How To Choose The Best Store-Bought Pie Crust For Your Next Bake

It's no secret that the crust can make or break a homemade pie. The crust is the pie's foundation after all. Does it crumble easily and taste good? Is it the perfect balance of flaky, buttery, and melt-in-the mouth rich? To help you choose the best store-bought pie crust for your next bake, we consulted Anna Gordon, chef, founder, and co-owner of The Good Batch Bakery. "If purchasing a pre-made pie crust, I would definitely suggest one with all butter, or majority butter as the fat," Gordon says. "Anything with shortbread won't taste as rich and flaky." 

Shortbread crust has more of a crumbly cookie texture. Instead of light, flaky, and somewhat crispy bites, shortbread crust is denser and often works better as the base for tarts rather than pies.

To make sure you purchase the best pie crust for flaky pies, we suggest you look for the words pastry or pastry dough on the labels. These pie crusts, like Pillsbury's refrigerated pie crust, usually come in a box and you can find them in the freezer aisles. Shelf-stable graham cracker crusts that come pre-shaped into a foil pan are made from pulverized graham crackers, and have more of a, well, cookie or graham cracker texture. Pie shells, like the ones from Marie Callender's, are usually shortbread-based. 

Working with pastry dough pie crust is easy, albeit a little rolling and shaping may be necessary to fit the dough into your pie or tart pan. You may also find yourself ending up with dough scraps. If that is the case, we have a recipe for you to hack homemade Pop-Tarts with extra store-bought pie crust. This recipe is perfect to help you use up those dough scraps and not contribute to food waste. 

Now, what happens if you buy the wrong type of pie crust? Well, fret not. There are simple ways to elevate store-brought pie crust, including pressing cookie crumbs into raw shortbread pie dough. Using a simple 3-ingredient wash can also elevate store-bought pie crust. Finally, if you don't get a chance to visit the supermarket this week but want to make a flaky pie, we also have a recipe for homemade flaky pie crust from scratch. If you make any extra, you can freeze it and save it for your next pie.