Jingle Bell Glaze: Every UK Supermarket Christmas Doughnut, Ranked for 2026

It's 7 November. The John Lewis advert has made somebody's mum cry, the Quality Street tin has been opened and quietly resealed, and every UK supermarket has rolled out its Christmas doughnut range. Which means one thing: we bought the lot, ate the lot, and argued about it for a week in the name of journalism.

Consider this a public service announcement for anyone building a Christmas party spread this year. Nobody wants to be the person who turns up with a sad, dry ring of beige and a hopeful expression.

How We Judged This Year's Festive Bun Fight

Four categories, ten points each, forty overall:

• Glaze — shine, stickiness, coverage. A doughnut glazed like it owes you money gets marked down.
• Filling — generosity, flavour, structural integrity. A filling making a break for the dough's edge is a crime scene.
• Festive flair — does it actually taste of Christmas, or has it just been handed a plastic reindeer and told to smile?
• Value — price per doughnut, weighed against the joy it delivers per bite.

Everything was tasted at room temperature, in a kitchen that smelled of cinnamon and mild regret, with a pot of Yorkshire tea standing by. No doughnut was spared. Some were not forgiven.

The Rankings: From Beige to Bells

10. Iceland — 18/40

A frozen-aisle festive box that thaws into something suspiciously bouncy. The glaze tastes primarily of 'white', the filling is a rumour, and the snowman decoration is doing all the heavy lifting. Cheap, cheerful and entirely forgettable — the Christmas jumper of doughnuts.

9. Co-op — 21/40

Points for effort and a genuinely nice spiced sugar coating. Points deducted for a filling so thin you could read a receipt through it. The festive flair extends to a sprinkle situation best described as 'light drizzle of panic'.

8. Asda — 23/40

Asda has gone big on novelty and small on finesse. The gingerbread-glazed ring is pleasant enough, but the star-shaped one is an architectural disaster — it collapsed on the plate like a Christmas market gazebo in a stiff breeze.

7. Lidl — 25/40

Reliable, decently priced and quietly good. The custard-filled number is the standout, even if the icing decoration looks like it was applied by someone being timed. Solid middle of the table, which for Lidl is practically a trophy.

6. Morrisons — 27/40

Morrisons leans into bakery-counter energy and it mostly works. The toffee-apple doughnut is a genuinely clever bit of festive thinking, though the glaze is so sticky that one tester lost a filling and part of her dignity to it.

5. Tesco — 29/40

Big range, hit-and-miss execution. The mince pie doughnut is the kind of deranged idea that could go either way, and it just about lands — spicy, buttery, faintly chaotic. The plain iced ones, however, are the beige wallpaper of the festive box.

4. Waitrose — 30/40

Elegant, restrained, slightly humourless. The orange-and-cranberry doughnut tastes expensive and looks it, with a proper glossy finish. But £2.50-ish a pop means you're paying for the word 'artisan' as much as the dough.

3. Aldi — 32/40

Aldi has quietly become the value king of the festive bakery aisle. The chocolate-orange ring is a proper winter warmer, the filling is generous rather than theoretical, and the price means you can buy a dozen without remortgaging the house.

2. Sainsbury's — 34/40

A genuinely excellent range this year. The black forest-filled doughnut is rich, sharp and not remotely subtle, and the sprinkle-decorated ring looks like it got dressed for the office party. Minor marks off for a slightly chewy texture on the second day.

1. M&S — 36/40

Of course it's M&S. The Christmas pudding doughnut is the kind of thing that makes you briefly consider buying shares. Boozy, fruit-packed, properly glazed and priced just the right side of cheeky. It's the doughnut equivalent of a John Lewis advert: expensive, emotionally manipulative and annoyingly effective.

The Verdict

If you're feeding a crowd on a budget, Aldi and Lidl will do you proud. If you're trying to impress the in-laws, M&S does the heavy lifting. And if you're bringing Tesco's mince pie doughnut to the office party, prepare to defend your choices in front of the kettle.

Buy generously, serve them the day you buy them, and for the love of all that is hole-y, don't leave them in the boot of the car. Merry Crisp-mas.