We Ranked Costco’s Thanksgiving Pies From Worst to Best

Eyes on the pies!

According to culinary icon Ina Garten, shopping at the store is okay, and we say that’s especially true during the biggest food holiday of the year, when you have a 16-pound bird and everyone’s favorite sides in your oven. If you’re feeding a Thanksgiving crowd (or have been tasked with bringing dessert to Thanksgiving), you’ll be tempted by Costco’s huge Kirkland Signature pies, each weighing more than three pounds.

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To help you figure out which one is worthy of a spot on your holiday dessert table, here at the Food & Wine office, we tried three of the most popular Thanksgiving pies—apple, pecan, and pumpkin. Although Costco offers a serving size of 12 slices, we found that these colossal pies can be cut into squares to yield at least 16 servings. It’s a whole pie! Read our reviews of all three Thanksgiving pies and maybe buy some more Tupperware.

3. Kirkland’s signature pumpkin pie

This one-crust pumpkin pie was sure to be a hit with the group: only $5.99 for 68 ounces. (If you’re feeding 12 people, that’s a little more than 50 cents per person.) But we found the filling to be bland and slightly watery, with one taster calling its texture “baby food-like.” The crust was basic, but our biggest problem with this pumpkin pie was the lack of pumpkin pie spice in the filling. “Where are the spices? Where is the love? asked one taster. “I like the standard pumpkin pie but this one was bland,” added another. “I’ve never wanted pumpkin spice in anything, but it would be nice here.”

If you like a clean slice, it’s worth noting that this pie holds its shape much better when sliced ​​than the apple and pecan, which turned into a cobbler after being separated.

2. Kirkland Signature Double Crust Apple Pie

Priced at $12.99 for a whopping four pounds and 11 ounces, this double-crust pie was filled with cinnamon apples and topped with eye-catching flower-shaped holes. It had our favorite crust of all three pies, thanks to the crunchy sugar filling that gave it a shiny sheen without a soggy bottom in sight; one taster noted a pleasant “chunky” texture. What stopped this pie from winning top honors? While we found the apple filling to have a nice tartness that balanced out the sweetness of the dessert, we didn’t like the sticky, syrupy texture.

Given its size, this apple pie had no chance of holding together, but no points were deducted for this fall. “Honestly, I’m more wary of an apple pie that doesn’t fall apart when you cut it,” said one taster.

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Our favorite: Kirkland’s signature pecan pie.

This decadent four-pound, six-ounce pie was the most expensive of the three at $16.99, but we found it worth every penny. The crumbly crust was filled with a rich filling and a crown of sweet toasted pecans. Tasters noted the generous amount of pecans on the top of the pie, which were perfectly toasted and buttery (in fact, pecans are the second ingredient listed after corn syrup). “I’m usually wary of pecan pie because it’s like eating sugar slush with a pecan top. It wasn’t a sugar bomb, and the pecans had a nice texture,” noted one taster. We also liked the crumbly crust with a gooey filling that could be compared to a “cracker on pudding.”

The only downside: Most tasters found the texture too thick, with one taster even calling it “sticky.” Another was disappointed that the pecans were not evenly distributed throughout the filling.

So, is this the perfect pecan pie? No, but at under $2 per serving, it’s a bargain no matter how you slice it.