After a couple of false starts and a lot of online noise, Chick-fil-A is officially opening its first London restaurant.

The American fast-food chain, best known for its chicken sandwich, waffle fries and aggressively loyal fanbase, will open in Kingston upon Thames on Thursday, the 5th March. The new site is at 90 Eden Street, in what used to be an HSBC, which is quite the rebrand arc for the building.

This marks the fourth UK opening for Chick-fil-A, following launches in Belfast and Leeds, with Liverpool also in the pipeline.

The Kingston branch will be open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 10pm. Notably, it will remain closed on Sundays, a long-standing company policy that dates back to founder S. Truett Cathy, who said he wanted staff to have a day to rest, spend time with family or worship. That tradition has carried over from the US to the UK.

Menu-wise, Londoners can expect the full greatest hits setlist. The original Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, a boneless, seasoned chicken breast, breaded and cooked in peanut oil, served on a toasted bun with dill pickles, is front and centre. There’s also a spicy version and a deluxe option, plus grilled chicken sandwiches and nuggets if you’re pretending to make a healthier choice.

Sides are tight but effective: waffle fries, a side salad or a fruit cup. Larger salad options include a Cobb and a Spicy Fiesta. Drinks-wise, iced tea and lemonade are very much part of the brand’s personality.

It’s worth remembering this isn’t Chick-fil-A’s first attempt to crack the UK. Back in 2019, branches in Reading and Aviemore, Scotland, closed after six months following protests from LGBTQ+ activists over the company’s historic donations to organisations criticised for their stance on LGBTQ+ rights.

Since then, Chick-fil-A has said it has stopped funding those groups and shifted its charitable focus towards homelessness and education initiatives.

Now, it’s testing the capital. Whether Kingston embraces the chicken queues the chain is famous for remains to be seen, but from the 5th of March, south west Londoners can make up their own minds.

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There are two types of weekday commute at King's Cross railway station: the one where everything runs smoothly, and you feel briefly in control of your life, and the one where you’re eating a croissant at speed while whispering “please” at a departure board.

On Thursday, the 19th of March, there will be a third option: live professional wrestling.

An actual, full-size wrestling ring is being installed in the middle of the concourse. Not metaphorically. Not “in the vibes”. A proper ring, ropes and all, with wrestlers stepping through them in front of commuters who just wanted to get the 08:12.

The spectacle is being staged by Tony's Chocolonely to bring its new TV campaign, There’s Fight in Every Bite, into the real world. And in fairness, if you’re going to talk about fighting exploitation in the chocolate industry, you may as well lean all the way in and book a heel.

Across four fight slots: 8am, 12pm, 1pm and a 5:45pm grand final. The heroic “Tony” will face off against the villainous “X-ploitation” in a tongue-in-cheek battle for chocolate justice. Expect dramatic entrances, a live referee and compère, crowd interaction and enough theatrics to make your usual platform announcement feel deeply underwhelming.

It’s free to watch, and very deliberately timed so you can dip in between trains. Quick powerbomb before your 9am. A suplex with your meal deal. Stick around after work for the big finale if you fancy replacing the pub with piledrivers.

It’s not just about the ring. There’ll be meet-and-greets with the wrestlers, photo opportunities, interactive games and, crucially, chocolate sampling throughout the day. The brand is also giving away bars, so even if you have absolutely no interest in watching two adults pretend to settle a moral dispute with choreographed grappling, you can still walk away with a snack.

Underneath the Lycra and theatrics, there is a point. Tony’s Chocolonely has long positioned itself around tackling exploitation in the cocoa supply chain, including child labour and deforestation. The wrestling match is a playful, slightly chaotic metaphor: good vs evil, Tony vs X-ploitation, fight in every bite. It’s big, it’s unsubtle, and it absolutely understands the assignment.

King’s Cross has hosted fashion shows, art installations and the occasional spontaneous piano prodigy. A lunchtime wrestling card feels like a natural evolution. At worst, it’s a strange story to text the group chat. At best, it’s the most entertaining thing to happen between platforms 9 and 10 in years.

If your train’s delayed, at least this time there’s a reason to stick around.

• Want to see the Bayeaux tapestry at London's British Museum? Get this date in your diary

O2 has given out its fair share of perks in recent years, but their new initiative Blue Mondays, will see over two million exclusive rewards and prizes given away to lucky Priority customers.

The rewards include everything from discounted cinema tickets, Greggs discounts, and even some holiday vouchers from lastminute.com.

The weekly reward drop aims to refresh their Priority offering and is a little thank you to their customers. The launch comes from a new survey by the broadband giant, which suggests that the nation is no longer treating itself or being as spontaneous as it wants to be.

Treat culture is so far removed that apparently 66% of Brits who aren’t treating themselves often feel they can’t afford to, and almost two-thirds (62%) wish they were more spontaneous.

Who’s eligible?

All O2 and Virgin Media broadband customers have FREE access to Priority and the opportunity to enjoy millions of exclusive rewards, experiences and prizes.

What’s on offer?

Apart from little treats from the likes of Greggs and Tony’s Chocolonely, the big kahuna is O2’s offering, Get on the plane with Priority. This will see 100 Priority members receive a £300 voucher, redeemable against a holiday on lastminute.com, every Monday until 30 June.

The voucher must be redeemed within a 48-hour window, so is the perfect reward for the spontaneous amongst us or those who might need a little help to make a holiday happen. The 48-hour window is a nod to O2’s famous Priority Tickets pre-sale offering, which sells over a million concert tickets to fans every year.

Other Blue Mondays exclusives include elevated ‘Monday only’ rewards – such as two cinema tickets at Vue for £6 or four for £12 allowing Priority members to save even more money on Mondays than usual via the app (the reward is available on other days of the week at 2 for £9 or 4 for £18).

Lisa Johnstone, Director, Priority, Loyalty & Reward at Virgin Media O2, commented: “At Virgin Media O2, customers are at the heart of everything we do, and we’re constantly finding new ways to make being a customer more rewarding.

“Priority has always been a loyalty trailblazer, and we’re continuing to innovate with initiatives like Blue Mondays — our way of showing appreciation and putting customers first. By investing in new experiences and enhanced rewards, we’re saying thank you in a way that truly matters – helping our customers enjoy the everyday alongside life’s most special moments, while getting even more value from being part of the Virgin Media O2 family.”

• Love getting a discount? A huge Star Wars LEGO sale has kicked off at Disney ahead of Star Wars Day

With the tourist-horde hustle and bustle of Trafalgar Square just moments away, the Rockwell Bistro & Wine Bar on the ground floor of The Trafalgar St. James hotel feels as if it’s on another planet entirely.

Calm, inviting and literally on the corner of London’s landmark square, it’s an oasis away from the sea of gallery crowds, M&M shop gift bags and the non-stop traffic careening down Whitehall.

The Trafalgar St. James has always been a great destination in Central thanks to its rooftop bar overlooking the square, but a big-budget refurb of its lobby bar and restaurant has brought the pizazz to its stunning entry space, too. Rockwell sits just off it, and with a refreshed menu, revamped decor, and expertly-curated wine list, it’s a must-visit stop to wind down in style away from the crowds.

We were delightfully-stuffed and carefully cared for during a recent night at Rockwell, soaking in its laid-back atmosphere and tasting its signature small plates and wine pairings. Read on for a run down of the great bites we tried, and details on how to visit.

Where is it?

Inside The Trafalgar St James Hotel, 2 Spring Gardens, London, SW1A 2TS. It’s so close to Trafalgar Square, the lions could pop in for a bite.

What’s special?

Delicious, creative small plates, a great wine menu, just-re-opened freshness to the decor, and a very welcoming and knowledgeable waiting team.

What’s new?

A £6 million pound refurbishment makes for a luxurious day-to-night setting, with a menu refresh focussing on Mediterranean cuisine and paired wines.

Who should you bring?

Friends and family — great big tables and the bright airy space make it perfect for friendly gatherings and client meetings. It might be a bit too exposed to get smoochy on a date though.

What should you wear?

Smart, but not uppity — it’s part of a 5-star hotel which brings with it some affluent residents, but tourist footfall from the nearby landmarks makes the clientele a welcomingly varied bunch.

How much to pay?

Small plates from £9 (a lunchtime offer is great value at three plates for £22), wine by the glass from £7, cocktails from £15.

5 must-have Rockwell dishes — and the drinks to pair them with

1. Rockwell’s Sharing Board

Serrano ham, Islington saucisson, Mortadella with pistachio, Gorgonzola with Mascarpone, Comté, stuffed peppers, chutney, sundried tomatoes, olives, pickles, sourdough

A truly luxurious sharing platter that in itself would be enough to fill a hungry traveller. The rich gorgonzola topped with creamy mascarpone is the highlight, with a great cumin-rich chutney for the Comté. A top dish to graze on if you’re not staying long.

Pair with: Marsigny Crémant de Bourgogne Réserve Brut, full of orchard fruit flavours and quince.

2. Iberico ham croquetas, saffron sauce, Pecorino, sorrel

Creamily centred with a crispy coating, and topped with mountains of grated Pecorino cheese, you’ll wish each croqueta was twice as big.

Pair with: Nyetimber Classic Cuvee, a Sussex sparkling wine with lemon and apricot flavours. A good pairing for fish, too.

3. White crab, cucumber, coconut, lime, Aleppo chilli, coriander, crostini

Fresh-flavoured and seasoned for the summer, this crab dish has a tang and spice that makes for a great palate cleanser after carb-heavy plates.

Pair with: Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, fruity, dry, with peach, lime and passionfruit.

4. Cavatelli, pesto of cavolo nero, chilli, vegan Stracciatella

A surprise favourite from the night, this earthy pasta dish has deep, slowly unfurling flavours, with the bitterness of the Italian kale offset by the sweet and creamy vegan Stracciatella. The standout dish from our visit.

Pair with: De Wetshof Estate Bon Vallon Chardonnay, a zesty South African wine with lemon and melon flavours.

5. Rosemary grilled bavette steak, served with oyster sauce, rocket and garlic

Trenchmore Farm’s Sussex-raised wagyu makes for a delightful bavette, serrated and quickly seared for a generous, flavour-packed bite.

Pair With: Joel Gott Zinfandel, a fruity, dry red, with blackberry and blackcurrant, and a touch of spice.

Bonus: Yasmina cocktail

London’s best espresso martini? It is for our money. A luxuriously smooth and creamy cocktail, it’s finished off with rich chocolate shavings. If you haven’t got room for dessert, don’t leave without having one of these pick-me-ups instead.

For more information and reservations, visit the Rockwell Bistro & Wine Bar website.

• Nijū: 5 must-try dishes at London’s top Japanese restaurant

Love pizza? Us too. If you can get to London this April, there’s a decent chance you’ll be able to snag a free one.

081 Pizzeria is opening up a new restaurant in Shoreditch, and as part of the celebrations the first 81 patrons each day from April 4 to April 6 can get their pizza gratis.

You’ll have to be pretty early, though, as 081 Pizzeria will open each day at 11:30am. Don’t fancy eating in the brunch hours? Everyone else gets 25% off their bill in April.

We love a deal, but 081 Pizzeria is notable for its Neapolitan-style pizza alone. The pizzeria first opened its current Peckham restaurant in 2023, but chef and founder Andrea Asciuti spent two years before that at temporary spots across London, including at Fitzrovia’s The Smugglers Tavern

Asciuti’s 081 Pizzeria in Peckham was judged the 43rd best in Europe in 50toppizza.it's 2024 list. It’s worth noting that list doesn’t include any Italian pizzerias — they get their own chart — but it’s an impressive feat nevertheless.

The new Shoreditch location is at 46 Great Eastern Street, close to both the Old Street and Shoreditch High Street stations. You can book a spot now at over at the 081 Pizzeria website.

The menu also brings some truly out-of-the-ordinary flavours — without too serious a price tag either. There’s the Flower Power Signature pizza, with toppings including yellow tomatoes, courgette flowers, smoked mozzarella and basil.

Or the Black Truffle and Honey pizza, with a Fior di Latte mozzarella base, truffle oil and and black truffle shavings, hazelnut crumble, honey and gorgonzola. It sounds incredibly rich, incredibly tasty.

081 Pizzeria also serves vegan pizzas and “pizza buns” including a deep fried bun with mortadella, pistachio and burrata.

We also have our eyes on the pistachio doughnut trio for dessert, filled with “sweet pistachio cream.” Anyone else feeling hungry?

The restaurant is a 2000 square foot venue, with room for 60 diners. At the time of writing there are plenty of slots during the opening weekend available to book. But that may change as the promise of free and cut-price pizza leaks out. Get in there.

• A blast from Shortlist past: 14 London pizzas you absolutely have to eat before you die

That yellow ball in the sky is not an optical illusion: it's actually sunny out! It won't last, we all know this so you need to get down to the shops pronto and pick out the best ice lolly they have to offer.

Nothing beats a humble ice lolly on a summer's day to cool you down. Long gone are the days of Funny Feet (although Iceland did try and bring them back) and those strange homemade lollies your mum used to make out of squash.

UPDATE: Turns out that Summer in the UK starts in September. Whether you are enjoying/enduring this heatwave, these are the best ice lollies you should be eating to keep cool right now.

Now the choice of ice lollies is impressive, but the best ice lollies, as this list shows, have pretty much remained unchanged for the last 30 years or so.

The shortlist showcases the greatest lollies in existence right now. Those that you go straight to when you are in your local shop, to cool down and to devour.

Here we've picked 10 of our favourite lollies. All you got to do is get voting for the ones you think are the best. Oh, and if we have missed your popsicle pick off, then let us know!

Best ice lollies

• While you are out in the sun, don't forget the best sun cream.

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

Tell us about it, and if enough people agree we'll add it in.

If you are hosting vegans for Christmas this year there’s one key piece of information to remember: You don’t have to do everything twice! Meat and dairy substitutes and a little outside of the box thinking make it possible to concoct a Christmas menu that even hardcore carnivores will love.

Likewise, many people around Britain now embrace a lifestyle that involves consuming less meat, for a range of ethical, health and environmental reasons. If you’re a reducetarian or flexitarian seeking to limit your animal product intake around the season of good will, these ideas will help you along the way.

Be aware that store bought items like traditional crackers and cranberry sauce should be clearly labelled if they’re suitable for vegans, with alternatives available in most major supermarkets. Those stores also have a solid array of vegan cheeses and spreads to keep people happy throughout the day. Let’s dig in.

• Get more ideas with our best vegan cookbook shortlist

Best vegan Christmas food

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

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Like non-vegan cuisine, vegan food can be delicious - baba ganoush, dark chocolate, peanut brittle, avocados. Despite what QI says, they’re all vegan, all tasty and their recipes can be found in the best vegan cookbooks.

Whether you’re a newbie vegan who has swatted up on the latest cooking trends, or have decades of plant-based recipes under your belt, the learning never really stops.

That’s why we’ve cherry-picked ten of the best vegan cookbooks out now. Want fast food, fancy cuisine or something somewhere in-between? We have the perfect book for you.

If you aspire to be a from-scratch vegan and make your own probiotics and vegan cheese, skip to Miyoko’s Vegan Pantry. Want to bake, but have yet to nail a vegan sponge? Ms Cupcake: The Naughtiest Vegan Cakes in Town is the book for you.

Even if you are not vegan, but just want to cut back on your meat or dairy, making veggies taste good is a life skill for vegetarians, pescatarians, and omnivores alike.

Best vegan cookbooks

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

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• Treat yourself with our best vegan chocolate
• Best vegan gifts: vegan friendly and sustainable gift ideas

The amount of vegans the world over has sky rocketed of late, with many looking for the best meat replacements for both ethical and health reasons. And now that the word Veganuary has made its way into the Collin’s English Dictionary, there’s no getting around it - you’ll likely have to cook a vegan meal, whether you are vegan or not so knowing the best vegan meat substitutes is key.

Meat substitutes are a tricky topic. In France, for example, law decrees food makers can’t use traditional meat-related words like ‘sausage’ or ‘steak’ to describe alternatives for fear of misleading the buying public.

It is not just meat-eaters unhappy with animal-free alternatives. In the UK, many vegans grump at the idea of copycat versions of carnivorous food and while these are obviously available, there are plenty of vegans who push for less processed options that don’t resemble the real deal.

What we’ve pulled together, as a result, is something for everyone - list of two types. There are true meat substitutes that actually look, smell, taste and, occasionally, bleed like the animal they’re emulating, and less processed alternatives to be enjoyed on their own merits.

• Get more vegan food inspiration with the best vegan cookbooks, best vegan chocolate and best gifts for vegans.
  

Best vegan meat replacements

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While we had a few rare BBQ-ready days of fine warm weather, here's hoping that we will get plenty more. With all of us spending much more time in our homes as well, having the best BBQ in the garden is a must - so nabbing yourself the best barbecue you can is, well, an essential purchase.

Now that we can start to have big(ger) gatherings again, a BBQ is a great way to have people around but also a good reason for everyone to stay outdoors.

If you don’t already have a BBQ, then we’ve done a bit of the leg-work for you so you can get a better idea of which one to spend your hard-earned money on.

It may well be a good idea to buy your BBQ out of season, so check out our best barbecue guide and see if any of these hot things take your fancy.

Once you've done with the grilling, head over to our best craft beer guide. And if you head to the bottom of this article, we offer expert buying advice on the type of BBQ you should be buying, as well as offering up some fantastic BBQ cooking ideas.

Oh, and ass much as you need to sort out your BBQ situation, if you are cooking your food in the middle of a hell hole then you also need to head to our best garden tools guide. In the list you will find a whole host of goodies that will help get your garden into decent shape, and some that will just frankly be very cool to use - a weed burner, anyone?

Best BBQ guide

How to buy the best BBQ

The type of BBQ you are on the lookout for all depends on a number of things, including: size, ease of use, the fuel you want to use.

There’s no point buying a four burner with a mountain of chef accessories if you only have half a small patio and are cooking near your house.

On the flipside, you’ll be disappointed if you but a simple kettle BBQ and are looking to cook for a small army of people.

To help whittle down your buying choices, it’s best to choose the type of fuel you want to cook with.

Here are your options:

Charcoal BBQ

If you are after taste, then charcoal may be the way forward. Charcoal BBQs are messy and tough to maintain. Although firelighters and the like have helped reduce the time needed to prepare the BBQ, you will need to put in at least 20 minutes preparation time to get the coals white hot, and then you will have to make sure that the heat from the BBQ doesn’t instantly charcoal the meat and vegetables you put on it.

Saying that, the taste you get from a coal BBQ is hard to replicate with an electric or gas option.

If you are looking to use charcoal, then maybe also consider a smoker (which will infuse the meat with a smokey taste) or even a pizza oven.

Best charcoal BBQ: Landmann 31421 - Taurus 660

This is a fantastic BBQ with added smoker functionality. You can cook meat for up to 10 people on it and the smoker can be used with different fuels (logs, wood chips) to give your food an intense, American-style BBQ flavour. The main chamber is just the same as a regular BBQ grill with ample room for your BBQ.

Buy the Landmann 31421 - Taurus 660 now

Gas BBQ

One of the most popular BBQ choices, a gas BBQ is really easy to maintain, takes minutes to prepare and acts much like your oven in the home with dials to get the grill to the right heat. One thing to consider with a gas BBQ is the added cost of a gas cylinder. These are readily available from your nearest hardware store but there will be a premium the first time you purchase one - this is because you are effectively paying for a barrel that can be refuelled. When you bring it in to get refilled, the price will be a whole lot cheaper.

There are myriad options for a gas/charcoal hybrid BBQ which is definitely something you should consider.

Best gas BBQ: Weber Genesis II E-310 GBS

This is the ultimate gas BBQ, hence the price. The cast iron cooking gates are coated in porcelain, the ignition is instant and there is plenty of space for utensils and areas to put the meat when you have cooked it.

Buy the Weber Genesis II E-310 GBS now

Electric BBQ

Again, these are like the stoves in your home - easy to use and cook meat fast. The biggest issues here are making sure that you have an electrical outlet for your BBQ, one that is safe from the elements outside.

You can always opt for the extension lead approach but this probably isn’t a good idea in the long term.

The advantages of an electric BBQ are that it is instantly on and you can have varying temperatures on different grills. Electric grills are usually smaller and more portable, too.

Best electric BBQ: Weber Pulse 1000

Price: £449

The Weber Pulse 1000 is one of the smartest BBQs around and has been built for balconies. It uses a lid-on approach to cooking so there’s no unwanted smoke and it uses cast iron gates, which means you get that nice griddle look on the meat and veg you are cooking.

Buy the Weber Pulse 1000 from Weber

Best BBQ Ideas

If you fancy some ideas on how to cook your food on the BBQ, then here they are...

• What the food you bring to a BBQ says about you
• 20 best vegetarian BBQ ideas from top chefs
• How to make BBQ Ribs
• Revealed: 17 best summer BBQ burger recipes
• 8 things you're doing wrong with your barbecue

5 best BBQ tricks, tips and hacks

1. Clean Your Grill In Seconds

The absolute last thing you want to do after one too many icy-cold brewskis and a belly full of sausages, burgers, steaks, chicken thighs and ribs is get to work cleaning your trusty old Weber BBQ. But really, it’s not the break-a-sweat chore it seems. It can easily be done the day after and requires tools that are already in your kitchen. Firstly, scrunch up a large ball of tin foil and scrub the warmed-up bars, before rubbing them with half a lemon or a cloth doused in cider vinegar. Use another ball of foil to bring your metal bars back to their former shiny glory. It’s that simple.

2. Arrange Your Coals Properly

There’s a reason why everything that goes onto your grill comes off it looking blacker than your ex-girlfriend’s heart – you’re coals are a bloody mess, mate. You need to arrange your heat source so that you can cook some meats directly over the coals (direct method), and others using only the atmospheric heat under the lid (indirect method). That pic up there is a pretty decent way of looking at it, really. How to know what meats need what cooking space? Use the rule that anything ready in less than 20 mins can safely go over the coals, and anything more needs the indirect method.

3. Avoid Saucing Too Early

A real simple one this, but one we’re all guilty of. That delicious BBQ sauce you’ve just proudly slathered over your raw meat? Error. Big, fat error. There’s a whole lot of sugar in that there sauce, and sugar burns. Only add it to your meat when you’re approximately 15-20 minutes away from taking it off the heat. That way you’re stopping that sugar burning off and stinking up the flavour.

4. Keep Your Kebabs Juicy

Dry kebabs are a huge F next to your grilling name. Is that what you want? An F? An F for FAIL? No, you do not. The simple way to avoid your meat and veg skewers from losing all their moisture is pretty straightforward, actually – make sure every ingredient is pushed up to another on the stick. Don’t be temped to cram them on though, as that’ll slow down the cooking time and risk burning.

5. Make Your Steaks Scream

If you’re adding beef steaks to the heat and they’re not yelling in pain, you’re moving too fast. Steaks should make that sweet sizzling noise when you slap them down, so you know you’re searing in that moisture and keeping it from weeping out. You know the grill is hotter than hell and ready to go if your hand can only survive two seconds 12cm above the heat.

For some people, food is a year-round obsession – and you're probably going to want to reflect that in your gifts to them, too. That's where this list of the best gifts for foodies comes in.

In recent years, food-related gifts have come a long way from a bottle of booze and a cheap box of chocolate. Now, there are Instagram-worthy recipe books, more luxury teas and coffees than we'll ever drink, and an array of kitchen tech from brilliant coffee machines to fun little cooking gadgets.

UPDATE: If you haven't found what you are looking for in this list, then head to our best kitchen gadgets guide. In it you will find 15 more great kitchen-based gadgets that will help improve anyone's cooking - and make the kitchen look great in the process.

So, whether you're buying for a baker or looking for a keen home cook, we've collected some of the best gifts for foodies you can buy – from cheap and cheerful accessories to investments that will stand the test of time.

Additional reporting: Marc Chacksfield

• Looking for some more gift ideas, take a look at our best gifts for dog lovers, best gifts for whiskey lovers and best gifts for coffee lovers

Best gifts for foodies

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

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You’ve probably heard of ‘courgetti’ as a perennial culinary favourite for the more health conscious among us but do you know which is the best spiralizer to make it?

Of course, courgettes are not the only vegetable you can put through a spiralizer – carrots, sweet potatoes, cucumbers and more can all be used to make delicious strips for salads, stir fries or more. You can even use fruit, adding apples, pears or more to breakfasts, desserts, and to decorate baking.

Want to start spiralizing but not sure where to start? Here’s our guide to some the best out there. Upvote the spiralizer you'd put in your shopping basket.

• Want something more upscale? How about one of the best food processors? We tested 10 of them.

Best spiralizer

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

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If you think that the best slow cookers are just for stews and soups, then think again.

From baking cakes to roasting chickens and cooking an entire Full English (or a stack of pancakes!) ready for the next morning, the best slow cookers are more versatile than you can imagine.

For the past month we’ve put this versatility to the test, preparing meals and desserts using 10 of the best-selling slow cookers. They come from established brands like Morphy Richards, Crock-Pot and Russell Hobbs, as well as models from relatively unsung manufacturers including Drew & Cole, Swan and Wilko.

There was a surprise result. The bargain Wilko slow cooker came out victorious. It makes the most moist chicken we’ve ever tasted, while also performing admirably at baking cakes and stews.

Drew & Cole’s Clever Chef is our best value choice because the design, performance and range of options it provides far outweigh its price.

• These are the best food processors around.

Slow cooker best buys

It looks unlike any slow cooker we’ve used but that’s not a criticism. The CleverChef is a slow cooker, frying pan, steamer, and rice cooker in one. We only tested its slow cooking capabilities – for which it came third overall – but if you’re in the market for a slow cooker anyway, spending slightly more will get you this all-singing, all-dancing multicooker, representing fantastic value for money.

In our blind taste tests, the Wilko 3.5L slow cooker made the most delicious roast chicken, plus its chocolate cake and beef stew were so tasty they made the top three. This, coupled with its absolute bargain price, its choice of settings and its size made it a deserving winner.

• best buys
• The shortlist
• Our expert
• Test selection
• How we tested
• test results
• Best overall
• Most versatile
• The rest compared
• One to avoid

PreviousNext

The Shortlist: Best slow cooker

The expert's view

50

Products considered

65

Hours of testing

2

Experts consulted

2

Best buys

Our testing proves you can buy an excellent slow cooker for less than the cost of a Pizza Express bottle of wine. However, there's more to consider. Some of the slow cookers we tested can do more kinds of cooking. And others look much better than our Wilko winners, which matters a lot to some.

Read on to find out how our 10 best slow cookers handle cooking a chicken, baking a chocolate cake and making a classic slow-cooked stew.

Author Bio

Vicky Woollaston

Victoria Woollaston is a technology and beauty freelancer with more than a decade of experience reviewing and comparing gadgets, appliances and services at MailOnline, Wired, Alphr and Expert Reviews.

Best slow cookers: how we selected

Despite the myriad recipes that can be made in a slow cooker, the machines themselves are simple pieces of kit. On paper, little separates the majority of slow cookers in terms of size, temperature settings and design. In reality, however, there can be a vast difference in how one performs compared to a rival.

To create a shortlist of the best slow cookers, we studied customer ratings for 50 models across leading homeware sites Lakeland, Andrew James, AO.com, Argos, Wilko and Amazon.

Any product labelled as a slow cooker was included, which (depending on the site) also pulled in multi-cookers. From this list of 50, we read hundreds of reviews to find the 25 most popular, well-regarded slow cookers based on customer experiences. To narrow the list down to the top 10, we first selected the highest-scoring models from each brand and then handpicked the final models based on features and price.

In terms of features, we looked for slow cookers with at least two temperature settings – high and low – because these are the most common settings used in the majority of slow cooker recipes.

Each slow cooker had to have a minimum capacity of 3.5L because this size can typically create meals to feed a family of four, and is large enough to roast a whole chicken. All of the slow cookers needed to fit comfortably on countertops, too. In terms of price, we wanted at least two budget and two high-end, premium models with the others providing an assortment of options in the mid-range.

This left us with models from Crock-Pot, Swan, Russell Hobbs, Drew & Cole, Tower, Andrew James, Lakeland, Wilko and two Morphy Richards slow cookers – one in the budget category and a mid-range model. The Crock-Pot and Drew & Cole models are classed as multi-cookers so, to level the playing field, we only tested their slow cooking capabilities and comment on their other features purely for reference purposes.

Best slow cookers: how we tested

Across our tests, the slow cookers were ranked out of 10 based on features and performance.

When scoring the best slow cookers for features we assigned points based on price, capacity, the number of temperature settings, their size, weight and colour options. They were also judged on how hot to the touch they got during cooking, how easy they were to use and clean, and their design.

The cheapest model, the Wilko 3.5L slow cooker, achieved a price score of 10, for example but lost points for not offering a range of colour options. The Crock-Pot scored 10 for having the highest capacity but lost points for being the most expensive and largest of the lot.

The slow cookers were then individually tested on their ability to roast a chicken, make a beef stew and bake a chocolate lava cake.

For the roasting challenge, a whole chicken was placed on onions, carrots, garlic and chicken stock and cooked on low for five hours. The stock was removed and the chickens were cooked on high for the final 60 minutes.

Meat from each chicken breast was put into bowls, on the underside of which the name of each slow cooker had been written, and they were blind tasted before being ranked from best to worst. We were looking for a moist texture and strong flavour.

To make the beef stew, we fried the ingredients in the slow cookers to test how well they could brown onions and beef before adding stock and vegetables and cooking on low for eight hours.

The blind tasting process was repeated but this time each bowl was ranked three times – once for sauce, once for meat and veg, and once for overall flavour. When ranking the sauce, we were looking for a vibrant colour and thick consistency.

When ranking the meat and veg, we wanted pieces of tender beef that had been cooked evenly, and soft vegetables that held their shape and hadn’t been overcooked to point of mash. The scores from each were combined to get a total.

When making the chocolate lava cake, we put a chocolate sponge mix in each slow cooker before pouring over a fudge mixture and cooking on high for an hour.

Spoonfuls of the cake were transferred to the labelled bowls and were judged on how well the sponge was cooked, the consistency and amount of fudge sauce, and overall taste.

Feeling hungry?

As a rule, a high temperature on a slow cooker averages around 150-degrees Celcius mark, while a low temperature is in the region of 90-degrees Celcius.

This can, of course, differ by model but it’s fair to assume temperatures are similar because slow cooking recipes tend not to list different cooking times for different models.

If a recipe says it will cook in eight hours on low, for example, the results of whichever slow cooker you use should be similar, or certainly not different enough to warrant a substantial change in timings. In our test, Drew & Cole’s CleverChef was the only slow cooker to show the exact temperature of its high, medium and low settings, and in this instance we left this temperature at whatever its default was.

To test how hot each one was to the touch, we used a thermometer placed on the outside of each slow cooker. The total scores from all 12 food and specification tests were combined to reveal the winners and losers.

Best slow cooker reviews: The results

Topping our list of best slow cookers, beating competition from appliances that cost almost nine times its price, is the Wilko 3.5L slow cooker. It consistently impressed us, cooking food evenly and with ease, and it looks the part.

In second place, we go from the cheapest to the most expensive model in our list – the Crock-Pot 5.6L Family multi-cooker and slow cooker. It’s a beast of a machine, in terms of capacity, size as well as what it’s capable of. Plus it’s incredibly easy to use, despite its vast array of options.

The second of the multi-cookers in our list, Drew & Cole’s CleverChef, took third place for its precision heat settings as well as its unique design and safety features. Its cooking skills didn’t quite match this versatility but it was a well-rounded appliance and it offers far beyond any of the others in this list without an extortionate price tag.

Only one point separated each of the slow cookers in our top four, and Morphy Richards’s Evoke Sear and Stew scored highly for how lightweight and compact it is. It didn’t perform quite as well as our podium places at cooking the food evenly, but wasn’t far off.

Sitting in fifth place, Lakeland’s 3.5L slow cooker fell slightly flat for producing average scores across tests while not offering much in the way of standout features. It’s a mid-range slow cooker for a mid-range price and does the job, just not as well as some of its other rivals on test.

The Tower 3.5L was the most striking of the slow cookers in this list (we reviewed the red model) from a distance. Close up, however, it looks cheaper than it should for its high price. Its overall performance was also lacking, although it did redeem itself by baking the best cake.

The Tower's chocolate lava cake

Approaching the bottom of the pile is the Andrew James Sizzle and Simmer. On paper, having a digital display and delay timer in such a relatively cheap model should have pushed it closer to the top in terms of use, yet these features are unnecessarily confusing.

It was the only slow cooker to burn us when moving it and was average at cooking cake. It did make a cracking stew though; the best of the bunch.

Towards the back of the pack is the Russell Hobbs Chalk Board 3.5L slow cooker. It made a decent stew, a below average chicken and a terrible cake but scored well for its tall design and compact dimensions. This makes it perfect for smaller kitchens. It was also one of the safest on test, not getting too hot to the touch.

Swan’s Retro 3.5L slow cooker is in a similar boat to the Lakeland model. It didn’t do anything particularly well, sitting near the bottom of the pile for how evenly, or not, it cooked the three food items. As much as its ivory pot looks great – and it really does – it is a pain to clean and it quickly looked discoloured.

Finally, we were surprised the Morphy Richards 6.5L Oval slow cooker scored so low considering the much stronger performance of its sister model. This was down to the fact it came last in the stew and chicken taste tests and its design is a little basic. We do have to give it credit, however, for offering the largest capacity on test for such a low price.

The best slow cooker reviewed: Wilko 3.5L slow cooker, £15

The first thing that struck us with the Wilko 3.5Lslow cooker was its ceramic bowl. Typically, ceramic bowls are the reserve of more expensive models because they cost more to manufacture.

They retain and spread the heat more evenly than metal pots. Plus, ceramic pots offer the same, or similar, non-stick properties as coatings found on metal pots without the chemicals.

To find a ceramic pot in a slow cooker that costs just £15 is impressive, and we’re not sure how Wilko makes a profit on these. This addition may go some way into explaining why the slow cooker punches so well above its weight, beating rivals that cost much more.

It is super simple to set up and use and a single dial on the front switches from Off to Low, High or Keep Warm. When the slow cooker is on, a red light above this switch is illuminated. This is far from unique to the Wilko slow cooker – and if you’ve ever used a traditional slow cooker you’ll know this is standard – but it’s worth highlighting when other models in this list aren’t as straightforward, namely the Andrew James model.

Out of the three cooking tests, the Wilko slow cooker achieved top, or close to top marks. Its roast chicken was succulent and full of flavour, scoring maximum points. It came away from the bone easily and was still moist while other models overcooked the chicken until it was dry, such as the CleverChef, or failed to cook it all the way through, as was the case with the Morphy Richards Oval slow cooker. The Wilko model also produced the best tasting cake sponge but dropped a single point because its fudge sauce was thicker, and therefore less molten, than its rivals, particularly the Tower.

The Wilko model’s stew similarly impressed. As with the chicken, it cooked the beef evenly until tender. It pulled apart easily but still held its shape, whereas the beef on the CleverChef was chewy and the Swan Retro’s meat almost melted away and disintegrated into the sauce. The Wilko sauce was decent. It was flavoursome and vibrant, but lacked a little consistency when compared to the winning Andrew James stew. The Wilko stew’s overall taste was also great, again just losing out to Andrew James’.

Onto the negatives. You can’t put the Wilko slow cooker pot in the dishwasher, or at least you’re not advised to. The manufacturer says it is wipe clean only and we can only assume that using it in the dishwasher may cause the pot to crack or for its non-stick properties to deteriorate over time. This makes it a little harder to clean than dishwasher-friendly models.

The design of the Wilko slow cooker isn’t much to look at either. Its metal exterior does get hot during cooking but not as hot as the majority of other similar designs in our test. Its dial and lid knob are made of plastic and look a little cheap, but that’s because they are and there had to be a trade-off somewhere considering this slow cooker’s fantastic performance.

The best slow cooker for versatility reviewed: Drew & Cole’s CleverChef, £59.99

Let’s face it, slow cookers aren’t the most attractive of kitchen appliances. Even those such as Swan’s Retro model which attempt to elevate this aesthetic still fall a little short of being attractive. So it’s refreshing to see Drew & Cole offering a break from the norm with its CleverChef multi-cooker.

Its compact, plastic design could not be further from the metal designs of its rivals. It has a large digital display and hides a large 5L capacity pot inside a streamlined exterior. There’s even room for a handy steaming tray.

This design does give it a slightly space-age feel; poles apart from Swan’s Retro design, and if you prefer the latter the CleverChef may not be for you. If you like your gadgets though, it’s great, plus by housing the pot inside its plastic casing, it got only slightly warm to the touch making it the safest of the machines we tested.

The CleverChef offers a staggering 14 settings – slow cook, stew, steam, roast, poach, rice, soup, pasta, fish, sauté, brown, bread rise, bake, yoghurt – which technically increases to 17 when you consider you can set the slow cook function to cook on low, medium or high. We only tested how well the slow cooking features worked for our test, but having since experimented with its other settings we can confidently say it’s a highly versatile machine.

The downside to this is that it can be tricky to use. The CleverChef, along with the Andrew James model, were the only slow cookers we had to read the manual for before using. The digital display is activated by touch, and you have to press relatively hard to register a press.

Pressing the Menu button repeatedly to scroll through the cooking settings is tedious, especially if the one you want is at the end of the list. The Crock-Pot with its physical buttons and mutiple settings is far more intuitive and user-friendly.

The pay-off is that once we’d got our head around how to use the CleverChef, we were cooking a wide variety of meals with ease. Getting back the time cooking that we’d lost learning how to use it.

The performance of the CleverChef wasn’t bad either. It couldn’t match the cooking skills of the Wilko or Crock-Pot but scored a respectable 8/10 for the chicken, and middle-of-the-road scores for its cake and stew.

Its main flaw, when compared to others in our list, is that its design made it a little too efficient. It cooked all three food items faster than its rivals and without a glass lid this wasn’t easy to spot. This isn’t necessarily a positive because it meant the food dried out quickly. The CleverChef lost points for its chicken because the breast meat was dry. The cake was overcooked and the stew didn’t taste as well-rounded as others because it hadn’t had the time to infuse with flavour.

We have since experimented with different settings to achieve the optimum conditions for each recipe and it has performed better. Plus it comes with a book, and website, full of recipes designed with the CleverChef in mind. If you were already willing to spend around £50 for a slow cooker, it’s definitely worth paying the extra to get such a versatile, futuristic machine.

Comparing the rest on test

Crock-Pot has been a leading name in the slow cooker industry for decades. Its so synonymous with one-pot cooking, slow cookers are often called crock-pots so it’s no wonder the model we tested performed so well. Its digital display is easy to use, as are its delay and countdown timers.

The Crock-Pot 5.6L Family Multi and Slow Cooker cooked succulent chicken and rich stew, scoring 9/10 for both. It dropped points because its cake was a little dry and its price will likely put it out of reach of many. We only tested its slow cooking capabilities but as a multi-cooker it has a huge range of other skills, too.

At the opposite end of the scale price-wise is the Morphy Richards Evoke Sear and Stew. We tested the black and rose gold model and it looks great.

Its metal pot, which helps make the slow cooker so light, feels cheap, as does the large plastic dial. And it performed terribly at roasting a chicken (2/10). That said, it produced the best tasting stew and its cake had a good mix of sponge and sauce.

The Lakeland’s 3.5L model is decidedly mid-range. It has a mid-range price, offers mid-range features and gave a mid-range performance scoring 6/10 for each of the three food tests. At least it’s consistent.

It would have placed higher if the Andrew James model hadn’t made such a great stew, and if it hadn’t been one of the heaviest slow cookers we tested.

Tower’s chocolate lava cake was heavenly; it tasted superb with a great ratio of sponge to sauce. The slow cooker roasted a chicken well, too. But that’s where the successes ended.

With an average score for its watery stew and plastic-looking, cheap design, not to mention being one of the hottest to touch during cooking, the Tower’s performance doesn’t justify its £70 price tag. Especially when the Wilko model, at almost a fifth of the price, beat it in almost every category.

The chalkboard design of the Russell Hobbs Chalk Board 3.5L Slow Cooker slow cooker may have a place in some homes, but we felt it was gimmicky. It’s not easy to write on, especially when the slow cooker is hot, and we just don’t see the point.

The tall design is great, but may also not appeal to everyone. True, it’s great if space is at a premium, but it’s not the easiest to use for roasting a chicken, and with a smaller flat surface area, you can’t cook many muffins in cases, for example.

What Swan’s Retro range offers in style, it lacks in substance. The grey exterior, ivory pot and silver retro dial really do look the part yet, it scored just 2/10 for the stew and cake.

The meat was tough and the sauce weak, and the cake was undercooked. The ivory pot also got dirty and discoloured easily and had to be treated with specialist stain removers. Its affordable price did help us forgive some of these shortcomings but it wasn’t enough for it to rank higher.

Bringing up the rear is the Morphy Richards 6.5L Oval slow cooker, an iconic model from a well-known brand that is consistently a best-seller on Amazon.

Like the Lakeland slow cooker, it doesn’t offer anything in the way of bells and whistles. But where Lakeland’s made decent work of the cooking, this Morphy Richards model came last for the stew and the chicken, and performed only marginally better with the cake.

It was almost as hot to the touch as the Andrew James model and its RRP makes it the most expensive of the traditional slow cookers in this list, without the minerals to back it up.

Any slow cookers to avoid?

We had high hopes for the Andrew James model. A slow cooker with digital features and timers for less than £35?

Consider our interest piqued. Sadly, it let us down. It gets blisteringly hot to the touch and comes with small handles that make moving it without touching the pot difficult.

We burnt ourselves on a couple of occasions. It’s also one of the heaviest on test, adding to these woes.

The digital display is overly complicated – you have to press and hold the dial to turn it on, which is far from obvious – and you only have a limited amount of time to make your temperature and time settings. If you make a mistake or want to change it, you have to turn the slow cooker off and back on again.

When it came to the cooking tests, it performed admirably, achieving a perfect score for the stew and mid-range scores for the chicken and cake. This is why it ranked higher than others yet is still our slow cooker to avoid.

We may not have been able to properly enjoy it, but the weather in the last couple of weeks has been glorious.

So, Magnum is sending out a free treat for you to enjoy in the sunshine - whether you have a garden or not.

The ice cream company has partnered up with Deliveroo to deliver free DIY ice cream kits to those in London, Leeds, Brighton, Manchester and Nottingham.

Each kit is filled with three Magnum Ruby ice creams and a range of toppings to decorate with, from chocolate brownie and freeze-dried raspberries to various chocolates to drizzle over your finish products.

Ice cream lovers would usually only be able to do this sort of DIY decorating at the Magnum Pleasure Store in Piccadilly Circus.

The Ruby ice creams are the latest launch from the brand, which covers a berry ripple centre with pink-coloured chocolate.

The kit will also include three recipes for those who want to get extra creative.

To order yourself a free kit - or to treat someone else - head over to Deliveroo on Friday 24 April and enter your postcode to see if you’re one of the lucky ones.

• Fancy making your own ice cream? These are the best ice cream makers we’d recommend

Pizza. Everyone loves it. If you dare to challenge this fundamental fact, it’s time you questioned your sanity. After all, the combination of carby dough and mouth watering toppings is an unbeatable collaboration.

Also, everyone has an opinion when it comes to what is the best pizza topping.

UPDATE: IKEA has decided to get into the pizza game. In its Hong Kong stores its serving pizza that is a take on a classic, topping off a pepperoni pie with the store’s signature meatballs - a dish that was first introduced to Ikea customers in-store during the 1980s. If that wasn't enough, it comes with its very own Sava table.

Whether you like your base thin and crispy or you’d rather a deep dish with enough dough to sink a small ship, we all know it's what goes on top that really matters.

From mouthwatering mozzarella to the inevitable pineapple debate, we've set out to discover the ultimate topping combinations adored by a nation of pizza lovers. Hot and spicy? Maybe. Prefer a meat feast? Why not.

The time has come to cast your vote.

best pizza toppings

People have some very strong opinions when it comes to the best pancake toppings.

For your pancake filling, you might be a classic lemon and sugar fan – but, equally, there are those who love to pile their pancakes with as many opulent toppings as they can manage.

So whether you're looking to go with the old classics or try something a bit more out there, we've got your back. Links to recipes, technology and delicious toppings to help you make the perfect pancake, look no further for culinary inspiration.

If your pans aren’t up to scratch, this Salter pan set might take your fancy. For just £10, you can get a 25cm frying pan and McDougall's pancake mix, so that you have all the tools you need to start flipping. Made from pressed aluminium, this Salter pan has a two-layer non-stick interior so you don’t have to worry about them getting stuck, either. There's also a 'unicorn' version with sprinkles if that's more your thing.

Best pancake toppings for Shrove Tuesday

Most fast-food companies spend hours meticulously preening a burger to within an inch of its life to get that perfectly delectable image. Burger King, however, has taken that sales handbook and thrown it out of the window, for their latest Whopper campaign is anything but mouthwatering.

Usually, teasing the public with a seductive slice of tomato can mean the difference between a best-selling burger and a complete sales flop, however, Burger King has decided to try something new - by using mould to sell a burger.

Entitled 'The Moldy Whopper' campaign - because Burger King is American and naturally they knock out the extra vowels - this ad is a little different.

The campaign sees Dina Washington's 1959 hit "What a Difference A Day Makes" playing seductively in the background as a burger is, well, left to decay.

One part disgusting, one part utterly mesmerising, the campaign aims to show that Burger King's Whopper is free from artificial preservatives and additives.

Boasting the tagline "The beauty of no artificial preservatives," the ad might just be the first to sell a product using masses of mould.

The artificial burger is already available across the US with many diners not realising the switch to a healthier alternative had already taken place.

"We believe that real food tastes better," says Restaurant Brands International Global Chief Marketing Officer Fernando Machado. "That's why we are working hard to remove preservatives, colors and flavors from artificial sources from the food we serve in all countries around the world."

It's certainly not mouthwatering, yet we just can't stop rewatching the decay.

• On the hunt for something a little less meaty? Discover the best vegan meat substitutes around.

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Being vegan doesn't mean you have to miss out on any treats anymore – and this is true even of traditional dairy products like chocolate.

The huge increase in veganism means there's now a wealth of products for you to choose from, whether you're a dark chocolate fan, like something a little bit sweeter or are looking for something more unusual. Perfect for a stocking filler, a birthday gift, an office Secret Santa – or even just a little treat for yourself.

UPDATE: It's veganuary and if you are taking part, this guide proves that you don't have to give up chocolate when you eat vegan - quite the opposite! We've also added bars from NOMO and Tony Chocolonely so you're bound to find a bar you love.

Here's our pick of the best vegan chocolate available to buy now. Upvote your favourite.

• Want to make your own vegan food? Read our best vegan cookbooks shortlist and best food processors review.
• Best vegan gifts: vegan friendly and sustainable gift ideas

The best vegan chocolate

Being a great baker is a year-long commitment. In the spring, there’s simnel cake to be made, summertime’s ripe for some pineapple upside down cake and autumn’s all about pumpkin pie and banana bread. What about winter? Bring on the boozy fruit cake.

You also have to factor in year-round staples: freshly baked bread, Victoria sponge cake, shortbread and sweet treats that come from further afield, like baklava and Turkish delight.

But if being a great baker’s a lot of work, harder still is being a great baker’s colleague, friend or family member. The arduous task of constantly tasting all the glorious creations you’re given? Gruelling work, but you soldier on, encourage and eat.

If your charity doesn’t end there, there’s more you can do than taste test to level up your loved one’s baking. You could get them a non-stick gift for no more ‘biscuits stuck to baking tray’ nightmares. If they love baking bread, a cloche is a hunk of earthenware that emulates a bread oven, or you could opt for the fanciest measurement converter around.

We’ve picked nine of the best gifts for cooks and foodies around.

If you can afford a serious present, read our best food processors test and our ultimate best blender guide.

Best gifts for bakers

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

Tell us about it, and if enough people agree we'll add it in.

Ahhh, Christmas time. So many presents, so little time. Fret not, for Shortlist are here with a gifting list that might just solve your seasonal shopping woes.

Yes, we've compiled a Christmas shopping list that should cover the whole family - including the uncle who gets a little tipsy and nods off in the corner come 5pm.

From the cousin who's glued to his PS4 95% of the time and only comes to family occasions because it's threatened with confiscation to the green fingered granddad who spends weekends down at the allotment, this list really does cover the spectrum.

If you're in the market for Christmas gifts this Cyber Monday, it also might be worth taking a peak at our best Black Friday deals page which is rammed with the best offers the internet has to offer, including all the Cyber Monday sales you need to know about.

So, if you're tight on time and in need gift suggestions suitable for the whole family, look no further than this list of ten items that could sort the whole family's presents in ten minutes flat.

• Looking for the strangest offers around? Discover our pick of the weirdest Black Friday deals.

For the person who is always rushing after you

For the green fingered friend

For the wannabe beauty blogger

For The Foodie

For the whisky lover

For the football fan

For the gym bunny

For the unexpected Guest

For the teenage cousin Who's forced to show up Once A Year

A household name when it comes to confectionery, Galaxy has become the go-to chocolate brand for those in need of a sugar hit. Now though, for the first time since the brand first launched back in the 60s, the chocolatier is set to release a plant-based range catering to the nation’s ever-growing vegan community.

Available in three flavours: smooth orange, caramel and sea salt and caramelised hazelnut, the range uses hazelnut paste to create the same creamy characteristics seen in milk chocolate.

Up until this point, vegans have missed out on the brand’s tasty treats due to the dairy content of the bars - with only dark, dairy-free varieties from rival brands fitting the bill.

The brand has spent more than six months reformulating the recipe - which now incorporates rice syrup - in order to achieve the same mouthwatering taste with zero dairy.

“Wherever you look you can’t avoid the vegan buzz in the UK,” says Kerry Cavanaugh, Marketing Director at Mars Wrigley UK. “We're so excited to be bringing these delicious treats to Galaxy's range using a vegan recipe that doesn't compromise on the brand's signature smooth and creamy characteristics.”

The best part? The cardboard packaging is recyclable and the clear film the bar is encased in is compost friendly. It’s a win-win.

Galaxy is owned by the Mars corporation, home to some of your favourite treats, including Milky Way, Twix, Snickers and, funnily enough, Mars (which is pretty much the holy grail of chocolate bars).

News of the launch coincides with the news Galaxy are releasing a giant Christmas cakey cracker in time for the festive season, alongside a special range of Nescafe Dolce Gusto pods.

Aptly named the Cake Bar Cracker, the explosive offering contains a host of the brand’s best loved cake bar flavours, including orange and salted caramel, while the Nescafe Dolce Gusto hot chocolate capsules come in Twix, Milky Way, Galaxy and Maltesers varieties.

Anyway, back to the vegan offering.

Available from 18 November, the 100g bars will cost £3 and are set to be available from Tesco, Ocado, and Amazon.

• On the hunt for more vegan treats? Discover our pic of the best vegan chocolate around.

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Fresh, handmade pasta is all the rage in restaurants up and down the UK right now. It has left plenty of burgeoning home chefs wondering if they can clear their cupboards of half-empty bags of penne and make the good stuff themselves.

There’s a huge variety in the types of machines available, though, from traditional hand-cranked mechanical rollers all the way up to fully automated devices that do just about everything except cook the stuff.

The best mechanical roller we tested is the Marcato Atlas 150, an Italian-made machine that costs a little more than most but justifies it with ease of use, build quality, and a huge range of extra pasta cutter options.

Our favourite automatic machine is the Philips HR2332/11 Viva Collection, which does absolutely everything for you and takes less than 15 minutes to turn flour, eggs, and water into fresh pasta.

• best buys
• Our expert
• The shortlist
• test selection
• How we tested
• Test results
• Best manual
• best automatic
• The rest compared
• One to avoid

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With ten thickness settings, a sturdy clamp, and comfortable handle, the Marcato is the best way to make pasta by hand we’ve tested. It loses points for shipping with just two cutters - taglioni and fettuccine - but more are available to buy if you fancy.

If you want to be able to come home from work, turn on your pasta machine and get fresh pasta within 15 minutes - after only adding the ingredients and hitting a single button - the Philips Viva is the machine for you. The final pasta isn’t as good as the manual options, and it doesn’t reward experimentation, but for pure convenience this can’t be beaten.

The expert's view

10

Pasta batches cooked

30

Hours of testing

2

Best buys

5

Products tested

How does a pasta maker work? It varies, and there are plenty of different types out there.The most common - and traditional - are mechanical rollers. These require you to first make your dough by hand before passing it through the hand-cranked rollers, which squeeze it flatter and thinner.

The resulting sheets of pasta can then be cut by hand for lasagne, filled for ravioli, or separate bladed rollers can be used to quickly slice the sheets down into strands for tagliatelle, linguine, or other shapes.

Extruders are slightly different. While rollers limit you to the pasta shapes you can make by cutting up sheets, extruders squeeze the pasta dough through shaped holes - think Play-Doh toys and you’re not far off - letting you create more complicated shapes like penne, fusilli, or spaghetti.

Then there’s automation to think about. While traditional machines require you to make the dough itself by hand, some automatic machines can mix the dough for you, while others will save you the effort of passing it through the rollers or extruders by hand.

Author Bio

Dominic Preston

Dominic Preston is a technology and food freelancer with years of experience reviewing and comparing gadgets, appliances and food & drink. He’s currently the Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor at Tech Advisor and Macworld.

Best pasta maker

How we chose the pasta makers to test

With so many different types of pasta machines on the market, drawing up a shortlist to test proved a bit of a challenge. There are all sorts of pricings and functionalities to factor in.

We wanted to focus primarily on manual pasta rollers. They are affordable and save you slaving away with a rolling pin for hours while remaining manual enough to avoid feeling like too much of a shortcut for those who want to enjoy making an afternoon of it.

They still require you to make the dough yourself, which takes twenty minutes or so, plus some time to let it rest before rolling - usually another half an hour should do.

We limited the selection to 150mm rollers. This is the friendliest size for a kitchen counter-top or dining table, wide enough to quickly roll enough pasta for a family, but narrow enough to still comfortably fit in even cramped quarters.

The Marcato Atlas 150 was an obvious choice - an acclaimed Italian brand with a huge range of optional cutter attachments for the real pasta purists, and a higher price to match.

To balance the Marcato out, we looked at cheaper models. Lakeland’s own-brand machine jumped out for the inclusion of a third cutter attachment despite its low price, while the Nuvantee machine had some of the best user reviews on Amazon and a design that apes the Marcato at around half the price.

If you’re wondering why you’d even buy a machine if it’s manual anyway, you can do it all properly by hand - all you need is a rolling pin and a knife. We’re also fans of the Pasta Evangelist kits, which throw in a few accessories like a gnocchi shaping board and ravioli cutters, which would complement any of these machines just as well too.

Then there are the automatic options. We wanted to test at least one that automates the entire process - from flour to fresh pasta - and the Philips Viva Collection pasta machine is the only one that delivers on that promise and actually has positive user reviews across multiple online retailers.

Finally, we decided to include the KitchenAid pasta attachment since it would be the first consideration for anyone who already owns a KitchenAid, and it strikes a nice balance. It automates the tiring parts of the process while requiring enough user input that you still feel you’re doing some of the cooking.

How we tested the pasta makers

With such a variety in the types of pasta makers in our test, it was impossible to come up with a single set of objective scores that would fairly cover all five machines.

However, there are some common factors - price, size, design, variety of settings, ease of use, cleaning, and final pasta quality - and so each machine was tested and scored with these in mind.

For the manual machines, we also considered how stable the included clamps were, how smoothly the rollers ran, and how uniformly they applied pressure to the pasta sheets.

With the automatic machines, speed became a factor, along with noise levels and how well the machines handled variation in dough recipes.

Each machine - manual and automatic - was tested with both one regular egg pasta dough and one variant - either harissa or lemon & cumin. The roller machines were tested for both ravioli - which requires especially thin sheets - and tagliatelle. The Philips was used to make both spaghetti and penne, using the included extruder discs.

The resulting pasta was compared for uniformity of thickness, texture, shape, and the least objective measure of all: deliciousness.

One final pasta nerd note: many of these pasta machines claim to have a cutter for spaghetti.

Technically this is a bit of a fib, as spaghetti’s round strands require an extruder, so of this rest only thePhilips can make true spaghetti. However the thin-cut strands that the rollers achieve is close enough to count, so for ease I’ll follow the manufacturers and let them get away with calling their roller-cut versions spaghetti.

The best pasta maker: test results

The most expensive of our manual makers, the Marcato Atlas 150, proved that sometimes you do get what you pay for. It achieved the highest scores of any machine we tested. Top scores for size and design, and consistently high results across the usability & quality factors helped make up for the higher price.

However, the Nuvantee machine came an unexpectedly close second. It missed out on the top spot by falling just short of the Marcato across a few factors, and not offering the same range of colours and cutters.

The automatic Philips Viva came third. This won by far on speed and how easy it is to both use and clean, but a high price, questionable design, and some inconsistency in the final pasta quality held it back somewhat compared to the manual machines

The KitchenAid nabbed fourth place, with ease of use and quality making up for the fact that it’s absolutely massive, and very expensive. The attachment alone is almost the price of the Philips machine, and that’s not counting the stand mixer itself.

Finally, the Lakeland version lagged behind everything else. The third cutter wasn’t enough to make up for an unstable clamp, uneven roller pressure, and a handle that just kept falling out.

Best manual pasta maker:

Marcato Atlas 150, £59.99

It shouldn’t be a surprise the most expensive manual machine we tested turned out to be the best - but on the other hand, with each of them so similar on paper the Marcato Atlas 150had to work hard to justify the extra cost.

It’s worth remembering that at £50-60 (the online price fluctuates) this is still much cheaper than any automatic option.

Straight out of the box it helps that it’s one of the few manual pasta makers that gives you a choice of colour beyond chrome. Numerous bright colour choices turn the machine into something you’ll want to keep on display, rather than tuck away into a cupboard (yes, our review model is still chrome).

It’s compact enough to keep out too, though not in our cramped tes kitchen, and to be honest all the manual machines are about the same size and style anyway.

You’ll need a stable table or work surface to clamp the machine too, but once attached it’s surprisingly stable and sturdy, so it didn’t rock about during use. The handle for the rollers and cutters is also pretty stable once it’s attached, and turns smoothly.

When it comes to actually rolling your pasta, the Atlas 150 includes an almost excessive ten thickness settings. That’s important, though, as to reach the thinnest levels you have to pass the dough through each stage in turn - the more settings there are, the more gradually you can thin the dough, which helps keep it smooth and silky, and reduce tears or bulging.

In our testing the Marcato rolled our dough smoothly and simply, without any of the tearing or inconsistent pressure that the cheaper machines occasionally introduced. That not only helped with quality, but also saved time - there was no need to repeat stages or laminate the pasta by folding it up and rolling it out from the start again.

The included pair of cutters detach from the body, meaning you can keep them out of the way until you need them. The included cutters are for fettuccine and tagliolini (which is ever so slightly thicker than spaghetti), but Marcato makes a whole range of additional attachments, from shapes you’ve heard of (ravioli, linguine) to slightly more niche fare (mafaldine, trenette).

If you get tired of turning, there’s even an additional motor attachment, though we haven’t tested it - and at an additional £110 it isn’t cheap.

Cleaning is a little fiddly, but that’s true of all the manual machines. You can’t use water at all or they’ll rust, so you will be stuck brushing flour out of the rollers for a little while - though once again the option to detach the cutters proved helpful here.

There’s no single feature of the Marcato Atlas 150 that justifies the jump in price from the Nuvatee, and many people will be happy enough with that cheaper model. But it’s just that little bit better across the board, and together with the extra cutter options that makes this the better investment if you hope to make fresh pasta for years to come.

Best automatic pasta maker:

Philips HR2332/11 Viva Collection, £179

If you’ve got more money and less time you might be more tempted by the Philips HR2332/11 Viva Collection pasta machine.

The Viva is about as automatic as they come, producing fresh pasta from beginning to end with just one button press - and it does it all in about fifteen minutes, making it by far the quickest and easiest pasta machine we tested.

It couldn’t be much simpler to use. Attach your extruder end of choice (penne, spaghetti, fettuccine, or lasagne), add the flour and liquid, then turn it on. It will first mix the dough, and then once it’s ready will automatically start to extrude it - there’ll be a warning beep, but you won’t want to stray far from the machine so that you’re ready to catch and cut the pasta it pushes out.

The benefit of this is that you don’t really have to do anything at all. The downside is that you don’t really have to do anything at all. If you want a machine that gives you fresh pasta with none of the work, this is great. But if you actually want to get stuck into making it yourself, this is so automated that it cuts you out of the process entirely.

The final pasta quality is mixed too. Following the included recipe & instructions yielded pasta that was a little soft, and didn’t quite have the silkiness of the manual machines. Straying from Philips’s suggested proportions yielded a dough that the machine simply couldn’t extrude, no matter how hard it tried, and since the whole thing stops if you open the lid it’s hard to make adjustments on the fly.

So you do have to follow the included recipe formula closely - though helpfully Philips suggests various recipes, including for different flours, pastas with spinach or tomato, or even a few Asian noodle varieties. With a bit luck, that should help you resist the urge to experiment that could otherwise lead you astray.

The only other downside from an actual cooking perspective is capacity. You can make between 200 and 400g of pasta at a time, which is enough for a family of four or five, but you’ll have to run it twice for larger groups. It also means you can’t make a single portion, which detracts slightly from a design that otherwise puts convenience front and centre.

Other than speed, the other area where the Philips comes out top is cleaning. Every component that could get dirty is dishwasher-safe, so after getting rid of any big clumps of dough you’re basically safe to just dump it all in the dishwasher if you have one, though handwashing is also easy enough. The only exception is the extruder disc itself - this is still dishwasher-safe, but we found the small holes got too gunked up for our washer to handle.

The Viva is also surprisingly compact for what it does, with a slim, tall design that should be easy enough to stash away and includes an internal compartment to store the accessories. It’s not as attractive as the manual makers, but wouldn’t look too out of place in a suitably modern kitchen.

The rest compared

The Nuvantee manual pasta machine came in a close second to the Marcato, and is easy to recommend to anyone with a tight budget or who only expects to make fresh pasta occasionally.

The core design is essentially the same as the Marcato, with a pair of detachable cutters, and build quality is roughly comparable.

There are only seven thickness settings however, which makes it harder to gradually move down thickness steps, and you may find that you need to pre-roll the dough a little more by hand before you can even use the first level.

You don’t get the choice of colours or additional cutter attachment options, but the main machine is just as compact and simple to use, with comparable quality in the final pasta.

Our other automatic option, the KitchenAid, sits in a funny position. If you don’t already own a KitchenAid mixer, and have no desire to buy one otherwise, then there’s really no reason to opt for this option, as between the two you’d spend almost £500.

If you already have the stand mixer it could be a lot more tempting, though, striking a bit of a sweet spot in terms of automation. The main mixer will make the dough for you - and in only a couple of minutes - but since it’s an open mixing bowl it gives you a bit more freedom to play with recipes than the Philips Viva.

And while the roller and two cutters are powered by the mixer motor, you still need to manually pass the pasta dough through and adjust the thickness, so it still feels like you’re involved in the process.

End-to-end it’s not quite as quick as the Philips (especially if you take the time to rest the dough before rolling, an option the Philips doesn’t give you), but it’s almost as easy and gives you more control over the process.

The big downsides are size - the stand mixer itself is messy, even if the attachments are compact - and price. Even if you already own a KitchenAid mixer, at £155 this attachment set is still three times the price of the manual Marcato and almost as much as the simpler Philips Viva.

One to avoid

Lakeland pasta machine

The worst performing model on our list was the Lakeland pasta machine. Yes, it’s cheap, but at the same price the Nuvantee model is better on almost every count.

The addition of a third roller (tagliatelle, linguine, and spaghetti) helps, but isn’t enough to overcome the numerous flaws.

The weak clamp leaves the machine bouncing around during use, the handle falls off half the time when you’re not holding it, and having the cutters built into the body makes the whole thing bulkier and harder to clean.

It's always a good day when you find a cheap rum deal - which makes today a very good day. Our discount booze hounds are always on the scout for the best alcohol deals and they've sniffed out this bottle of rum, which has a whopping 50% off at the moment.

The rum in question is Spytail Ginger Rum and while it normally has a price tag of around £50, it's 50% off from Amazon and other retailers (note: it was £19.99 for one-day only on Amazon but that deal has now passed).

Spytail Ginger Rum hasn't actually been around that long. While the taste is "based on a 19th century French recipe of infusing fresh ginger and spices in Cognac barrels," it's only actually been available in the UK since November 2018.

The company behind it, Biggar & Leith, are based in New York, but the rum itself is blended and bottled at La Compagnie Bathysphere, which is in the Cognac region of France.

While it might not be in our best rum list yet, if you are after a rum that's dark, packed with spice, and goes well with some coke then this one is for you.

Air fryers have a reputation as the go-to kitchen appliance for people looking to lose weight or cut fat from their diets, yet they’re much more versatile.

Their somewhat misleading name suggests they can only be used for recipes that require “frying” when. But anything you bake or roast in an oven – including cakes – can be cooked in an air fryer, often more quickly and easily than in a conventional oven.

The best air fryer we’ve tested is the Wilko 4L, which offers great, healthy cooking abilities and incredible value.

We also highly recommend the Tefal Actifry Genius XL for making tasty chips and chicken wings, and a large capacity.

• best buys
• Our expert
• The shortlist
• test selection
• How we tested
• Test results
• best overall
• Highly recommended
• The rest compared
• One to avoid

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Thanks to its rotating paddle and wide range of easy-to-use settings, Tefal’s Actifry Genius XL produced great tasting food, quickly and skilfully. It didn’t quite match up to Wilko’s fantastic model in other areas, but fell short by just a single point.

From its large capacity to its incredibly simple-to-use design, not to mention the fact it consistently produced delicious food, we can barely fault the Wilko air fryer. Which is even more impressive when you consider it’s the cheapest of the lot at the recommended price.

The expert's view

50

Products considered

40

Chicken wings cooked

4

Experts consulted

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Best buys

How does an air fryer work? The food goes in a removable "basket", which usually makes up the lower half of the unit.

When operating, hot air is circulated through this cooking compartment. In this sense it has more in common with an oven than a deep fat fryer. But the goal is to make healthier, less oil-soaked food.

Air fryers are often quicker to cook and more energy efficient than your oven too, as the space inside is used more efficiently. Fad or an esssntial buy? It depends on how you cook, but this is one of the benefits of our test winner. Far cheaper than most, it's a good buy even if you use it as an extension of your normal oven.

Author Bio

Vicky Woollaston

Victoria Woollaston is a technology and beauty freelancer with more than a decade of experience reviewing and comparing gadgets, appliances and services at MailOnline, Wired, Alphr and Expert Reviews.

The shortlist: best air fryer

How we chose the products to test

Despite the versatility offered by air fryers, they largely perform in the same way. All offer a very similar set of functions, albeit at wildly varying prices.

To narrow down our selection for this group test, we began by studying customer ratings for 50 of the most popular models across leading homeware sites Lakeland, Andrew James, AO.com, Argos, Wilko and Amazon.

Any product labelled as an air fryer, or hot air fryer, was included, which (depending on the site) also pulled in multi-cookers. From this list of 50, we read hundreds of reviews to find the 25 most popular, well-regarded air fryers based on customer experiences.

To narrow the list down to the top 10, we first selected the highest-scoring models from each brand and then handpicked the final models based on features and price.

When looking at features, we wanted air fryers with a minimum capacity of 2.5L because this size can typically be used to create part of a meal to feed a family of four. Each air fryer on the shortlist also needed to offer at least two temperature settings/modes – one for making chips and another for cooking meat because these are the most common settings used in the majority of air fryer recipes.

Design-wise, all of the air fryers needed to fit comfortably on countertops and in terms of price, we wanted at least two budget and two premium models with the remaining six offering a range of options in the mid-range.

The resulting shortlist contained air fryers from Swan, NuWave, Princess, Andrew James, Ninja, Tefal, Philips, Lakeland, Tower and Wilko. Prices ranged from £40 up to £300 and capacities ran from 2.6L on the Lakeland model up to Ninja's and NuWave’s 6L models.

The Ninja Foodi was the only shortlisted model that is technically classified as a multi-cooker but we only used it to test its air frying capabilities for this group test.

How we tested the air fryers

To test our list of best air fryers in the most objective and fair way, each model was ranked out of 10 based on features and performance. When ranking them for features, each air fryer was assigned points based on their respective price, capacity, the maximum time they’ll run for, the number of settings as well as the maximum temperature offered by these settings.

For example, the most expensive model – the £300 Philips Avance Airfryer XXL – scored one point, while the Wilko air fryer, which costs just £40, scored maximum points for price. The Ninja Foodi and NuWave Bio had the largest capacities on test, so they both scored 10 points.

Each air fryer was also judged on how easy they were to use, how loud their fans were, how hot they got to the touch during cooking, and their design.

The air fryers were then individually tested on their ability to make chips, and cook chicken wings. For the chips challenge, we cut Maris Piper potatoes into chips, seasoned and placed them in each fryer on their respective chip settings.

Our chips before cooking

Air fryers that didn’t have a dedicated chip button instead advised which temperature and time to manually set to cook chips, either as instructions on the fryer itself or in an included recipe book. Across all air fryers, this was typically at 200° Celcius for 25 minutes.

Are you hungry yet?

For the chicken wing challenge, four wings were butchered and marinated in a Chinese five spice mix. As with the chip test, the chicken wings were either cooked using the automatic meat setting or manually programmed based on the manufacturers’ instructions.

Following both tests, the cooked results were placed on paper plates with the names of the air fryers listed underneath, out of view. Along with two family members, we ranked the 10 plates of chips, and 10 plates of chicken wings according to how crispy they were and their texture/how they tasted.

For the chips, we wanted light and fluffy potato inside a well-cooked, crisp skin. For the chicken wings, we scored them based on how moist and tender the chicken meat was, versus how crispy the skin had been cooked.

To test how noisy each air fryer was, we used a decibel meter reader placed a metre-away from each model during the chip test. To test how hot each one got during cooking, we placed a thermometer on the outside of each model. The total scores from all 11 food and specification tests were combined to reveal the winners and losers.

The best air fryer: test results

Proving, once again, that you don’t need to spend a fortune to get the best household and kitchen appliances, Wilko’s 4L model pipped its rivals to the top spot in our list of best air fryers despite being the cheapest of the lot (by "recommended" price).

It didn’t make the best-tasting food. That award goes to second place Actifry Genius XL, but the Wilko 4L came close while scoring consistently high in almost every other category.

Scoring full marks in both the chip and chicken wing challenges, producing crispy, delicious food, Tefal only missed out on first place by a single point. Its Actifry Genius XL offers a wide range of settings while still being easy-to-use and it never got too hot. Its price, bulky size and noisy fan brought down its average, but only just.

There was quite a gap – of 13 points – between Tefal’s Actifry and the three models that tied for third place. These were the Swan Manual 5L air fryer, the Princess Digital Family air fryer, and Ninja’s Foodi multi-cooker. The Swan model’s strengths lay in its ease-of-use; Princess’s model offers a decent range of settings and made tasty chips, while the Ninja Foodi made great chicken wings, is quiet and has the largest capacity.

In 4th place, although technically 6th, was the Andrew James air fryer. It’s attractive design boosted its average but it fell flat in both cooking challenges without offering much in the way of capacity or settings.

NuWave’s Bio 6L took seventh place. Like Wilko, it offers a disproportionate amount of settings and capacity for its mid-range price and performed admirably in the cooking tests yet was the loudest, hottest and second most-difficult air fryer of the group to use.

Two points behind the NuWave Bio, and 18 behind the leader Wilko, was the most expensive model in the list, the Philips Avance air fryer. For £300 we expected much, much more. It has relatively few settings and is tricky to get to grips with while making disappointing-tasting food,

In ninth, with mid-range scores to match its mid-range price, is Lakeland’s Touchscreenair fryer. Its chips were below par, its chicken average and it was noticeably loud and hot.

Finally, Tower’s air fryer took last place because, despite being cooked at the same temperature and for the same amount of time as many other fryers, one of the chicken wings came out raw in the middle. Hardly ideal, not to mention dangerous.

Best overall choice review:

Wilko 4, £40

Despite being the cheapest model on test – a staggering seven-and-a-half times cheaper than the most expensive, Philips Avance – Wilko’s victory in our hunt for the best air fryer didn’t come as a surprise.

We’ve recently witnessed just how good Wilko products can be after the brand topped our list of best slow cookers, and its performance in this latest group test was impressive. Its chips were crispy on the outside, fluffy in the centre and tasty. Its chicken wings fell a little short of this high standard but still offered a nice crisp bite to the skin without overly drying out the meat.

Design-wise, the Wilko air fryer’s black casing is subtle and its relatively compact size means it will fit comfortably in most kitchens. It could even be stored in a cupboard when not in use, if need be.

Its fan is relatively quiet, and it is also one of two air fryers in our list to come with manual controls, the other being the Swan. In fact, its design is very similar to that of the Swan model, albeit in different colours.

These manual controls mean it has two rotating dials with which you set the time, and the temperature. A guide to cooking times and temperatures is printed on the top of the fryer. Once the time is set, it subtly ticks like an egg timer before ringing when the cooking cycle has finished.

While these manual dials may seem a little antiquated compared to their digital and touchscreen rivals, they’re actually a welcome, far easier-to-use alternative.

The maximum temperature on the Wilko air fryer is 200° Celcius – the same as almost every air fryer in this list bar the Ninja, which reaches 210° C, and Tefal’s top 220° temperature. However, Wilko’s maximum time peaks at 30 minutes.

This is half the time of its rivals and, consequently, comes with its limitations. Granted, many recipes won’t require more than this, including chips, individual portions of meat, cakes and other baked food. Yet, if you wanted to roast a small chicken, for example, you’d have to remember to reset the timer after the first half an hour and this inconvenience undermines its ease-of-use ever so slightly.

The Wilko 4L air fryer also lost points for being one of the hottest on test. It didn’t burn us, but it was far from comfortable to move and you could feel the heat emanating from it without actually making contact. At this price, especially given its great performance, there do need to be sacrifices but it’s worth keeping it out of reach of children.

Highly recommended choice

Tefal Actifry Genius XL

If budget is less of a concern in the hunt for the best air fryer, and you want the one that makes the best-tasting food, the Tefal Actifry Genius XL wins hands down. It scored top marks in both cooking tests.

We were so impressed with the quality of the chips we could have been convinced they were from a chip shop. Similarly, the chicken wings were moist on the inside, crispy on the outside, and packed full of flavour.

This is undoubtedly due to its cooking mechanism. Instead of having an aerated basket and fans that blast the food with hot air from all angles, the Tefal Actifry Genius XL’s base doesn’t have any holes and instead rotates and pushes the food through blasts of hot air using a curved paddle.

The upside is this cooks the food evenly and prevents any chips coming out as soggy or chicken coming out raw. The increased flavour and crispiness comes from the fact the oil, including any fats and juices from the meat, remain in the base and coat the ingredients as they cook.

The downside is that, while this is infinitely healthier than deep-fat frying, the food isn’t quite as healthy or fat-free as that cooked in its rivals.

This circular design and rotating mechanism also makes the Tefal Actifry a loud, chunky and flat air fryer in a sea of tall, thin models. As a result, it’s unlikely to suit smaller kitchens and takes up a significant amount of countertop.

It’s not cheap, either, but you’re paying for the performance, as well as the fact it offers a full one-hour cooking time alongside a wider range of temperature settings than any of its rivals. It is surprisingly simple to use, despite this large number of settings, and was the easiest of the digital models on our list to get your head around.

Only a single point separated the Tefal and Wilko models and if you can afford it (and have the room) we highly recommend paying the extra for the Tefal Actifry Genius XL. What’s more, the same technology is also available in the cheaper, more compact original Actifry Genius model if space is at a premium or you don’t have a family to feed.

The rest compared

Three air fryers took third place, scoring exactly the same points but offering different pros and cons. The quietest and easiest to use is the Swan Manual 5L air fryer.

It has a similar design and the same manual controls as Wilko’s winning model although it’s larger, bulkier and the model we tested is bright red. Like the Wilko, it also only offers a 30-minute timer. Sadly its cooking performance fell well short of it similar rival. Its chips were soggy and some were still a little hard, while its chicken was marginally better yet was still a way off the competition.

Coming in at £20 more expensive than Swan’s £69.99 model is the Princess Digital Familyair fryer, available in 3.2L and 5.2L models (we tested the latter). It lost points compared to Swan’s model for this higher price, and was one of the loudest air fryers we tested, but gained ground by offering a wider range of digital settings and performed significantly better at the cooking tasks.

It made above average chips that were crispy but not as fluffy as others in this test. Similarly, its chicken was crispy on the outside but a little dry on the inside. The increase in controls does make it a tad more difficult to get to grips with but it offers an hour’s timer.

Ninja’s Foodi was the third model in this trio and the multi-cooker is a beast of a machine; the largest of the lot and one that comes with a basket, bowl, grill rack and two different lids.

This appliance is not for homes with small kitchens or limited worktop space. The positive side to this design is that it offers the largest capacity on test, and its larger size and various accessories make it the most versatile.

We only tested the air fryer function for this group test but have since used the baking and roasting tool, as well as the slow cooker function. and having them "all in one" does make it highly convenient. Sadly, during the air frying tests, the Ninja’s chips were disappointing, overcooked and bland. Its chicken, on the other hand, was tasty and well-cooked, coming in third behind Tefal’s and NuWave’s wings.

Next up in the ranking was the Andrew James air fryer. It’s a good-looking machine and offers a wide range of settings without being overly complicated as a result. All for a reasonable price. Both its chips and chicken wings fell to the bottom of the pack though, in terms of taste and crispiness. Only Swan’s soggy chips and Tower’s raw chicken wings scored lower. The rest of its scores, including how hot it got during cooking and how noisy it is, were middle of the road.

NuWave’s delicious chicken and tasty chips elevated its NuWave Bio air fryer average higher than some of its other performance scores would suggest. This is because to power this performance, it’s a noisy, hot and difficult-to-use machine.

For a mid-range price, you do get a wide range of settings if you can work out how to use them properly, and its large basket can be fitted with a separator, letting you cook two food items separately. But overall the NuWave offers a mixed bag of results.

The most expensive model in our list, the Philips Avance, fell short of our expectations, scoring 18 points behind a model that is more than seven times cheaper. Design-wise, it’s a chunky machine and is best suited to larger kitchens as a result.

That said, it performed well in the cooking tests. Both its chips and chicken were above the average. The chips in particular were fluffy on the inside although not as crispy as its cheaper rivals, and its chicken was somewhere in the middle of not too crispy, and not too dry.

One to avoid

Tower air fryer

The worst performing model on our list was the Tower air fryer and we can’t recommend an air fryer that left us almost eating raw chicken. It has few other redeeming features too.

Its capacity is one of the lowest on test, its fan is one of the loudest, it’s fiddly to use and overpriced for its performance at the original £69.99 asking price. It doesn’t look too bad and it does offer an hour’s cooking time but beyond that, this is a disappointing machine.

The demand for alcohol-infused foods grows by the day, and this summer one butcher has transformed the unofficial Scottish national beverage into a tangy condiment. Yes, Buckfast BBQ sauce is officially set to become a thing.

Scottish butcher Rendalls joined forces with Buckfast distributor J Chandler to achieve what some might consider an unholy marriage.

After creating Buckfast-infused recipes for more than half a decade, brothers Jason and Gary Rendall, from North Ayrshire, decided to launch their latest wine-themed endeavour, this time in the form of Buckfast BBQ sauce, according to the Daily Record.

“Jason and Gary approached us with the sauce and the development started about a year-and-a-half ago,” says Buckfast marketing manager Stewart Wilson. “We’re delighted to be in a position to say we will be ready to launch in stores next week.”

Buckfast, a type of fortified wine, has long been associated with Scotland, achieving national treasure status (alongside Irn-Bru, naturally).

However, the caffeinated drink’s origins can be traced back to the 1880s. Benedictine monks fleeing persecution in France eventually found sanctuary at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, England, and began the fermenting process.

The news comes as rock legend Dave Grohl and pop sensation Lewis Capaldi were both spotted swigging the potent beverage post-gig earlier this week.

Needless to say, the sauce is likely to fly off the shelves, following in the wake of Rendall’s popular Buckfast sausages and pies.

“We’ve already taken pre-orders from wholesalers and we’re almost sold out before we've gone to market,” Wilson continued, “the uptake on it has been absolutely phenomenal."

As for whether the sauce will tingle everyone's taste buds? We’re not entirely convinced, but the proof really will be in the eating.

• Still not convinced by the sound of the alcoholic sauce? Take a look at something slightly more conventional, but still Scotland-tinged, with the our shortlist of the best whiskys.

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We’re all trying to be that little bit more sustainable at the moment. That’s lead to many investing in reusable coffee cups rather than the regular disposable ones we’re used to using then chucking away.

One company has gone one further. KaffeeForm, a brand based in Germany, doesn’t just make cups out of sustainable material – it makes cups from coffee grounds. Back in 2018, it won the Red Dot product design award for its innovation, and it has only grown since then.

A combination of coffee grounds, wood and “natural resins” is used to make the cups – around two or three cups of grounds per mug. The company works with local shops to get its grounds, so it is sustainable from the bottom up.

“As global coffee consumption is steadily growing, the coffee grounds that are basically waste, will be available en masse‘, said founder Julian Lechner in an interview last year.

“Kaffeeform uses these wasted resources to create a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to products based on mineral oils.”

You can check out KaffeeForm’s products here.

Fancy creating your own coffee grounds? Alright, you’re probably not going to turn them into cups. But here’s our pick of the best coffee machines anyway.

And if you fancy something with a little less hassle, these are our best pod coffee machines

Sweden’s greatest exports are Abba, meatballs, and award-winning actor Stellan Skarsgård. That’s just a fact.

The last of the three, Stockholm native Skarsgård, has had run-ins with the other two. He gave us undiluted pop-musical joy in the Mamma Mia films. And today he talks us through his own tried-and-tested Swedish meatball recipe. We don’t know which deserves a chef’s kiss more.

This month, Skarsgård stars alongside an incredible ensemble cast, including Mad Men’s Jared Harris, in ‘Chernobyl’. It is a heart-poundingly tense huge new HBO-Sky co-production mini series.

Related: best whiskeys to try

Chernobyl dramatises the story of the shocking real-life 1986 nuclear disaster, and the people who sacrificed themselves to fight the fallout.

But before we settle down to watch the show, available on Sky Atlantic and Now TV, we have a tasty layover on the way: Skarsgård drops by to reveal his Shortlist of five of his favourite Swedish foods you should try (and the one you DEFINITELY shouldn’t.)

Chernobyl is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV

Photo credit: Elena Ringo

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