UK retailer Tesco has reported a surge in demand for chilled plant-based food products for the first time in years, signalling a promising return to growth amid a turbulent period for the category.

Recent market data from retail analyst Nielsen shows volume demand for chilled plant-based food has grown by just under 1% across UK supermarkets in the past year. In the last 12 weeks, it has increased to 1.7%.

Tesco said it has seen this increased demand reflected within its own sales data, citing the trend for natural, healthy plant-based foods and a rise in scratch cooking as key drivers.

This news comes despite the retail chain’s announcement last year that it would be highly unlikely to meet its previously announced target of achieving a 300% sales increase within its meat alternative ranges by December 2025, due to a year-on-year decline in the market.

However, Tesco acknowledged increased demand for protein diversity, with consumers turning to veg-led, whole food and minimally processed proteins such as lentils, chickpeas, beans, nuts, seeds and tofu.

Tofu, tempeh and seitan have all seen a 12% increase in demand over the past year at Tesco, while interestingly, plant-based mince has seen demand rise by nearly 25% – an encouraging figure in contrast to the past few year’s rising concerns over slowing alt-meat sales and ‘UPF’ fear.

Snacking, including falafels and mini plant-based sausages, have also seen demand rise by more than 5%. Natural plant-based food brand Gosh has seen 6% volume growth over the last 52 weeks for its hero Moroccan Falafel product.

Bethan Jones, plant-based food buyer at Tesco, commented: “We are beginning to see the green shoots of recovery across the UK’s plant-based food sector, as a growing number of shoppers place long-term health and wellbeing at the centre of their food choices”.

“Increasingly, the inclusion of vegetables and plant foods is being seen not as a passing preference, but as a fundamental part of how people expect to eat in the future.”

While the plant-based food category emerged as one of the fastest-growing food trends of the late 20^th century, Jones noted, economic pressures and the “fading novelty of early experimentation” made this rate of growth unsustainable in the long-term.

“Now, momentum is returning in a more grounded form,” she reflected, pointing to the growing “micro-trend” of whole food plant proteins as the driver of a shift from “short-term trend to lasting dietary change”.