Bringing home the bacon

It's official... the great bacon butty is once again the UK’s favourite sandwich, according to new research.

In a week that saw World Sandwich Day celebrated (we're not joking), a study conducted by Foodhub has discovered one in five Brits opts for bacon as their favourite sandwich filling above any other.

A cheese filling is hot on its heels – with 18% of respondents citing a slab of Red Leicester or Cheddar as their preferred choice. And for those of us who like a bit of pickle with their cheese, there preference rocked up in third place.

UK’S 5 FAVOURITE SANDWICH FILLINGS

Bacon (20%)

Cheese (18%)

Cheese and Pickle (15%)

Ham and Cheese (15%)

Egg Mayo (15%)

"We all know Britain loves bacon, so it was no surprise to see it come out as the nation’s favourite sandwich," commented Ardian Mula, a spokesperson for Foodhub. "However, we were surprised to see cheese and pickle creep into the top three."

For purists, it is a welcome return to form, for the classic bacon butty was controversially knocked off top spot in 2020 by the humble hamburger. The result caused a furore across social media with thousands insisting that a hamburger shouldn’t qualify as a sandwich.

Thankfully, 12 months later, there is no room for controversy as the status quo has been restored.

Elsewhere the best thing since sliced bread is still… sliced bread.

Over a quarter of survey respondents chose white sliced loaf as their bread of choice when it came to sandwich making, with the baguette coming in second (26%) while wholegrain bread claimed the bronze medal spot (22%).

UK’S 5 FAVOURITE LUNCHES

Sandwich/Wrap (48%)      

Soup (28%)

Jacket Potato (22%)

Salad (18%)

Beans on Toast (18%)

The study also discovered that despite options aplenty, the humble sandwich remains the UK’s favourite lunch, with almost half (48%) of participants opting for it as their preferred midday meal. The sandwich topped the list despite plenty of votes being cast in favour of soup and spuds.

Meanwhile, 20 per cent of Brits claim to eat a sandwich every single day – and a staggering one-in-10 Londoners declare they eat sandwiches several times a day.