Celebrating Thanksgiving is like a marathon. And after a full day of cooking turkey and all of the sides, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel: the dessert round. We love using the holiday as an opportunity to make fun, autumnal treats like cranberry apple pie and pecan pie brownies. But the undisputed star of Thanksgiving desserts is clearly the pumpkin pie.
A perfect pumpkin pie is flaky, creamy, sweet, and spiced—but it’s also temperamental. Wrangling pie dough, avoiding the dreaded soggy bottom, and making sure your filling is perfectly set can all add up to a lot of work. And on a day as busy as Thanksgiving? It’s hard to find the time to tackle it.
You can always rely on your grocery store to offer convenient holiday shortcuts, ranging from ready-to-bake frozen options to fully-cooked pies that you can slice right away. But can you trust them to taste good? We bought as many as we could so we could find out.
We tried seven different store-bought pumpkin pies and put them all head to head. And, after testing each one, we came to one overwhelming verdict: no pre-made pie will ever taste as good as a homemade one.
There were a lot of factors that contributed to this conclusion, but the most important one is the crust. Frozen and pre-baked pies typically rely on processed, vegetable-based fats to make the pastry dough because they’re more reliable and shelf-stable than butter. It does, however, come at a major cost in terms of flavor. Not only are you missing out on the decadent, buttery flavor, but each bite also leaves you with an unpleasant film on your tongue.
In an ideal scenario, you either make your own pumpkin pie or delegate the task to one of your guests. But if you’re already up to your ears making the rest of your holiday menu or you need a last minute dessert, we found three store-bought options that will work in a pinch.
Best Overall: Whole Foods
The pie that we’d feel most confident bringing to a Thanksgiving dinner comes straight from the Whole Foods bakery department. That’s not to say that it’s perfect, however. The crust is almost upsettingly pale, but what it does have going for it is real butter.
If you close your eyes, the crust is flaky, decadent, and not too sweet. They don’t shy away from the spice when it comes to the filling either. Assistant Food Editor Taylor Ann Spencer described the flavor as almost chai-esque. It’s not what you’d expect from a Thanksgiving dessert, but we definitely don’t hate it. “I like that they made a statement,” Spencer says.
Best Budget: Trader Joe’s
If you’re not in the mood to drop $14 at Whole Foods, the more affordable pick that we’d recommend comes from Trader Joe’s. You get a pretty solid pie for the low price of $6.99. The crust may be made with palm oil instead of butter (boo!), but it tasted far less offensive than others we tried.
You’re not going to really get the decadent flaky texture you want out of this pumpkin pie. Instead, it veers more tender and crumbly with a flavor tasters compared to “cornbread” and “animal crackers.” Paired with the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in the filling, it ends up being an enjoyable combination. By no means perfect, but definitely passable.
Best For Dietary Restrictions: Raised Gluten Free
Baking a pie from scratch is difficult enough as it is, but it’s even more complicated when you need to accommodate people with dietary restrictions. In this case, we think opting for store-bought is more than appropriate. This pie from Raised Gluten Free is a great pick if you’re feeding gluten-free friends.
Don’t expect a flaky crust, though. The crust at the bottom of this pie more closely resembles a shortbread cookie: crisp, crumbly, and tender. But honestly? We’re not mad about it. We’d gladly take a well-made shortbread crust over a poorly-prepared flaky pastry. And with the nicely spiced filling, we’d gladly add this to our Thanksgiving dessert spread.
