All year round, I opt for savory pies. But come fall, I abandon my favorite bird pot pies for the season’s staple: apple pie.
When it comes to pies, you have your own traditions and favorite flavors, but apples are still one of the most popular choices.
Earlier this year, Holiday Calendar, a platform dedicated to holiday lists, analyzed the grocery habits of 12 million Americans and surveyed 4,500 people across 15 states to determine their favorite pie. It found that apple pie consistently ranked in the top five most popular pies across the country. Additionally, in 2022, Instacart revealed that apple pie accounted for over 27% of its pie sales between February 2021 and January 2022, declaring it a clear favorite among the American crowd.
While they’re no substitute for the freshly baked homemade version, takeout dishes served at fast food chains are smart alternatives.
To find out which fast-food chain serves the most productive apple pie, I sampled pies from Arby’s, McDonald’s, Panda Express, Popeyes, and Taco Bell and ranked them from least favorite to favorites based on taste, texture, and value. -Classified apple pie food.
The cake is $2, taxes and fees, on a Panda Express I visited in Chicago.
The chain’s first-ever dessert option, introduced in 2023, was created to combine the flavors and textures of an American apple pie and a Chinese egg roll.
It is made with wonton dough and apple filling, topped with sugar and cinnamon.
I was inspired by how new this bun was and appreciated the fact that it was served hot. Even before I take a bite, I can tell that the dough had an excellent crispy exterior.
A dessert doesn’t want to be drizzled with sugar, but this one was, putting it in fifth position in my ranking.
However, I enjoyed the crunch of the dough and the slice had the fewest calories of any pie I’ve tried (150 calories), so it may be a smart sweet choice for some diners looking for low-calorie options.
The cinnamon-covered dessert $1. 89, without taxes or fees, at the Popeyes I visited in Chicago.
This 240-calorie pie is wrapped in fork-shaped impressions in the corners to prevent the filling from escaping.
I think spices like cinnamon have less to do with flavor and more to do with aroma—if you add just the right amount, it can be a game-changer, but overdoing it, as in the case of this Popeyes cake, can ruin everything. unbalanced recipe.
The only thing that gave Popeyes good was the flavor of his topping, which had just the right touch of lemon and a few pieces of apple. I’m obsessed with combining tart and sweet flavor profiles, and I think that helped this cake stand out from the rest.
It cost $2.40 at the Arby’s I visited in Chicago, excluding tax and fees.
The turnover arrived in a white, unbranded piping bag. The basic packaging and caramel drizzle didn’t appeal to me at first, but when I took a bite, I was pleasantly surprised.
The inside had the perfect layer of apple filling, which was molten but still a bit thick. It was encased in crisp pastry.
Despite having just one layer of apple filling, this 430-calorie pie didn’t taste bland or well-balanced.
More importantly, the apple pieces were missing. The jam-like texture in the filling meant there was a trace of artificiality, which for me took away from the spirit of the season and the cake.
At $1. 89 (not including taxes and fees), this apple pie from a Chicago McDonald’s was priced like Popeyes.
First launched in 1968, the brand’s apple pie was fried in its early days. But over the years it has undergone several transformations. The biggest of these was the move from frying to baking in 1992. It now has 243 calories.
Although the shape of the pie was pretty standard, I was happy to see McDonald’s added patterns to the pastry.
This pie had the right ratio of apples to dough, and I enjoyed the warm and soft interior and its crispy biscuit-like exterior.
At $3. 65 (taxes and fees), this apple pie from my local Taco Bell in New York, which I ordered through DoorDash, was the most expensive on the list.
Last month, Taco Bell revealed a new “Decades” menu featuring old favorites. The menu included popular items that had been discontinued every decade since the brand launched.
Four pieces have been available since Halloween, but the logo recently added its 2004 hit, the Caramel Apple Pie.
The empanada was first introduced as part of the brand’s Big Bell price menu, but it was discontinued in 2019 until today.
As soon as I held the paper piping bag, I noticed how hot it was. It stayed warm even though I tried it for about 15 minutes after receiving it on a cold day.
From the first bite, I can savor the warm, velvety filling along with the crispy dough. Its freshness stood out and unlike other cakes I had tried, this one has become the star of the dish – the filling – from the first moment.
Even the apples had a great spicy and juicy crunch and matched the caramel.
As far as fast food pies go, this is by far the most productive I’ve ever had.
The filling was perfectly balanced and not too sweet, and went wonderfully with the crunchy, salty dough. I had every goal of sharing a few bites with a friend, but I ended up eating the entire pie myself.
It also felt slightly larger and more satisfying than the other pies on this list, which perhaps explains why it’s also the priciest option.
Overall, the cake I tried had a unique flavor profile and various textures, from crispy and toasty to soft and melty.
But Taco Bell’s caramel apple empanada stood out for its well-balanced flavors: a warm, crispy pie with juicy whole chunks of apple complemented by creamy caramel, setting the perfect tone for the cozy days ahead.
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