The best plant-based chicken replacements.
This is a list of the best plain plant based chicken replacements available. We have a separate list for breaded chicken. We have ranked them, as always, on taste, texture, value for money, packaging, and our PBFG Feel-Good Factor!
1. Fry’s, Chick’n Fillets
The best chicken substitute available. They have an amazing flavour and a texture that doesn’t leave too much to be desired. Fry's is a brilliant plant-based brand, and they are able to charge a low cost. They also appear to be quite healthy with half the fat content of Meatless Farm's chicken breasts and the same amount of protein. They come in the perfect recyclable cardboard box, too.
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Taste: 10
Texture: 9
Value for money: 9
Packaging: 10
Feel Good Factor: 10
2. Meatless Farm, Chicken Breast
The best meat substitute texture we have ever tasted. It’s very moist. It works as well served hot as the main event of a meal or sliced up into a sauce, as it does served cold on a salad. Just a brilliant taste - especially when charred. They do have quite a high fat content, but also come in these great, petite cardboard boxes which fit wonderfully in a freezer.
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Taste: 10
Texture: 10
Value for money: 8
Packaging: 10
Feel Good Factor: 4
3. The Vegetarian Butcher, What the Cluck
What the Cluck has been become a staple for us recently, as it is now sold in a cardboard box from the freezer section. While it is a little tough, we have learnt that if you fry these pieces so that they become crispy they work really well. However, that does limit them somewhat. If you're planning to do something more 'saucy' I would suggest crisping them up first, then put them into the sauce at the last minute.
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Taste: 8
Texture: 7
Value for money: 6
Packaging: 10
Feel Good Factor: 6
4. The Vegetarian Butcher, Impeckable
Simply delicious. Whether you use Impeckable in a curry, cold on a salad or as the main event of a roast, you will not be disappointed. Pretty close to the perfect chicken replacement. With a perfect texture too! This is a faultless product. Unfortunately, it lost points in the Value for Money category as it’s more expensive than its counterpart the Meatless Farm chicken breast, as well as scoring low on packaging given its plastic tray. In terms of Feel Good Factor, it’s more nutritious than the Meatless Farm chicken breast, and it’s a dedicated plant-based brand. Lots to feel good about. Just a shame about the plastic packaging, and the random weird smell when you first open it up. No idea what that’s about!
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Taste: 10
Texture: 10
Value for money: 6
Packaging: 2
Feel Good Factor: 8
5. THIS, Isn’t Chicken Pieces
THIS Isn’t Chicken Pieces are some of the nicest chicken pieces we have ever tasted, however there is this very slightly strange floury texture as well. It’s not bad, but it’s not ideal either. Best when fried crispy with plenty of oil which detracts from the seemingly good nutrition stats, but it’s still a very strong score overall. FGF score came mostly from the fact that THIS is a cool, independent, entirely plant based brand, with good branding and better-than-the-average packaging.
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Taste: 8
Texture: 8
Value for money: 2
Packaging: 6
Feel Good Factor: 6
6. Quorn, Pieces
For us, Quorn chicken pieces are the measuring stick against which all other chicken replacements are judged. It is almost always available, it's a very reputable brand, it’s healthy, it's simple and it does what it says on the tin. This product has a texture unlike any other Chicken replacements, but it works with almost anything. We don't love it cold on a salad, but it's still not bad. We just wish it came in a cardboard box.
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Taste: 7
Texture: 8
Value for money: 9
Packaging: 0
Feel Good Factor: 6
7. Quorn, Fillets
For some reason the fillets are worse than the Quorn Pieces and I can never figure out how or why... The mycoprotein just seems to work best in smaller bits. There are better fillets available for when you would like a fillet, and the Quorn pieces are better than the fillets, so not a very useful product.
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Taste: 6
Texture: 6
Value for money: 10
Packaging: 0
Feel Good Factor: 7
8. Garden Gourmet, Sensational Chicken Style Pieces
We had high hopes coming into this one, as Garden Gourmet's Cumberland sausages are one of the tastiest sausage replacements you can find. The expectations were more or less met. Not a stand out product, but certainly good. A little chewy, but we cooked this for use on a salad so we were able to fry them crispy which helped. Frying crispy helped this to score much higher than their 'chargrilled bites'. More testing required. When it comes to FGF, they’re pretty healthy and a dedicated vegan brand. But, their branding isn't the coolest and they do come in a plastic tray, so they lost a couple of points there.
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Taste: 8
Texture: 8
Value for money: 4
Packaging: 2
Feel Good Factor: 7
9. Future Farm, Future Chick’n
Future Chick’n falls into the rubbery/tough category of chicken substitutes, but it actually might be the least rubbery of all of them. The overall taste is fantastic. The branding is great but it is sold in a plastic box with a plastic film lid underneath the cardboard sleeve. It is let down by being a little expensive.
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Taste: 9
Texture: 8
Value for money: 2
Packaging: 2
Feel Good Factor: 7
10. Dopsu, No-Chicken Pieces
I think some people would love this product. Unfortunately, for us, the taste just wasn't quite right. The texture is unlike any other meat substitute we've tasted - its almost tofu like. It's okay, but again it's not our favourite. It lost points in Packaging but regained a lot of ground in the FGF category: it’s vegan, soy free vegetable protein, Dopsu is a dedicated PB brand, which feels quite cool. It’s just not the absolute nicest, and it’s in a plastic bag.
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Taste: 9
Texture: 8
Value for money: 2
Packaging: 2
Feel Good Factor: 7
11. Garden Gourmet, Chicken Style Chargrilled Bites
Might've been user error, but I really didn't enjoy the texture of these bites. I tried cooking them in a chicken fajita dish, and they totally fell apart. Maybe they're one that need to be cooked to crispy before you add them to the main dish.
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Taste: 6
Texture: 4
Value for money: 5
Packaging: 2
Feel Good Factor: 4
12. Plant Kitchen, No Chicken Pieces
We were relatively surprised when we tallied the score on this one and found that it scored this low. With perfectly good taste and texture, Plant Kitchen just lost a few too many points in other areas. A good reminder that food is about so much more than taste and texture! This product is let down by the portion size, price and packaging. M&S is positioned on the higher end, so it's really no surprise that this product feels expensive for the amount you get, but it really is no better than Future Farm, Vegetarian Butcher, or Plant Pioneers, so you feel hard done by. This also scores lower than usual for a plastic tray with a film (usually a 2, but a 1 in this case) because the portion size is so small that the plastic feels even more wasteful.
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Taste: 7
Texture: 7
Value for money: 2
Packaging: 1
Feel Good Factor: 3
13. The No Meat Company, No Chick Strips
No Chick Strips are firmly in the rubbery/tough category of chicken substitutes and we are not big fans. One of the original chicken replacements, but as time has gone on they have become one of the weaker options unfortunately.
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Taste: 4
Texture: 2
Value for money: 8
Packaging: 0
Feel Good Factor: 4
14. Richmond, Meat-Free Chargrilled No-Chicken Pieces
Fine flavour, but very chewy. They suggest you can eat these cold which we believe makes them worse as the only way to combat the chewy, rubberiness of many chicken substitutes is by frying them. This is not the case if they are cold out of the pack. Maybe we were in a bad mood when scoring FGF on this one, but we stand by our 1 in that category. I guess it’s healthy enough, but Richmond is still a mass meat-producing company and it gave us these pieces in a plastic bag.
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Taste: 6
Texture: 3
Value for money: 8
Packaging: 0
Feel Good Factor: 1