Thanksgiving has its non-negotiables. The turkey gets all the attention, but ask anyone who has ever hosted the meal and they will tell you the truth: the pumpkin pie is just as iconic, just as necessary, and just as capable of making or breaking the end of the evening. The problem is that making one from scratch is a real project, and not everyone has the time, the confidence, or the patience for a pastry that can go soggy at the worst possible moment. That is where the grocery store comes in.
So we did what any sensible pie lover would do before the big day: we bought seven pumpkin pies from seven different grocery chains, chilled them, sliced them, and tasted them side by side. Every pie came from the bakery department of its store, with one exception — Aldi does not have a proper bakery section, so its pie came from the small seasonal display. All seven spent 24 hours in the refrigerator so they would be tasted at exactly the same temperature, and each slice was given a random number so the tasters would judge the pie in front of them, not the label on the box.
Three tasters ranked every pie from first to seventh, judging four things: the flavor of the pumpkin filling, the quality of the crust, the size of the pie for the price, and how the whole thing looked and felt. First place earned seven points, seventh place earned one, and the scores were added up. The typical pie in this test cost about $6 — setting aside the two priciest outliers — but the range was wide, from $5.29 to $13.99, and the results had a clear story. Two pies pulled away from the pack at the top, and the other five finished within a single point of each other. One honest note before we start: the taste test named three winners, and the remaining four finished in such a tight bunch that no exact order was published for them. They are listed below in the order the test priced them, with everything we know about each one. Here is the full ranking, best to most ordinary.
1. Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pie — $6.99 (Best Overall Winner)
The winner, and it was not particularly close. Trader Joe’s took two of the three first-place votes, and once you see the pie you understand why. It is the most striking pie in the group, with a deep, dark amber filling and a well-designed crust that looks like someone actually thought about it. The filling is the star here. Of all seven pies, this one tasted the most seasoned and the most like autumn itself — warm spice, real pumpkin character, and a flavor that builds instead of fading after the first bite. It is still sweet, as every pie in this test was, but the sweetness sits behind the spice instead of in front of it.
The crust is the one place where this pie gives a little ground. It tastes good, but it is crumbly rather than flaky, and it does not hold its structure the way a great pie crust should. That did not matter much to the tasters. When the filling is this far ahead of the field, a slightly crumbly crust is a footnote. At $6.99, it is also priced right around the typical price for the test, which makes the win even sweeter. If you can only buy one grocery store pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, this is the one to buy.
2. Wegmans Pumpkin Pie — $10.00 (Best Splurge Winner)
Wegmans finished second overall, and it did so on the strength of the single best crust in the test. The first thing you notice is a light dusting of sugar baked onto the crust, and it changes the whole bite. The sugar lifts the crust flavor and makes the filling taste less sweet by comparison, which gives the pie a balance none of the other six managed. Where most of the pies hit you with sweetness first, this one lets the crust and the filling share the work.
The catch is the price. At $10, it costs nearly double the cheapest pie in the test, and it is about the same size as the other pies, so you are paying a real premium per slice. The tasters thought the taste justified it — this was the favorite pie of one taster and the second favorite overall — but it is a splurge, and you should know that going in. If your Thanksgiving budget has room for one upgrade and you care about crust, this is the pie to spend it on.
3. Costco Pumpkin Pie — $5.99 (Best Budget Winner)
Costco does not do subtle, and its pumpkin pie is proof. This is a colossal pie — three and a half pounds of it — that towers over every other pie in the test. When asked whether a smaller option existed, the bakery staff looked genuinely confused, because at Costco, why would you ever ask for a smaller pie? At $5.99, it is also the best value in the entire test by an enormous margin. On a per-pound basis, nothing else comes close.
On taste alone, it sits in the middle of the pack. The crust is good and the texture is very nice, and the filling is not overly sweet, which is a genuine compliment in a test where sweetness was the main complaint. But the filling was a little underwhelming, and it could have used more autumnal spice. That is a matter of preference, and the tasters were split on it. Here is the thing, though: if you are feeding a crowd, this pie solves the problem before it starts. One pie, one price, everyone gets a generous slice, and nobody is left scraping the plate. For a big Thanksgiving table, the Costco pie is the smartest buy in the store.
4. Whole Foods Pumpkin Pie — $13.99
Now we come to the outlier of the test, and the outlier is the price. At $13.99, the Whole Foods pie costs more than double the typical pie in this test and more than two and a half times the cheapest one. When the prices were laid out side by side, this was the number that made everyone stop and look twice. It is, by a wide margin, the most expensive way to put a pumpkin pie on your Thanksgiving table.
The pie itself landed in the tight middle group with the rest of the field — respectable, but nothing in the tasting set it apart from pies costing half as much. That is the whole story with this one. You are not buying a better pie, you are buying a more expensive pie. If you already do your weekly shopping at Whole Foods and you want the convenience of picking the pie up with everything else, it will do the job. But if value matters to you at all, the pies above it deliver more for far less money.
5. Aldi Pumpkin Pie — $5.29
Aldi’s pie is the cheapest in the test at $5.29, and it comes with a small asterisk. Aldi does not have a bakery department, so this pie was picked up from the store’s seasonal section rather than a bakery case. That is worth knowing, because it tells you something about what you are buying: a straightforward, no-frills pie that gets the job done without any ceremony.
In the tasting it landed in the same tight middle group as the other non-winners — solid, unremarkable, and a little too sweet, like most of the field. What it lacks in distinction it makes up for in price. If you are watching every dollar this Thanksgiving and you still want a real pumpkin pie on the table, this is the cheapest ticket in the test, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is a perfectly decent pie at a genuinely low price.
6. Sprouts Pumpkin Pie — $6.99
Sprouts sits right at $6.99 — the price two of the seven pies shared — and the pie itself sits right in the middle of the pack. It comes in a plain kraft box, the kind that promises a pie baked fresh that day, and it looks the part when you open it. The filling is golden and the crust is neat, and there is nothing about it that would make you send it back.
But there is also nothing about it that would make you remember it. In a test where the winners stood out for a great filling or a great crust, the Sprouts pie was simply fine — a competent, pleasant pie that did nothing wrong and nothing memorable. For most Thanksgiving tables, that is honestly enough. It is a good pie at a fair price, and if Sprouts is your store, you can buy it with confidence.
7. Acme Pumpkin Pie — $7.99
Acme is the local go-to store for the taster who ran this test, and its pie came straight from the bakery department like most of the field. At $7.99 it sits just above the typical price in this test, and it finished in the same close group as the other middle pies. It is a classic supermarket bakery pie: a golden filling, a standard crust, and a flavor that leans sweet, which was the theme of the whole test.
There is no drama here, and that is not a criticism. The Acme pie is the kind of pie you buy because it is your store and it is right there, and you will not regret it. It will not be the pie people talk about after dinner, but it will not be the pie people complain about either. For a neighborhood store run the day before Thanksgiving, it does exactly what you need it to do.
Which Pumpkin Pie Should You Buy?
The short answer is Trader Joe’s. At $6.99 it won the taste test outright, took two first-place votes, and had the most flavorful, best-spiced filling of the seven. If your budget stretches to ten dollars and you love a great crust, the Wegmans pie is the splurge pick. And if you are feeding a crowd, stop thinking about it and buy the Costco pie — three and a half pounds for $5.99 is the best value in grocery-store Thanksgiving, full stop.
The honest footnote to the whole test is that none of these pies was perfect. The tasters agreed that all seven were a little too sweet and did not taste quite enough of pumpkin, which is a reminder that a homemade pie, made with your own filling and your own spice, still has room to beat them all. But if you are buying instead of baking this year, you now know exactly where your money goes furthest — and which pie deserves the center of the table.
More fall food ideas from our kitchen: try these 30 cozy fall recipes to cook this October, bake your way through these 24 sweet and savory apple recipes to try, round out the season with these 28 new and returning holiday drinks, or go all in on the season with these 30 easy pumpkin recipes everyone will be asking for.
