We Taste-Tested Nine Canned Pumpkins—Here Are Our Favorites

Many, many years ago, I was the kind of person who roasted and puréed my own pumpkin for pie filling. I do not know what I was thinking, and I don’t know what I was trying to prove, because it wasn’t exponentially more delicious than using canned pumpkin—and it certainly wasn't easier. After several Thanksgivings that involved peeling, roasting, and puréeing gourds for pumpkin pie, I finally threw in the towel one year and, like many other home cooks, chose to go the canned route. Not a single person noticed the difference, and it’s possible my pies got even more compliments the year I made the switch from homemade purée to canned pumpkin. Pumpkin pie has never been easier, and I’ve never looked back. 

Many excellent bakers I’ve worked with swear by canned pumpkin, as it’s a convenient option that’s often more concentrated and contains less water than fresh pumpkin purée. Unless you’re taking the time to squeeze out or cook out the moisture from pumpkins for homemade purée, it’s probably not worth making your own. So, to get ready for all the holiday baking ahead of us, we decided to pull together nine different canned pumpkin purées to sample in our most recent taste test.

I used each purée to prepare a simple pie filling by whisking it together with eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spices, and evaporated milk, using the exact same ingredients and ratios for each batch. (I actually used the pumpkin pie recipe on a can of Libby's because it's a simple pie, and a recipe that presumably many home cooks use.)  After mixing up the ingredients, I then transferred each batch to an individual baking dish and cooked them at the same temperature for the same amount of time.

In addition to using the same recipe for each sample, I had our tasters try each without knowing which brands they were trying, as we do for all of our taste tests. After tasting our way through nine different pumpkin purées, we found one we’d be happy to turn into pumpkin pie—or muffins, cake, or even soup—plus two other worthy contenders. Read on for our winners and make your life easier and (tastier!) this holiday season.

What Is Canned Pumpkin, Anyway?

First things first: A lot of the canned pumpkin sold in the United States is not actually pumpkin. According to the Food and Drug Administration, canned “pumpkin” is made from field pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo or true pumpkin) and/or other varieties of “firm-shelled, golden-fleshed, sweet squash (Cucurbita maxima)." The organization acknowledges that many companies mix pumpkin and other squash varieties to “obtain the consistency most acceptable to users.” Libby’s for example, uses a squash variety called Dickinson. To keep things simple, we’re going to refer to all the samples as pumpkin below, as they are sold and marketed as such and taste like what most Americans think of as "pumpkin."

All of the samples we tested had just one ingredient—pumpkin—and contained no additional spices, seasonings, or sweeteners. Canned pumpkin should not be confused with canned pumpkin pie filling, which is sweetened and seasoned. So, when you are shopping for canned pumpkin, be sure to read the label carefully. 

The Criteria

Great canned pumpkin purée should have a warm reddish-orange hue similar to that of an actual pumpkin—no neon shades, please!—and a subtly sweet, earthy flavor. It should not be bitter or salty, nor should it taste like the can it came from. It should be moist and thick enough to scoop, not so thin and watery that it easily slides off your spoon. And finally, it should be a relatively mild base for whatever you're making with it, without being insipid.

Overall Winner

365 Organic Pumpkin Purée

Every single tester enjoyed this purée. They all thought it had a beautiful orange hue, with just the right amount of sweetness and moisture. Our art director Sabrina liked that it was “not too dense and not too watery,” and our associate visuals director Amanda thought it tasted exactly like a pumpkin pie should. Though our associate editorial director Megan found this a little chunky (“but not bad”), she described its flavor as “nicely squashy,” which is exactly what you want your canned pumpkin to taste like.

Runners Up: Our Favorite Canned Pumpkins

Farmer’s Market Organic Pumpkin Purée

This canned pumpkin had a yellowish shade, with a robust, earthy squash flavor that our tasters loved. Though Sabrina thought it was slightly dense and had a faintly sour aftertaste, other tasters thought it had great flavor, with a smooth, silky texture. Both Amanda and our senior social media editor Kelli commented that while it wasn’t overly sweet, it had a nice squash-forward flavor. As a side note, our shopping editor Rochelle, who is an avid baker, was not at this taste test but noted afterwards that this is her favorite brand. 

Wholesome Pantry Organic Pumpkin

This canned pumpkin—a Shoprite brand—received rave reviews from every single taster except for Sabrina, who found it both dry and mushy, with a slight acidic aftertaste. Kelli, however, absolutely loved this sample and wrote a glowing review: “This is what you imagine when you go to the pumpkin patch to select your orange beauty to bake into a homemade pie for your Thanksgiving table.” Both Amanda and Kelli described this sample as having the moist and smooth texture they looked for in pumpkin pie.

The Contenders

• 365 by Whole Foods Market $1.79
• 365 Organic by Whole Foods Market $2.69
• Bowl and Basket $1.39
• Brad’s 100% Pure Organic Pumpkin $3.29
• Farmer’s Market Organic Pumpkin Purée $3.19
• Good & Gather 100% Pure Pumpkin $1.59
• Libby’s $1.97
• Trader Joe’s Organic Pumpkin $2.49
• Wholesome Pantry Organic Pumpkin $2.19

In Conclusion

There were no true losers in this taste test, and several tasters remarked that they enjoyed every single sample. That said, it was a surprise to us that Libby’s did not fare well in our taste test, as the brand is synonymous with canned pumpkin and a favorite among many bakers and home cooks. Unfortunately, all but one of our tasters found Libby’s somewhat watery and bland. Despite the fact that we used  Libby’s own recipe to season and cook all of the purées, the brand didn’t come out on top. That said, none of the brands were ranked poorly—but the ones with the best flavor and texture were our winners. 

Interestingly, our winning picks all happened to be organic products, and had a pleasant thickness without being too dense or dry. Furthermore, they had a strong squash flavor and natural sweetness that complemented the warm spices used to make the pie filling. Though all our tasters loved 365 Organic by Whole Foods Market, they also enjoyed pumpkin purées from Farmer’s Market and Shoprite’s Wholesome Pantry. We bet your pumpkin pie will be delicious whatever purée you use, but if you can find one of our three picks it'll be that much better—and if it's not perfect, nobody will notice if you add enough whipped cream.

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill our tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.