Vegan Panettone Review 2024

Since I began this series in 2019, the UK market has seen panettone go from only six brands to over 16 today. This year, another terrific Panettone Gang assembled for the second public event of this nature: the annual vegan panettone tasting charity event with all proceeds going to Baraka Community Partnerships

We feasted on 15 panettoni I purchased in the UK plus two from Italy for a total of 17, which is one more than last year. There are over 15 different types of panettoni available in the UK, with the GoVegan brand making more than the three types I purchased. We also sampled one panettone and one pandoro I purchased from Coccole di Gusto in Milano. If you’ve been following this series, you already know vegan pandoro isn’t commercially available in London, but you can purchase it from one artisan maker. In total, we had 17 different panettone to sample

The bunting flag at the table is from the Institute for Animal Happiness, a terrific animal rescue and vegan organisation dedicated to total liberation

What’s panettone?

Panettone is a traditional leavened and baked Italian Christmas cake typically made of a sour dough and containing sultanas, candied orange peel and delicate aromas. It’s meant to be a very moist cake due to the high fat content. The term basically means really big bread. Panettone is singular, panettoni is plural

Panettone originated in Milano sometime in the 18th century. It’s packaged in attractive parcels and they’re often given as gifts. Since I can remember, it’s been ubiquitous in shops all over Italy and the fashion has taken hold in the UK too. It’s a big seller. In the last decade, sales of panettone are a very close second to traditional Christmas cake (here’s a vegan recipe for that) and in some shops panettone outsells Christmas cake by multiples 

You can now also find chocolate and other flavours of panettone, including this year’s newcomer a chocolate and pear combo. Commercially made vegan panettoni used to be rare. Now, they’re available in large supermarkets and at a variety of price points

Baking without animal products is obviously possible and the results are delicious. All these panettoni are vegan. Instead of dairy butter, these are made primarily with olive or other vegetable oils. This year, two contain palm oil. While palm oil is suitable for vegans as it comes from a plant, there are other factors making it a substance I like to avoid, if possible (listen to my podcast episode with Max Haiven about the far reaching and ubiquity of palm oil on Spotify, Apple or other streaming platform). Each panettone in this review is made in Italy

Gluten free and vegan panettone?

I’ll save you the trouble, it doesn’t exist. Neither in the UK nor Italy. If you find it or are making it, please get in touch with me

Make your own

If you want a challenge, you could try to make your own with VegsideStory (complete with video instructions) all the while practicing your Italian! Or try A Veg Taste from A to Z’s recipe in English

The Panettone Gang

Thirteen people managed to come to some pretty good consensus! Once again, there was alot of laughter and it was an excellent way to kick off the winter holiday season. A special mention goes to the team behind Pa’l Susto Vegan Bakery for their very organised spreadsheet and point system. I think I might have to adopt that next year

Once again, everyone agreed any of these would be great gifts depending on preferred price point and good on their own. It’s just because we tasted so many we could discern differences. And once again someone admitted they used to immediately toast slices of panettone immediately, with butter and jam. Now they know to wait until the panettone has gone a bit stale before doing that. Once stale, you could also make panettone French toast (see the recipe at the end)

Packaging and where to buy

A note on packaging: the external boxes or wrappers for each of these, but one, are paper or cardboard and widely recycled. The plastic bag in which each panettone is wrapped is not recyclable, unless you have access to specialty recycling facilities. There’s a reason for the plastic bag. There’s no way a biodegradable bag could retain the moisture in the cake for a long period of time. Maybe someday

Each brand name is linked to the shop or online shop where I purchased the panettone (click the link to be taken to the relevant site). If there are other places where they can be purchased, I’ve noted that in the body of each description. The prices I indicate are what I paid for the panettone. The prices might have gone up or down and don’t include shipping or delivery. Check the links for current pricing

The 2024 favourites

The first three were the unanimous favourites. The rest were highly rated by a majority of the Panettone Gang

Veg-Oro (€20 for 650g)

This is the vegan pandoro (literally golden bread, which in this case was vegoro… see what they did there?) and it’s a standout. Made by the new-to-me Biscottificio Guerra, which has been making vegan panettone and pandoro in Italy for a very long time. The owner of Coccole di Gusto in Milano highly recommended it and she was right. I’m glad I picked it up and carried it back to London with me

Pandoro is in a class of its own and everyone agreed. It was perfect. One guest took a bite, looked up and said, “this is a crime”. That’s as splendid a review as you’ll ever get!

Fratelli Sicilia chocolate panettone (£22 for 500g)

This chocolate panettone is a totally new one this year and I almost missed it. Thanks to the judging panel from 2019 for alerting me to this one. It was superb and one of the more expensive ones. The ingredients were all high quality, including the chocolate. All the flavours were balanced. And the packaging was striking with the orange and brown wrapping and bow

Vergani original flavour (£18.50 for 750g)

Since 2019 this is a favourite. It’s overall excellent in the amount and quality of dried raisins and sultanas and candied peel. It’s got the classic panettone fragrance recognisable anywhere. Vergani is also available in shops, including Planet Organic, and sometimes it’s available in chocolate. I didn’t find the chocolate this year

Pane-Veg chocolate and pear (€22 for 550g)

Although not unanimous, this pear and chocolate flavoured panettone with a light sugar glaze was a top recommendation and one of my favourites. Once again, and maybe this is unfair, this comes from Coccole di Gusto in Milano and like the pandoro, it’s made by Biscottificio Guerra

It was super moist. The glaze was a nice touch. Some said it was “cake with panettone taste” and “panettone adjacent”. Overall, it was preferable to the Evvivo chocolate and pear, which will appear later

I hope Biscottificio Guerra decides to send all their products to the UK next year

Special note: A few weeks after the event, one of the Panettone Gang messaged me to say she had run into Paolo Ceci at a vegan fair. Paolo imports panettoni from Biscottificio Guerra to the UK and sells them. Contact him directly

Scarpato (£21.95 for 750g)

Another new and highly rated entry. The Scarpato panettone made everyone ooohahhh at its golden colour. We were slightly disappointed with what we felt were insufficient sultanas and candied peel, but the texture and mouthfeel made up for some of the disappointment; however, there was a bit of a gritty aftertaste which was odd. The flavour was subtle and this would make an excellent candidate for french toast

Evvivo original and chocolate & pear (each £17.95 for 500g)

The pear and chocolate Evvivo gets an honourable mention. It’s exciting to have a new flavour in the UK. In Italy, you’ll find vegan panettone flavoured in a million ways from pistachios to berries and more. So maybe this is the start of something. And it saves you a trip to Milano

Some of the comments included the salinity of the combination was very good, but the pear flavour was overwhelmed by the chocolate. I find that’s something that can happen with this combination, despite it’s still being a compelling one

The sultanas in this panettone were of good quality and texture. This panettone doesn’t contain candied peel, so it’s ideal for those who don’t like them. Because it doesn’t have the peel, it’s not as fragrant and can appear as if it’s a little plain. Overall, texture and density were good

Pasticceria Venezia original and chocolate (each £11.49 for 500g)

The Panettone Gang rated the original (raisins and candied orange peel) more highly than the chocolate. This was a dense panettone, which was perhaps more caked than light and airy. There were insufficient candied peels and a slightly bitter aftertaste. But it’s at a good price point and that red box is so cute

Of all the chocolate ones, this didn’t stand up to the others. Panettone is a bit you get what you pay for (except for that colossally expensive and disappointing one from 2023, which we won’t be repeating). Again though, we must consider we tasted all these panettone side by side so could make the judgment. If you’re in the mood to try a chocolate panettone and don’t want to spend too much, this is a good choice. The bronze coloured box is also very appealing

A very decent option

Go Vegan wheat (£17.94), spelt (£16.21), and organic spelt & chocolate (£17.03) (each 500g)

This year everyone seemed to like the Go Vegan brand more than last year and these are very decent options. There is no real taste difference between the spelt and the wheat, although the spelt rises higher and it’s a bit fluffier

The chocolate one wasn’t moreish enough for one guest and another noted an aftertaste which “builds up, but not in a good way”. And another noted it was, “a simpler version of a good panettone”

A surprise

Waitrose own label (£4 for 100g in the shop)

I’ll be frank, we were all ready to hate on this because of its size and sparsity of raisins and candied peel. Then we considered it a panettone muffin and it made sense. The flavour was better than expected, despite it being a bit dry. It’s difficult to get the right moisture in such a small format.

One guest suggested it would make a good Secret Santa gift!

Disappointing

Fracarro chocolate (£24.99 for 750g)

Although for many this was the prettiest wrapping, it was disappointing once again – similarly disappointing last year. There was a soapy flavour. Maybe it was from the vanilla extract? Not sure. It’s also available here, which is one of my favourite purveyors of Italian foods and I’m disappointed to see they’re carrying it again this year. It’s also the most expensive. So what gives?!

Note: this contains palm oil

Seggiano (£18.99 for 500g)

Another disappointment because this has been a highly rated one over the years. It’s much taller than the others, which tend to be more squat. And perhaps this added to it being a bit dry. The raisins weren’t great, but it made up for that in quantity. Two guests felt the batter wasn’t mixed well because they tasted chunks of sugar. As they’re professional bakers, this was a tough critique

Having said all this, it was one guest’s favourite because it was more bready than cakey

The image on the box is of a putto kissing Venus. According to one of our readers who works at the National Gallery in London, it’s Bronzino’s allegory with Venus and Cupid, which was painted around 1545. It’s currently on display at the National Gallery. It’s a bold choice. Some guests reported they’ve seen a new and plainer Seggiano box. Are we losing this Festive tradition?! Kinda hope not, but I hope they improve the recipe

Chiostro di Saronno (£16 for 750g)

This brand is once again at John Lewis, like it has been for the last two years  

Last year, I was alone in finding it underwhelming and lacking. This year, it was unanimous. It’s not fragrant, it’s acidic and a bit dry and generally unimpressive 

The packaging, although very festive and one of my favourites for its colour and fantasy, isn’t recyclable because the inside lining of the paper is plastic coated. Notwithstanding, seeing John Lewis offer a vegan panettone for the third year running is an interesting expansion of vegan products. And it’s a decent option at this price point and location

Note: this is the second panettone to contain palm oil

Diforti organic vegan pan dolce (£18.99 for 500g)

Not terrible but a “forgettable flavour” as one guest put it. It was a bit bitter, plain and the quality of the sultanas wasn’t great

Panettone french toast

For two

Take two panettone slices and halve them.

Mix 1/2 cup non-dairy milk, or Ogg aquafaba, with half a banana, mashed and 3 Tbs of tapioca or corn flour. Add a dash of cinnamon, if you like and a tiny amount of turmeric, if you would like the panettone French toast to be more yellow 

Dredge both sides of the panettone in the mix. Fry in non-dairy butter in a non-stick pan

Drizzle maple syrup

Thank you to all my guests for their generous donations and generally being such good sports. Happy Winter to everyone!