Christmas sandwiches have hit all major high street retailers and, just like the annual traditional cracker jokes, they are a very mixed bag. Nowadays, sandwiches are just as much part of Christmas traditions as mince pies, crackers, tinsel, and Quality Street tubs.
For every classic turkey sandwich, there are unusual flavours ready to take on a new and unexpected twist on our festive favourites (gravy mayonnaise, anyone?), reports the Manchester Evening News. As in recent years, all of the seven big supermarkets - that's Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, M&S, Sainsbury's and Morrisons - have got involved in the phenomenon that is the Christmas sandwich.
But how do they all rank up against each other? Well, there is only really one way to find out and that's for Manchester Evening News writer Adam Maidment to try them all (yes, them all) himself.
To make things fair and to venture into the world of some of the wacky and out-there flavours available this year, he decided to try two sandwiches from each of the big seven: the traditional turkey feast and a 'wildcard' flavour. When it comes to these wildcards, we're talking hog roast wraps, no-meat sausages, brie and cranberry and even festive falafels.
With so many sandwiches to get through, he got straight to the point and just gave each of them a rating out of ten. It's either bad, good, or great - no falafel-ing about.
Thankfully, most of them were pretty good - with a couple that he says he is already desperate to try again as soon as he can get his hands on them.
Asda
Delish Festive Feast
Asda's main Christmas sandwich features turkey breast, Cumberland pork sausage, gravy mayonnaise, cranberry chutney, pork, sage and onion stuffing, beechwood smoked bacon and fried onions.
It’s packed with flavour and the cranberry chutney has been lashed on generously meaning it’s not too dry to eat either. The gravy mayonnaise is pretty decent too, which isn’t always the case.
As turkey sandwiches go, it’s one of the better ones and would be worth having again.
Price: £3.00
Rating: 7/10
Jolly Festive Feast
Confusingly, Asda has more than one Festive Feast on its sandwich menu this year - the difference with this one is that it’s apparently more ‘jolly’ as opposed to 'delish', but I'll be the one deciding that.
The sandwich features smoked turkey breast, pork, apricot and chestnut stuffing, gravy mayonnaise, and fruity cranberry chutney on thick white bread. It’s an actual treat, and the fruity and nutty additions to the chutney really help take the turkey sandwich to the next level.
The smoky turkey is also a nice change and the thick bread is still soft and doesn’t make it any drier. It’s luxurious and perhaps my favourite when it comes to the turkey sandwiches on offer this year. There, I said it.
Price: £3.00
Rating: 9/10
Morrisons
The Best Ultimate Turkey Feast
Some may say it is unfair to compare a ‘deluxe’ turkey sandwich to all the other standard ones, but I’m going to do it anyway regardless because this is the one that I got my hands on.
Morrisons’ The Best Ultimate Turkey Feast sandwich features pretty much everything you expect – British turkey, sausage, smoked bacon, sage and onion stuffing and cranberry sauce and malted bread.
The turkey is soft and delicate, and the sweet lathering of cranberry sauce makes it tasty and flavoursome. It’s great, but is it ‘The Best Ultimate’ great? Perhaps not. It’s just a very good turkey dinner sandwich, and that's not a bad thing whatsoever.
Price: £3.50
Rating: 7/10
Pigs Under Blankets
Sometimes, you just want the best bits of the Christmas sandwich without faffing around with the turkey and everything else. Morrison’s Pigs Under Blankets serves just that purpose, simply featuring Lincolnshire sausages and streaky bacon with gravy mayonnaise on white bread.
Gravy mayonnaise in itself is quite a controversial ingredient. There are still many of us (myself included) who are quite baffled by the concept, but it appears to be quite a common occurrence in festive sandwiches these days. But saying that, the gravy mayo here is quite pleasant - it’s not as off-putting as you initially imagine.
The bread is no-thrills and quite basic, but the sausage is nice and the smokiness of the bacon is good. However, the bread and the aesthetics of the sandwich do make it feel more basic than other sandwiches on the list so I feel that I have to take that into consideration with my scoring. But it works if you fancy the best bits of a Christmas dinner without the turkey.
Price: £2.85
Rating: 4/10
Aldi
Turkey Feast
Aldi's Turkey Feast features cooked turkey breast alongside sage and onion stuffing, cranberry chutney, seasoned mayonnaise, cooked streaky bacon and fried onions, all served on malt bread.
It has a nice taste to it, but it is slightly overpowered by a bit too much of the stuffing. It's got plenty of flavour, but sadly still has a slight dryness to it that tends to come with these turkey sandwiches. The fried onions add a nice punch of flavour to it, but it's pretty much just your standard turkey sandwich here really.
Price: £1.99
Rating: 5/10
Brie and Cranberry Chutney
Brie and cranberry is, at this point, as much of a festive tradition as the turkey roast. Slightly off-putting (yet accurate), Aldi's take on the meat-free sandwich features a mention that the brie is 'mould-ripened' Not sure I really needed to be reminded that brie rind is just fancy mould, but I guess every day really can be a learning lesson.
The brie here is quite potent and is more mild and 'earthy' than I like it to be but it's still tasty. The cranberry sauce is flavoursome and fruity, but could do with a little bit more of it. The mayonnaise and spinach add a nice touch, and the malted bread is good. All in all, it's not bad.
Price: £1.99
Rating: 6/10
Sainsbury’s
Turkey Feast
Sainsbury's take on the OG features turkey breast, mayonnaise, beechwood smoked bacon, cranberry chutney and sage, onion and oat stuffing all served on - yep, you guessed it - malted bread.
It does the job well, it's flavoursome and the cranberry chutney adds a sweetness to proceedings. The smoked bacon and the oatiness of the stuffing add new levels of taste to the typical turkey sandwich but it doesn't really do enough to separate it from the rest.
Price: £3.00 (or £3.50 as part of a meal deal)
Rating: 6/10
No Pigs Under Blankets
Sometimes, even vegetarians want to get in on the pigs in blankets hype and why should they be excluded from all of the fun?
Sainsbury's no pigs sandwich features mushroom and wheat protein sausages, alongside soya protein slices, baconaise-style vegan mayonnaise, cranberry chutney and onion on malted bread. And, you know what, it's pretty good - even though it doesn't look that great.
I'm not a fan of mushrooms so was going into my first bite of this sandwich with a fair bit of apprehension, but it's tasty and comes as close to being the real thing as it could really get.
I'm actually impressed with this and can certainly see myself getting it again - it's different, but it works. I still have no idea what a baconaise-style vegan mayonnaise is though.
Price: (or £3.50 as part of a meal deal)
Rating: 7/10
Lidl
Turkey Feast
Sadly, Lidl's Turkey Feast sandwich is not really one of my favourites this year. It is overpowered with stuffing to the point where the turkey and cranberry sauce (and lack thereof) is made to play second fiddle.
It also didn't help that, whilst trying to eat the sandwich, the stuffing just made a massive attempt at fleeing its bread-based prison and ended up all over my plate. If you’re a huge fan of stuffing sandwiches then it may be one you’ll enjoy but for me, it didn’t quite hit the spot sadly. However, their wild card sandwich is a completely different story.
Price: £1.99
Rating: 3/10
Vegan Falafel & Christmas Chutney Wrap
If we were basing the comparison entirely on looks then Lidl’s festive falafel wrap would win hands down. Served in a purple wrap, it looks pretty and tastes as good as it looks.
Despite being loaded with couscous, it’s not too dry and the rich, flavours of the Christmas chutney go down a real treat. For vegans out there looking for a good Christmas sandwich, this would 100% be my top suggestion.
Price: £2.29
Rating: 8/10
Marks and Spencer
Turkey Feast
This year, M&S has partnered with homeless charity Shelter, which means 5% from a number of its Christmas sandwiches range will go to the homeless charity. And this includes the Turkey Feast, which roast turkey breast, cranberry chutney, stuffing and bacon.
There’s also onion mayonnaise within, which makes things a bit sweeter than they would perhaps normally be. The smoked bacon is tasty, while the pork, sage and onion stuffing is pretty good as stuffing goes.
It’s not dry, which is always a compliment, and the generous servings of turkey are flavoursome. However, I think it would be a lot better without the onion mayonnaise which feels like it outstayed its welcome with a lingering aftertaste.
Price: £3.90
Rating: 7/10
Jingle Brie-LT
Another M&S sandwich that will see 5% donated to Shelter is the pun-tastic Jingle Brie–LT.
Served on a soft brioche bun, there’s smoked bacon, brie, lettuce and a tomato and cranberry sauce. I’m going to say it now: it’s a game-changer when it comes to the brie and cranberry sandwich and I think it may just be my favourite out of the entire sandwiches rated here.
The tomato and cranberry sauce is honestly incredible - it’s a perfect mix of savoury and sweet and it is packed full of rich flavour. If M&S aren’t selling this chutney separately then they’re absolutely missing a trick.
Altogether, all the elements of the sandwich come together brilliantly and it also helps that it’s pretty to look at. The soft and sweet brioche also compliments the rich brie and the smoky bacon. But it’s that chutney that really seals the deal. A Christmas delight.
Price: £4.50
Rating: 10/10
Tesco
Turkey & Trimmings Sandwich
As I’m sure you have gathered by now if you’ve read this far, a turkey sandwich can be quite stodgy and dry at times. If you’re looking for something different then I’m afraid Tesco's Turkey and Trimmings sandwich is not the one for you.
Packed with turkey breast, Cumberland sausage, sage and onion stuffing, sweetcure bacon, sausage, cranberry sauce and mayonnaise on malted bread, it’s nice and there’s a mixture of flavours.
But the interesting decision to use pork and lentil sausages really stands out here and sadly adds to the stodginess load of the filling. The lentil taste is the most prominent out of all the flavours and, while it is nice to see a reduction in meat usage, it doesn’t quite work for me. And I’d also go as far as to say there is not enough cranberry sauce inside.
Price: £3 separately (or £3.40 as a meal deal with Clubcard/£3.90 without)
Rating: 4/10
Yule Hog wrap
Tesco’s Yule Hog wrap certainly stands out amongst the rest as something a bit different. Featuring hickory marinated pulled pork, a rosemary and turkey gravy mayonnaise and Kentish cider apple sauce, alongside lettuce, sage and onion stuffing and fried onions, there's a lot going on here.
For the most part, it actually kind of works. As the ingredients suggest, there’s a lot of different tastes here but it is certainly interesting. The fried onions add a warming taste to the sweet apple sauce, with the pulled pork offering a nice alternative to turkey.
I’m sure it won’t be to everyone’s palette and it’s not something you’ll be desperate to have on a regular occasion, but it sort of works. At least, props to Tesco for trying something a bit different.
Price: £2.80 (or £3.40 as a meal deal with Clubcard/£3.90 without)
Rating: 6/10
Conclusion
If you’re after my top recommendations for a turkey sandwich, I’d have to give it to Morrisons or Asda for their The Best Ultimate Turkey Feast and Turkey Feast - as both scored highest and were crammed full of delicious flavours and tastes.
If you’re after a festive sandwich without going as far as having a turkey dinner in-between bread then Lidl’s vegan falafel and chutney wrap and M&S’s Brie-LT brioche are really the stand-outs.
Tesco’s turkey sandwich failed to hit the mark out of them all for me, whilst Morrison’s Pig Under Blankets sandwich, while decent, just felt a bit basic and without any razzmatazz.
But, of course, this is all just only my opinion - feel free to share your thoughts on the best supermarket Christmas sandwich below. Meanwhile, I'll be avoiding any more sandwiches for the foreseeable future...
