When it comes to summer meals, nothing beats a crisp salad drizzled with creamy, tangy salad cream. Heinz Salad Cream is often the go-to choice, but it comes at more than twice the price of many supermarket own brands. So, I decided to put seven popular salad creams to the test—from Tesco, M&S, Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrisons—to see how they stack up in flavor, price, and ingredients.
Here’s what my family and I discovered.
Heinz Salad Cream costs £2.50 for 425g (£5.88/kg). It’s rich and tangy, featuring water, spirit vinegar, rapeseed oil (22%), sugar, mustard powder, modified cornflour, and pasteurized egg yolks (3%). With 303 calories, 1.8g saturated fat, 17.2g sugars, and 1.5g salt per 100g, it’s full-flavored and creamy. We rated it 5 out of 5 stars.
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Tesco’s Salad Cream is £1.70 for 450ml (£3.78/kg). It has a longer ingredient list and a darker, more mustardy color due to beta-carotene. With 216 calories, 1.5g saturated fat, 12.8g sugars, and 1.27g salt per 100g, it’s smooth but less flavorful, earning 3 stars.
Morrisons Savers Salad Cream costs just 79p for 420g (£1.88/kg). It contains fewer calories and sugars but was disappointingly bland—lacking the zesty tang of classic salad cream. We gave it 2 stars.
Sainsbury’s Reduced Fat Salad Cream priced at £1.60 for 420g (£3.81/kg) offers a sharp, tangy twist with just 144 calories and 0.7g saturated fat per 100g. Despite being low-fat, it maintained creaminess and flavor, scoring 4.5 stars.
Lidl’s Salad Cream at 99p for 510g (£1.94/kg) closely mirrors Heinz in ingredients—water, spirit vinegar, rapeseed oil (22%), and Dijon mustard. Its bold, peppery flavor really brought salads and sandwiches to life. We loved it and rated it a full 5 stars.
Aldi’s version is the cheapest at 75p for 520g (£1.44/kg). While it looks like Heinz and has a similar creamy texture, it tastes noticeably sweeter due to added caramelized sugar syrup, which raised its sugar content to 17g per 100g. Still enjoyable with 4 stars.
M&S costs £1.70 for 440g (£4.32/kg). This pale, almost mayonnaise-like salad cream was creamy but lacked the zing we expected and received 3 stars.
Asda’s salad cream is £0.85 for 420g (£2.02/kg) and contains only 16 calories per 100g—making it much lighter but also less creamy and flavorful. It reminded us more of mayo and earned 2 stars.
While Heinz’s distinctive sharpness remains unmatched, Lidl’s Batts Salad Cream surprised us with its vibrant peppery punch at nearly half the price (£0.99 for 510g). This budget-friendly option delivers a bold, flavorful experience without compromising quality, making it our new favorite and a great way to save £1.50 per bottle.