I Tried And Ranked Apple Pies From 7 Grocery Store Bakeries

Apple pie has been tied up in the vision of American identity for years. A common rallying cry from American soldiers in World War II was that they were defending their nation for “mom and apple pie,” a dynamic duo if there ever was one. This is despite the fact that neither apples nor pie are American inventions at all, but merely transplants from foreign lands that took root here. Even if we didn’t select an authentic American dish, we at least picked one that tastes classically delicious. 

As an iconic dessert, you can expect to find a version of apple pie at any grocery store you head to, whether in the grocery’s bakery section or in the pre-made, frozen dessert aisle. We’ve already ferreted out the best store-bought apple pie, but what about the pies that came from the store bakery? With that in mind, I headed to seven stores and tried 11 different pies. Unified in name only, each pie has a distinct level of spice, sugar, and acidity. The variations possible in the crust alone are enough to make your head spin. 

Everyone has their preferences when it comes to what works best with an apple pie, but there are some nonnegotiable features. The apples should be soft and take center stage, the flavor should be balanced, the crust should be perfectly crisp and tender, and, of course, it should slice well. So, what grocery store bakery delivers on this apple pie criteria? Here’s what I found out. 

It’s a sad day when Publix falls to the bottom rung for a baked goods ranking. Normally, the Publix bakery delivers desserts that could rival a brick-and-mortar bakery. I’ve seen it take gold for its grocery store Bundt cakes, and the Publix fresh-baked bread section is legendary. So, what went so wrong with this Dutch Apple Pie?

Despite seeming like a crunchy, streusel-topped dish, both the top and bottom portions of the crust featured raw dough. Not pale, not underbaked, raw. I feel like Paul Hollywood, hemming and hawing over the raw dough in a pastry. But when it’s served up by a grocery store for a fee rather than by a well-meaning British contestant, the outrage is merited. Even when I ate around the dough, the apple filling disappointed with a too-sour, under-spiced flavor. When you can’t even safely eat half of the dessert, there’s nowhere else you can place it in the ranking. 

For those looking to cut down on their sugar intake without missing out on the pleasures of pie, Sprouts is happy to oblige with a no-sugar-added apple pie. If you’re a bit fuzzy on the meaning of “no sugar added,” keep in mind it basically means that all sweetness that’s present in the pie is coming from natural sugar in the fruit or a sugar substitute. In this case, Sprouts uses apples and a cocktail of artificial sweeteners like maltitol, acesulfame-K, and sucralose as the main sweetening agents.  

Unfortunately, this pie started on the wrong foot with a completely raw topping. No matter how I sliced it, I couldn’t make this pie look good as the top disintegrated into a mushy mess. The raw dough and poor slicing weren’t the only problems. The crust that did get baked was too salty, and the artificially sweetened filling tasted — you guessed it — very artificial. Add to that tough apples that were also underbaked, and you’ve got a clunker from beginning to end. On the plus side, it edged out the Publix Dutch pie by the grace of the fact that at least the bottom crust was baked through. 

I was hopeful that this more traditional, double-crusted apple pie offering from Publix wouldn’t have the same problems as the Dutch option. After all, even Publix is allowed to have an off day in the bakery. Alas, this was only marginally better than the last two pies, and you can’t even blame it on raw dough.  

Something can look great, slice great, and still not, in fact, be great tasting. There was an unfortunate reason that this pie sliced so neatly. For one, the edges of the filling were like gelatinous rubber, overly saturated with pectin or some other congealing agent. The crust, while blessedly baked and not raw this time, had an off-tasting staleness, as if perhaps rancid shortening was used. The result was a pie that sliced well but tasted awful. While I may head to Publix for a variety of baked goods, I’ll never rely on it for an apple pie. 

At the Whole Foods bakery, much is made of the grocery store’s commitment to using natural and organic ingredients. The apple pie is no exception, eschewing ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fat, or bleached flour. Naturally, like most things you can buy at Whole Foods, it also had a pretty steep price tag. Still, this was one of the better-looking pies I bought. I appreciated the crust’s deep golden coloring and the sparkling coating of sugar and cinnamon on top.

Unfortunately, what this pie delivered in the initial presentation was completely let down by its flavor. The crust was a bit too sweet, tasting more like a sugar cookie than a pie crust. Sadly, that sweetness was sorely missed in the beyond-tart pie filling. This was a mouth-puckering sour without any relief from sugar, spice, or buttery richness. I like a bit of tang as much as the next person, but the levels here felt more like a punishment than a dessert. It may not have been raw like the Sprouts and Publix pies, but it was still practically inedible. And in this economy? I can’t afford that kind of bad taste.

I never thought I’d see the day that Walmart bested both Whole Foods and Publix on a baked good, but this dish proves that an inflated price doesn’t always mean a superior product. Hailing from Walmart’s Freshness Guaranteed brand, this apple pie sliced extremely well. The apples were kept suspended in a firm, but not gelatinous filling, and the crust held together neatly. 

Dazzling looks aside, the pie was fairly mundane in flavor. Neither outstanding nor bad, it tasted like a very bland bite of apple pie. As mentioned before, the apple filling texture was nice enough, with a soft, tender bite, but a dash of spice or salt could have elevated it. The main problem here was with the cardboard-like crust, which was definitely on the paler side. All in all, it tasted exactly like a middle-of-the-road, store-bought apple pie; hence, it landed in the middle of my ranking. 

Leave it to Trader Joe’s to make the most unique version of apple pie on this list. Some might quibble about this baked good’s identity as a true apple pie. It’s not quite a hand pie, as those are typically double crusted, and it’s definitely not like a traditional pie with a raised, bowl-like shape. It’s kind of like a pie cookie hybrid, with a thick shortcrust base, apple filling, and sweet streusel topping. Of course, all of this identity pie politics doesn’t really matter as long as it tastes like a little piece of apple pie heaven. 

For me, the petite, handheld size was one of my favorite features of this dessert. Who doesn’t want a perfectly portioned and mess-free serving of apple pie? Still, novelty sizing aside, the flavor of these was fine at best. While I understand why the filling had to be on the thinner side, I still missed getting the chunky bits of apple to balance out the large amount of crust. Speaking of crust, I could have done with a bit more salt in the dough, especially since the majority of the pie’s composition is streusel and shortcrust. Salt is really one of the key features that makes apple pie so good at a professional bakery. Though it was slightly more memorable than the Freshness Guaranteed pie, I don’t think this miniature option can really beat a quality traditional apple pie. 

Like the Sprouts no-sugar added pie, the Freshness Guaranteed version relies on a bit of sucralose and good old-fashioned apples to sweeten the pie without relying on full-blown sugar. I didn’t have very high expectations for this option, even though it sliced just as well as the other Freshness Guaranteed option and didn’t look half bad. After all, how good can I expect a Walmart no-sugar-added pie to be? 

Well, as it turned out, it can be pretty dang good. Though the crust was a little pale for my liking, its flavor was surprisingly well balanced, with a nice level of salt and buttery richness. The filling wasn’t rife with an artificial aftertaste like the Sprouts option either, offering a more authentic sugar flavor that made it seem less like a diet food. In fact, it seems that Walmart has a pretty good track record when it comes to no-sugar-added products, as the store offers a no-sugar-added vanilla ice cream that took top marks. Whatever the reason, Walmart has cracked the code for this sub-genre of sweet, so consider grabbing this specific apple pie if you’re cutting back on sugar. But if you don’t mind eating something with the traditional sweetener of choice, there are a few better pies for you to try. 

The Fresh Market does not pull any punches when it comes to pricing. Unsurprisingly, this was one of the most expensive pies on this list, clocking in at $8.29 for a mere half serving of pie. Now, as noted with the Whole Foods pie, price doesn’t always mean quality. For this amount of money, I expected it to offer up a stellar base crust, perfectly crispy streusel, and a filling that brimmed with spices, sugar, and plenty of apples. 

For the most part, this pie was solid. To begin with, the pie sliced fairly well, with minor cracking in the streusel topping. The crumble was definitely a strong point with this pie, as it had a welcome hit of nutmeg, a spice underutilized in other options on this list. The filling was well-seasoned and packed a powerful apple punch. My one nitpick is that the pie was a bit on the sour side and could have used an extra hit of sweetness. That’s easily remedied with a drizzle of olive oil caramel sauce or a scoop of ice cream, but there are a couple of other pies left that don’t need any extra touches to be stellar.

Winn-Dixie is very proud of its pies, and for good reason. The Southern grocery store has won numerous blue ribbons for its versions of pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and, of course, apple pie. Immediately, I could see why by the pastry’s appearance. It looked sensational, with a glossy, golden exterior that gave way to a silky filling loaded with diced apples. It sliced like a dream too, and I don’t think any other pie looked as good served on a plate. To Winn-Dixie’s credit, the flavor worked hard to match the visuals. 

The charm of this pie lies in how well it executes the basics. The seasoning of the crust and filling was spot on, and the textures were exactly as they should be: crispy crust, smooth filling, and tender apple slices. It hit all the traditional high notes. I mainly have it sitting in third because it didn’t make any big flavor swings with either spice or the crust. It was very good, but I felt like it just skirted greatness.   

We return to the rarified air of The Fresh Market for another pricey bit of pie. As I noted before, I’m fine with this being the most expensive pie on this list — matched only by the Fresh Market Apple Crisp Pie — as long as it delivered big on presentation, crust, and, of course, flavor. 

To begin with, this was one of the few pies that dared to sport a lattice crust, and I admired its glossy finish and rich golden hue. Luckily, the crust flavor matched the looks, delivering a tasty, salty case to a sweet tart apple filling. I’d go as far as to say this had the best crust of any other pie on this list. The filling was very similar (probably identical) to the one used in the Apple Crisp Pie, but I feel like the double crust worked better than the streusel topping, as the buttery crust could stand up better to the tangy filling. Again, this is somewhat sour as far as apple pie fillings go, so you might want to skip this one if you’re more into the sweet stuff. Speaking of, there’s one cheaper and sweeter-tasting option that takes the top spot. 

You know that one grocery store that’s just a pain to get to and shop at? Traffic to it is always at a standstill, parking is a veritable hellscape, and you always seem to go on the same day every other person did, leading you to navigate packed aisles with a rickety cart and a prayer. That’s Sprouts for me. The grocery store itself offers great produce and delicious items, sure, but the Kafkaesque nightmare I have to traverse to get there always seems to suck the joy out of it. So, in a way, I wanted this pie to fail. 

Unfortunately, one bite proved that any trials and tribulations I went through were completely worth it for a taste of this stellar apple pie. The crust had a rich, buttery flavor paired with a nice firm texture that reminded me of a Pop-Tart. Even better, the apple filling was absolutely perfect. The tender apple slices were enhanced by a heavy dose of cinnamon and a syrupy coating that hinted at brown sugar and maple flavors. The pie slumped after being served on the plate, but I’m more than ready to forgive that quibble considering that this was the best-tasting pie by a long shot. You could have convinced me that this was home-baked or even from a brick-and-mortar bakery with little effort. Sadly, I’ll be braving the journey to Sprouts again and again for this apple pie. 

I purchased apple pies from every grocery store bakery I had access to. Though I didn’t distinguish between traditional pies, no-sugar-added apple pies, or apple pies with crumble toppings, I didn’t try apple pies that used caramel, as it felt like a significant departure from the traditional flavor. 

For flavor, I noted which pies had properly seasoned crusts and fillings. I looked for a well-balanced level of spice, sugar, and tartness. For texture, I looked for apples that were perfectly tender, not mushy but not crunchy either. I also noted if the bake was done properly on the crust, i.e., if the crust was pale, golden, or raw. Beyond considering how things tasted, I also noted how well each pie sliced and if there was a nice crust design, as presentation is important with pie.