The best croissant in Paris: 2026 winners

Who makes the best butter croissant in Greater Paris in 2026?

Boulangerie du Sentier in the 2nd arrondissement, run by Alexia Berreby. BOOM Boulangerie Omnivore in Neuilly-sur-Seine came second and Maison Thevenin in the 6th third.

The contest is run by the Syndicat des Boulangers du Grand Paris and the 2026 round was its 25th. Bakers from Paris and the three inner suburbs (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne) can enter, and the croissants must be made with Charentes-Poitou AOP butter. The verdict came on Tuesday 12 May 2026, during the Fête du Pain, as reported by Le Bonbon and Sortir à Paris.

Only the podium is published. Nobody released a top ten, so be wary of lists that claim one.

Who won the best butter croissant in France in 2026?

Dylan Delmaire of L'Épi du Roi in Versailles won the national final on 2 and 3 June 2026, ahead of Maxime Brice and Julien Marsal.

The Confédération Nationale de la Boulangerie et Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Française (CNBPF) held its 7th national croissant contest at CMA Formation in Saint-Benoît, near Poitiers. Twenty bakers reached the final, according to the CNBPF press release.

The rules are strict. Each finalist had five hours to produce 30 croissants with Charentes-Poitou AOP butter, each weighing 60 g after baking, with 55 to 65 g tolerated (Sortir à Paris). Delmaire had already won the 2026 title for the Grande Couronne, the outer ring of Île-de-France. Versailles is a short RER C ride from central Paris, so this national winner is an easy morning trip.

Who won the best croissant in 2025?

Nationally, Lilian Pensuet of La Petite Catalane in Villeneuve-de-la-Raho. In Greater Paris, Des Racines et Du Pain in Clamart.

The 2025 CNBPF final took place on 8 October 2025 in Livron-sur-Drôme with 19 finalists. Pensuet's bakery is in the Pyrénées-Orientales, near Perpignan, a long way from Paris (CNBPF, 2025).

The 2025 Greater Paris podium was announced on 6 May 2025: Des Racines et Du Pain at 1 place du Panorama in Clamart, then La Parisienne at 12 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière (10th), then Boulangerie Mille et Un at 32 rue Saint-Placide (6th), per Le Bonbon. La Parisienne took the best croissant inside Paris that year. Its owner, Mickaël Reydellet, also won the city's 2025 baguette prize, covered in our baguette post.

How are croissant contests judged?

On the bake, the lamination, the shape, how regular the batch is, the taste, the crumb and the aroma. At national level the jury also watches hygiene and technique while you bake.

The Greater Paris jury scores flavour, lamination, aroma and colour. The national contest adds a technical mark: judges stand in the kitchen and note hygiene, whether the steps are followed, the folds, the egg wash and how even the batch is. Then they taste. The CNBPF press release singles out the regularity of the layers, texture, crispness, fermentation and the taste of butter.

Use the same checklist at any counter. Look for a deep, even colour with no pale sides. Tear one open: the inside should be a honeycomb of open cells, not dense bread. And it should smell of butter before you bite. Our guide to the best croissants in Paris goes further on spotting a good one.

Where are the winning bakeries, and which class is nearby?

Two of the 2026 Greater Paris podium are in central Paris: the 2nd and the 6th. Each sits a short walk or metro ride from a croissant class.

Boulangerie du Sentier is in the same garment district as the Emily in Paris class at 80 rue de Cléry. Book the class, then walk over and taste the champion against your own. Maison Thevenin on rue de Buci is in Saint-Germain, across the boulevard from the Latin Quarter, where the Maison Fleuret croissant class runs.

BOOM is in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just west of the city. L'Épi du Roi makes a good breakfast stop before the Château de Versailles.

Can a class teach you to bake a croissant like the winners?

It teaches you every step, from lamination to the bake. It cannot make a dough from scratch to oven in three hours, because a classic croissant takes about two days.

A contest croissant starts the day before: dough mixed, chilled, a cold slab of butter locked in, then folds with rests in the fridge. In a two to three hour class you fold a dough and bake one the chef prepared earlier. Guests confirm it. A Montmartre class review from July 2026 says: "Everything was ready upon arrival, so you just had to bake."

That is still the best way to understand what the judges reward. The chef studio class in the 17th spends three hours on croissants alone, eight people at most. Our full ranking of the classes is in the best croissant class in Paris.

Small group, croissants only, the recipe to take home. The closest a visitor gets to a contest bench.

★ 5.0 · 3 hours · from $137

Explore the croissant class with a chef → Class details

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