10 Best British Snacks Every Traveler Shouldn’t Miss

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A highlight of any Europe trip, a visit to the United Kingdom is high on most travelers’ bucket lists. Whether you want to walk in the footsteps of royalty in Windsor, share the road with stags in the Scottish Highlands or see the sights of London, there’s never a bad time to visit Britain.

Famous for millennia of history, quaint market towns, miles of rolling countryside and a stunning coastline, the UK’s appeal isn’t hard to see. One thing you’re probably not visiting for, though, is the food. Because, for some reason, British food has a reputation for being bland and boring.

We’re here to tell you, that reputation is thoroughly undeserved. Of course, there’s the famous fish and chips, proper Sunday roasts and Afternoon Tea, but today, Britain’s food scene is more diverse than ever. The days of pie & mash and jellied eels are over (well, maybe not quite) and trendy gastropubs, world cuisine and happening street food vendors rule the roost.

Despite all that, there’s one aspect of British cuisine which leaves travelers longing for more: the simplest snacks. The reason – long before British food caught up with the rest of the world, the best British snacks were at the top of their game. Even today, many of the best British snacks aren’t readily available overseas and that makes them even more sought after.

In short, if you are traveling to the United Kingdom this summer, you’ll want to make sure you bookmark this bucket list of the best British snacks every traveler should try.

The best British snacks for a sweet treat

1. Jammie Dodgers

Produced in the UK since 1960, Jammie Dodgers are at the top of our list of the best British snacks for a good reason. Most popular biscuits are replicated, or even imitated by similar brands across the world. The only thing that comes close to a Jammie Dodger is New Zealand’s Shrewsbury biscuit.

Comprising of a sweet jam filling sandwiched between two, crumbly shortcake biscuits, Jammie Dodgers hold a certain affection amongst Brits of all ages. A popular go to for children’s birthday parties and school lunchboxes, the biscuit took its name from The Beano character Roger the Dodger. Having been one of the best British snacks for over half a century, the Jammie Dodger remains a favorite today with 40% of them consumed by adults.

Travel tip: In the United Kingdom, a “biscuit” is a sweet cookie. If you’re visiting from the U.S., don’t expect the sort of biscuit you enjoy with gravy – these simply don’t exist on this side of the Atlantic.

2. Digestives

Sticking with biscuits, our next of the best British snacks has been on grocery store shelves for over 125-years. Invented by Scottish baker Alexander Grant for McVitie’s in 1892, the company now sell over 80 million packets every year. A biscuit tin staple, you’ll find a packet in pretty much every household and office in the UK.

Not only are digestives one of the best British snacks, they’re deliciously simple. A semi-sweet biscuit, they’re made by combining wheat flour with sugar, wholemeal, vegetable oil, malt extract and salt. Perfect as a snack on their own and sometimes even served with cheese and biscuits, the quintessentially British way to eat a digestive, is to dunk it in a cup of tea.

3. Teacakes

The next on our list of the best British snacks also hails from Scotland. The masterwork of Glasgow-based confectioner Thomas Tunnock’s, the Teacake has been a Scottish favorite since 1956. Whilst chocolate covered marshmallows are nothing unusual, Tunnock’s Teacakes are no ordinary snack.

Coated in a thin layer of milk chocolate (a dark chocolate edition is now also available) and based on a shortbread round, what makes Tunnock’s Teacakes different is that their marshmallow filling isn’t marshmallow. Instead, they’re filled with Italian meringue which, whilst similar in taste, gives them a unique, light and fluffy texture.

Travel tip: Tunnock’s best selling biscuit, their Caramel Wafer, is another of the best British snacks you shouldn’t miss. Selling over 7-million every week, Caramel Wafers are as much a Scottish icon as haggis.

Cultural note: Don’t confuse teacakes with toasted teacakes

They may share a name, but these two best British snacks couldn’t be more different. A toasted teacake, historically eaten at teatime, is a sweet bun. Filled with dried fruits like sultanas and orange peel, they’re served toasted and often topped with butter and jam.

4. Chocolate Orange

Not all of the best British snacks were created equal. Some have a superiority which withstand the test of time. Created in York in 1932, the Terry’s Chocolate Orange has yet to find its rival. Terry’s may have left York almost 20 years ago and have been through countless acquisitions over the years, but the chocolate orange is still going strong.

Wrapped in orange foil, these spheres of chocolate are not only orange flavored, but designed to look like the fruit. Split into 20 segments, half the fun is breaking them apart. For years, Terry’s ran an iconic advertising campaign with the tagline “don’t tap it, whack it!”

Today, chocolate oranges come in several flavors including dark chocolate, toffee and popping candy. A number of spin-offs are also sold, like the chocolate orange bar and mini eggs around Easter. The latest incarnation, the Chocolate Mint, is a mint flavored chocolate ball. They’re all delicious, but some snacks need no improvement. You can’t beat the original.

5. Crunchie

Another of the best of the best British snacks, the Crunchie bar has been on our shelves since 1929. Launched by Fry’s, the inventor of the divine Fry’s Chocolate Cream, they’re now produced by Cadbury. And no trip to Britain is complete without sampling some products from our most famous chocolatier.

Filled with honeycomb and coated in milk chocolate, several limited editions have been released in recent years. None of them stick around for long though. Just like a chocolate orange, the trusty original is by far the best.

6. Liquorice Allsorts

Yorkshire-based Bassett’s introduced Liquorice Allsorts to our shelves back in 1899. Like so many creations, they were the result of a wonderful accident. In a very successful blunder, one of the company’s sales representatives tripped and dropped a tray of sweets in front of a prospective client. His attempts to rearrange them didn’t quite go to plan and he presented the client with a muddled tray containing all sorts.

Luckily for us, and Bassett’s, the client loved this accidental creation and Liquorice Allsorts became a household name. An assortment of liquorice, aniseed and coconut candies, the only way to eat this example of the best British snacks is to dive in and see what you get.

7. Percy Pigs

The newest on our list of the best British snacks, Percy Pigs have been flying off Marks & Spencer’s shelves since 1992. A classic, simple gummy candy, these pig shaped sweet treats come in strawberry, raspberry and blackcurrant flavors.

Originally containing pork gelatin, hence the pig-theme, Percy Pigs have been vegan friendly since 2022. In recent years, Percy has become popular these moreish sweets have their own line of toys, clothing and homeware.

The best savory British snacks

8. Sausage Rolls

At first glance, there’s nothing special, nor particularly British about putting a sausage in a roll. Hotdogs and bratwurst are devoured the world over in copious quantities. But a British sausage roll is in a league of its own and well worthy of its place as one of the best British snacks.

Perfect as an on-the-go snack, as a light lunch or even dinner with a side of chips and baked beans, sausage rolls are eaten in their thousands every day. The famous Newcastle-based bakery chain Gregg’s sell a staggering 360,000 daily alone. Comprising a sausage meat filling wrapped in glazed puff pastry, vegan and vegetarian versions are readily available.

9. Scampi Fries

You don’t have to have set foot in the UK to know how much us Brits love our fish and chips. Aside the staple cod and haddock, scampi has always been a fish-and-chip shop bestseller. We also love crisps (or potato chips in the U.S.). So what could possibly be more British than combining the two?

Often found behind the bar of traditional British pubs, these crunchy snacks pair perfectly with a pint of beer. Infused with scampi and lemon, Scampi Fries are the closest you’ll get to fish and chips in a handy bitesized bag.

10. Scotch Eggs

Despite the name, the last, but by no means least, dish on our list of the best British snacks is actually English. That said, no one truly knows where or when they first appeared. Some food historians believe they were created by iconic London department store Fortnum & Mason, whilst others claim they hail from Scott & Son’s restaurant in Whitby. Either way, by the early 19th century, they were a staple of British snack foods.

Comprising of a hard-boiled egg surrounded by sausage meat and wrapped in breadcrumbs, they’re fried before being served hot or cold. Popular as pub grub and a snacky picnic food, vegetarian and vegan options are widely available. Similar to Filipino kwek-kwek and Dutch vogelnestje, there are regional variations across the UK. In Manchester, the eggs are pickled before being boiled. Lancashire Scotch eggs contain both sausage meat and black pudding.

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