The supermarket own-brand milk chocolate that ‘tastes amazing’ and is cheaper than Cadbury

We pitted supermarket own-brand chocolate bars against Cadbury Dairy Milk (Picture: Getty Images/Connect Images)

For as long as we can remember, Cadbury has been the go-to for chocolate lovers in the UK.

But if you’re looking to try something different, a Metro taste test might have you rethinking your snack choices at the shop. 

We pitted classic Dairy Milk against own-brand milk chocolate bars from all of the major supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S, and Aldi, as part of a blind test, and the results were pretty surprising.

One of the sweet treats proved to be on par with the Cadbury favourite in many ways and beat it when it came to price.

One own-brand bar was better than all the rest (Picture: Courtney Pochin)

Which milk chocolate bar is the best?

It was the Milk Chocolate from Morrisons (£2.30 for 200g) that came out on top for the supermarket bars, with an overall score of 74 out of 100. This was the same score that Cadbury Dairy Milk received, placing the two chocolate bars in joint first place.

The Morrisons option was described as having an ‘amazing’ taste, which was ‘sweet and creamy’ but not too intense. 

Those who tried it said it tasted ‘very similar’ to Cadbury and was almost indistinguishable from the iconic product in terms of its smooth texture and delicious chocolatey scent. 

The main difference between the two was the appearance. The majority of testers felt the Morrisons chocolate chunks looked a richer, glossier colour than the Dairy Milk.

And in case you’re wondering, the Morrisons bar doesn’t contain any palm oil, as per the ingredients list.

Morrisons chocolate was ‘sweet and creamy’ (Picture: Courtney Pochin)

Despite it being a blind taste test, everyone instantly recognised the classic taste of Cadbury, with several people claiming ‘they’d be able to place anywhere’.

The chocolate was hailed as ‘nostalgic’ and ‘creamy’, and scored highly in all of the categories, except for value for money.

It lost a few points here, as the price is higher than the vast majority of the supermarket own-brand products, and it varies depending on where you buy it, costing £2.75 in Morrisons and Sainsbury’s, but as much as £3 in Iceland stores. 

It’s worth noting that these prices are for 180g, which was the closest match size-wise to the other bars included in the taste test. So ultimately, you’re paying more money for less chocolate.

Smaller and larger bars are also available, but we couldn’t find a 200g one at the time of the test.

It’s a classic for a reason (Picture: Sainsbury’s/Cadbury)

Following closely behind these two was bargain retailer Lidl, which came in second place with its Fin Carré Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate (£2.25 for 200g).

This product garnered a score of 68 out of 100 and was deemed to have an ‘interesting’ flavour, with the chocolate having strong notes of vanilla and hazelnut.

We couldn’t see any mention of hazelnut in the ingredients list, but social media users have speculated that the product contains hazelnut paste. Metro has contacted Lidl for confirmation.

Several people noted that the Fin Carré was ‘on the sweeter side’ of the bars we tried and thought it looked very appetising, with one review saying: ‘This bar was very pretty, with a good colour and neat squares.

‘I really enjoyed the lovely nutty accent; it paired so well with the sweet chocolate flavour.’

Fellow budget retailer Aldi also performed well, coming in third place, with its Dairyfine milk chocolate bar (£1.95 for 200g) scoring 61 out of 100.

This one was highly rated for its ‘rich’ chocolatey aroma and its appearance, as it had a lovely glossy shine to it and a ‘nice colour’.

The taste was notably not as sweet as the others, with some picking up on a slight ‘bitterness’ and claiming it ‘reminded them of Hershey’s’. So, if you’re not a fan of overly sweet chocolate, this could be the one for you.

M&S Choc Marks Milk Chocolate Bar (£3.50 for 180g at Ocado), Tesco Milk Chocolate (£2.30 for 300g), and Asda Milk Chocolate (£2.28 for 200g) shared fourth place, all scoring 53.

Tesco’s chocolate had a tanginess to it that several people said ‘reminded them of cooking chocolate’, while M&S’s one was ‘nice ’, but the flavour was deemed to be ‘a little underwhelming’ considering the cost.

As for Asda, the chocolate was rather ‘hard and dense’, not quite as smooth as some of the others, and it had a slight metallic taste, which people found unpleasant.

Waitrose’s 32% milk chocolate was at the other end of the rankings (Picture: Waitrose)

At the bottom of the rankings were Waitrose Belgian Milk Chocolate (£3.50 for 180g) and Sainsbury’s Milk Chocolate (£2.30 for 200g).

Waitrose’s chocolate looked wonderful and had the most generous-sized pieces, but unfortunately the flavour just didn’t quite measure up to its appearance or price, with the taste described as ‘cheap’. 

Similarly, Sainsbury’s product failed to impress the group, with one reviewer writing that it was ‘dull and nothing to write home about’.

How was the taste test conducted?

The Metro team conducted a blind taste test of milk chocolate bars, sampling treats from Tesco, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Asda, M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, as well as a Dairy Milk bar by Cadbury.

We scored each bar across five different categories, including taste, texture, appearance, smell, and value for money, giving each product a potential maximum score of 100.

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