{"id":738885,"date":"2026-08-15T14:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/738885\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T14:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T14:08:10","slug":"the-bar-here-is-low-the-best-and-worst-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-and-rated-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/738885\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The bar here is low\u2019: the best (and worst) supermarket brioche burger buns, tasted and rated | Bread"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Brioche is a fabulously luxurious dough enriched with eggs and copious amounts of butter (often 25% or more of the total dough). Supermarket brioche buns, however, are a little different: the best products contain about 6-11% butter at most and some, surprisingly, contained none at all, using replacements such as palm fat and rapeseed oil instead.<\/p>\n<p>But all is not lost: even the most processed products were passable, and the best were quite delicious. I tested these straight from the packet, analysing the egg wash, type of crumb and texture. I scored on flavour, value, processing, sustainability (though most products lack standards and certifications) and animal welfare.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The bar here is pretty low, though, with most buns sitting firmly in UPF territory. Squishy, carotene-coloured and stored in plastic, they\u2019re fabricated from a cocktail of fats, emulsifiers and preservatives, creating remarkable shelf life but unremarkable buns with little authenticity.<\/p>\n<p>The best supermarket brioche burger bunsBest overall:<br \/>Waitrose No 1 brioche rolls<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a31.60 for two at Waitrose (80p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waitrose.com%2Fecom%2Fproducts%2Fno1-2-brioche-rolls%2F911108-1-2&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/thefilter\/2026\/aug\/15\/best-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-rated\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a31.60 for two at Waitrose (80p each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">An extra-large bun with a light, fluffy texture and open crumb, with a distinguishable nutty flavour from the brown butter. A notably simple ingredients list, including a good ratio of free-range egg and butter. Emulsifier- and preservative-free.<\/p>\n<p>Best bargain:<br \/>Co-op Irresistible four brioche buns<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a31.75 for four at Co-op (44p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fshop.coop.co.uk%2Fproduct%2Fco-op-irresistible-4-brioche-buns--5000129380927&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/thefilter\/2026\/aug\/15\/best-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-rated\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a31.75 for four at Co-op (44p each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A large, round, dark-golden bun with a turmeric-yellow crumb and a really nice, buttery flavour. Contains eggs, emulsifiers and flavouring.<\/p>\n<p>And the rest \u2026M&amp;S Collection brioche buns made with sourdough<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a32.20 for two at Ocado (\u00a31.10 each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ocado.com\/products\/m-s-collection-brioche-rolls\/581207011\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a32.20 for two at Ocado (\u00a31.10 each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">An extra-large bun with a dark-brown glaze and an open, cakey crumb. Made with a simple ingredients list, including sourdough, which gives it a sour twang. Enriched with butter from Brittany, free-range egg and clotted cream. No emulsifiers, preservatives or acidity regulators.<\/p>\n<p>Aldi Specially Selected brioche burger buns<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"99p for four at Aldi (25p each), in store only (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aldi.co.uk\/product\/specially-selected-sliced-brioche-burger-buns-000000000000310384\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">99p for four at Aldi (25p each), in store only<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Four French-made, small, shiny golden buns with a closed crumb and springy texture. A great burger bun with good flavour, rich, sweet, and without the sourness found in some other products. Contains emulsifiers, eggs, and no artificial flavourings or preservatives.<\/p>\n<p>Asda Exceptional brioche burger buns<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a31.42 for four at Asda (36p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.asda.com%2Fgroceries%2Fproduct%2Fwhite-rolls%2Fexceptional-by-asda-exceptional-by-4-brioche-burger-buns%2F9137649&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/thefilter\/2026\/aug\/15\/best-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-rated\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a31.42 for four at Asda (36p each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A medium-sized classic, airy brioche bun with a nice, golden carotene-coloured closed crumb and sour twang. Rich, sweet and soft. Made with free-range eggs. Contains emulsifiers, palm fat, preservatives and maltodextrin.<\/p>\n<p><a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"#EmailSignup-skip-link-35\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-vf9hps\">Sign up to The Filter<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1r7my33\">Get the best shopping advice from the Filter team straight to your inbox. The Guardian\u2019s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/379.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"dcr-xiq31o\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-35\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<p>Sainsbury\u2019s Taste the Difference brioche burger buns<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a31.50 for four at Sainsbury\u2019s (38p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sainsburys.co.uk%2Fgol-ui%2Fproduct%2Fsainsburys-brioche-burger-buns-rolls-taste-the-difference-x4&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/thefilter\/2026\/aug\/15\/best-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-rated\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a31.50 for four at Sainsbury\u2019s (38p each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A medium-sized bun with a classic texture, light and fluffy, with a closed crumb. Rich and buttery and quite sweet, with a sourness from the vinegar. Contains eggs and palm oil. No artificial flavourings or preservatives.<\/p>\n<p>Morrisons the Best brioche burger buns<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a31.50 for four at Morrisons (38p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fgroceries.morrisons.com%2Fproducts%2Fmorrisons-the-best-4-brioche-buns%2F108831447&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/thefilter\/2026\/aug\/15\/best-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-rated\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a31.50 for four at Morrisons (38p each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A small, soft and buttery roll with an open crumb and sweet finish. A long ingredients list including eggs, palm fat, emulsifiers, preservative, maltodextrin and flavouring.<\/p>\n<p>Tesco Fire Pit brioche burger buns<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a31.95 for eight at Tesco (24p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tesco.com%2Fshop%2Fen-GB%2Fproducts%2F308475012&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/thefilter\/2026\/aug\/15\/best-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-rated\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a31.95 for eight at Tesco (24p each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A party pack of eight egg-glazed brioche buns. Sweet with a sour twang from the fermented wheat flour. Soft but a little bready, with a light but open crumb; holds together well, though. Contains eggs, palm oil and emulsifiers.<\/p>\n<p>St Pierre brioche buns<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a32.90 for six at Sainsbury\u2019s (48p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sainsburys.co.uk%2Fgol-ui%2Fproduct%2Fst-pierre-brioche-buns-rolls-x6&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/thefilter\/2026\/aug\/15\/best-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-rated\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a32.90 for six at Sainsbury\u2019s (48p each)<\/a><a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a32.90 for six at Tesco (48p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/go.skimresources.com\/?id=114047X1572903&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tesco.com%2Fshop%2Fen-GB%2Fproducts%2F301971576&amp;sref=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/thefilter\/2026\/aug\/15\/best-supermarket-brioche-burger-buns-tasted-rated\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a32.90 for six at Tesco (48p each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2605\u2606\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A sweet, small, sliced French brioche, with a uniform glaze. Soft in texture with a closed crumb and a chemical-like plastic aroma (probably from the packaging). Contains eggs, invert sugar syrup, flavouring and emulsifier.<\/p>\n<p>La Boulang\u00e8re brioche burger buns<a rel=\"sponsored noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"\u00a31.60 for four at Ocado (40p each) (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ocado.com\/products\/la-boulangere-4-brioche-burger-buns\/396329011\" data-component=\"in-body-product-link-button\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" data-link-name=\"product link button primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-x-cust-component-id=\"product-link-block\" class=\"dcr-1g18dov\">\u00a31.60 for four at Ocado (40p each)<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u2605\u2606\u2606\u2606\u2606<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A long-life French import made with barn eggs and no butter (just rapeseed oil) so arguably not brioche at all. A classic, golden egg glaze, a white bready texture, with good bounce and an open crumb. It contains preservatives and has a chemical aroma, but it is emulsifier-free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brioche is a fabulously luxurious dough enriched with eggs and copious amounts of butter (often 25% or more&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-738885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}