Best frozen battered fish revealed: and it's a supermarket brand

Looking for the best-value frozen fish to get your Friday night fish and chips fix for less? We've found the best supermarket options.

Our panel of taste testers tried out 10 battered fish fillets from big brands including Birds Eye, Young's and Harry Ramsden, as well as supermarket own-brand options from the likes of Aldi, Tesco and M&S.

M&S impressed tasters the most, with its succulent chunky haddock fillets. But some cheaper supermarket options weren't far behind.

Find out which fillets we recommend, as well as which are the healthiest and how to get the best for less.

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Best battered haddock to buy

M&S won with its tasty and generous fish fillets, but Morrisons and Tesco are cheaper and only a smidge behind. 

And while you might think Iceland is a safe bet for frozen fare, its fish fillets actually had the lowest rating of the products we tested.

Best Buy: M&S 4 Battered Chunky Haddock Fillets Frozen – 80%

£7.50 for 600g (£1.25 per 100g)

M&S's own-brand battered haddock wowed our tasters across the board. Some commented on the good amount of fish you get in each portion, and the batter was crispy and flavoursome enough for the majority of the panel too.

It beat all the other brands on appearance, so it could be the one to choose if you want to impress dinner guests. More than 90% of tasters thought the colour of the batter was just right.

Available from M&S (in-store only) and Ocado

Best Buy: Morrisons Chunky Battered Haddock – 79%

£5.25 for 500g (£1.05 per 100g)

Our tasters weren't as sold on the look of these fillets as they were on M&S, but for everything else it's more than a match. Nearly all thought both the flavour of the fish and the density and crunch of the batter were just right.

They're good value on the fish front, with the highest fish content (65%) of any of the brands we tried. They're the healthiest too, with the least fat and calories per 100g.

Available from Morrisons

Great Value: Tesco 4 Battered Haddock Fillets – 74%

£4.50 for 500g (90p per 100g)

If you're looking to save, these Tesco fillets are the best compromise. They're a little behind the top two, but notably cheaper. 

You'll compromise slightly on aroma and texture (more than a quarter of tasters thought the batter wasn't crispy enough), but the flavour was still highly rated overall.

Tesco's haddock fillets are MSC certified, meaning they meet best practice guidelines for sustainable fishing.

Available from Tesco

Best branded battered fish: Young's Chip Shop Large Haddock Fillets – 73%

£4.50 for 440g (£1.14 per 100g)

The best of the big brands, according to our panel. Most thought the flavour of both the fish and batter hit the spot (though bear in mind it does have three times the amount of saturated fat per 100g versus Best Buy Morrisons).

Texture is less impressive compared to the top scorers, especially of the coating. Three in 10 rated the batter too thin, and half found it lacking in crunch.

Still, if you don't leave that near the other supermarkets, this is the brand to plump for.

Available from Amazon, Asda, Iceland, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, and Waitrose

Other good supermarket frozen fish options

Aldi, Asda and Harry Ramsden's offerings weren't our tasters' favourites, but they're still decent choices, and Aldi and Asda's are some of the cheapest around, so worth stocking up on:

• Aldi Fishmonger Battered Haddock Fish Fillets – 72%. 62p per 100g. Worth considering for the price, though you might need tartare sauce to go with it, as a third of the panel found the fish flavour too weak. Available from Aldi.
• Harry Ramsden's 2 Jumbo Battered Atlantic Haddock Fillets – 72%. £1.20 per 100g. Our tasters weren't blown away by this 'world famous' fish, but as our tasters didn't find anything majorly wrong, it could be worth picking up if you spot it on offer. Available from Iceland.
• Asda 4 Battered Haddock Fillets – 72%. 70p per 100g. More than a third found the fish flavour too weak, but otherwise these Asda fillets went down reasonably well. Available from Asda.

How Waitrose, Birds Eye and other frozen fish fared

Waitrose shoppers may wish to look elsewhere. Its pricey fillets – and freezer-aisle staple Birds Eye – trail our scoreboard, along with Iceland.

• Birds Eye Battered Haddock Fillets – 68%. £1.27 per 100g. These didn't quite look as appetising as some others, and more than a third of tasters found the fish flavour and batter crispiness somewhat lacking. Available from Amazon, Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's and Tesco.
• Waitrose Frozen 2 Battered Haddock Fillets – 66%. £1.32 per 100g. Tasters marked down these pricey fillets on their batter: both the taste (too weak) and the batter (not crunchy enough). Available from Waitrose.
• Iceland Battered 4 Haddock Skinless Boneless Fillets – 64%. 70p per 100g. Two thirds of the panel said the fish flavour was too weak in Iceland's offering. Available from Iceland.

If you're looking for quick, easy and convenient midweek recipes that will feed a crowd, visit BBC Good Food's family meal recipes.

How healthy are battered fish fillets?

If you're after a healthy weeknight dinner, you're best off buying your fish plain, without batter or breadcrumbs. 

However, there are ways you can balance out a battered fillet – for example, by serving with peas or a side salad, and oven baking potato wedges rather than throwing chips in a deep-fat fryer.

Some brands are also healthier than others: Young's has the most calories and salt per 100g, and it's also gone big on the saturated fat too, with more than twice as much as all the other fillets we tried. By contrast Morrisons is a healthier choice but still fares well for taste.

How to cook battered fish fillets

All of these battered fish fillets are designed to be cooked in your oven, with cooking times varying from around 20 to 45 minutes.

If you want to cut this down, save money, or get your fish even crispier, you can cook them in an air fryer for 12-15 minutes, For a really indulgent treat, you can also cook them in a deep-fat fryer for three to six minutes. Check individual packs as times vary by product.

Everything you need to know about buying an air fryer – including our picks of the best to buy this year

How to get the best-value fish

Follow our top tips to get the best deal on battered fish fillets:

1. Supermarkets can be pricier than brands. Don't assume your local's own-brand is automatically cheaper than the big names: both M&S and Waitrose are more expensive. Check the price per 100g to make sure you're getting the best deal. 
2. Check the ingredients list. Fish content varies hugely – from 65% for Morrisons all the way down to 52% for Aldi and Tesco. Fish will fill you up better than a load of thick batter, so make sure a cheap fillet is really offering good value before you buy.
3. Buy in bulk when they're on offer. All these fish fillets are found in the freezer aisle, which means they'll keep for several months. Just check the use-by dates carefully and never reheat once defrosted.

How we tested battered fish fillets

The battered fish fillets were assessed in October 2022 by a large panel of consumers who regularly buy and consume battered fish.

The make-up of the panel broadly represents the demographic profile of adults in the UK. Each fish fillet was assessed by 63 people.

The panellists rated the taste, texture, aroma and appearance of each fish fillet and told us what they liked and disliked about each one. 

The taste test was blind, so the panellists didn’t know which brand they were trying. The order in which they sampled the fish was fully rotated to avoid any bias. Each panellist had a private booth, so they couldn’t discuss what they were tasting or be influenced by others.

The overall score is based on:

• 50% flavour
• 20% appearance
• 15% texture
• 15% aroma.

These weightings are based on consumer rankings of the importance of different attributes of battered fish.

How to recycle fish fillet packaging 

All the fish fillets we tried come in a cardboard box, which can go in your home recycling once used. 

Recycling isn't the only consideration if you're looking to make eco-friendly choices – you'll also want to make sure the fish was sustainably sourced. 

Most of the fish we tested is MSC certified except M&S, Morrisons, Asda and Young's. Find out what this means, and what other sustainability labels to look out for, in our guide on how to buy sustainable fish.

Prices and availability correct as of 10 November 2022