7 Frozen Pot Pies You Should Buy And 7 You Should Leave At The Store

Wanna dig into the coziest of all comfort foods? Hit up the freezer section. Skip the nuggs, the stuffed crust 'za, and the tots, and head straight for those frozen pot pies. Don't worry, it's chill (wink). We'll help you snag the best flavors on the market and reveal which brands to side-eye and pass by.

Whether you feel like indulging in a traditional chicken and veggie recipe, or you wanna hold your toasty mac and cheese pastry in one hand while you slather it in hot sauce with the other, there's a perfect pot pie for you. (There's also one you can serve your enemies. See? Something for everyone.)

As your fearless author, I gathered 14 different pot pies from the top five brands at my local grocery store. Armed with an oven and a dream, I embarked on a culinary journey from potato to ... other potato. (Who am I kidding? I love potatoes.) Hungry for an unabashed, no apologies, knock-your-socks-off guilty pleasure adventure? Preheat the oven and get ready to puff pastry your heart out.

Love a flaky, buttery crust that's golden brown and sprinkled with herbs? Get your hands on Boomerang's Steak & Potato pie. It goes down like warm, cozy, sweater weather, no matter the forecast.

While this puppy baked to a crisp in the oven, I reheated it in the microwave, which softened the crust just a little. If you want the best experience, muster the patience to go for the full 30 minutes in a 400°F degree oven. Still, the brand claims a three-minute nuke does the job just as well. The filling is thick and stewy, with a notable oregano flavor that makes it feel homemade rather than limply "seasoned." You'll bite into chunks of real beef and tender potato. Of all the dishes that potatoes belong in, this is definitely one of them.

The bottom crust is also fully structural, so you can hold the whole pie with one hand. Ta-da! You might burn your mouth if you don't let it rest for a few minutes, but it will look very cool to passersby. In true Aussie meat pie form, you should also douse your pie with "tomato sauce," aka ketchup, and wash 'er down with a cold one. With a single serving comprising the whole Boomerang's pie, it makes a hearty lunch any day of the week.

Nominee for the Looks Most Like the Picture on the Box award, and winner of Best Performance for its starring role in "Yick Don't Buy This," we have the most expensive pot pie on this list: the $10 Raised Gluten-Free Vegetable Pot Pie. It cooks at its own special temperature (350°F) for its own special time (45 mins) and thus demands to be baked solo in the oven, unlike the rest of the pies.

The pie burst in the oven, losing part of its filling. Even so, it's still a huge pie, which is only bad because it tastes like a meal you would serve your enemies. It's gluten-free, vegan, nut-free, soy-free, and plant-based. You could always look at the glass half-full, but this brand appears to have quintupled down on difficult-to-achieve deliciousness. The crust is crumbly, greasy, and tasteless. The inside also tastes like nothing. (Is this also salt-, seasoning-, and happiness-free?)

The potatoes and carrots appear to have been cut on a precision cube-making machine, which gives off a Big Veg sort of industrial vibe. There is some legit green bean energy, and the singular pea we managed to isolate on its own tasted like one. But honestly, it's not a sure thing that any vegan out there would enjoy this.

Looking for a good dinner idea with cheddar cheese? Marie Callender's Broccoli Cheddar & Potato Pot Pie pulls out all the stops with a sure-fire recipe for get-in-your-belly deliciousness.

Marie Callender's is famous for the original Marie's dessert pies. (She was a real lady; she lived to be 88, and she baked a mean lemon meringue that's still a customer favorite.) I was already expecting a crustacular pastry for this savory pie. Lo and behold, the crust is buttery and tender and holds down the chowder-like fort while also being light as a feather. Okay, maybe a light as a cracker makes more sense. The brand nails a filling that's hearty and jam-packed with veggies and potatoes, plus a cheddar cheese gravy that fills in all the nooks and crannies that the broccoli florets might leave behind. It's savory, nourishing, and satisfying. Winner winner, broccoli cheddar and potato pot pie dinner.

The Marie Callender's line requires the most work to bake in the oven, but it's worth the extra effort. You'll be instructed to pinch a thin strip of foil around the edge of the crust to keep any third-degree pastry burns at bay as it bakes. It's a small price to pay for not having to do any of the actual pie-making yourself.

At first, the pristinely flat, unbaked crust appears like a minimalist's disc-shaped dream. But Blake's Turkey Pot Pie burned in the oven. And without anywhere else to turn, molten turkey gravy bubbled over the seams in the sides.

It's no biggie to do a little cleanup on Aisle 4. But most disappointing is the flaky crust that puffs up like an old-school apple pie, only to deflate like a popped balloon with one tiny poke of a fork. Inside the hollow pastry shell, the admittedly delicious and well-seasoned filling — with large chunks of white meat turkey and fresh-tasting garden veggies — simmers miles below the surface of the pastry. 

Another strike? There's no bottom crust ... or side crust, or top crust ... and the top crust is a grain of salt away from being completely flavorless. Instead, you'll be cutting into a pastry beret when you wanted the whole outfit. Maybe it's a move to shave off a few calories, but in the process, Blake's definitely shaved off all the fun.

Marie Callender's buttery pastry crust? Check. Loaded to the gills with fillings? You betcha. Parmesan flavor without landing in fake powdery cheese ball territory? Flying colors.

Marie Callender's Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie packs in loads of veg and tender white meat chicken (did we mention the Parmesan gravy?), so it feels well-rounded and satisfying. The perfect bite goes like this: a bit of chicken, one carrot, maybe a diced red pepper, a green broccoli floret — all slathered in savory cheese sauce — with just enough golden pastry to remind you why you pot pie'd in the first place.

Even better, Marie Callender's pot pie tastes homemade, like the classic chicken pot pie recipe your grandma used to make. It nails those nostalgic salt and pepper flavors better than any other pie on this list. If you're craving that all-around savory chicken stew-type vibe, Marie Callender's will show you love in the shape of a pot pie.

Does this one tug at your heartstrings? Slow-cooked beef stew done up as a pie — just like Mom used to make when you were a kid? Well, as much as the Banquet Beef Pot Pie might desperately want to fill that role in your life, this is more like the soupy Play-Doh version of beef pot pie.

This one called for a pre-bake slice across the top of the crust, which — since the pie came straight out of the freezer — felt like trying to saw into solid ice to carve out a fishing hole. Because I could barely scratch the surface with a serrated knife to provide ventilation, filling spilled out the sides during the bake.

The Banquet brand crust crumbles like the texture of a soft shortbread cookie but tastes burned, even where it looks like it's light golden brown. The broth feels swimmy with single peas floating around in there going, "Hello? Guys?" as a shred of meat drifts by. The watery gravy-broth phones it in, tasting like recently hydrated cardboard bouillon. This brand was the cheapest of the bunch at roughly $1.67 each. But really, Banquet should pay you for taking this off their hands.

Calling all Gardein Be'F lovers! (Yes, this is still the English language.) Marie Callender's Plant Based Be'f Pot Pie dishes up a valiant attempt at pleasing the vegans. Long story short, if you don't eat meat, and you want to get your pot pie on, go with Marie Callender's.

The flavor is stewy, savory, and the gravy is thick and (happily) a dark brown meat color without any grayish hue. For any of us noobs, Gardein brand Be'F is a gluten-free, plant-based protein, packing one of these pies with a total of 23 grams of protein. 

Every Marie Callender's pot pie gets the signature buttery crust treatment. But inside this version, you'll find generous slices of Be'F, big carrot rounds, and chunky, tender potatoes. While it's hard to tell how this one would play with a steak-loving crowd (the Be'F texture chews a little softer than the beef with two E's), vegetarians will be happier than a pig in mud.

Not even Marie Callender's can win 'em all. (May the Marie Callender's Creamy Mushroom Chicken Pot Pie rest in peace.)

That flawless, delicate crust is a no-brainer. And the ratio of filling ingredients to gravy is the bee's knees. But while the recipe was almost there with the flavor, it needed a little more salt and maybe something from the herb family to take it over the top. If you've got a seasoning mix in your pantry to make this one work, you'll cut into hefty portions of tender white meat chicken, big carrots, and green beans that maintain their texture. The thinly sliced mushrooms kind of got put through the wringer as far as their looks are concerned. They're hard to nail down in the flavor department, but technically, they are present and accounted for. Who needs the taste of mushrooms when you can have them as decoration?

Several bites can be saved by scooping up plenty of buttery pastry to add more flavor. But once that ratio becomes impossible, enjoy your remaining cream of chicken soup.

What's better than carbs for dinner? All the carbs for dinner. This is a cuddly blanket turned into a comfort cruise around the world with creamy elbow macaroni smothered in cheddar, Swiss, and Grand Cru alpine-style cheese, all packed inside that Boomerang's flaky crust. If only it came with a syringe full of hot sauce and a baked potato on the side.

Once you tuck in, it's hard to tell where the pastry ends and the mac and cheese begins. But isn't that always the way it goes when you fall in love? The macaroni is perfectly overdone. (Stay with me on this.) Like cereal milk and homemade brownies straight out of the freezer, this is one situation where correctly al dente would feel completely wrong.

Maybe this is TMI, but as I was photographing and taste-testing the entire rundown of pot pies, I came back to this one after it had been hanging around for a minute on the counter, the filling almost becoming a statue of itself. Surprising no fellow carb fans, it also tastes divine at room temp. It would probably be delicious tomorrow, straight out of the fridge. Too bad Boomerang's Mac & Cheese Pot Pie didn't live long enough to see the day.

Gluten-free foods have come a long way. But Blake's Gluten-Free Chicken Pot Pie appears to have completely missed out on the action.

While the regular Blake's pie crust already went belly up on any glimmer of flavor, this crust is a guaranteed disappointment. It remains the obvious choice for gluten-free pot pie lovers who have never tasted pastry in their lives. Like, ever. (And it's definitely not for anyone who's tried to roll out puff pastry dough themselves.) Again, the fillings appear like bottom feeders skittering along the container lining inside their terrible pastry grotto. We can't blame them for not wanting to be near the oddly sweet yet tasteless crust.

Blake's turns into a standout bummer because of the fact that the filling is actually decent. But while a flavorful mix of chicken and veggies might be the point of a chowder-type soup (the potatoes even have their little red skins on!), a pot pie demands a killer crust for maximum effect. This pastry is so bad that it's enough to turn any gluten-free fan into a crust-free person, too.

Welcome back to the wild and wonderful world of Banquet pot pies. Don't be shocked, but the Banquet Deep Dish Cheesy Ham & Potato Pot Pie is worth the two-ish bucks.

When you're shopping for the Banquet brand, pray for cheese. Here, club cheddar cheese (a processed blend of several cheddars) adds a whole new layer to the gravy situation (like, flavor) and makes for a more hospitable environment for the ham cubes and potato shreds. It's also much less likely to be involuntarily rejected by your taste buds.

This is the best of the bunch that I tested for this brand. But even so, there's still the sad crust flopping around, touching everything. Seriously wondering why it's a selling point on the front of the box. "Flaky Crust Made From Scratch," it screams in bold typeface. Hot tip: Just eat the center of the pastry top, plus the filling, and you've got yourself part of a meal.

Once again, I'm biting into the buttery, flaky crust that I've come to expect from the first Boomerang's pie I ever tasted. (Yes, the steak and potato one from two minutes ago.) While it might turn out a little chewier in the microwave, this pastry somehow still maintains its flakiness despite a standard nuking.

Boomerang's Spinach & Mushroom Pot Pie is creamy and cheesy thanks to the addition of smooth and mildly spicy Monterey Jack. But while I expected a filling that would also totally work as a tortilla chip dip (Spinach, mushroom, and cheese? The world is your oyster), the flavor here is a little one-note. And it can't decide which note it's trying to be.

Chopped mushrooms and spinach dot the savory filling, along with red bell peppers and a satisfying amount of Jack cheese. Maybe a more dimensional seasoning from this flavor-savvy brand would have people coming back to this one over and over again.

You can't be mad at Boomerang's forever. Boomerang's Chicken Classic Pot Pie is the brand's take on the standard, OG American pot pie (the one with the crust, not the crustless and stew-like Pennsylvania Dutch chicken pot pie). And boy howdy, did they nail it.

Is it the Midwest-vibe-y peas and neon orange cubed carrot mix that triggers the crave-worthy pot pie-ness? Is it the savory, chowdery, chunky chicken filling without a morsel of dark meat? Or the liberal use of celery as a visible vegetable and not a mere mirepoix? And why does it taste so familiar and yet feel so weird to hold this whole thing in my hands? (Is it a sandwich?)

At the risk of sounding not at all qualified to be taste-testing anything, I think the most compelling throwback element is the soft interior pastry dough that gets a little gluey with gravy, spending its entire life between the filling and the crispy outside crust. That stuff. That's American pot pie right there. Well done, Australians.

We're going out with a "Bang-quet," people. And the Banquet Sausage & Gravy Deep Dish Pot Pie comprises zero of the things it seems it should.

First off, you have to agree to disagree on what qualifies as "deep dish." Um, more than an inch high? Well, not if you're Banquet. Yet again, you'll find a devastating filling that seems like slightly thickened cream "gravy" with zero substance. Ahoy! This one features tiny little crumbles of sausage seasoned exactly like you remember a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit to taste.

For this to stay on the shelves, there would have to be an adjustment on the sausage to gravy ratio. Like, there should be 4,000% more sausage. At 420 cals per pot pie, this is trying to be a meal, right?

Honestly, I got a little queasy just looking at this one after taking a few bites for the team. Blerf. The charred crust provides the perfectly tragic frame for a sad little pot pie that never really had a chance.

To make this a fair tasting and judging situation, each pot pie was baked straight from the freezer in a conventional oven to maximize its flavor potential. Toasty tops, crusty edges, and bubbly fillings brought out those A-game seasonings and aromas.

While there were several other flavor options available at the store, I tried to grab as much of a variety as possible without a ton of "chicken and vegetable" repeats. If that is your go-to variety, we'd love to hear your own taste-tested results. (Told you Marie Callender's was the best! Too soon?) I was not provided with free pot pies from any brands on this list. I suffer on your behalf so that next time you're walking through the freezer aisle and wondering what the heck a Boomerang's pie is, you can confidently pick it up. Hold it high, like the Statue of Liberty's torch.

Now that you know which store-bought frozen pot pies to bake next time you're feeling the comfort food cravings, check out how to make pot pies at home from scratch so you'll never go hangry again!