The Best Fast Food Dessert Pie Comes From This Fried Chicken Chain

It's a well-known fact that a sweet treat is encouraged — nay, required — after consuming a savory meal. Just think about that vanilla ice cream sundae after eating a burger and fries, or about that warm pumpkin pie your family breaks out after the Thanksgiving meal. We recently went on a mission to rank 10 fast food dessert pies from various restaurants, looking for that perfect sweet treat, and even though this place is famous for its fried chicken, we found that Popeyes makes the best pie hands down.

Popeyes' cinnamon apple pie is the stuff other fast food chains can only dream of achieving. Dramatic? Maybe, but this pie somehow captures the perfect essence of an apple pie in a portable, pocketable size. The crust of the pie is crunchy and flaky, rolled in just enough cinnamon sugar that it won't accumulate in your lap (here's the ideal ratio for perfectly balanced cinnamon sugar). The apples on the inside of the pie taste like they've just been plucked from the tree, juicy and crisp without any of that strange artificial flavor that often accompanies apple pies. The syrupy goodness surrounding the apple slices is what helps the entire pie become a singular, cohesive unit that easily stole first place on our list.

The cinnamon apple pie from Popeyes is described on the chain's website as "warm, crispy crust on the outside, hot cinnamon apple goodness on the inside," which seems like a fitting description based on our taste test. They go for about $1.99, depending on your location, and average 240 calories per pie. The turnover-style pie is deep-fried in beef tallow until golden and crunchy, and rolled in that sweet cinnamon sugar once it's been pulled from the fryer. Popeyes remains one of the few fast food chains to deep fry its dessert pies, as McDonald's stopped frying its apple pies in 1992 as an attempt to make the pies "healthier."

This isn't the only dessert pie on Popeyes' menu, as the fast food chain also offers a strawberry cream cheese pie, which is similar in style but swaps out the cinnamon apple filling for a strawberry and cream mixture. Popeyes offered strawberry biscuits for a limited time, but these days, other than the two dessert pies, Popeyes only serves a caramel apple cheesecake cup, which might not last forever, either. If you're in the mood for a fast food dessert that not only conjures the joy of hot churros from the county fair but also the satisfaction of the buttery and spiced fried apples from Cracker Barrel, Popeyes' cinnamon apple pie is going to be the best option to satisfy that craving.