Supermarket Sauerkraut Showdown: Top Picks and Pitfalls Revealed
Crunch, sourness, and nourishment define sauerkraut, a fermented cabbage condiment celebrated for its umami-rich complexity and probiotic benefits. When consumed raw, this simple whole food offers a daily dose of beneficial bacteria, though some supermarket varieties are heat-treated, extending shelf life but eliminating probiotics. In a thorough taste test, we evaluated a range of sauerkraut from economical pasteurised jars to premium raw products, assessing flavour, texture, and value.
The Best Supermarket Sauerkraut
Best Overall: Loving Foods Organic Sauerkraut with Caraway and Juniper
Priced at £6.99 for 475g (£1.47/100g), this raw sauerkraut boasts a bright white appearance and a sour, complex aroma. It delivers a crunchy texture with intense flavour, featuring plump fermented caraway seeds and whole juniper berries. Made with just 1% Celtic sea salt, it is alive with fermentation, earning a five-star rating for its vibrant taste and quality.
Best Bargain: Hurly Burly Original Organic Raw Sauerkraut
Available for £2 for 300g at Ocado (67p/100g), this small plastic jar offers a funky, savoury-scented raw sauerkraut. It presents a white colour and refreshing taste, with a satisfyingly sour twang and nice crunch. With a lower-than-average 1.5% sea salt content, it provides excellent value for an organic raw product, also receiving five stars.
Other Notable Contenders
Raw Vibrant Living Organic Sauerkraut Classic
Costing £4.60 for 410g (£1.12/100g), this sauerkraut features fresh cabbage and sourness on the nose with a gentle underlying funk. It is very crunchy, with a unique sour flavour and pleasant sweetness, and has a very low sea salt content of only 0.75%. Its brilliant value and quality earn it five stars.
Jamie Ferments Sauerkraut
Priced at £8.90 for 425g (£2.09/100g), this large jar of extra thick-cut sauerkraut opened with a satisfying phwummp and crackled with a lively fizz. It offers a classic sour cabbage aroma, mighty crunch, and complex but subtle aniseed flavour from caraway and whole black peppercorns. With a notably low salt content of 0.8%, it scores four and a half stars.
Biona Organic Golden Turmeric Sauerkraut
Available for £2.50 for 350g at Tesco (71p/100g), this finely shredded sauerkraut has an incredible aroma of fresh turmeric and warming ginger, with a savoury undertone. It is refreshing with bright acidity and well-rounded flavour, though it is pasteurised and contains 1.68g of salt per 100g. Its incredible value for an organic product earns four and a half stars.
The Cultured Collective Fennel, Apple & Dill Sauerkraut
Priced at £4.50 for 235g (£1.91/100g), this explosive jar fizzed and spurted upon opening, indicating active fermentation. It features fresh, thick-cut cabbage with a rich, spicy aroma and bold flavours of fennel, apple, and cabbage. With a slightly higher sea salt content of 2.5%, it receives four and a half stars.
Mid-Range and Budget Options
Moryń Sauerkraut
Costing £1.65 for 870g (19p/100g), this huge jar contains very finely shredded long strands of white kraut. Though pasteurised, it has a fresh cabbage smell, delicious crunch, and quintessential sour twang, with a standard 1.94% salt content. It earns three stars for its value and decent flavour.
Vadasz Garlic & Dill Sauerkraut
Priced at £4.50 for 400g (£1.13/100g), this thick-cut sauerkraut offers a sweet and savoury dill aroma. It has a soft texture with a full dill-forward flavour, hint of garlic, and fermented-cabbage undertone, plus freshness from cucumber. With 1.5% salt and two stars from the Great Taste Awards, it scores three stars.
Kühne Sauerkraut
Available for £2.10 for 810g (26p/100g), this pasteurised sauerkraut comes in a barrel-shaped jar with finely shredded pale cabbage and a funky aroma. It has a tender texture with some bite and a balanced sweet, sour flavour, with 1.3% salt. Ideal for hotdogs, it receives two stars.
Dawtona Sauerkraut
Costing £1.74 for 500g (35p/100g), this sauerkraut features soft, finely shredded short strips with a cooked cabbage aroma. Surprisingly, it offers a sour and umami-rich flavour profile despite containing only cabbage, water, and 1.9% salt. It earns two stars for its basic but acceptable taste.
In summary, raw sauerkraut like Loving Foods and Hurly Burly lead the pack for probiotic benefits and flavour, while pasteurised options such as Biona and Moryń provide budget-friendly alternatives. Whether seeking crunch, complexity, or value, this guide highlights the best and worst supermarket sauerkraut available today.
