Bruno Pugh
Pumpkin pie should be the cozy payoff at the end of a long day of cooking. You expect silky filling, warm spice, and a crust that actually behaves when you slice it. Instead, one big box bakery pumpkin pie is racking up complaints about sour flavor and a weird texture. Ready to keep your dessert table safe and your guests happy? Read on before you drop that pie into your cart.
The Pumpkin Pie That Finished Dead Last
Food site Chowhound recently lined up six grocery store pumpkin pies for a head-to-head taste test. Walmart bakery’s roughly $5 eight-inch pumpkin pie landed in absolute last place. The taster described an oily tin, a pie that split in the center, and a bland flavor with a strangely sour aftertaste that lingered long after the bite.
In other words, this pie underwhelmed the senses, and not in a good way. A sour edge in a dessert hits the tongue like a wrong note in a favorite song, and a cracked center signals a filling that did not bake smoothly. For a dish as traditional as pumpkin pie, that kind of performance is a hard pass.
What Taste Testers And Shoppers Actually Say
The Chowhound reviewer had gone in with high hopes after enjoying other Walmart items, including Great Value soup, but still called this pumpkin pie a Walmart product to avoid. New York Post coverage echoed that verdict and highlighted how disappointing that tin of pie looked and tasted once it came out of the box.
Regular shoppers have backed that up in blunt detail. On Walmart’s own product page for the Freshness Guaranteed pumpkin pie, one reviewer begged others to believe the negative ratings, calling the texture “nasty,” both mushy and dry at once, and saying the pumpkin flavor simply tasted off, with spice and sugar but almost no true pumpkin coming through.
Pumpkin Truths And Smarter Dessert Picks
Here’s a detail many shoppers never hear about. Most canned “pumpkin” used in American pies isn’t the bright orange porch pumpkin you see every fall. The bulk comes from Dickinson pumpkins, a tan winter squash grown in Illinois for its dense, sweet flesh that normally delivers a reliable, flavorful filling.
That long history helps explain why pumpkin pie became a Thanksgiving staple as far back as the eighteenth century, eventually joining turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce as a holiday fixture. Today, it remains America’s best-selling Thanksgiving pies.
With that kind of legacy, your table deserves better than a disappointing dessert. If you like Walmart’s prices but want a dependable option, reviewers consistently praise the Marketside Iced Lemon Loaf Cake. Food writers describe it as a bright, moist loaf that mirrors the popular coffee shop version for about five dollars.
So as you plan your meal, consider skipping that pumpkin pie entirely. Choose a pie from a different grocer, switch to a well-liked Walmart bakery item, or bake a classic pumpkin pie that brings real flavor and the kind of aroma guests notice the moment it leaves the kitchen.