8 Walmart Pastries From The Bakery, Ranked

I'll get the obvious out of the way — when you're after a scrumptious, mouthwatering pastry, Walmart probably isn't the first place you head to. But here's the thing: Sometimes an innocent grocery trip takes you right past the bakery section, and you have to admit, the selections look pretty tantalizing. Is anything more appealing than an apple turnover that I don't have to make myself? Hardly. 

That said, for today's taste test, I figured I'd take on the arduous task of trying and ranking some of the ubiquitous chain's pastry offerings. I got a pretty wide variety of eight different pastries — spanning the likes of donuts, cakes, cinnamon rolls, and Danishes — to see whether Walmart has any recommendation-worthy options among its baked goods. Spoiler alert: I wasn't impressed. However, some pastries were undoubtedly better than others, and ranking them proved to be a relatively simple task. I ordered each based on how well it held up to other similar pastries I've had, considering primarily flavor and texture. I chose not to factor price into the equation, as none of the pastry boxes cost over $6. At least Walmart is an economical place to satiate your sweet tooth. 

Coming in squarely at last place is Walmart's Strawberry Cheese Bowtie Danishes. Perhaps I was so disappointed by these because they're scrumptious in appearance. The pastry is the perfect golden-brown color, strawberry jam peeks out tantalizingly from the center, and a drizzled glaze is always captivating. Fortunately, I kept my expectations tempered despite their appearance — yet I was still disappointed.

Where should I begin? Every element of these "Danishes" was lackluster. Possibly the most egregious offense was its actual pastry, which, rather than boasting crispy, flaky, light layers, congealed into a dense mass upon being bitten into. I could have seen past that (after all, this is a store-bought pastry) were it not for the similarly distasteful filling. Had I wanted to gorge myself on the flavor of a strawberry Pop-Tarts, I would have bought a strawberry Pop-Tarts. Neufchatel cheese did nothing but bring an unpleasantly squidgy mouthfeel to the pastry, whose only redeeming quality was the glaze drizzle. I don't think I'm being too picky here — the only demographic I can see finding this palatable is a younger audience, but I'm not sure even they would want to finish a whole one. Onto the next. 

Can Walmart's Almond Bear Claws even be called bear claws? After all, a bear claw is named for its distinctive, long, flat shape, with points coming off the long side that make it similar to a large, fingered paw in appearance. Needless to say, the above look nothing like the standard offering — but that's not even why it's getting spot number seven on this list. I could have looked beyond the discrepancies in appearance had this pastry resembled a bear claw in flavor or texture. Alas, it didn't.

I'll start with the texture — it's what Paul Hollywood would deem "stodgy," instantly deducting crucial marks from this offering. This pastry faced problems similar to the last one in terms of its actual pastry, which was dense and chewy instead of crispy and flaky. Moreover, there was no textural variation to speak of throughout the pastry. The almonds scattered on top provided no crunch, and the interior almond filling didn't give any of the creamy, decadent mouthfeel that it should. Flavor-wise, the pastry didn't fare much better. Almond extract overwhelms the flavor profile, lending the whole bake an unpleasantly artificial overtone. If you're a fan of bear claw pastries, I can't recommend scoring some at Walmart — the only reason this performed better than the last is because it didn't remind me of a Pop-Tart. 

Look, I get it — apple turnovers can be a bit of a chore to make, but at the end of the day, they're not rocket science, especially if you use store-bought pastry. So, there's no reason you should get apple turnovers from Walmart instead of making your own. Sure, they're a bit more labor-intensive, but the result will be leaps and bounds beyond what you'd get from this very disappointing store offering. 

Maybe I'm a bit biased as a fiend for anything with baked apple, but regardless, I don't think these would impress any consumer. I'll start with the singular positive note for these pastries (the only reason they made it up to the number six spot here) — the pastry itself wasn't that bad. It was the lightest and flakiest of any pastry on this list. That's not to say it was particularly good, but still, it had some qualities that the previous lacked. Once arriving at the filling, though, everything starts to go south. First, I'm not sure there were any actual apples in the pastry — I certainly didn't come across any, and was instead greeted with a gooey, sticky, sickeningly sweet apple-esque jam that was a far cry from other turnover fillings I've had made with fried apples. Moreover, there was hardly any filling to speak of, and despite the massive size of each pastry, they were mostly filled with air. Do yourself a favor and try your hand at baking the next time you need to get an apple turnover fix. 

You've undoubtedly heard of the sour cream donut by now — it's the one Dunkin' donut we'll order time and time again, characterized by its distinct taste and slightly dense, moist interior. It's a treat that's typically a little less saccharine than your standard donut, toeing the line between sweet and savory, and it's supposed to effortlessly satisfy any donut craving. I didn't downright hate these donuts, and I could see them being passable to anyone who's never had a sour cream donut before. However, don't expect them to hold a candle to Dunkin's (or anyone else's, for that matter). 

I'd call this "fine" in all aspects. It was almost the right texture — certainly denser than your average donut, but too dry and cakey to claim the signature sour cream moniker. What I didn't like was the tang that's representative of sour cream donuts. It was certainly apparent here, but in this donut, the tang made it taste old and like it was just beginning to sour. I usually like sour cream donuts, so I don't think this was a personal issue. The glaze didn't do much to add or detract from the donut's overall appeal, and it just wasn't a satisfying enough treat to make it any higher on this list (though it was middling enough not to score any lower, either).

Ah, the pecan sticky bun — a comforting, luxurious classic if there ever was one, a treat that should be a surefire way to perk up even the worst of bad days. When considering that standard, I'd say Walmart's offering got relatively close to hitting the mark. Its sticky buns were certainly better than the aforementioned pastries, but they still failed to match up to other versions I've had of the same, and a couple of key downfalls gave the buns a solid number four spot in this ranking. 

The buns had a decent texture, and while they weren't as light as I'd have liked, at least they weren't dry or tough. The buns also boasted a palpable pecan flavor throughout. Where it all falls apart, though, is with the sticky glaze. It was entirely too saccharine to be palatable beyond a small bite. The buns would have been better off with either a less sweet, more buttery glaze or just less of the glaze as a whole. To the uninitiated, this may be a passable pecan sticky bun, but if you're a fan of the pastry, you won't be super impressed by this offering. 

Persian cinnamon rolls (aka Persian donuts) are supposed to be sort of a cross between a cinnamon roll and a donut, in that they're fried, rolled-up cinnamon delights typically topped with a sweet (often berry-flavored) icing or glaze. Well, Walmart didn't really get all the way there — these didn't have a noticeably fried appeal and the glaze was fine, but what's the point of making a Persian roll if you're not going to top it with a raspberry frosting? The store may have been better off sticking with a traditional cinnamon roll profile. Still, I can't call these bad. 

They weren't nearly as sickeningly sweet as the aforementioned pecan sticky buns, which is part of why they made it to third place in this lineup. Their texture was pretty good, too — light and spongy, soft and tender without being dry. Other than that, the cinnamon was barely discernible, and the icing was just a sweet donut glaze. It's not a bad treat to munch on and will be at least a little satisfying, but don't expect it to measure up to your standard cinnamon roll or Persian roll; otherwise, it could have ranked a spot or two higher. 

Orejas (a word meaning "ears") are a thin, flaky, delicate bake made from puff pastry and typically flavored with cinnamon sugar. My first impression of Walmart's version of the pastry was positive; you can clearly discern the thin, flaky layers in the cookie, and I could tell it had a sugary dusting to it. I debated putting these in the top spot, but eventually gave them second place because, at the end of the day, it's a pretty plain pastry that won't knock any socks off. Nevertheless, it's still tasty.

I can't call this light or delicate, but it was crunchy, a welcome departure from many of the too-soft pastries I ranked lower. It was also pleasantly sweet without being at all too cloying, and there was a nice buttery undertone to its flavor as well. There wasn't much cinnamon flavor to speak of, but I didn't mind, as the cookie was enjoyable overall. If you can look past the slight textural discrepancies between these and your typical orejas, you likely won't mind this bake — but my top pick was definitely more flavorful. 

I'll start by saying that I adore anything lemon-flavored. I love the bright, zesty appeal citrus fruit gives to bakes, and I appreciate that lemony bakes often aren't too sweet. Was Walmart's Iced Lemon Cake the best lemon cake I've ever had? No, but it satisfied my desire for a welcome lemon treat. I actually ate two slices from the box before passing along the leftovers to keep from overloading on sugar. 

My main criticism is that this wasn't as moist as I'd like, but honestly, that's a pretty small note — it was still pleasantly light and spongy (I mean, look at that crumb above — it's really not bad). Both the cake and the icing had a strong lemon flavor; moreover, the icing wasn't too sweet, probably because lemon tempered some of its sugary appeal. The icing-to-cake ratio was exactly as it should be so that each complemented the other nicely. It was easy to pick this for the top spot — it faced very minimal issues and was nice and flavorful. If I were craving lemon cake and didn't want to make it myself, I could buy this again. 

To do a comprehensive ranking of Walmart's fresh-baked pastries, I headed to the store and tried to get a variety of selections. Some of the above had different variations available at my store, but I opted for a breadth of items rather than comparing similar offerings. Once I had a solid eight-item list, I ranked each based primarily on how it measures up to other versions of the pastry I've had before. It's not too hard to find decent pastry offerings (depending on where you live, of course — my city is rife with bakeries), so I was looking for Walmart's pastries to prove they had some skin in the game. Alas, most did not.

Flavor and texture were also (obviously) paramount when comparing the items. Items that fell short in both these categories — like the strawberry bowties with their distinctly un-flaky texture and artificial flavors — scored significantly lower than those that were adequate representations of their genre, like the bright and moist lemon cake. That said, I unfortunately can't recommend Walmart's pastries as a whole, unless you're short on options. In that case, though, you may be better off trying your hand at home baking.