Yahoo Finance This year's Christmas sandwiches ranked from best to worst – from M&S, Pret, Tesco and more
Christmas sandwich season is now big business. Last year, Britons spent £673m on festive sarnies, eating an average of six each throughout the period. According to one survey, many of us wish we could have them year round.
It would appear that everything sold at supermarkets and cafés over the next six weeks is mandated to include cranberry sauce, sage, cloves or cinnamon. Ideally all at once. And that goes for sandwiches, too – one of those tested was far too reminiscent of a mince pie for a turkey and ham sandwich.
This year’s range draws heavily on pigs under blankets (I’ll never understand why sausage wrapped in bacon seemingly doesn’t work between two slices of bread), vegan alternatives including a brilliantly lurid cartoon-style ‘bacon’, and several options that don’t feel very festive at all – pick one ingredient that appears somewhere on a Christmas menu, add a star to the packet, and you’re good to go, it seems.
It doesn't stop at sandwiches, either; there are pastry bakes, stuffed wraps and baguettes loaded with the constituent parts of a 'beet' Wellington. You have been warned...
So here are the much-anticipated best – and worst – Christmas concoctions for 2022.
Gregg’s vegan festive bake, £1.80
Verdict: Zero stars
A rather anaemic-looking pastry with an undercooked bottom and what tasted like raw filling. It has a strangely sweet taste, a bit like salad cream, and was stodgy and heavy. Zero stars.
Morrisons Boxing Day curry wrap, £2.75
About as Christmassy as a lump of coal, this wrap is incredibly bland. Chicken, not even turkey, is very finely shredded into the blandest of mayonnaises, one that makes Coronation chicken seem like a vindaloo.
Leon bauble and squeak with sage mayo grilled wrap, £5.99
See what they did there? But this feels like one that should’ve remained in the product development meeting. It’s dry, too sagey, and the ‘bauble’, essentially a falafel, is pappy. There’s a redeeming red cabbage crunch, but this feels like a bad leftovers experience.
Tesco gluten-free turkey and stuffing sandwich, £3
The bread is floury and crumbly, not nice at all. There’s a decent amount of turkey but you can’t really taste it, oddly. Mayo is the overriding flavour. Not a good sandwich at all.
Gregg’s festive bake, £1.80
This has a nice golden colour with a pleasant sprinkling of dried herbs. But the filling is rather paste-like, with few discernible chunks. The overpowering taste is of dried sage. It’s not unpleasant, and it fills a hole, but I'm not sure I’d buy one again.
Co-op turkey feast sandwich, £3.25
There’s a sweetness from the cranberry chutney, but aside from that this is a surprisingly bland sandwich. The turkey has little flavour and the bacon is pale. The malted bread is nice, but overall a disappointing effort.
Morrisons festive cheeseboard, £2.75
Not a terrible sandwich, but there’s nothing Christmassy about this. Blue cheese is a nice addition but does it go well with a mayo slaw? Not particularly. Onion chutney is the dominant flavour. Still, it’s not the worst.
Sainsbury’s Plant Pioneers no pigs under blankets, £2.95
The cutesie name belies a pretty poor sandwich. It’s very smoky, an acrid, fake-tasting smoke, and the ‘bacon’ is flaccid. The sausage is decent, the bread fine, but it’s all a bit mushy.
Boots Shapers turkey, cranberry and stuffing, £3
There’s a generous amount of thickly-cut turkey in this sandwich, with nice malted bread. There’s plenty of cranberry, too, but if truth be told there isn’t a huge amount of flavour; it’s all a bit bland. Rocket adds a healthy layer, but not much else. Ok, but not brilliant.
Pret beet wellington baguette, £4.60
The wholemeal, seeded baguette is crisp and fresh and this feels like a healthy sandwich, with beetroot, rocket, pine nuts and plenty of herbs. A good beetroot sandwich, but it just doesn’t feel festive, with little that represents a Wellington.
Asda pork, apple and stuffing sandwich, £2.50
The meatiest of options, this is basically a hog roast on white bread, with large chunks of pork. It’s pretty tasty, but the stuffing is underwhelming and a crunch from red cabbage or slaw would help.
Aldi turkey and trimmings toastie, £1.75
This festive croque monsieur has a hell of a lot of cheese. It’s oily and gooey, but would benefit from a more flavoursome mature cheddar. The interior is a bit mushy, turkey, stuffing and cranberry merging into one. Despite all that, it’s a potential guilty pleasure.
Starbucks brie and cran-merry focaccia, £4.89
A surprisingly passable focaccia, soft in the middle and crisp on top, with plenty of rosemary. The brie is creamy and melty, the cranberry not overpowering but, to be honest, rather at odds with the rosemary. The spinach is a bit slimy.
Lidl turkey wrap, £2.29
Bursting with strong stuffing and a good amount of lettuce for crunch. The turkey is nice but there’s just too much wrap, making it a doughy experience overall.
Waitrose smoked salmon and cream cheese, £4.50
Salmon and cream cheese feels like a bit of Christmas cop out. Many of us have salmon on Christmas, sure, but that doesn't necessarily make this festive. Still, there’s lots of salmon, a nice twist of black pepper and good, lightly malted bread.
Boots vegan no turkey feast, £3
Well flavoured with what tastes like a Moroccan-inspired spice mix, and a nice crunch makes this a good meat-free option. The roast carrots are a nice touch, while the cranberry isn’t too strong. Crisp red cabbage is pleasant, and it almost doesn't need the fake meat, which gets lost behind the veg.
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference ultimate Christmas dinner feast, £4.50
The name might be hyperbolic, but this is a solid effort. A classic, soft roll is very well filled with crunchy roasted carrots and parsnips, ham hock and turkey. There’s plenty going on but it somehow tastes a bit too much like a mince pie.
M&S Christmas club sandwich, £4.50
Does what a Christmas sandwich should, replicating the taste of Christmas dinner between two slices of bread. The bread itself is lightly toasted for crunch and you can clearly taste the chicken, bacon and cranberry sauce, with a slight kick from the pickled red cabbage.
Starbucks festive feast panini, £4.89
There’s plenty of turkey and salty bacon that’s actually crisp within a light, airy bread. The delicate, herby stuffing is a touch shy, and if anything this sandwich is too salty. But overall a good lunch.
Lidl brie and cranberry, £1.89
If you like this classic pairing, which some might argue isn’t the most Christmassy of concoctions, then this the option to seek. Unlike the usual bland brie this cheese has a strong flavour, and the cranberry isn’t overpowering, although a bit too sweet. Good brown bread, too.
Pret Boxing Day toastie, £5.50
This toastie is stacked: plenty of mature cheddar, excellent ham hock and thickly cut, flavoursome turkey. The chutney is delicate. The sage stuffing doesn’t overpower as with many other options. A well balanced sandwich.
Waitrose Christmas pigs under blankets, £3.50
There’s plenty of filling here, with sizeable helpings of sausage, bacon and cranberry sauce. The sausage is the main ingredient and you can really taste it; the bacon adds a nice sweet-salty crunch.
Tesco Finest smoked turkey club sandwich, £3.25
The charred bread gives this three-layered club an attractive appearance, and it doesn’t disappoint. There’s good emmental-style cheese, a strong mustard kick, and plenty of crunchy red cabbage. It doesn’t skimp on turkey, either. The truffle, thankfully, is restrained.
M&S turkey and ham hock toastie, £4.25
A lovely, oily, rosemary-flecked focaccia is filled with plenty of cheese, a generous helping of ham hock and good, chunky turkey. This certainly isn’t the healthy option, but it’s a decadent and delicious Christmas treat.
