Best shop-bought meat stuffing for Christmas dinner

Overall score: 82/100

Adorable festive parcels wrapped in crispy bacon, adorned with a fragrant sprig of rosemary and glossy cranberry on top. It has a salty, meaty aroma with testers praising the lovely balance of smoky-salty bacon, earthy chestnuts and A sweet tang from the cranberry.

BUY NOW Sainsbury’s, £7 for 252g

Overall score: 82/100

Shaped as a long sausage, this stuffing has a juicy but firm texture and a beautifully glossy caramelised layer. Filled with a spiced plum pudding, which gives an enticingly fruity sweetness against the pork aroma. Wholesome tasting with a delectable balance of sweet sultanas and cinnamon that perfectly cut through the salty high-quality pork.

BUY NOW Farmison & Co, £7.95 for 450g

Overall score: 80/100

This stuffing is sold as a stuffing block, so you can hand roll to your preferred size. The stuffing has a deeply golden appearance with lots of visible herbs and black pepper. Sage and onion give a lovely traditional smell and gently sweet taste. There is good seasoning and the flavours work well together but testers wanted more body to this fragile stuffing.

BUY NOW Pipers Farm, £11.90 for 500g

Overall score: 79/100

Topped with a glistening slice of candied orange, these parcels have a sweet orange and honey aroma with some herbaceous notes. Testers adored how the sweet, yet slightly bitter orange flavour came together against the pork but couldn’t taste any whiskey. The orange added a lovely chew to the meaty texture.

AVAILABLE IN STORE ONLY Lidl, £2.99 for 272g

Overall score: 79/100

Crispy stuffing balls with chestnuts, smoky pigs in blankets and a few cranberries sit atop THIS deliciously herbed stuffing wreath. The aroma hits you all at once: meaty, salty, rich and sweet. We just wished it had a touch more seasoning and sweetness to complement THE delicious meatiness.

BUY NOW Ocado, £10 for 678g

Overall score: 78/100

This stuffing form is presented as a slab with a pleasant pork, thyme and sweet apricot aroma. The orange-soaked apricots are tangy which help to cut through the rich and fatty meat, whilst the herbs add earthiness and ginger adds a peppery warmth. Juicy with a pleasantly firm texture however, some testers would have liked a touch more salt.

BUY NOW COOK, £6 for 500g

Overall score: 71/100

This smooth stuffing, made with chicken, is golden brown and has flecks of thyme and red onion. It has an enjoyable thyme aroma but isn’t as fragrant as we would have liked. The balance of woody thyme against the chicken is delicious, and the red onions add subtle sweetness, but some favoured those with a more robust meaty flavour and found the texture a little greasy.

BUY NOW ASDA, £2.75 for 340g

Overall score: 69/100

Presented as a whole stuffing slab, studded with dried apple and whole cranberries, this stuffing has a savoury aroma and a gentle sweet and sour flavour from the fruits which cut through the fattiness of the meat. It is pleasantly firm and juicy; however, it is lacking seasoning and some testers could hardly taste the presence of fruit. If you like your stuffing golden, we advise you cook for longer as many found the colouring a little pale when cooked to time.

BUY NOW Morrisons, £3 for 400g

Overall score: 68/100

With only 35% pork, this stuffing is light on the meat. Instead it is densely packed full of apricots, almonds and rusk, making it a good option for those trying to cut down their meat intake. It has quite an earthy aroma from the rusk and breadcrumbs, and a gentle sweetness from the apricots. We enjoyed its nutty flavour backed up by the sweetness from the onions and apricots, but our testers found the texture drying.

BUY NOW Daylesford, £7.95 for 365g

Overall score: 65/100

Sold as a block of seasoned meat, this stuffing can be rolled into any shape and size of your choice. They baked up beautifully golden brown on the outside, but the inside was a little too pink for our liking. We suggest a little longer in the oven. It does, however, have a fresh pork aroma that reminded testers of salty, smoky bacon. We loved its meaty flavour, but found it overly salted and lacking in herbs.

BUY NOW Eversfield, £5.25 for 390g

Waitrose and Partners 6 British Pork, Roasted Apple and Calvados Stuffing Portions Rolled in a Crackling Crumb, 64/100, £4.25 for 300g

Co-op Irresistible Pork, Leek and Maple Stuffing Baubles, 64/100, £3.30 for 210g

Tesco Finest Stuffing Wreath with Pigs in Blankets and Cranberry Compote Centre, 64/100, £6.00 for 534g

Aldi Specially Selected Stuffing Portions - Fig and Stilton, 60/100, £2.29 for 300g