Breakfast bakes: Top eight frozen croissants put to the taste test

Pic: iStock

Breakfast at an outdoor café in France. The sun shines and casts shadows, coloured awnings protecting us from the glare. On the round table in front of us, a wide cup of café au lait, a small plate draped with a golden, buttery croissant. Flakes drop onto our clothing and shake to the pavement. We are on a weekend break.

Easter is coming, and the morning can start with the same French menu and a holiday feel. Having a stash of uncooked croissants in the freezer makes this recreation all the easier, so for our Top 8 today, we set about finding the best that money can buy. All supermarkets (though perhaps not all branches) stock bags of raw croissants in their freezer chests.

Croissants are delicious plain, but they can be filled with air-dried hams and cheese, such as a combination of pear and cream cheese. Pop them back into the oven to allow the filling to heat/melt. Try hummus, hardboiled eggs with a little pesto, or grated carrot with chutney.

The airfryer is a perfect tool for baking croissants from frozen, as in a regular oven, crisping up the flaky pastry nicely.

A croissant has 11g fat, 20g carbohydrates and 200 calories. With nearly 5g of protein and milky coffee to sustain us, we might get to lunchtime without further snacking.

M&S All-Butter Croissants. Picture Dan Linehan

M&S All Butter 440g €6.26

Deliciously flaxy and with just enough butter without being greasy, these eight got our top score with full marks. Tasters went into a French reverie. Salt is 0.37g salt with 2.1g sugars.

Score: 10

Cinnamon Cottage croissants.

Cinnamon Cottage 156g €3.50

Six neat 26g buttery croissants are nicely flaky. Good flavours. Bite-sized and a good one to have with a small coffee.

Score: 9

Dunnes' Simply Better croissants.

Dunnes Simply Better 280g €3.69

Four 60g all-butter croissants are larger than most, making the insides a bit heavier and more substantial. Quite sweet, the sugar content is double that of many we tasted. As we couldn’t find gluten-free croissants, we tested Galberts gluten-free ready-rolled puff pastry (280g €4.49), which had a less natural texture from maize starch, rice, pea, and buckwheat flours, along with a few thickeners. Salt is 0.72g and sugars 4g.

Score: 8

Tesco croissants.

Tesco 255g €2.75

Six all-butter croissants are quite small and light, somewhat lacking in flavour, but pleasant with a good texture. Salt 0.36g, sugars 2.4g

Score: 8

Lidl croissants.

Lidl Confiserie Firenze 440g €3.89

Eight all-butter croissants have 2.7g sugars per croissant and 0.38g salt, resulting in a well-balanced finish that is not too sweet. Good flakiness too.

Score: 8.75

Aldi croissants.

Aldi Bon Appétit 440g €3.89

Eight all-butter 45g croissants have 2.6g sugars in each, and with 0.40g salt, the sweetness was more easily spotted compared to others we tasted. Still, the sweetness was pleasant, and the flakiness light.

Score: 8.5

SuperValu croissants.

SuperValu 400g €4

Eight all-butter 50g croissants have 0.45g salt, sugars 1.7g

Slightly higher salt and lower sugars than some other samples made this a favourite with some tasters. Nicely flaky.

Score: 8.75

M&S Vegan puff pastry.

M&S Vegan puff pastry 500g €6.25

We couldn’t find vegan-friendly croissants, so we tested this puff pastry rectangle. Vegetable oils replace butter, which works well, if slightly oily on the finish. It comes in a thick block that needs to be defrosted—about an hour—before cooking. Then, it can be easily shaped into lengths or croissants as desired.

Score: 8