The Ultimate Ranking Of Store-Bought Pumpkin Pies

While the saying may go as American as apple pie, the pie that should truly represent America is pumpkin. According to the Library of Congress, pumpkins are native to North America, and early colonists were fond of using this gourd in many different preparations. The custard-like pie that we now consider ubiquitous with Thanksgiving didn't emerge until the late 1700s when a recipe for a custard-based pumpkin pie first debuted in a cookbook by Amelia Simmons called "American Cookery."

Today, no Thanksgiving dinner table would be complete without a pumpkin pie. While fresh may be best, many of us supplement our festivities with a store-bought pumpkin pie for various reasons, and there are several to choose from. We spent several days hunting down pumpkin pies from myriad retail outlets. After conducting a bit of a wild goose chase involving treks to several different grocery stores, we assembled eight pies, both frozen and pre-baked, to taste test.

We assessed each pie based on aroma, texture, and taste so you wouldn't have to. Whether you are trying to save time or hate baking, we wanted to take the guesswork out of deciding which store-bought pie you should purchase this holiday season.

In an attempt to offer consumers options, we searched for both frozen and shelf-stable pies. This offering from Kroger was sold in the bakery department. What we appreciated was that it didn't require any baking. This is a big selling point when you are looking to economize oven space on Thanksgiving. A single serving, ⅙ of a pie, has 290 calories.

Unfortunately, the positives ended at the convenience of this pie. The texture of the crust was dry and not flaky. It tasted assertively like shortening and had a synthetic chemical profile. The filling wasn't any better. While its texture was fine, it was overly spiced and almost tasted spoiled. This pie left the most unpleasant aftertaste in our mouths.

While this may just have been an off-batch of this pumpkin pie, based on consumer reviews, our assessments were consistent with the experiences of others. It was one of only two pies we discarded after sampling because we felt it was not edible. As a result, this pie landed at the bottom of our ranking for store-bought pumpkin pie.

Aldi is often a go-to for affordable seasonal items. When we thought about a store-bought pumpkin pie, we assumed we'd find a decent-quality one. This was another pie sold already pre-baked rather than frozen. Again, this appealed to us strictly from the perspective of convenience. This pie has eight servings, and each contains 360 calories.

Unfortunately, our enthusiasm for this pie ended at its convenience, as much as it pains us to admit it. When we opened the container, we remarked that the pie didn't look baked. Its crust was so pale it almost appeared raw. When we bit into it, we weren't far off. It tasted like undercooked dough. It was gummy, pasty, and completely inedible.

The filling started promising with a nice creamy texture, but its flavor was overwhelming. We enjoy highly spiced foods and often find pumpkin-flavored products under-spiced. In this case, the pumpkin spice was used so heavily that you couldn't taste anything else, including the sweetness, which would have been cloying if we could have gotten past the cloves and allspice. This was the other pie we ended up discarding. For this reason, we had to rank this pie second to last.

The shelf-stable baked pumpkin pie from Walmart was next on our list. This was the last of the non-frozen pre-baked pies we sampled, confirming that, ultimately, if you are looking for a store-bought pie, you are better off purchasing one that requires baking. Pre-baked pies cannot compete, and even the best of the batch are inferior to the frozen ones.

This pie has eight servings with 320 calories. The crust wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It just didn't taste like pie crust. It was more like a sugar cookie, but it wasn't sweet at all.

The filling had a decent texture that was neither gloopy nor overly thick. Unfortunately, it was overwhelmingly pumpkin-forward. The squashy vegetable flavor of pumpkin muted any hint of other flavor that might have been there except perhaps the salt, which lingered in the aftertaste for quite a while. If you must have a pie that you do not have to bake, this one would be okay. That said, we highly recommend opting for one of the frozen varieties.

The lowest-ranking frozen pie we sampled came from Mrs. Smith's. Each serving of the pie contains 310 calories. The first thing we noticed about this pie was that it took longer to bake than any other frozen pies we sampled. The filling remained somewhat gloopy, even after allowing it to cool and set. It tasted like someone opened a can of pure pumpkin and dumped it straight into the pie crust without adding sugar or spices.

The crust was incredibly brittle, thin, and dense. It was overly salty and had a synthetic aftertaste. We almost found it to have the flavor of burnt toast rather than pie crust. Overall, we were highly unimpressed with this pie. It wasn't terrible and would be perfectly fine in a pinch, especially when pitted against the shelf-stable pies we sampled. Compared with the other frozen pies, it was subpar, landing it where it did on our ranking.

With a name and reputation like Sara Lee, we expected this pie to rank higher on our list than it did. Each pie contains eight servings, and each serving has 260 calories.

Since this was mentioned in the baking instructions, we will address the filling first. It is noted that the filling is intended to have a gelatinous texture and will firm up after cooling. This is accurate to a degree, but we found that it was still overly gooey for our taste. We prefer a far creamier filling that is more toothsome. The filling is also distinctly sweet, with an aftertaste that we thought was like molasses. After looking at the ingredients, we believe the corn syrup gave it that flavor.

The crust of this pie was decent. It was flaky, if not slightly more like a cracker than a pie crust. We did think it was excessively salty and lacked any sweetness. If you pair the salty crust with the sweet filling, you will probably have a more balanced bite. Overall, we didn't love the texture of this pie. For that reason, it landed fourth on our list.

We were not anticipating the Great Value frozen pumpkin pie to land in our top three on this ranking, but here we are. This pie has eight servings, and each contains 310 calories.

Where this pie was less pleasant was the crust, which we found to be on the dry, chewy side. It was not flaky and had a rather bland flavor. Despite that, it was not overly salty, and we appreciated that it had no residual synthetic aftertaste.

This pie was superior to the previous frozen brands in its filling execution. This filling was more to our liking because it was firmer. It was creamy and had a velvety mouthfeel. It was also a hint sweeter, but the sweetness tasted less synthetic. The only thing we lacked was spice. At the very least, we would have enjoyed more cinnamon. Overall, this was a decent pie that would be fine if you couldn't find one of the top two brands at the store.

In second place was a pie from a brand we had never heard of, so we went into this tasting with a healthy amount of skepticism. The Crav'n Flavor brand has eight servings per pie. Each serving contains 320 calories.

First, as far as the crust goes, this pie had a dynamite crust. It was flaky, buttery, and had no residual aftertaste. It was a solid, well-executed crust we couldn't flaw in any capacity. It wasn't as good as homemade, but for a frozen pie, no complaints.

The filling on this pie was quite pleasant. It was firm enough for our liking but had just a hint of that gooey texture that the others attempted unsuccessfully to achieve. This filling was toothsome enough while still coating a spoon. It also was not overly sweet.

If we had even the slightest criticism of this pie, it was that the filling was a bit eggy, which is the sign of a properly made custard. We also might have enjoyed a hint of more spice. This was a well-balanced pie we would confidently serve at any holiday gathering.

We are not shocked that Marie Callender's pumpkin pie landed at the top of our ranking. While we expected it, we did go into this with zero expectations and as objectively as possible. This pie has eight servings, and each contains 340 calories.

First, we would like to note that of the frozen pies we baked, this one took the least amount of time, which is a plus for those looking to economize oven space. While this pie shone from beginning to end, we will start with the crust, which was melt-in-your-mouth flaky. It was so buttery it was almost hard to cut. We did not mind that. It also had a balanced flavor without too much salt and a hint of sweetness.

The filling of this pie was perfect. It was creamy and not gummy. It had just the right amount of sweetness and a nice balance of egginess. There was also enough spice that you could taste it without it overwhelming your senses. Again, we cannot say we are surprised, but our inclinations were most definitely confirmed. If you want the best pie for the money to supplement your Thanksgiving meal, you cannot go wrong with Marie Callender's pumpkin pie.