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9 best panettone for Christmas 2025, including a Dubai chocolate version
The fluffiest Italian festive treats, according to our experts
Tested by Georgia TurnellGHI Food & Drink Tester
Panettone is typically made with dried fruit, candied citrus peel, almonds and brandy — though, as the Good Housekeeping Institute found out in this year’s Christmas taste test, there are now plenty of more experimental flavour combinations worth trying, too.
Best panettone for 2025
How do you pick a good panettone?
With so many varieties on offer, we asked Deborah Parietti, Director & Founder of Feast Italy what to look out for in the perfect panettone.
“While the first appearance of a panettone is important, it’s inside that makes the real difference,” Parietti explains. “You should look for bubbly dough with an intense yellow colour and a soft, bouncy consistency. This indicates that the rising process was long and slow (up to 72 hours in some cases).
“Fruit should be evenly distributed throughout the bake, and the aromas of butter, vanilla, raisins and orange should fill the air with its festive scent. Taste-wise, we’d be looking for a crust that’s as soft as the middle, without any bitterness, or worse, burnt aftertaste. A good panettone should be moist but not greasy, with well-balanced ingredients that don’t overpower one another.”
How we test panettone
Our Good Housekeeping Institute experts sampled 20 classic and flavoured panettone to find the tastiest picks for Christmas 2025.
They were looking for a good rise and a rich, buttery taste, though the flavours ranged from traditional dried fruit and candied peel to more daring combinations of chocolate, hazelnuts and even gingerbread.
Score: 92/100
Why choose between gingerbread and panettone, when you can have both festive treats in one delicious bite. Our winning bake may not be traditional, but it wowed our panel, with a soft, fluffy texture and silky, ginger-spiked caramel laced throughout.
Our testers also enjoyed the DIY element, as it comes with spiced icing sugar to finish. Rich and delicate, we’ll be eating this for breakfast and dessert.
Score: 90/100
Aldi’s well-priced, classic panettone is a good pick for those who prefer a more authentic recipe. Described as having the ‘perfect’ texture, the high-rise bake contains large pieces of candied orange and juicy vine fruit dotted throughout the sweet, buttery dough. A solid buy for those on a budget.
Score: 89/100
This decadent panettone is definitely one for the adults. It’s piped with hazelnut cream, dotted with chocolate chips and covered in chocolate spread and roasted hazelnuts – if you enjoy Ferrero Rocher, you’ll love this.
Available 1 November 2025
Score: 86/100
ASDA’s panettone is flavoured with warming, crunchy crystalised ginger and zingy orange for a super Christmassy flavour. It’s finished with a thick and creamy dark chocolate glaze, plus white and dark sprinkles for good measure. Toast it or eat straight from the pack.
Available 15 October 2025
Score: 86/100
We think panettone makes a wonderful gift, and this organic version – full of Christmassy spices and sweet, dried apricots – is beautifully presented. Our panel adored the rich, buttery dough and treacle sweetness, which is balanced by notes of cinnamon and cloves. We recommend toasting and spreading with apricot jam to serve.
Score: 84/100
Tapping into the Dubai chocolate craze that took the world by storm this year, this authentic Italian panettone is generously flavoured with pistachio cream. It complements the traditional candied orange and buttery dough, and the pack also includes a piping bag for you to add your own creative flourish.
Score: 83/100
Keeping things classic, Morrisons’ traditional fruit-filled bake impressed our panel. The golden sponge tasted rich and buttery, with large chunks of zesty candied lemon peel for balance.
Looking for an alternative serving suggestion? Try it in this triple tested bread and butter panettone recipe.
Score: 79/100
Combining two top Italian delicacies, Lidl’s panettone is the ultimate after-dinner treat. It has a strong coffee flavour, with a big boozy finish. The panel enjoyed the bitter dark chocolate top, too. We’d recommend serving it with a shot of espresso on the side.
Available 1 November 2025
Score: 73/100
We’re confident that traditionalists will approve of this Sainsbury’s supersized, classic panettone, with its rich, buttery dough. Clocking in at 1kg, it looks impressive, with a particularly high rise. We think it would work well with a shot of espresso on the side.
Available 1 November 2025
Should panettone be refrigerated?
“In a word, no,” says Parietti. “It’s best to keep your panettone in its original packaging, while trying to remove excess air, which will keep your bake moist.
“If it starts to get a little dry, it can help to warm it up a little, which allows the butter (or other oils if dairy free) to soften the dough again.”
What do you drink with panettone?
“Panettone is usually opened at the end of the Christmas feast, and is delicious served alongside coffee, dessert wine, hot chocolate or tea, as well as bubbles,” Parietti recommends.
Whether you choose to eat yours after Christmas Day lunch or for breakfast in the days to follow, tradition says you must keep one slice until 3 February, have it blessed and eat it first thing in the morning to keep sickness away for the rest of the year!
But after tucking into one of our top picks, you may struggle to keep hold of it beyond Boxing Day…
Stacey looks after all food and drink reviews — from coffee pods and veg boxes, to natural wine and tequila. Stacey is also founder of Crummbs, where she’s written nearly 2,000 restaurant and hotel reviews since 2013. Prior to this, Stacey wrote hundreds of in-depth buying guides for the Independent, i newspaper and BBC Good Food, as well as reviewing restaurants and interviewing celebrities in her column at Balance Magazine. Stacey has also appeared in BAFTA-nominated BBC documentary Blood, Sweat & Takeaways, where she investigated South East Asia's food production industry, appearing on both Newsnight and BBC World Service to share her findings. Regularly checking out the latest restaurants, bars and product launches, Stacey also loves experimenting with recipes at home, and is a WSET-certified wine and spirits expert, with over 10 years of experience in the business. You can follow Stacey on Instagram @crummbs_uk
Georgia has been part of the hospitality industry for the last nine years. Her starting point was the world-renowned Le Cordon Bleu culinary school where she gained a Diplôme de Pâtisserie. She has worked at a number of well-known restaurants and bakeries including The Club at the Ivy and Ottolenghi, Notting Hill where she was the head pastry chef. Most recently, Georgia worked at The Clink Bakery inside HMP Brixton, which aims to reduce reoffending through teaching. She is an expert in all things baked goods and holds a WSET level 2 in wine.
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