It's Hard To Believe Pillsbury Makes The Worst Store-Bought Frozen Pie Crust - Tasting Table

"Making pie crust from scratch is no easy feat, requiring precision of temperature, ingredients, and technique. Luckily, different store brands have taken the work out of pie crusts for us, so all we have to do is spread the premade dough over a pie tin, add filling, and bake. We sampled and ranked nine store-bought pie crusts according to flavor, texture, structural integrity, and how evenly the crust baked in the oven. Surprisingly, Pillsbury came in last place with its frozen deep-dish variety."

"The deep-dish pie crust is frozen and pre-shaped, so it's ready to be placed in a pie tin and baked immediately out of the packaging. Unfortunately, the cost of convenience is stubborn dough that isn't nearly as malleable as refrigerated or even other frozen counterparts. Right off the bat, we deducted points for a lack of structural integrity and difficulty of use. But what was even more disappointing was how the pie crust tasted once we baked it."

"It wasn't hard to find a ton of customers who agreed with our negative review of the Pillsbury Deep Dish frozen crust. We looked at reviews on Pillsbury's own website to find many a tirade from disappointed customers. One customer wrote, "Save yourself and don't buy. They changed the recipe ... These are horrible, they're tough, no flavor at all, stuck to the pan and never browned.""

Nine store-bought pie crusts were sampled and ranked by flavor, texture, structural integrity, and evenness of baking. Pillsbury's frozen deep-dish crust placed last due to multiple flaws. The crust is pre-shaped and frozen, making it less malleable than refrigerated or other frozen options and difficult to work with. The crust baked with a bitter, almond-meal–like flavor rather than a buttery, all-purpose taste. The dough proved thin and lacked structural integrity, increasing the likelihood of sogginess, density, or collapse under filling. Many customers posted negative reviews describing toughness, lack of flavor, sticking to pans, and failure to brown.

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