What To Look For In Store-Bought Pie Crust, According To Jeff Mauro - Tasting Table

"The cleanest label, just flour, butter, salt, sugar. A short, simple label is often an indication of quality. If you're not going to make it, you might as well have it as close to the same ingredients as if you would have made it. Some commercial pie crusts come with a laundry list of ingredients because they're predominantly focusing on being shelf-stable, so they have to include certain preservatives."

"In our ranking of 9 store-bought pie crusts, we found Wholly Wholesome Pie Shells as the best of the bunch, and indeed, they have a very short ingredient list, containing just organic wheat flour, organic palm oil, organic cane sugar, salt, and water."

Pies hold significant sentimental value in traditional holiday celebrations, combining flavor with nostalgia and family comfort. While making pie from scratch is achievable, many people use store-bought crusts to save time. Chef Jeff Mauro recommends selecting pie crusts with minimal, clean ingredient lists as an indicator of quality. Commercial crusts often contain numerous preservatives and additives to maintain shelf stability, but ideally should match homemade versions in ingredients. Wholly Wholesome Pie Shells exemplifies this approach with only organic wheat flour, organic palm oil, organic cane sugar, salt, and water. Visual imperfections like cracks on store-bought crusts are less concerning than consumers typically assume.

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