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How to Make Pret A Manger Classic Super Club at Home
The Super Club, and Why the Mayonnaise Goes On Both Slices
A shop-bought club sandwich rebuilt properly, for about two pounds.
AI-generated illustration created for food.fast. It is not photographic evidence of a prepared batch.
A club sandwich is not a difficult thing to make and it is very easy to make badly. The failure is almost always the same: the filling is dry, because a home cook uses a sensible amount of mayonnaise and a sandwich shop does not.
Pret's version is built on soft malted bread rather than anything crusty, which matters more than it sounds. A crusty loaf fights the filling and pushes it out of the sides. Soft bread compresses with the filling and holds everything in place, which is why almost every sandwich shop in the country uses it.
The other thing worth copying is the order of assembly. Wet things never touch bread directly - there is always a layer of something fatty between them - which is the whole reason a shop sandwich is still edible four hours after it was made.
How this page shows its working
The method gives quantities, timings and observable cues rather than asking you to guess. The 3 cases in If it goes wrong explain likely causes and corrective action; 1 ingredient note explains choices that materially affect the result.
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Egg mayonnaise that binds rather than slides
Shop egg mayonnaise is chopped much finer than a home version and carries noticeably more salt and acid. Both are deliberate.
Chop the egg finer than feels right. A coarse chop gives you lumps of egg in mayonnaise; a fine one gives you a spreadable paste that behaves like a sauce and holds the other fillings in place.
Season it harder than you would a salad. Egg is bland and mayonnaise mutes salt further. A quarter teaspoon of fine salt per two eggs, plus a squeeze of lemon, is roughly where a shop version sits.
Build order, and why it keeps for hours
The sequence is not aesthetic, it is structural. Working from the bottom slice up:
- Mayonnaise on the bread, edge to edge. This is a waterproof layer, not a seasoning.
- Chicken, which is dry and sits happily against bread.
- Bacon, still slightly warm.
- Egg mayonnaise, spread rather than spooned.
- Tomato last, directly under the top slice, which also has mayonnaise on it.
Tomato is the wettest thing in the sandwich and it is kept away from both cut faces by fat on either side. Put it against dry bread and the sandwich is soggy in twenty minutes.
Why malted bread and not something better
Malted bread has a faint sweetness and a soft, slightly dense crumb that compresses without tearing. Sourdough, ciabatta and anything with a real crust all make a worse club sandwich, because the filling squeezes out rather than staying put. This is one of the few cases where the supermarket standard is genuinely the right choice.
How to make it, step by step
Prepare
-
Cook the bacon flat and let it cool a little
On a rack over a tray at 200 °C for 14 to 18 minutes, or in a pan if you prefer. It wants to be crisp and flat so it stacks. Let it sit for two minutes before building, or it will melt the mayonnaise.
About 16 min -
Make the egg mayonnaise
Chop the boiled eggs finely - finer than feels right - then fold in the mayonnaise, salt, pepper and lemon juice until it is a spreadable paste rather than lumps in dressing. Taste it on its own; it should be slightly over-seasoned.
About 4 min
Build
-
Mayonnaise both inner faces, edge to edge
Spread mayonnaise right to the crust on the inside of every slice. This is the waterproofing that keeps the sandwich together, so do not be delicate about it.
About 2 min -
Layer chicken, bacon, egg mayonnaise, then tomato
In that order, with the tomato last and directly under the top slice. Season the tomato with a pinch of salt as it goes on - unsalted tomato tastes of nothing against this much fat.
About 3 min -
Press, then cut corner to corner
Press the whole sandwich down firmly with a flat palm for a few seconds, which compresses the filling and stops it sliding. Cut diagonally with a serrated knife in one long stroke rather than sawing.
About 1 min
Making it the night before without ruining it
It keeps perfectly well overnight if you change two things. Leave the tomato out entirely and add it in the morning, and use slightly less lemon juice in the egg mayonnaise, because acid continues to loosen the mix as it sits.
Wrap it tightly in greaseproof paper rather than cling film. Paper lets a little moisture escape; film traps it against the bread.
What each component costs, per sandwich
| Component | Cost |
|---|---|
| Malted bread, 2 slices | £0.18 |
| Cooked chicken, 100 g | £1.05 |
| Streaky bacon, 2 rashers | £0.46 |
| Egg mayonnaise, 1 egg's worth | £0.34 |
| Tomato and mayonnaise | £0.32 |
| Total | £2.35 |
Ways to change it once you have made it once
No bacon
Add a thin layer of sliced avocado in its place, salted well. The fat does the same structural job.
Hot version
Griddle the assembled sandwich in a dry pan under a weight for two minutes a side, tomato left out.
What went wrong, and how to fix it
Each entry names a likely cause as well as a correction, so the advice remains useful when equipment, ingredients or batch size differ.
Soggy by lunchtime
- Why it happened
- Tomato touching bare bread.
- What to do
- Mayonnaise edge to edge on both inner faces, and keep the tomato between two fatty layers.
The filling slides out when cut
- Why it happened
- Not pressed, or cut with a blunt knife.
- What to do
- Press firmly for a few seconds first, then cut in one stroke with a serrated blade.
Tastes flat despite being full of things
- Why it happened
- Under-seasoned egg and unsalted tomato.
- What to do
- Season the egg mayonnaise until it tastes slightly too salty alone, and salt the tomato slices.
Questions people actually ask about this recipe
Why is shop egg mayonnaise smoother than mine?
It is chopped far finer and carries more mayonnaise and salt. Chop until it is nearly a paste and season until it tastes slightly too strong on its own - against bread and chicken it lands correctly.
Can I use leftover roast chicken?
Yes, and it is better than poached. Slice it rather than shredding, because shreds pull out when the sandwich is cut.
What bread is closest to the original?
A soft malted loaf, medium cut. Crusty breads make a worse club sandwich because the filling is squeezed out rather than held.
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