Waitrose is leaning heavily into premium centrepieces, restaurant-inspired party food and more fun festive formats for Christmas 2026. The range includes more than 380 new and improved products, with the retailer positioning this year around familiar Christmas inspiration and global flavours.
“Christmas is about bringing people together over exceptional food,” says Waitrose director of own brand, Maddy Wilson. “This year, we’ve blended nostalgic traditions with vibrant, global flavours to ensure every moment – from the first starter to the final toast – is packed with festive joy and is perfect for every food lover.”
Party food is the biggest area of newness, with Lobster & Prawn Vol Au Vents, Sticky Beef Teriyaki Skewers and Smoky Garlic & Chilli Prawn Bites bringing more of a restaurant feel to it’s range, while cocktail-inspired olives flavoured with negroni and spicy margarita add a less traditional touch.
The big-ticket centrepieces are unashamedly premium this year, with a £110 Bourbon Red heritage breed turkey alongside a £40 Wagyu Beef Pie and a £40 Turkey, Chicken & Duck Pie with Champagne Sauce. But then a new Woodfired Tartiflette Sourdough Pizza also gives shoppers a more casual option for the days around Christmas itself.
Waitrose is continuing to lean into trend-led flavours that have carried through much of 2026, with maple, pistachio and sour cherry appearing across sides, desserts and bakery. This is seen in the new Pistachio & Sour Cherry Frangipane Mince Pies, as well as new Pistachio & Sour Cherry Panettone – as the retailer hopes lure Dubai chocolate fans.
But the dessert to look out for is the new Belgian chocolate cheesecake, featuring a new character Polly the Polar Bear, complete with a gold nose, and explicitly described by Waitrose as its “festive character”. Perhaps Polly may have a bigger role to play when the retailer unveils its Christmas advert later this year…
Starters
No.1 Fish Pie Tartlets
£7.50/318g
Made with all-butter pastry, filled with traditionally kiln-smoked haddock, salmon and king prawns in a mature cheddar and parmesan sauce.
No.1 Smoky Garlic & Chilli Prawn Bites
£6, serves eight
Inspired by gambas pil pil. King prawns marinated with smoked paprika, garlic and chilli, and dipped in batter. Comes with bravas sauce for dipping.
No.1 Handmade Polar Bear Bao Buns
£8.50, serves eight
Handmade bao buns with polar bear faces, filled with shredded vegetables and hoisin sauce.
No.1 Ham & Cheese Croissant Stacks
£8.50, serves eight
Croissant-style pastry filled with smoked ham in a cheese béchamel.
No.1 Sticky Beef Teriyaki Skewers
£8, serves 12
Beef and spring onion meatballs, made with miso. With a teriyaki glaze to add towards the end of the cooking time.
No.1 Lobster & Prawn Vol Au Vents
£8, serves eight
Puff pastry cases filled with king prawns in a sauce made with cream, white wine, Parmigiano Reggiano DOP and a dash of cognac. Each is topped with a piece of lobster.
No.1 Turkey Rillette with Cranberry & Red Wine Jelly
£7/200g
Made with slow-cooked pulled turkey, roasted shallots, chestnuts, cranberries and a splash of port.
Cocktail Inspired Olives
Negroni Inspired Olives
£4/135g
Green halkidiki olives stuffed with orange zest, dressed in a Negroni-style marinade made from gin and Campari.
Spicy Marg Olives
£4/145g
Gordal olives infused with the flavours of a spicy margarita. Lime and lemon zest, red chillies, finished with a splash of tequila.
Mains
No.1 Slow Cooked Double Butter Basted Free Range Turkey Crown
£70/2kg
Slow-cooked and double basted with butter, with a free-range pork, sage and onion stuffing.
No1 British Free Range Bourbon Red Heritage Breed Turkey
£110/5kg
British free-range Bourbon Red Heritage breed turkey – a rare breed that’s naturally slow growing.
No.1 Turkey, Chicken & Duck Pie with a Champagne Sauce
£40/1.6kg
All-butter puff pastry, filled with slow-cooked turkey, chicken breast and shredded confit duck in a champagne butter sauce. The sauce is made with double cream, crème frâiche, champagne and a dash of brandy, and the pie is finished with crispy duck crackling and a parsley crumb.
No.1 Wagyu Beef Pie
£40/1.4kg
Puff pastry filled with slow-cooked wagyu beef in a wagyu bone marrow and ruby port sauce. The sauce is made with onions sautéed in beef dripping. Finished with a pastry cow’s head decoration.
The wagyu beef comes from cattle sired by registered pedigree wagyu bulls.
No.1 Woodfired Tartiflette Sourdough Pizza
£6.75/437g
Made with 48-hour fermented sourdough, topped with brie, maple smoked bacon, chunks of roast potato, confit onions and garlic béchamel.
No.1 Salmon En Papillote with Dill & Orange Butter
£18/563g
Inspired by the classic ‘en papillote’ style of cooking, the fish steams in its natural juices and herb and citrus butter, inside a paper parcel.
No.1 Whole Cooked Wild British Lobster
£36/500g
Lobsters caught in the waters around Cornwall.
Sides
No.1 British Free Range Pork & Apricot Stuffing Balls
£4.95/340g
Made with apricot pieces and red onion chutney.
No.1 Sage & Onion Blended Butter
£2.50/100g
Made with West Country butter, churned in small batches, and seasoned with herbs and onion.
No.1 Sausage Roll Yule Log
£25/850g
Pork, turkey, ham and chestnut filling made with pork stock and seasoned with sage, pepper, rosemary and thyme, wrapped in all-butter pastry.
No.1 Cornish Quartz Cheddar Mash
£7.50/800g
British maris piper potato mixed with extra mature No.1 Quartz Cheddar, double cream & salted butter. Topped with an additional layer of Extra Mature Quartz Cheddar. Seasoned with sea salt, white & black pepper.
Desserts
Polly the Polar Bear Cheesecake
£14/1kg
A baked Belgian chocolate cheesecake on a cocoa biscuit base, topped with Belgian chocolate ganache. Finished with a dusting of sweet ‘snow’ in the shape of Waitrose’s festive character Polly the Polar Bear, complete with gold nose.
No.1 Double Chocolate Little Gifts
£10/360g
Crack open to find rich milk and dark chocolate mousse, dark chocolate sauce and milk chocolate ganache with crunchy biscuit balls, all made with chocolate.
No.1 Maple & Caramelised Pecan ice cream
£4.50/480ml
Made with West Country cream, crunchy caramelised pecan pieces and a swirl of Canadian maple syrup caramel.
No.1 Mandarin Crown Cheesecake
£14/1kg
A baked vanilla-flavoured cheesecake on a crunchy biscuit base, with a secret mandarin sauce inside. A light mousse on top, finished with a glossy mandarin glaze.
No.1 Clementine & Honey Meringue Dessert
£8/492g
Made with Madagascan chocolate, dates, dark rum, signature sweet spice blend & candied clementines.
Bakery
No.1 Pistachio & Sour Cherry Frangipane Mince Pies
£4/four-pack
Pistachio frangipane topped mince pies made with all-butter pastry, and filled with a mincemeat made with tart sour cherry juice.
Maple & Pecan Blondie Pies
£4/four-pack
All-butter pastry topped with a maple and pecan white chocolate blondie studded with pecan pieces, finished with a pastry maple leaf.
No.1 Pistachio & Sour Cherry Panettone
£20/750g
Made with tart morello cherries and cherry compôte, and topped with chocolate and roasted pistachio pieces. From a family-run bakery in Piedmont, Italy, where each panettone takes 55 hours to make and is hand-wrapped with a ribbon.
Cheese Knots
£2.25/140g
Crunchy all-butter knots made with cheese folded into the dough and topped with cheese and a sprinkle of smoky paprika.
Gifting
No.1 16 Chocolate Marc de Champagne Pearls
£6/97g
Eight Buck’s Fizz-inspired truffles, made with Marc de Champagne and Valencia orange, inside a 54% dark chocolate shell, and eight Marc de Champagne truffles, in a 40% milk chocolate shell. Shimmered in bronze and orange and made with Belgian chocolate.
Letters to Santa
£6/50g
Smooth milk chocolate neapolitanas colourfully wrapped like letters to Santa and packed in a festive tin.
Caramel Crumb Waffles
£3/231g
Two thin, sweet waffles with a layer of caramel in between, half-coated in smooth milk chocolate and finished with golden caramelised biscuit crumb.
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