Are the Christmas sandwiches the best bit of the festive season? Probably
We all love the traditional turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce combo but with so many other festive ingredients also on the table, we like to see who’s brave enough to deviate from the classics. It’s that time of year when eating sarnie after sarnie for lunch is totally acceptable and here’s our rundown of this year’s festive offerings.
Christmas Sando | Secret Sandwich Shop
Secret Sandwich Shop weren’t gonna let Christmas go by without making a festive sarnie and of course, they’ve made it a very deep fill. Their signature shokupan slices bookend pork, sage & onion stuffing, bacon crumb with turkey, red cabbage, crispy shallots, cranberry sauce and kewpie mayo.
Vibe | Japanese twist
Structure | Square
Christmassy-ness | Stuffed like a Christmas goose
Cost | North of £10
Christmas Sandwich | Crunch
Crunch has been slinging some supersized brioche sarnies over at Old Spitalfields Market and they’re continuing that theme with their first ever Christmas sandwich. Eschewing the traditional turkey, the Crunch kitchen has opted to spotlight slow-roasted rosemary porchetta, teaming it with braised red cabbage, cider-marinated Granny Smith apples, smoked cheddar, chives and gravy mayo.
Vibe | Porky
Structure | Thick
Christmassy-ness | Not turkey
Cost | More than a meal deal
The Holiday Armadillo | Mondo Sando
One of the best Friends characters, the Holiday Armadillo, has been immortalised in sandwich form by Mondo Sando and Wilde’s Deli. This beast includes house smoked pastrami with mulled wine spice rub; house smoked turkey breast; Cinnamon Graham, parsnip & sweet potato latke; cranberry kraut; Swiss cheese; crinkle pickles; mustard mayo; and the all-important gravy-soaked moistmaker layer, all stuffed into caraway bread from Toad Bakery. It’s the ultimate Chrismukkah creation.
Vibe | Friends
Structure | Bulging
Christmassy-ness | Chrismukkah
Cost | Put it on your card
The Sleigher | The Black Pig
The Black Pig really is sleighing the competition with this whopper of a Christmas sarnie. Smoked turkey is joined by the signature slow-roast pork, spiced red wine braised cabbage, confit leek mayo (an excellent idea), cranberry sauce and pecan, sage & onion crumble. It’s only available in limited numbers each day and be prepared for it to get messy, especially if you get gravy for dunking on the side.
Vibe | Meaty
Structure | Huuuuuge
Christmassy-ness | Sizeable sleigh
Cost | Double digits
Dom’s Subs | Santa’s Little Smoker
Dom’s Subs is back with some stacked subs for Christmas. The first is Santa’s Little Smoker, a deli classic of smoked turkey, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes that’s been festive-fied with the addition of pork stuffing and cranberry hot honey. For the veggies, there’s the Jeru The Damaja, with roast Jerusalem artichoke, caramelised onion & arbol salsa, pickled apple, sesame & lime dressed kale, and crispy kale. Napkins at the ready.
Vibe | Sub
Structure | Stacked
Christmassy-ness | Santa’s popped to the deli
Cost | Change from a tenner
Christmas Sandwich | Yolk
For its first ever Christmas sarnie, Yolk has enlisted the help of Sensational Sandwiches and together they’ve turned out a beauty – pulled turkey in red wine gravy, roasted cauliflower cheese, chestnut stuffing crumb, mulled cranberry sauce and lemon rocket.
Vibe | Moist
Structure | Stuffed
Christmassy-ness | Mulled wine
Cost | Not a bank breaker
The Camembert Sandwich | PAUL
This year’s PAUL’s best Christmas sarnie is veggie and it’s all about the cheese. It’s got wedges of camembert along with walnuts, honey, cranberry and lettuce stuffed inside a sesame baguette. Big up for the interesting bread too.
Vibe | Veggie
Structure | Solid bread foundation
Christmassy-ness | Cheeseboard adjacent
Cost | TBC
Porchetta Sarnie | The Dusty Knuckle
You can’t beat a doorstop sarnie from The Dusty Knuckle, especially when it’s the Christmas special. Fennel & garlic stuffed porchetta, quince aioli, crackling and watercress on that famous bubbly focaccia, yes please.
Vibe | Italian-inspired
Structure | Doorstop
Christmassy-ness | Christmas crackling
Cost | Notes and coins
Christmas Sandwich | Honey & Co. Daily
The Honey & Co. team has gone classic for Christmas, filling its fresh focaccia with turkey, sausage, red cabbage slaw, cranberry sauce and plenty of crispy onions. Grab yours from the new deli and bakery, Honey & Co. Daily.
Vibe | Comforting
Structure | Bubbly
Christmassy-ness | Christmas cracker
Cost | Around ten quid
Vietnamese Roast Chicken Banh Mi | KEU Deli
If banh mi is your go-to sarnie then you won’t wanna miss KEU Deli’s Christmas take on the Vietnamese classic. They’ve stuffed a golden baguette with five spice-marinated roast chicken, liver pate, port fermented cranberry sauce, pickles, herbs and mayo.
Vibe | Vietnamese
Structure | Baguette
Christmassy-ness | A festive holiday
Cost | £11.50 and then more on delivery
Christmas Dinner | Sourdough Sophia
Artisan bakery Sourdough Sophia is showing off its fluffy spelt wholemeal loaf by stuffing an entire Christmas dinner between two slices of it. With a thick piece of stuffed turkey breast rolled in bacon, chunky mustard maple glazed roast veg, cranberry sauce and a wodge of Baron Bigod cheese, you’ll probably need a lie down afterwards. There’s also a vegan version available too.
Vibe | A meal between bread
Structure | Chunky
Christmassy-ness | Post-dinner snooze
Cost | Sub-tenner
Christmas Sandwich | Jolene
Jolene’s sourdough tastes good whatever you put on it but the Christmas combo of smoked chicken, onion and sage mayo, pickled red cabbage and cranberry sauce is a proper winner.
Vibe | Simple
Structure | Bready
Christmassy-ness | Sunday roast with tinsel
Cost | Not advertised
Christmas Special | Toklas
Toklas has swapped out turkey for chicken in its Christmas sarnie (and included bonus crispy chicken skin) but kept the other components – sage & cranberry stuffing and braised red cabbage – super traditional.
Vibe | Satisfying
Structure | Bigger than it seems
Christmassy-ness | Trad dinner
Cost | £10 on the dot
Christmas Lunch | Pret a Manger
Pret always turns out a reliable Christmas sandwich. The ratio of fillings to bread is on point, so it doesn’t fall apart when you wrap your chops around it; the port & orange cranberry sauce isn’t overly sweet; and it has crispy onions, which everyone knows totally makes the sarnie. Plus 50p from every sarnie goes to The Pret Foundation, which helps tackle homelessness.
Vibe | Classic
Structure | Perfectly proportioned
Christmassy-ness | Santa would be pleased
Cost | Affordable, with a charity bonus
The Loaded Festive French Toast | Albie
The Hoxton is going big for Christmas this year by teaming up with Grace Dent and Tabasco to create not one butt FOUR festive sarnies, including a turkey & cheddar one at The Hoxton Grill, a chicken & Baron Bigod sarnie at Rondo and a festive veggie roti at Chet’s. Our pick of the bunch is this loaded festive French toast bad boy at Albie at The Hoxton, Southwark. Firstly, French toast as the base? That’s the attitude we like to see at Christmas. Secondly, Tasbasco-infused fried turkey? Into it. And sausage stuffing & bacon patty, pickles, pecan maple mayo and bourbon cranberry sauce as the rest of the fillings? Big yes.
Vibe | Indulgent
Structure | Loaded
Christmassy-ness | Jingle all the way
Cost | More meal than sarnie
Sons + Daughters | The Christmas S+Dwich
The Sons + Daughters Christmas roll returns for 2023, like a bread-based comfort blanket. Roasted Yorkshire turkey is layered with cranberry & bacon XO sauce, bread sauce mayo, marsala gravy, pickled red cabbage and watercress, meaning there’s no chance of this going dry.
Vibe | Lubricated
Structure | Round
Christmassy-ness | Glad tidings of joy
Cost | Single figures
Festive Feast Wrap | LEON
It’s another wrap from LEON this year but this time the chain has gone for a classic filling and a moistmaker side. Miso & porcini gravy-braised turkey, pork & herb stuffing balls, bacon, cranberry & orange sauce, lettuce, spinach, crispy onions and aioli are wrapped up like a present, with a pot of of that gravy available for dipping.
Vibe | Gravy
Structure | Controversial – is a wrap a sandwich?
Christmassy-ness | Festive gift wrap
Cost | Under a tenner with a pot of gravy
Fink’s | Honey Glazed Ham, Parsnip Crisps & Piccalilli
Fan of a crisp inside your sarnie? You’ll wanna get your hands on this festive spesh – one of four – from Fink’s. Thick cut honey glazed ham is loaded up with parsnip crisps, piccalilli and honey & mustard mayo and stuffed between Dusty Knuckle bread for a sarnie bigger than your jaw can likely manage, but give it a go anyway.
Vibe | Buffet spread
Structure | Jawbreaker
Christmassy-ness | BDE, that’s Boxing Day Energy
Cost | Not pocket change
Naughty and Spice Wrap | Marks & Spencer
M&S is trying something a little different this year with one of its new festive offerings, the Naughty and Spice wrap. Think Christmas dinner vibesbuInstead of turkey there’s piri-piri chicken and instead of regular stuffing there’s chorizo-style stuffing, finished with red cabbage slaw and hot cranberry sauce.
Vibe | Spice up your life
Structure | One-handed
Christmassy-ness | Santa’s on holiday
Cost | Reasonable
Turkey, Bacon & Stuffing | Benugo
Benugo has gone classic this Christmas with its turkey, bacon and pork & sage stuffing combo with cranberry sauce, horseradish mayo and spinach as the token green. The sourdough ciabatta does look a little flat but at least you can get your mouth round it.
Vibe | Basic turkey
Structure | Thin
Christmassy-ness | Stocking filler
Cost | Mysterious
Turkey Club | Hot Rocket
Seven Dials-based sarnie slingers Hot Rocket have a few festive specials on offer for 2023 but the Turkey Club is the one that you want. It’s a classic combo – turkey, stuffing, red wine cabbage, baconnaise and cranberry compote – sliced and stacked so thick that it’s difficult to eat in a dignified way, which is exactly the spirit of Christmas.
Vibe | Thicc
Structure | Whatever the opposite of wafer thin is
Christmassy-ness | Ho Ho Ho
Cost | Not advertised on IG
Chrimbo Roast Pork | Rogue Sarnies
Rogue Sarnies is doing a twist on the hog roast baps you often find at Christmas markets with this festive roast pork sarnie. Gravy-drenched porchetta is loaded with pigs in blankets, roast veggies, grilled sprout tops, Camembert cauliflower cheese (!) and caramelised apple sauce. Indulgent or what.
Vibe | Wood-fired
Structure | Large but achievable
Christmassy-ness | Winter market hog roast
Cost | A tenner and then some