burgers.

Price and availability checked 6 June 2024