Frozen croissants are a cost-effective way to get a taste of luxury at home, perfect for a weekend treat without having to head to the shops. But how do supermarket options compare?
We put supermarket and branded pain au chocolat from the freezer aisle to the test to find out which are the tastiest and best value for money.
Our panel of consumers blind-tasted frozen pain au chocolat from supermarkets including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose to uncover contenders for the flakiest pastry and the best chocolate flavour. They also rated which ones looked (and smelt) the part when they came out of the oven.
To help you get the cheapest croissants, we also compared size, nutrition and pricing. Plus, read on for the surprising cooking tip you might not know (and whether you can air fry your croissants).
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Best frozen pain au chocolat to buy
Frozen food brand Picard impressed in our tests, but two supermarket options from Waitrose and M&S beat it to the top spot.
Co-op croissants are also worth considering. Its pain au chocolat came joint second, are some of the cheapest around, and have the fewest calories and least sugar per 100g.
Best Buy: Waitrose 8 Frozen Pains au Chocolat - 74%
£3.80 for 480g (79p per 100g)
Waitrose claims its pains au chocolat are 'the next best thing to a patisserie around the corner', and our tasters were certainly impressed by them.
They were some of the best rated for appearance, with 81% rating the colour spot on, and most thought they had a good level of sweetness and chocolate flavour too.
Available from Waitrose.
Best Buy: M&S 8 Ready to Bake Pains au Chocolat - 74%
£3.90 for 480g (82p per 100g)
Like Waitrose, these pain au chocolat stood out from the rest for their appetising appearance, so they're ideal if you're after something that looks more local bakery than supermarket freezer aisle.
They're a tad pricier than others we tested, but are worth it if you don't mind spending slightly more.
Available from Ocado.
Co-op 6 All Butter Pain au Chocolat - 72%
£3.40 for 450g (76p per 100g)
You get two fewer croissants with Co-op's pack of pain au chocolat, though they are slightly bigger than others we tested, so could be a good choice if you want a more substantial treat or have fewer people to feed.
They contain the fewest calories and least sugar per 100g of any brand we tested, but they do skimp a bit on the chocolate content. Half the panel felt there wasn't enough chocolate filling, so if this is your favourite bit you might feel a little cheated.
Available from Co-op.
Picard 6 Pains au Chocolat - 72%
£4.60 for 420g (£1.10 per 100g)
These pains au chocolat are 'cooked according to the traditional recipe with French ingredients', which might partly explain their comparatively higher price.
Taste-wise they're on point, with the level of sweetness, amount of chocolate and strength of chocolate flavour all going down well with the panel, but the look didn't quite scream 'fresh from the French bakery'. Six in 10 found the colour too dark.
Available from Ocado.
How Sainsbury's, Asda and other supermarket pain au chocolat compare
Other supermarket frozen pains au chocolat didn't score too badly, so there's no major need to go out of your way to hunt down the best. However, some are soggier than others.
Sainsbury's are the cheapest per 100g, but Co-op's may be a better choice if you like a crisper croissant.
- Sainsbury's 6 Frozen Pains au Chocolat - 71%. Most tasters thought the strength of chocolate flavour was just right, though nearly half found the pastry too soggy. 72p per 100g. Available from Sainsbury's.
- Asda Bake at Home 4 All-Butter Pains au Chocolat - 70%. These weren't sweet or chocolatey enough for some, but most liked their colour after being baked in the oven. 77p per 100g. Available from Asda.
- Morrisons 4 Bake at Home Pain au Chocolat - 69%. A third of our panel felt these were lacking sweetness. They're pricier than others and have the most calories per 100g too. 93p per 100g. Available from Morrisons.
- Iceland 4 All Butter Pains aux Chocolat - 68%. Bottom of the table was Iceland. Its croissants lost marks for appearance, with half rating the colour too dark. Most also thought the texture was too moist. 74p per 100g. Available from Iceland.
Pain au chocolat from Aldi and Lidl were not available at the time of testing due to supply issues. Aldi's are now in stock and come in a pack of six for £2.35 (39p per croissant, 65p per 100g) - available from Aldi.
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Are pain au chocolat healthy? Sugar and fat content compared
Consisting of layers of buttery pastry and chocolate, pains au chocolat aren't exactly a healthy breakfast choice, but they do make a good special occasion or weekend treat.
Some are better than others, too. Every product we tested had more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g (the amount the NHS classes as high and deserving of a red light traffic label), but when it comes to size, calories and sugar content, brands do differ.
There are nearly 100 calories between the most calorific croissants (Morrisons, 430kcal per 100g), and the least (Co-op, 333kcal per 100g). Meanwhile Iceland's pain au chocolat have 13.4g of sugar per 100g to Co-op's 0.9g.
How to cook frozen pain au chocolat
All the pains au chocolat we tested need 15-20 minutes in the oven at around 200°C. You can cook them straight from frozen – just put them on a baking tray and into a preheated oven.
Some brands recommend resting the pain au chocolat before eating. M&S even recommends waiting for a full 30 minutes before you dig in for best results – but as the smell of freshly baked croissant fills your kitchen, you may find it hard to resist for that long.
Can you air-fry frozen croissants?
Cooking croissants for one or two and don't want to waste energy? Another option is to cook your pastries in an air fryer.
The cost savings are likely to be fairly minimal versus cooking in an oven – see our air fryer vs oven cooking costs article for more – but you'll cut down on cooking time by around 10 minutes, including a shorter pre-heating time.
See the best air fryers we recommend for 2023.
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How we tested frozen pain au chocolat
The pain au chocolat were taste-tested in December 2022 by a large panel of people who like them. The make-up of the panel broadly represents the demographic profile of adults in the UK.
Each brand of pain au chocolat was assessed by 72 people. The panellists rated the appearance, aroma, taste and texture of each product and told us what they liked and disliked about each one.
The taste test was blind, so the panellists didn’t know which brand they were trying. Each pain au chocolat was cooked in accordance with pack instructions.
The order consumers sampled the pastries in was fully rotated to avoid any bias, and they each had a private booth so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.
The overall score is based on:
- 50% taste
- 20% appearance
- 15% aroma
- 15 texture
These weightings are based on consumer rankings of the importance of pain au chocolat attributes.
Can you recycle pain au chocolat packaging?
Unfortunately, none of the brands we assessed in this taste test have packaging you can recycle at home. However, Asda, Iceland, M&S, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Waitrose packs can be recycled with bags at larger supermarkets.
source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/the-best-frozen-pain-au-chocolat-we-tested-came-from-these-two-supermarkets-aWt302L0mnAr