We taste tested Noel Radford’s infamous chicken pie against high street favourites to see if it really is a ‘whopper’

IT’S a classic British dish, filled with tasty bits of chicken and gravy.

But a good chicken pie can take a lot of effort (and time) to make from scratch, two things many of us don’t have.

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Luckily for you, every supermarket has a ready made version that takes between 20 and 55 minutes to cook in the oven - and some taste almost as delicious as a homemade version.

So, to celebrate British Pie Week this week, Abby Wilson tucked into some of the high-street’s favourite chicken pies, as well as a pie from the Radford family’s very own pie shop - Radford’s Pie Company - rating them on taste, appearance, value for money and marking them out of five.

Pukka

212g, £2 

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As soon as I cut into this chicken and mushroom pie, I was immediately put off by the appearance.

I thought that Pukka pies were quite iconic, but it had a jelly-like appearance and to make matters worse, there was barely any chicken. And the pieces were absolutely tiny. 

Despite this, the chicken was pretty tasty. The appearance totally let it down though. I definitely wouldn’t eat it again. 

1/5

Lidl

200g, £1.59 

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Despite cooking this pie for the designated amount of time, this pie accidentally got a bit burnt.

Regardless of this, the puff pastry was still quite tasty, but that was probably one of the only good things I could say about this pie. 

The smell wasn’t doing much for me and the filling looked, if I’m being honest, pretty grim and a bit like cat food.

1/5

Morrisons

200g, £1.79 

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While I was impressed with the price of this pie, the appearance and taste didn’t leave me thrilled.

The inside of this pie looked very odd and the pastry was quite thick.

In terms of the flavour, there wasn’t much going on, and although I initially thought I was a big pie fan, the more I ate of this, the more it was putting me off. 

1/5

Asda

500g, £3.60

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I was impressed with the puff pastry topping on this pie - it was very nice and flaky. 

However, I really didn’t like the look of the insides. It wasn’t appetising at all - it was a very strange colour. 

The pastry underneath was also quite stodgy, and although I’d cooked it for the right amount of time, something just didn’t taste right.

1/5 

Radford’s Pie Company 

280g, £3.95 

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I was really excited to try this iconic pie - especially after waiting over two weeks for it to arrive.

It was a good size for an individual pie, and made the Pukka pie look tiny.

However, the insides of this pie were not appetising at all - although the Radfords described this pie as ‘chunky chicken’, I have to say, the stringy chicken and the jelly-like appearance was not a bit of me. Apologies Radfords, but I wouldn't describe this pie as a 'whopper'.

2/5

Waitrose

200g, £2.75

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I expected a lot from this Waitrose pie - with Waitrose being a boujee supermarket. 

I was really impressed with the colour of the filling, however, the pie wasn’t as deep as I would have liked. 

The pie smelt delicious, there was a really nice gravy taste and I have to say - it tasted really good too, but there was a slight aftertaste that I wasn’t too keen on, leaving me, unfortunately, not as ecstatic as I expected.  

3/5

Aldi

200g, £1.49

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This Aldi pie looked and smelt great, but upon getting inside, I was disappointed to see that the pieces of chicken were tiny.

I liked the flaky pastry, it was really soft, and the chicken was tasty.

Despite this, the sauce was quite thick and claggy, and almost got stuck in your teeth, making this pie a bit mediocre. 

3/5

Sainsbury’s

200g, £2

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I have no clue what happened with this one, but the pastry had split and was falling apart.

The colour looked good but the pastry was incredibly thick and hard.

The contents were a lot darker than some of the other pies, with a nice gravy flavour, which I liked, and the pieces of chicken were a generous size. 

4/5

Tesco

200g, £1.85

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The appearance of this pie - from the outside and the inside - was pretty impressive.

It smelt amazing and it tasted really good, with a delicious gravy flavour.

Not only this, but I really enjoyed the peppery taste which a lot of the others didn’t have, making this pie a stand out against many of the other average options.  

4/5

Pieminister

270g, £4.70 

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Despite the slightly hefty price tag, I have to say, this pie was very impressive. 

I wasn’t too impressed with the pale colour of the pie, but the taste was divine - it was perfectly seasoned. 

The pieces of chicken were very generous and the pasty was the perfect thickness too. 

5/5

M&S

250g, £5.25 

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This pie definitely looked the best by far out of the bunch and was certainly the heaviest.

Despite the fact that the top of this Gastropub pie had got slightly burnt, the insides looked great.

This pie had a brilliant flavour and certainly smelt the best too. It left me wanting more and deserves top marks. 

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