9 Store-Bought Pie Crusts, Ranked Worst To Best

Anyone in the mood for pie? My answer is pretty much always an enthusiastic "yes." No matter the season or filling, I'm generally down for a sweet or savory slice of whatever. I already know there are some strong opinions out there about whether to buy a crust pre-made or make your own pie crust, and while I won't take a side, I will say that each method is going to be preferable in different situations. In colder months, when you want to spend some time making dinner or dessert, it makes sense to whip up a pie crust from scratch. But in the summer season, when it's impossible to keep your crust ingredients cold and you don't relish the thought of sweaty labor, store-bought is the way to go. 

That said, there's certainly no shortage of pre-made pie crusts on the market. You'll find every big brand-name dough company rolling them out (pun intended), and nearly every grocer has its own version, as well. In an effort to find the best pre-made pie crust available, I went on a quest to gather as many as I could get my hands on, test them, and rank them. The following ranking takes into consideration flavor, texture, structural soundness, and how evenly the crust baked — to test all of them, I made a batch of mini apple tarts and performed a blind taste test. You can read more about my methodology at the end of this piece. For now, let's get baking.

Well, in terms of structural soundness, Pillsbury's frozen deep-dish pie crust got decidedly bottom marks. Now, I'll give credit where it's due, and admit that surgically cutting and molding a section of dough to my muffin tin isn't how this crust is meant to be used. But all the other frozen crusts I did this with held up remarkably well, so this still didn't live up to expectations. 

Still, given that Pillsbury definitely has a stronghold in the dough biz, I was surprised that this crust ended up getting last place. Plus, Pillsbury's pie crust often isn't the most affordable option, and it had the worst flavor of the bunch. It tasted somewhat almond-y with a distinct toasted quality that I didn't wholly enjoy — I could see that flavor making it less amenable to using as an all-purpose crust. This crust was also one of the thinnest of the bunch. Overall, it was lacking in too many of my ranking criteria to get anything other than the lowest spot. 

One thing I've learned over the course of tasting a whole lot of grocery store items is that grocery stores' own brands deserve more credit. Kroger's private label selections frequently surprise me — its bagged Caesar salad got a remarkably high spot in a former ranking I did, so I had slightly higher expectations for this pie crust. It fell significantly short, but still managed to keep itself out of last place by having more structural integrity than my previous choice. 

The one thing this crust had going for it was that its interior was fairly flaky. It didn't taste bad, but there was nothing special to note about its flavor. My biggest complaint, though, was that the whole crust was very dense and hard to bite through. And it's not that it was crunchy or overbaked — it just lacked the lightness that I prefer in my pie crusts. It was definitely a step up from the last, but it didn't do enough to make it higher than spot eight here. 

Given that Whole Foods' 365 brand scored second place in my puff pastry ranking, I was shocked to find it got such a low spot on this list. It certainly looks good enough in its coloring, though there are small pockets around the outside that got a slightly lighter bake. It was also very structurally sound — it came out of the muffin tin easily and held its shape remarkably well. However, that's also related to the biggest issue I had with the crust.

Apparently, getting this remarkably sturdy crust will come at a textural cost. It's an incredibly thick crust and, though I don't think it was underbaked at all, it ended up being pretty chewy and dense. There wasn't much flakiness to speak of, something I look for in a good pie crust. This could have been made up for at least a little bit if the crust had a stellar flavor, but its flavor was nothing of note — not bad, not incredible. Now, if you want a super thick pie crust, this will fit the bill, and I'd choose that quality over the hard-to-bite-through nature of my previous pick. But if you want something more tender and flaky, I would pick one of the following. 

Again, I expected more from Marie Callender's frozen pie crust, given the ubiquity of the brand's name and the fact that it goes out of its way to dub this product a "pastry" pie shell. The dough itself looked solid with a nice, thick, firm texture before being baked, which seemed amply buttery. And, on the whole, the differences between this and the other middling selections here were very slight. I wouldn't not recommend this pie crust (or any of the following, really), but it still wasn't my favorite. 

Overall, the crust saw an even bake, and it got a lovely golden-brown color all the way around the outside. I saw a bit of a tradeoff between this and some following selections in terms of structural integrity — this one was more structurally sound than some of the following, but that also meant it wasn't quite as tender and higher picks on this list, either. You'll have to choose which criterion matters more to you, and I found I preferred the mouthfeel of a crumblier crust. In terms of flavor, I'd call it fine. Nothing to write home about, but nothing bad either. 

Kroger's frozen pie crust performed better than its rolled, refrigerated offering, though I don't necessarily have enough knowledge to explain why. What I can say is that this was a very balanced pie crust, and to be honest, all of my top five picks were very difficult to put in an order. Moreover, this was one of three frozen pie crusts that made the top five; which you choose may simply depend on what you have access to. 

This crust held its shape very well when removed from the pie tin, and it boasted a pleasing golden color as well. Looking at the interior of the crust, it was nice and flaky without being crumbly, a structural feat. I didn't find it as flavorful as some of the next crusts I'll highlight, which is the biggest reason it didn't rank higher. But the only crust that was very noticeably superior was my top choice; if you don't have access to that brand, this will do in a pinch. 

Walmart's Great Value brand takes the No. 4 spot in this lineup, and you might be able to tell why just by looking at the above photo. Not only was the bake absolutely gorgeous, with a rich almond color on the exterior, but it also had my preferred texture — crumbly and even slightly dry, but still sturdy enough to hold up to its fillings. 

Additionally, this marks the part of this list where the flavors are noticeably amplified. The crust tasted buttery and had a tender mouthfeel. This didn't get higher marks because I could see its dryness being problematic depending on what you're baking, but I found that made it pair well with the relatively wet apple filling I baked it with. Personal preference will come into play here — if all you live near is a Walmart, though, it's a reliable choice. 

Up next is Safeway's pie crust, which I could see winning some people's ranking — it had the boldest flavors of the bunch, but that's also why I couldn't rank it any higher. The crust got an even color, and it held up very well when removed from the tin. That said, it was a little too thin to be considered "flaky," but I didn't mind that here; it was still very tender and easy to chew without being crispy.

In terms of how it tasted, I'd say this crust had the nuttiest flavor of all the crusts I tried, which I know was also a factor in my bottom pick. I don't know exactly why it worked in favor of this crust — I suppose it tasted more intentional here. Regardless, I found that to be an asset, and when combined with its tender yet sturdy structure, third place seemed a fair spot.

I know Pillsbury's frozen crust got the bottom spot in this ranking, but its refrigerated crust fared much better. You can definitely tell just by looking at the above picture. Pay particular attention to the slight ridges on the left edge of the bake — these are indicative of a wonderfully flaky crumb. Part of why this crust got second place was because it managed to be thick, flaky, and tender all the way through, which I considered quite an accomplishment.

In addition to its texture, this crust tasted more buttery than the rest, and its flavor did neither too much nor too little for the crust. It would be amenable to a wide variety of uses. The only factor separating this from my top pick is a very minor one — this crust has to be unrolled and molded into a pie dish, while the next comes in a ready-to-bake format. 

I found Wholly Wholesome's pie crust at my local New Seasons, a PNW chain known for carrying high-quality, organic brands. One of the reasons I did this taste test blind was to mitigate my own bias — I expected this crust to rank pretty high purely based on appearances, and because I knew this wouldn't be the easiest ranking anyway, I figured it would be easier if I didn't know which brand was which while I was tasting them. Well, I ended up giving a top spot to Wholly Wholesome's crust anyway, and once I discovered what it was, its pre-molded format pushed it to No. 1. 

It boasted all the qualities I love in a good pie crust. It was flaky and crumbly, but without being the least bit dry. And, despite being very tender, it held its own structurally remarkably well. It had the most buttery flavor of the bunch while still being neutral enough to suit many different bakes, and perhaps best of all, it comes in a gorgeous tin with crimped edges, ready for whatever you want to fill it with. 

To test and rank each of these pie crusts, I visited several local grocers and got the store brands as well as any other name-brand options I came across. I wanted the test to be as uniform as possible, but baking nine pies in the heat of summer wasn't practical; instead, I cut out muffin tin-sized rounds from each crust, whipped up some baked apples, and made them into mini apple tarts. I'll also note that I didn't blind bake the pie crusts. 

I made a map of each crust's place in the muffin tin so I could do this taste test blind. I tested each crust for structural stability, flavor, texture, and how evenly it baked. Surprisingly enough, each of the crusts baked remarkably evenly all the way around, so that ended up not being a major factor in this ranking. Though there's a decent quality gap between my first and last picks, I don't think the average consumer would notice a huge difference between most of my middling selections; each was pretty on par with the next, so I chose to be very picky in parsing out the minute differences between them.