The 10 Best Panettone of 2025

This is not a comprehensive list of everything we tested for previous iterations of this guide, just what’s still available.

The Olivieri 1882 Apricot and Salted Caramel Panettone was very fluffy with a bright yellow crumb. However, we found the salted caramel flavor too sweet and cloying, as it overpowered the subtle apricot flavor.

The Manresa Triple Chocolate and Candied Orange Panettone had a beautiful rise and an appetizing, crackly crust. Its chocolate was good-quality, too, and its candied orange was delicious and lightly spiced. But unfortunately the crumb on this bread was drier than that of our picks and didn’t have quite the same golden hue.

The Settepani Traditional Panettone tasted bland to us, almost like a basic loaf of sandwich bread. It was also drier than our picks.

We were so excited about the Settepani Pistachio Panettone, which looked attractive with its pale-green icing and sprinkling of chopped pistachios. Unfortunately, it lacked the distinctive pistachio flavor we were hoping for. And the big blob of pistachio spread in the center of the loaf — which we wish had been better distributed — tasted more like white chocolate, which was disappointing.

The Whole Foods Traditional Panettone had a pronounced rum flavor and was dry. However, for the price, we think it would be suitable for bread pudding or French toast. We also tasted the Whole Foods Panettone Trio, which includes the traditional version along with limoncello and double-chocolate flavors. The limoncello version was cloying and artificial-tasting, while the chocolate bread tasted like the run-of-the-mill cheap chocolate you’d find in a convenience store.

The Madi Gran Panettone was pleasantly moist, but the candied citrus was a bit chalky and crumbly. We wished the citrus were better hydrated and juicier.

The fruit in the Trader Joe’s Panettone was a bit hard and chalky. This was a standard grocery-store-quality panettone with a somewhat artificial flavor.

The Williams Sonoma Panettone was sparsely peppered with pineapple, cherries, and orange peel, and the bread was a little dry. The citrus flavor of the bread was overpowering and left our tongues a bit numb and buzzy from the lingering astringency.

We liked that the Bauducco Panettone Classic had lots of candied fruit, but some of our testers couldn’t get past its pronounced corn flavor. Others said its perfumy citrus flavor was akin to the citrus scent of cleaning solution.

The Emporio Rulli Panettone Milanese was tall and lofty, but it was far too salty. If you prefer a less sweet, more savory panettone, we recommend the Sullivan Street version over this one.

We had high hopes for the Panettone with Amarena Fabbri Cherries, but we wish it had double the amount of cherries, and that they were more evenly distributed in the dough. The cherries were incredibly flavorful and delicious, but the bread was dry and lackluster.

The raisins in the Bell’Amore Traditional Italian Panettone Cake were rich and flavorful, but the bread was somewhat gummy. It also had an artificial flavor that outstayed its welcome on the palate.

The Fiasconaro Panettone was tender and tasted freshly baked. But while it had a subtle vanilla aroma, it tasted pretty bland. It was skimpy on the fruit, too.

The Chiostro di Saronno Classic Panettone had an even distribution of fruit, but it was a little mushy and didn’t taste as fresh and bright as other versions we tried. The bread also had a flavoring that tasted artificial.

The Zingerman’s Filippi Pasticceria Panettone Classico was notably yellow with an eggy quality that was polarizing for our testers. The flavorings also tasted a bit artificial.

This article was edited by Marguerite Preston and Marilyn Ong.