The New York Times offered this article today. Enjoy!
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/t-magazine/best-sausage-rolls-london.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Kk8.i71I.uxPJy7ErP5wX&smid=url-share
I can personally confirm everything we ate at Gail’s in Hampstead is to die for. We had a quiche, too. Especially their pumpkin soup. Delicious! I need to go back for a veggie roll version if they have one! Thanks for the link, so fun to read!
Wish I knew before our last trip, but we did have a good one at The Ginger Pig in Borough Market.
Greggs
Agree with Nigel. Greggs. :-)
Oh boy, I didn't need to see this - now I am so hungry! I plan to try a couple of these places out next visit. Now I need another article about the best Scotch eggs....
"By the mystic regulation of our dark Association, ere you open conversation with another kindred soul,
you must eat a sausage-roll, a sausage-roll!"
W.S. Gilbert, "The Grand Duke."
Let me be another to agree with Nigel....Greggs.
It's an institution. It's iconic. It's what locals turn to. Not some Instagrammable, Foodie, Influencer choice.
Just Greggs.
Personally I’m a big fan of M&S hog roast sausage rolls. If I’m on a long drive, I look out for petrol stations with an M&S Simply Food shop, because they are very good “eat with one hand while driving” sausage rolls (not as flaky as Greggs). Also they’re very nice cold (other than Greggs, I feel sausage rolls should always be served cold as a picnic food.)
Not sure if that link is working…
M&S are still in cyberattack purgatory - I can't reach their website and the app just looks back at me in pain....
Now I need another article about the best Scotch eggs....
I make mine using just barely hardboiled-eggs, wrapped in Jimmy Dean spicy-sausage. I can wrap 6-eggs with a 1lb roll of sausage. Roll in breadcrumbs, set on sheet pan and roast at 375F for 20-25 mins. While deep frying a wrapped soft-medium egg is quite popular at eateries, roasting using med-hard boiled eggs is a bit easier to manage and less messy. Despite what's listed, there's little spiciness but good flavor with the JD spicy sausage.
I really want to try a sausage roll but have to eat gluten free these days. I was having trouble finding one to try on our upcoming trip until I found a chain restaurant called Bill's that looks like they've got a gluten free option during breakfast!
The sausage roll available at Bills for breakfast is not the type of sausage roll that this thread refers to. A breakfast sausage roll is simply a cooked sausage served in a bread roll (gluten free options available at some places). The other sausage roll is sausage meat encased in pastry and is not a breakfast dish.
Bummer. I was hoping I had finally found the elusive gluten free sausage roll. I guess the hunt continues.
Zcorsair, thanks for the recipe!
Bummer. I was hoping I had finally found the elusive gluten free sausage roll. I guess the hunt continues
Worth checking supermarkets who usually have a decent “free from” selection. Apparently M&S sell gluten-free sausage rolls.
Where I live, down in the SW, we have a lot of pasty shops and they often have gluten-free pasties and occasionally sausage rolls.
if you want a genuine world class gluten free sausage roll that is seriously fabulous when you are in Cambridge visit the Cambridge University Botanic Garden and visit the Garden Cafe there.
Scrumptious and vegan. https://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk/visit-us/the-garden-cafe/
And the traditional version is in my mind even more superior.
Thanks for the tip! We're staying near an M&S and a full sized Tesco. Hopefully I'll be able to find something at one of those two stores.
Greggs do gluten free sausage rolls and I would assume any decent bakery would offer gluten free too.
Greggs.....
That would be great if I could find one at Greggs. They aren't listed on their web page, they only have sweet gluten free items showing. But I'll have to stop in to one to see if I can find what I'm looking for.
Greggs sausage rolls aren't gluten free.
They have a gluten free menuhttps://greggsmenuprice.co.uk/greggs-gluten-free-menu
Who knew this would be such a controversial topic? :)
It's interesting that the official Gregg's web site doesn't have anything about a gluten free sausage roll but this other site that appears to be unofficial does have one listed. Either way, it'll be simple for me to stop in and see what's available when I'm there.
Yes, he site Mae posted appears to be "fake Greggs". It's very odd.
Here now and can confirm, no gluten free sausage rolls at either of the Gregg's I've been to.
I checked yesterday too.
Vegan yes. Gluten free no.
Ye of little faith! I was 100% confident on my assertion about sausage rolls :)
I've seen similar sites to the one Mae posted come up in Google searches before. I've encountered it when Googling to see opening hours of shops. Totally made up info that depends on people clicking through search results for somebody somewhere to make a few pennies somehow.
I’m shocked they don’t offer them. Here in Hull we have a few independent bakers that do them and I would be sure there are some in London. There also the bigger supermarkets gluten free range. They often have them. You just have to look.
The difficulty for Greggs or anywhere for that matter is keeping something truly gluten free by preventing cross contamination with gluten containing goods.
Just reporting back: I finally found a gluten free sausage roll in the frozen section at a Tesco Superstore. They didn't have them at Tesco Express or Sainsbury's Local.