The Unhealthiest Pot Pies On Grocery Store Shelves

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Is there anything quite so comforting as a beautiful, homemade pot pie, steaming hot from the oven, the aroma filling your home? That flaky, tender top crust; the succulent sauce; the rich blend of herbs, chicken, and vegetables — it really doesn't get any better, especially in the chillier seasons. However, making a pot pie from scratch, while do-able and relatively easy once you get the hang of it, isn't always a quick process.

As such, when you're craving that pot pie goodness on your lunch break or when you just can't be bothered to turn on the oven, you might turn to a frozen pot pie. Most of them can't touch the real deal, but they can at least satiate a craving in a pinch. You probably know, though, that not all frozen pot pies are the same in taste, quality, or nutritional value. When it comes to the latter, we're helping you make the best decisions for your personal health goals possible, by breaking down some of the unhealthiest pot pies on grocery store shelves.

In order to do so, we looked at a range of brands and pot pies available around the country. We also spoke to two professionals to get their takes as far as what you should look for: Joeleen Stocker, nutrition services manager for Mount Nittany Health, and Isabel Smith, MS RD CDN, founder of Isabel Smith Nutrition and host of The Wellfuel Podcast. Here's what we discovered.

Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.

We'll start off our list with a classic: The Banquet Beef Pot Pie. Whether as a child growing up or as a college student, if you ever needed to stretch your dollars, you probably ate this frozen food — because it is literally just $1. As is the case with many cheap foods, though, the Banquet Beef Pot Pie is a bit lackluster in the nutrition department and comes with an ingredients list a mile long, with lots of unrecognizable items in the mix.

When talking to our experts, they both recommended looking at a few specific things in the nutrition details when comparing grocery store pot pies. Joeleen Stocker said, "While store-bought frozen pot pies are convenient and budget-friendly, they are often high in sodium and saturated fat while providing less protein than many consumers expect. When reading labels, I encourage consumers to pay close attention to sodium content, saturated fat, and serving size, as a single pie can contain a significant portion of the recommended daily limit for both."

As for this pie, it contains 12 grams of saturated fat (60% of your daily recommended value) and 710 grams of sodium (31% of your daily recommended value). In terms of those aforementioned unrecognizable ingredients, there's all sorts of fun stuff, like sodium phosphate, propylene glycol, and more! 

As far as pot pie brands go, the legendary Marie Callender's feels like a step above Banquet. Between the two, Marie's is the "fancier" option — and you'll pay for it, too. A single-serving Marie Callender's Chicken Pot Pie is nearly triple the cost of a Banquet pot pie, at $2.97. The Marie Callender's brand also seems rather wholesome; it says "this is a food you can feed your family and feel good about it."

Well, you might want to hold off on that and take a closer look at the box, because this pie contains 36 grams of fat overall, with 15 grams of saturated fat (75% of your daily recommended value). As for sodium, you'll find 950 milligrams (41% of your daily value). There is at least some protein, at 17 grams, but you get little in the way of fiber, at just 2 grams. Additionally, the ingredients list is still pretty long and contains some unfamiliar items. The one good thing? At least the first ingredient in the filling is actual chicken broth (compared to the water that's listed as the first ingredient in the Banquet beef pot pie).

While we often think of pot pie as coming in two distinct categories — chicken and beef — you can actually find quite a few variations on the staple that you might be tempted into trying. Take, for instance, this Marie Callender's Cheesy Chicken & Bacon Pot Pie, which is $3.48 and supposedly serves two, but honestly — when was the last time you truly split a frozen pot pie that wasn't family sized?

If, though, you do, as recommended, split the pie into two servings, you can expect to get 13 grams of saturated fat (65% of your daily allotment), 790 milligrams of sodium (34%), and only a measly 1 gram of fiber. If you do eat the entire thing, as so many of us are wont to do, you'll find that you've easily exceeded your daily recommended saturated fat and are well on your way to doing so with your total fat, sodium, and calories as well.

So, maybe it is better to split this one — and maybe take a piece of advice from Joeleen Stocker, who said, "If you are having a frozen pot pie, it is best paired with additional lean protein and salad to create a more nutritionally complete meal."

Marie Callender's isn't the only brand to give the pot pie a twist. Banquet does so with its breakfast-appropriate Sausage & Gravy Deep Dish Pot Pie, which is, again, just $1. Unfortunately, this pot pie is not going to start your day out on a healthy note. The single-serving pie contains 11 grams of saturated fat (55% of your daily allotment), 750 milligrams of sodium (33%), and only 8 grams of protein and less than 1 gram of fiber.

This pot pie directly aligns with something that Isabel Smith pointed out, when she told us that it's important to look out for too much saturated fat in a pot pie, saying, "If we're getting 10 grams or more in one pot pie, that's already half of the recommended daily value. And a lot of these are made with refined flour and creamy fillings, so we may not be getting much fiber or vegetables either." So not only does the pot pie exceed Smith's suggested saturated fat threshold, but it also has that creamy filling and nary a vegetable in sight.

Back to the Marie Callender's brand and another inventive option, the Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie is another that's intended for two people, at a cost of $3.48. It's somewhat similar to the OG chicken pot pie but amps up the sauce with some Parmesan and Romano cheese (and, yes, there is actual cheese listed in the ingredients; it's not just flavoring), while also swapping out the veggies. Rather than the normal carrots, celery, and peas, you get broccoli, carrots, and red bell peppers.

It is also just slightly, slightly better in the nutrition arena, if still far from perfect according to this list's standards. If you do split the pie into two servings, as Marie Callender's intended, you'll get 11 grams of saturated fat (55% of your daily recommended value), 660 milligrams of sodium (29% of your daily recommended value), and 3 grams of fiber. You'll also enjoy 13 grams of protein, which is 18% of your daily value.

At first glance, you might very easily assume that Blake's Gluten-Free Chicken Pot Pie is a healthy choice. Right on the box, it says that it's made from scratch, with white-meat chicken and garden vegetables. It's gluten-free, too, so shouldn't that mean it's healthier? (Not really; that's a bit of a myth — a lot of gluten-free food is highly processed.) Additionally, it costs more, at $4.96, for a single-serving pie. But doesn't a greater cost mean greater quality? 

The quality and value aren't what we're debating here. Instead, it's the illusion that this pie is a healthy choice. In reality, it has way more sodium than you need, at 930 milligrams. As Isabel Smith said, when pies have as much as 800–1,000 milligrams of sodium in a serving, that's "a pretty significant amount considering we're aiming for less than 2,300 mg in an entire day."

Additionally, this pie has 7 grams of sugar, 4 grams of which are added sugars. Added sugars are not naturally occurring in milk, fruits, or vegetables, and it's recommended you limit your consumption to 50 grams of added sugars per day.

The WillowTree brand may not be as familiar to you as Banquet or Marie Callender's, but you can find its products in Northeastern grocery stores, with its primary products being chicken pot pies, chicken salad, and poultry gravy.

Again, this is a frozen pot pie that looks like it would be very healthful, based on just the initial packaging. A WillowTree Premium White Meat Chicken Pie is $5.39 (for a 10-ounce, single-serving pie). The label purports that the pie is made from chickens who lived anti-antibiotic and vegetarian lives. The ingredients list also isn't nearly as long as what you'll find on some other pies and are mostly recognizable (except for the Nisin preparation, which is apparently a preservative). Unfortunately, though, this pie contains zero vegetables, so it offers little in the way of fiber. It comes with 1,040 milligrams of sodium, or nearly half your daily allotment. There are 12 grams of saturated fat, too.

If you were sad to watch the disappearance of Boston Market, the fast-casual chain where you could reliably get comfort food fast (and at a decent price), then you were probably pretty pleased to learn that the restaurant has a line of frozen products, which range from meatloaf to country fried steak and Swedish meatballs to, yes, chicken pot pie.

For $4.19, you can get a Boston Market Home Style Meals Chicken Pot Pie, which comes with "about two," 1-cup servings. In each serving, though, you'll be getting 14 grams of saturated fat (70% of your daily recommended intake), 34 grams of total fat (52%), and 680 milligrams of sodium (28%).

Additionally, even though this pie does contain vegetables, like peas, carrots, and corn, it doesn't offer much in the way of fiber, at 2 grams, nor even in protein, at 9 grams. This fails to meet the ideal amounts of fiber and protein one would find in all frozen pot pies across the board, per Isabel Smith, who said, "I'd love to see at least 15–20 grams of protein and 3 or more grams of fiber if we're calling this a complete meal."

When Chef Gordon Ramsay came out with a line of frozen meals, in 2023, it was big news. The famous chef has a complicated relationship with frozen foods, in the past criticizing them, leading some to say that introducing such a line was selling out. Whatever your feelings, though, if you've been curious about the line, you may've considered picking up the frozen chicken pot pie.

However, while By Chef Ramsay Chicken Pot Pie may come with celebrity branding, certainly no chef (celebrity or home) made this pie, with its quite girthy ingredients list. The 10-ounce, one-serving pie is $5.94, so more on the expensive side as far as pot pies go — and it's also absolutely chockfull of saturated fat, at 19 grams, or 95% of what you should eat in a day. The overall fat content is 43 grams. You'll also get 1,060 milligrams of sodium, or 46% of your daily allotment. Meanwhile, you're only getting 1 gram of fiber. The pie does uniquely come with 20% of your daily iron, though, so at least there's that?

Aldi is known for its private-label brands and its items that quickly become must-buy, fan favorites. The store's Bremer Chicken Pot Pie, though, has not quite received this status just yet. 

The individual, small pot pies are $1.09 each, so very close to the Banquet price tag, but shoppers are divided as to the pies' quality. On Reddit, some say Banquet is actually a better pick, with one user saying that the Aldi version is "the worst pot pie" they've ever eaten, and another saying they're unsure how it can even be called a pot pie. The pro-pot pie cohorts say that they get them for their kids or that they like them for their convenience and price.

No one, though, is praising this pot pie for its nutritional value or health benefits. Each pie comes with 930 milligrams of sodium, or 40% of your daily allotment, plus 7 grams of saturated fat (35%), and 2 grams of added sugars. You only get 2 grams of fiber and 9 grams of protein. Just like the Banquet Beef Pot Pie, this pot pie's first ingredient is also water, versus some kind of broth or gravy. There are also plenty of unfamiliar, unpronounceable ingredients, too.

Like Aldi, Trader Joe's has also gained a great reputation for its private-label products, and many shoppers rave about these items' quality. These $4.49 Trader Joe's Handheld Chicken Pot Pies — which, yes, look a little different, but still come in a single-serving box of two pies and feature chicken pot pie filling in a handheld pastry — have received positive reviews as well, though not all are perfect. On Reddit, shoppers say they crisp up nicely, but the flavor gets mixed reviews, and most agree there's not enough filling.

Unfortunately, if Trader Joe's were to add more filling, it would probably just make these pies even more unhealthy. If you were to eat both pies, which is considered one serving, you'd be consuming 1,140 calories; 22 grams of saturated fat, so 110% of your daily value; and 1,200 milligrams of sodium (52%). The only good news is that you'd also be getting 7 grams of fiber (25% of your daily needs) and 28 grams of protein.

Lastly, the $4.24 Atkins Low Carb Living Crustless Chicken Pot Pie is another tricky one. It ditches the crust for a bowl format, so one might assume that makes the "pot pie" healthier (because we've all been told that bread is bad and unhealthy). Additionally, it's from the Atkins  — a literal diet brand.

However, a closer look reveals that this frozen meal isn't quite as innocent as it seems. The big offender is the sodium, which comes in at 920 milligrams, or 38% of your suggested daily intake. Then, there are the 6 grams of saturated fat (30%). Even with the inclusion of vegetables in the meal, including broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and carrots, there's not a ton of fiber, at 3 grams. The only positives are the facts that you do get 24 grams of protein and 70% of both your vitamin A and C.

The above list is not a tiered ranking of least-to-most nutritious grocery store pot pie, but instead includes a non-ranked compilation of some of the least-healthy pot pie options available in grocery stores. Single or two person-serving pies, plus single-serving pie-related products, were considered. Pies were judged based on factors provided by Joeleen Stocker, nutrition services manager for Mount Nittany Health, and Isabel Smith, MS RD CDN, founder of Isabel Smith Nutrition and host of The Wellfuel Podcast. Factors included sodium, saturated fat, fiber, ingredients, protein, and serving sizes.