Are Any Toaster Pastry Brands Better Than Pop-Tarts? I Tried And Ranked 9 To Find Out

Every once in a while, I crave Pop-Tarts. Like many others, I grew up eating these toaster pastries before school. It was a simpler time, when I debated with my siblings whether the chocolate fudge or blueberry flavor was superior (side note: A fellow writer found that frosted blueberry Pop-Tarts are worthy of the crown).

Now I'm old enough to realize that most toaster pastries aren't nourishing breakfast items; they're typically filled with dozens of ingredients, many of which are artificial. Even so, there's still a lot to love about these nostalgic treats. I sometimes snack on them when backpacking or when I'm missing home. Furthermore, while Pop-Tarts was the only brand that found its way into my childhood pantry, I've since discovered other toaster pastry brands, each with its own unique appeal.

After my most recent Pop-Tarts craving, I decided to review a wide range of toaster pastries, including gluten-free, high-protein, and comparatively affordable options. Naturally, I tested the quintessential Pop-Tart as well. For the sake of consistency, I only reviewed shelf-stable, frosted strawberry toaster pastries. I ranked them according to factors like the textures and flavors of the pastry crust, the icing, the sprinkles, and the filling. You can learn more about my methodology at the end of this article.

Finally, I advise folks to read the labels of these products closely if they are concerned about ingredients like gelatin and collagen. Like many vegetarians, I forgot that they are often hidden in toaster pastries — something I'll be keeping in mind for the future!

Magic Spoon's Frosted Strawberry Protein Pastry was appealing on the health front, as it's packed with five times as much protein per pastry as other brands and a great deal of fiber. I hoped that it would live up to the high standards set by Magic Spoon's protein cereal. However, it's well below average on just about everything to do with texture and flavor. I don't think I'd like the other flavors  — Cinnamon Brown Sugar and S'mores — any better because the pastry layer on the one I tried was similar to a stale vanilla cupcake (there's a reason why gluten-free products like this one get a bad rap, and this texture is it).

Meanwhile, the drizzle of frosting was just that: A drizzle. It didn't cover the entire pastry. I wish I could say that this allowed the spotlight to shine more intensely on the filling, but it was extremely difficult to parse out the strawberry puree from the doughy pastry crust.

One upside of these breakfast goodies? They weren't as decadent as several of the other products on this list, which was a welcome departure from tradition. Because a sweetener blend (containing allulose, erythritol, sugar, and monk fruit extract) replaces the standard corn syrup and sugar combo, each toaster pastry contains only 2 grams of added sugars. The sweetener blend flavor was a bit hard to ignore, but it's not necessarily off-putting if you're used to its flavor. I also appreciated that this product is colored naturally with fruit and vegetable juices and is devoid of artificial flavors.

Legendary Foods' Strawberry Protein Pastries are an amped-up version of Magic Spoon's toaster pastries. Rather than 11 grams of protein per pastry, these have 20 grams. Each pastry is also gluten-free, keto-friendly, packed with fiber, and contains collagen peptides. In fact, it's essentially a protein bar in the shape of a toaster pastry, and it only scored higher than Magic Spoon because it didn't make my mouth feel like a parched desert.

The vanilla icing was thin and tough to discern from the inordinately thick pastry. Plus, the colorful crystals adorning it had melted slightly during transit, ruining their aesthetic appeal. The pastry was chalky in texture, and its whey protein flavor completely overwhelmed the strawberry filling, the flavor of which I could barely detect. I'm not sure the other flavors, like Brown Sugar Cinnamon and Blueberry, would hold up any better, though a fellow writer had great things to say about the chocolate cake variety. Regardless, this product reminded me of a Quest protein bar, and I was repelled by its lingering aftertaste.

Like Magic Spoon's pastry, one good thing I can say about Legendary Foods' version is that it wasn't too sweet. There's only 1 gram of total sugar in each toaster pastry, derived from ingredients like erythritol, polydextrose, glycerin, and sucralose. This product, therefore, won't appeal to purists who are against the use of sugar alcohols, nor will it please those who wish to avoid food colorings; this product contains artificial red, yellow, and blue dyes, and the blood-red strawberry filling actually creeped me out.

Flings' individually packaged Frosted Protein Pastries are relatively low in sugar, but high in fiber and protein. That, at least, is a win for folks who struggle to finish two toaster pastries in one sitting. Indeed, these gluten-free pastries fall into the same trap as the former two products: They taste like protein bars. It's also worth noting that they contain collagen peptides, a fact that I didn't realize until after the taste test. That's great news for those who take collagen for skin and bone health, but vegetarians may want to avoid it.

The sugar and glycerin (totaling 7 grams of sugar per pastry) were not overbearing, and they helped mask the protein flavor. I imagine that the natural flavors, vanilla extract, and dried citrus pulp also helped boost the flavors of this toaster pastry so that it became more bearable than those sold by Legendary Foods and Magic Spoon. Nevertheless, the protein flavor was still domineering enough that I couldn't detect much of the strawberry puree or the thin layer of frosting.

Fruit and vegetable juices took the place of artificial colors, and so these toaster pastries had a dull appearance. The pink sprinkles flecking this product didn't offer much vibrant appeal. The texture of each pastry was nothing to write home about, either; they were soft and moderately chalky.

Flings' frosted protein pastries come in only two flavors: Frosted Strawberry and Sticky Cinnamon. But given my dismal experience with the strawberry, I'm not interested in trying the latter. That's especially true considering the hefty price of this brand.

The Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries from Amazon Grocery were strikingly affordable for what they were. These pastries are built upon a base of enriched wheat flour and are sweetened with corn syrup and sugar. Of course, there's also strawberry juice concentrate, which is supported by natural and artificial flavors. Even with the natural and artificial flavors, however, the strawberry flavor failed to shine through the overly saccharine icing. Instead, I was hit by a sugar shot and couldn't taste much beyond the tender, buttery pastry and sweet icing.

Texturally, I enjoyed these pastries. The green-, pink-, red-, and cream-colored sprinkles adorning the frosting were a nice touch, and not just aesthetically; their crunchiness contrasted well with the soft crust and gooey filling. I enjoyed that these pastries were thin and the icing was crisp, but there was still enough filling to render them moist.

Amazon Grocery also carries Frosted Blueberry, Frosted Fudge, and Frosted Cherry flavors of toaster pastries. I'd be interested to see if any of these flavors are more satisfactory than the strawberry version. Only the blueberry is as highly rated on Amazon's website, though cherry isn't far behind. If the flavor of these toaster pastries had been up to par, I would have ranked them higher.

There are nearly two dozen flavors of the classic Pop-Tarts toaster pastry, many of which have previously been ranked on Tasting Table. In addition to classic Pop-Tarts, there are Protein Pop-Tarts, Super Stuffed Pop-Tarts, and Pop-Tarts Bites. Strawberry stars in all four versions, and the classic strawberry Pop-Tart comes in both frosted and unfrosted varieties.

For this review, I tested the Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tart. It contains enriched wheat flour and several types of sweeteners, including corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, and sugar. It's no wonder, then, why these pastries are so sickly sweet; each one contains 15 grams of added sugar. From a nutrition point of view, I found this to be exorbitant, though I appreciated that the soft pastry layer wasn't overly sweet.

I also liked that the plentiful strawberry filling didn't taste like straight-up sugar. Instead, it was slightly more complex than some of the other products I tested. I couldn't detect much real fruit flavor, though I was pleased to find no distracting natural or artificial flavors in its place. Nevertheless, the filling wasn't as tart and berry-like as it should have been. According to the ingredients list, dried strawberries, pears, and apples are all present, but in small quantities.

The rainbow sprinkles added a pleasingly crunchy texture to this toaster pastry, complementing the crispy icing that was a far cry from crumbly. Overall, Pop-Tarts put up some of the best competition on the textural front. That helped boost this product above some of its competitors, though its sweetness restricted it from wiggling into one of the top spots.

Great Value offers a large handful of toaster pastry flavors, including Frosted Cookies and Cream, Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon, and Frosted Cherry. Folks often find that this Pop-Tarts copycat is even better than the real deal. After sampling both products side by side, I wholeheartedly agree.

The Great Value Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries contain a predictable list of ingredients, including enriched wheat flour, corn syrup, sugar, strawberry juice concentrate, and natural and artificial flavors. They were some of the sweetest toaster pastries in this review, and a glance at the nutrition label confirmed my suspicions; a single pastry contains nearly 20 grams of added sugar. I could also taste the slightly higher-than-average sodium levels.

However, I was able to look past some of this excessive sweetness and saltiness and focus instead on the wonderful texture of this toaster pastry. With more rainbow sprinkles than its Pop-Tarts counterpart, as well as a crispy layer of icing, this product is anything but a crumbly, gummy breakfast treat. It's comparatively thick, and it's slightly crunchy thanks to the sprinkles.

I would have preferred about 20% more filling in this product to balance out the dryness of the pastry layer. The strawberry layer was more robust than it was in some of the other products in this review, though some of that flavor was clearly derived from natural and artificial flavors. The taste of the filling reminded me somewhat of a Strawberry Fruit Roll-Up. Had this product been less sweet and more naturally flavored, it would have ranked higher.

I was delighted to find gluten-free toaster pastries on store shelves when shopping for this article, and the Katz Frosted Strawberry version turned out to be a solid contender. Instead of enriched wheat flour, this product relies on a gluten-free flour blend made with sorghum flour, rice flours, and potato starch. While gluten-free products sometimes come up short with crumbly texture and strange flavors, that wasn't the case with this toaster pastry (nor is it the case with the brand's donuts, which Redditors say are among the best store-bought gluten-free sweets).

This pastry is sweetened with a few types of sugar and flavored with apple powder, strawberry puree concentrate, and natural flavors. It contains eggs, but is also dairy-free and gelatin-free, making it a win for vegetarians.

These toaster pastries were not adorned with sprinkles, but since the pastry layer wasn't excessively doughy, I found that the crunchy sprinkles weren't all that necessary. These pastries were less sweet than some of the others on this list, though the icing was just a tad too saccharine for my liking. The icing also erred on the powdery, crumbly side rather than being crisp, but I didn't mind; it made the pastries seem more homemade.

Given my positive experience, I would love to try other flavors from this brand. Indeed, the Brown Sugar Cinnamon, Apple Crisp, and Pumpkin Cheesecake flavors are spectacularly suited for autumn.

The Organic Frosted Berry Strawberry Toaster Pastries from Nature's Path boasted a robust strawberry filling. Still, it tasted slightly fake, likely due to an ambiguous "organic strawberry flavor." Even the organic apples and strawberries couldn't make these pastries taste like they were made fresh off the farm. Nevertheless, many customers will appreciate that instead of containing Red 40 and Blue 1, which other products in this review do, these toaster pastries are naturally colored with red beet powder.

I liked that the frosting on these toaster pastries was thin, crisp, and not at all excessive, and I didn't feel the need for sprinkles. They were still sweet, though their sugary nature had slightly more complexity than some competitors. Instead of relying so heavily on corn syrup and sugar, these toaster pastries are sweetened with honey and molasses in addition to ingredients like cane sugar, invert cane syrup, dextrose, and cultured dextrose. Plus, the addition of whole wheat flour helped balance out the sickly sweetness. However, this choice in flour also meant the pastry crust wasn't as soft and tender as its competitors.

Judging by the Nature's Path website, strawberry is one of the least popular flavors from this brand. Other varieties like Lotta Chocolotta, Mmmaple Brown Sugar, and Razzi Raspberry come highly recommended, and I'd certainly try them after this positive experience with the brand. If these pastries had been slightly more moist and tender, or if the strawberry flavor was just a bit bolder, they would have earned the top spot.

I'm not the first to compare the Organic Frosted Toaster Pastries from Trader Joe's to those sold by Pop-Tarts. Like other writers, I found that the Trader Joe's version brought a different set of cards to the table. But when expanding my review to include other brands of toaster pastries, I found that Trader Joe's and Nature's Path have similar ingredient lists. That leads me to believe that they are likely made by the same manufacturer. Besides, the appearance of the two toaster pastries is as good as a DNA test; they look exactly the same, with a thin glaze of icing and a light brown hue to the pastry layer.

These pastries contained an exceptional strawberry filling, which was better than any other on this list. This was the only minor difference (if any) that I could detect between the Trader Joe's and Nature's Path products. The strawberry was sweet, tart, and cut through the pastry's earthy flavor well. Meanwhile, the perfectly proportioned icing lent a sweet, crisp contrast to the soft, crumbly pastry underneath. Because this pastry contains whole wheat flour, it didn't taste overtly saccharine. Rather, this felt like a more wholesome breakfast treat compared to its competitors. 

This toaster pastry's well-rounded and nourishing nature — including its more natural flavors and down-to-earth textures — helped secure it the top spot in this review. If strawberry's not your jam, Cherry Pomegranate Toaster Pastries are also available at Trader Joe's.

To more fairly compare brands, I only selected shelf-stable, frosted strawberry toaster pastries for this piece (frozen products, like Pillsbury's Toaster Strudels, were not considered). Though I sometimes noted facts like the amount of sugar in a toaster pastry, I looked at the ingredients and nutrition labels only after tasting and reviewing each product.

My primary criteria for ranking were the textures and flavors of the pastry crust, icing, sprinkles, and filling. I tested each one at room temperature, though most of these would certainly taste wonderful when heated according to package directions.

To help readers get a better sense of each toaster pastry brand (and because not everyone loves strawberry), I often noted other flavors that can be purchased. I also mentioned stand-out ingredients like collagen and gelatin, as well as the presence of artificial flavors and colors. However, their inclusion did not affect my rankings unless they manifested noticeably in the texture or flavor of a product.