We Ranked Costco’s Thanksgiving Pies From Worst to Best

To quote cooking icon Ina Garten, store-bought is fine — and we’d argue that’s especially the case on the biggest cooking holiday of the year, when your oven is occupied by a 16-pound bird and everyone’s favorite side dishes. If you’re feeding a crowd on Thanksgiving (or you’ve been tasked with bringing dessert to a Friendsgiving), you’ll be tempted by Costco’s massive Kirkland Signature pies, each weighing in at over three pounds. 

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

3. Kirkland Signature Pumpkin Pie

This single-crust pumpkin pie was undeniably the steal of the bunch, at just $5.99 for 68 ounces. (If you’re feeding 12 people, that’s a little over 50 cents per person) But we found the filling to be bland and slightly watery, with one taster calling the texture “baby food-like.” The crust was unexceptional, but our biggest issue with this pumpkin pie was the lack of pumpkin pie spice in the filling. “Where are the spices? Where is the love?” one taster asked. “I love a standard pumpkin pie but this one was flavorless,” another added. “I’ve never wished for pumpkin spice to be added to something, but it would have been welcome here.”

If you like a clean slice, it’s worth noting that this pie held its shape much better when sliced than the apple and pecan, which both turned into a cobbler situation once divided. 

2. Kirkland Signature Double Crust Apple Pie

At $12.99 for a whopping four pounds and 11 ounces, this double-crust pie was filled with cinnamon-spiced apples and decorated with eye-catching vents in the shape of a flower. It had our favorite crust of the three pies, thanks to a crackly sugar topping that gave it a sparkly sheen, and no soggy bottom in sight; one taster noted the pleasant “short” texture. What kept this pie from taking top honors? While we found the apple filling to have a nice acidity that balanced out the sweetness of the dessert, we didn’t love its sticky, syrupy texture.

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

Our favorite: Kirkland Signature Pecan Pie

Weighing in at four pounds and six ounces, this decadent pie was the most expensive of the three, at $16.99, but we found it to be worth every penny. The crumbly crust was filled with a thick filling and a crown of sugary toasted pecans. Tasters noted the generous amount of pecans on top of the pie, which were perfectly toasted and buttery (pecans are in fact the second ingredient listed, after corn syrup). “I’m normally wary of pecan pie since it’s like eating pecan-topped sugar goo. This one wasn’t a sugar bomb and the pecans had a nice texture,” one taster noted. We also liked the crumbliness of the crust with the gooey filling, which another compared to “graham cracker on top of pudding.” 

The one downside: Most tasters found the texture to be too thick, and one taster even called it “tacky.” Another was disappointed that the pecans weren’t evenly distributed throughout the filling.

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