What to order at Pret for steady blood sugar

Pret is one of the easiest places to get a steady lunch on the go, as long as you know what to pick. The protein pots and plates have some of the lowest real-life GLs on the menu, and the classic sandwiches come out at around 15 to 18, because they're made with malted grain bread and their fillings bring plenty of protein. The ones to watch are the full-size baguettes, the pastries and, surprisingly, some of the fruit bowls.

Every figure here comes from Pret's own nutrition information for each item [1], checked on 8 October 2026, with an estimated real-life GL for each.

Pret doesn't publish GI values, and it only gives one carb figure per item. So I've used Pret's ingredient lists to split each item's carbs between its ingredients, such as the bread and the pickle in a sandwich, and given each one its own GI from the 2021 international GI tables. Where a food isn't in the tables, like ciabatta, I've used the closest one. That makes every real-life GL here an estimate, not a measurement. The note under the tables lists every value I used.

Breakfast

The beans and egg pots are the standout. Each has around 15g of fibre, 14g to 22g of protein and only 11g to 12g of carbs, which gives a real-life GL of around 3 to 4. That's the lowest of any breakfast on Pret's menu.

Pret's Proper Porridge is a good choice too, with a real-life GL of around 12. The Banana Cinnamon Porridge comes out at around 22, because the banana and brown sugar add 15g of carbs and take the sugar to 20g.

For something hot with bread, the Ultimate Breakfast Ciabatta has 26g of protein, which keeps its real-life GL at around 19, in the medium band. The Almond Croissant has about the same amount of carbs but almost no protein or fat beyond what's in the pastry itself, so it comes out at around 22, in the high band.

Lunch

The steadiest lunch on the menu is the Chicken & Greens Protein Plate. It has 34g of protein and only 15g of carbs, which gives a real-life GL of around 4. The Tuna Nicoise Salad comes out at around 3.

If you'd like bread, the half baguette is the best option. The Chicken Caesar & Bacon Half Baguette has a real-life GL of around 13, and the Chicken Pesto & Rocket Wrap comes out at around 15. Classic sandwiches like the Ham & Cheese and the Chicken, Avocado & Basil come out at around 15 to 18, in the medium band, because Pret makes them with malted grain bread and their fillings bring 23g to 30g of protein.

The full-size baguettes are where the carbs add up. They have 53g to 72g of carbs each, and the Posh Cheddar & Pickle Baguette has a real-life GL of around 32. About 12g of those carbs come from the Pret Pickle, which is mostly apple and sugar. If you want a baguette, the half size halves the carbs.

Snacks

The protein pots are the steadiest snacks on the menu. The Chicken & Edamame Protein Pot has 27g of protein and just 7g of carbs. For fruit, an apple (real-life GL around 8) is gentler than a banana (around 9), and having either with a protein pot adds protein to slow it down.

How I estimated the GL. Pret doesn't publish GI values, so these use the published GI for each food, or the closest food where it isn't listed. Same method as every recipe on the site: GI × carbs, then the adjustment for protein and fat, capped at 40% (how it works). That adjustment only counts the protein and fat from foods other than the carb foods, because a carb food's own protein and fat are already reflected in its GI. Total carbs, protein and fat are Pret's own figures per item. GI values are from the 2021 international GI tables [4]: mixed grain or seed bread 56 (Pret's malted wholegrain sandwich bread and its seeded, malted stone-baked baguettes), white bread 73 (the ciabatta, which isn't listed), croissant 56, rolled-oat porridge 58, full-fat milk 37, cannellini beans 31, quinoa 53 (the black rice and quinoa; black rice is only listed as a porridge), mixed grain wrap 55 (the kibbled rye wrap), sugar 66, strawberry jam 51 (Pret Pickle, which isn't listed), apple 44, banana 52 (the average of the table's four results) and soya beans 16 (edamame; the average of the four results in the table's second list, as the main list has none). I've assumed 50 for veg, salad, dressings and sauces. Pret only publishes one carb figure per item, so I've split each one by ingredient using Pret's ingredient lists, its own figures for the plain porridge and plain croissant, and standard values for the other ingredients. The split carbs are my estimates. Treat these as estimates, not measurements.

The sneaky ones

• The fruit and yoghurt bowls: they look like the healthy choice, but the Bircher Muesli has 33g of sugar, the Big Apple Bowl has 29g and the Five Berry Bowl has 26g.
• Loaf cakes and banana bread: up to 42g of sugar per slice.
• Pret A Mango: dried mango sounds like fruit, but drying concentrates it into 27g of carbs and 17.5g of sugar per bag, with almost no protein or fat to slow it down. I explain why processed fruit hits faster in what causes blood sugar spikes.
• The full-size baguettes: 53g to 72g of carbs each, before any crisps.

Two habits that help anywhere

• Protein and veg first, bread last. Eating in that order has been shown to lower the blood sugar rise from the same meal [2].
• Walk after you eat. Even light walking after a meal helps your muscles use up the glucose [3].

Nutrition figures are from Pret and can change with the menu, so check their website if it matters to you. If you count carbs to dose insulin, use Pret's own figures. General information only, not medical advice.