I Tried 10 Different Brands of Canned Cherry Pie Filling and the Winner Won by a Landslide

Pie making is typically a fall pursuit. Apples and pears and pumpkins , that Thanksgiving staple, are in heavy dessert rotation when the weather cools off and the leaves start to turn. But there's one pie that has a moment in the sun (pun very much intended) in the good ol' summertime: a classic cherry pie.

When the juicy, red fruit is in season, we're inspired to cook it down and tuck it into a flaky pie crust. The sweet-tart cherries and the buttery crust are a delicious combination and the ruby red fruit makes a striking filling that's absolutely perfect for your summery celebrations (we're looking at you, Fourth of July ).

The one issue? Pitting fresh cherries can be, well, the pits. It's messy and time-consuming and tedious. Plus, summer isn't the ideal time to crank up the oven or to trade your beach time for baking time. For all of those reasons, many bakers turn to canned cherry pie filling to help them get a cherry pie on the table in a fraction of the time. The store-bought stuff is also a great shortcut for other fruity summer desserts, like no-bake cherry cheesecake .

As a longtime food editor and enthusiastic home baker, I was curious to know if there were any canned cherry pie fillings that could hold a candle to the homemade version. After years of eating slices of gloppy, shockingly red slices of cherry pie, I had my doubts, but I was willing to keep an open mind. (The things I do for you, dear reader.)

After tasting my way through 10 different brands, the answer was abundantly clear. Read on for all the details and to get the scoop on the best canned cherry pie fillingout there.

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Tips for Shopping for Cherry Pie Filling

For the most part, cherry pie filling has two components: the cherries and the goo. What goes into those components varies by brand, so before you buy, be sure to check the label.

The Cherries

In the 10 brands I tried, only one specifically mentioned what type of cherry was used to make the filling. The rest of the labels simply listed "cherries." Some of the cans hinted at family farms, but didn't provide any additional information. As you'll see from the photos below, it was interesting to see the range in size and color of the cherries in each can. These differences aren't obvious until you open the can (and if you have another brand to compare to), so you might have to try a few brands before finding the one that fits your needs.

The Goo

The goo, for lack of a better word (and despite its casual nature, I assure you that "goo" is a very accurate term), is the other main component in these fillings. The goo of many brands included sugar and/or high fructose corn syrup, plus a thickening agent, like cornstarch. The consistency of the goo varied widely among the brands, from super thick and gel-like to a lighter sauce that gently clung to the fruit. There's no way to tell what the texture will be from looking at the label, so this is another place where you may need to try a few options to see what texture you prefer.

And that red color? It's shockingly vibrant because most brands include Red 40. Of the 10 brands we tried, only Lucky Leaf Organic, Bonne Maman and Baker's Corner (the Aldi house brand) skipped the food coloring. If that's a consideration for you, read the label carefully before buying.

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How I Tasted These Canned Cherry Pie Fillings

I hadn't shopped for cherry pie filling in a while, so before I embarked on this journey, I wanted to see what was out there. My guess was I could probably find five different brands, if I were lucky. To my surprise, I turned up 10 different options, and that was just going to a handful of stores (Stop & Shop, Walmart , Aldi) in my semi-rural corner of Rhode Island.

One note: I started with 12 brands, but after tasting through all of them, I realized that two of the options were more canned cherries than cherry pie filling. (These are the distinctions one notices when tasting through this many cans of cherry pie filling.) The cans did mention that the fruit could be used to make pies and other desserts, but they were so different from the other options that I decided comparing them to the others was unfair, so they were removed.

Once I had my contenders, I grabbed my trusty team of taste testers (my husband, Matt, and our almost 11-year-old kiddo, Gus) and got to work. Because you can use the pie filling straight from the can (for topping cheesecakes, no-bake desserts, etc.), we first tried the fillings as-is. To make the test as blind as possible, I marked each can with a number, then doled some of each into small bowls that were marked with the corresponding number. We each sampled a cherry with a bit of the filling from the can, going back for another taste if we needed to. We each rated the samples on a scale from 1 to 10 and also provided some tasting notes.

For the second test, I made small hand pies using each contender to see how the filling held up once baked. I opted for store-bought crust instead of homemade to save time and also to be very sure the ingredients used were as consistent as possible.

Interestingly, the rankings were pretty much the same for tests #1 and #2. There were small deviations here and there, but baking the fillings didn't make as much of a difference as I would have initially thought. Before I compiled the final rankings, I went back through and did another quick tasting to make sure cherry pie filling fatigue hadn't impacted our initial rankings. At the end of the tasting, the winner was extremely clear and absolutely unanimous. Before you preheat the oven, check out all of the tasting details so you can grab the right can (or should I say jar) for you.

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10 Canned Cherry Pie Fillings, Ranked From Worst to Best

10. Lucky Leaf Cherry Fruit Filling or Topping

This filling had a generous ratio of fruit to goo (some brands had so much goo you had to go digging for cherries), but the texture and flavor of the fruit tasted off to us. "The gel has some tartness," said Matt, "but it's like they cooked the fruit too much." "It's bland, like my dad said," added Gus. "Sorry to whoever makes this one." I agreed that the texture and flavor of the fruit was off. I got an almost vegetal flavor from the cherries and thought the fruit had a wet, watery texture that seemed to shred easily.

9. Solo Cherry Cake & Pastry Filling

This option had a surprising texture that seemed more like a compote or jam. The cherries were finely diced, so you didn't get the whole cherry + goo experience that you're used to with cherry pie filling. The flavor was also faint, but Matt found that it had a curious taste at the end that made it seem like it might have a hint of spice that never really materialized. (Yes, food editors and their families really have very odd conversations like this!) Gus wasn't a fan of the fruit-to-goo ratio, nor was I, and I also thought it had a faint cherry cough syrup taste at the end.

The label mentions cake and pastry, so it's possible this one might be better as a filling for thumbprint cookies or something like a danish, instead of a cherry pie.

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8. Baker's Corner Cherry Pie Filling & Topping

We're big Aldi fans here at Parade , but unfortunately, this cherry pie filling didn't rise to the top. I appreciated the ratio of fruit to goo and that it wasn't made with Red 40, but we did find that the color of the cherries was a bit off-putting. Instead of being reddish, they were a light pinkish tan. I'm not sure if that was due to the lack of food coloring, the cherry variety or the cooking/canning method.

In addition to the visuals, the flavor didn't stack up either. We thought it was a little too sweet and that it had an odd, funky flavor at the end. The texture of the fruit was also quite watery.

7. Great Value Cherry Pie Filling or Topping

Walmart's store brand ended up toward the end of the pack mainly because of the texture. The goo was very, very red and thick and there's a lot of it, which wasn't our favorite thing. The flavor of the cherries was OK, but the fruit fell apart almost immediately when it hit our mouths. Surprisingly, in the hand pie test, this option reminded us of store-bought pies we've had in the past, and not in the worst way. The flavor seemed to hold and the texture was pretty much the same, but the mushiness wasn't as concerning in a pie vs. straight out of the can. The moral? This one is somewhat passable for baking but we wouldn't recommend using it as a topping.

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6. Lucky Leaf Organic Cherry Fruit Filling or Topping

Matt and I said the same thing after tasting this one, "It tastes like Luden's." Both of us grew up begging our parents to send us to school with the classic cough drop (or is it candy?), so although it's not exactly a compliment, it's also not the worst association. Upon further tasting, we liked the acidity of this option and I liked that they skipped the Red 40. The goo wasn't quite as thick as some of the other options and wasn't as artificially red, though it did still have a nice color.

5. Best Yet Cherry Pie Filling

I found this brand at our local Stop & Shop and it was another Gus pick. He said, "That was good. It wasn't too subtle or too powerful." I thought the fruit was OK, if a bit mushy and Matt found it to be a little one-note. This was the first filling we tried and when we went back to do another round of tasting, we found it to be more flavorful than we initially thought, in comparison to the other contenders. If you see this brand at your store, it might be worth a try.

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4. Duncan Hines Comstock Original Country Cherry Pie Filling & Topping

This major supermarket brand landed right in the middle, and Gus was a fan. "That's really good," he said. "I get a lot of flavor from it. The texture is right. It's a balanced amount of gel." Matt thought it was just OK and I was less enamored by this option. I thought the goo was shockingly red with a very thick texture. There was an overabundance of gel to fruit, I thought, and I was getting a slight cherry Kool-Aid flavor. These are the things one notices when trying 10 of the same thing back-to-back. This brand is very accessible and, based on Gus's reaction, might be a crowd-pleaser, depending on your crowd.

3. Stop & Shop Cherry Pie Filling or Topping

The Stop & Shop house brand had a pretty decent showing, landing itself in the top three. We thought the fruit had a mild flavor and it held up well in the baking test. Many of the baked pies really lacked flavor, but this option held up to the heat. There is a lot of goo vs. fruit in this option, so keep that in mind when you're shopping. If you want a really fruit-forward option, you might want to go in a different direction.

2. Favorite Day Cherry Pie Filling or Topping

Gus was a big fan of the Target house brand cherry pie filling. "This slaps," he said, as only an almost 11-year-old can do. "It's actually so good. It's flavorful but not overkill. It's so good. This is amazing! The cherry's like not artificial. The texture is amazing."

Matt and I also thought this was a strong contender. "There's flavor in the cherry and it's not chemical," said Matt. "The gel is tart and not one note." Fun fact: Matt found a piece of pit in his portion, which we took as a sign of freshness and authenticity. (A note to be careful when eating cherry pie filling, though.)  

I like that the goo was set but not gloppy. The cherries were a bit smaller than some other options, but they were pretty flavorful and the texture of the fruit was pretty decent (others seemed like water balloons). It had a fresher flavor than many others, which helped it land in the runner-up spot.

1. Bonne Maman Cherry Pie Filling

Topping our list was this jar from the fan-favorite jam company. The flavor was deep and robust and the filling looked and smelled like fruit. Instead of the standard gel, the fruit is held together with something that seems more like a jam or preserves, which makes sense from a jam company.

It was delicious straight from the jar and held up when baked into hand pies. The color was rich and deep and the texture made you want to come back for more. This was also one of the few options that didn't contain Red 40, so that was an added bonus. It makes a great dessert filling or topping, but I could also imagine serving it with cheese or even spreading it on toast. Was it the most expensive, at $9.99 a jar? Yes. Was that also 100% worth it? Also yes.

And my fellow taste testers? They were on board too. "It tastes like real cherries," said Matt. "The texture's right. It tastes like something you'd make using fresh cherries."

"This melted in my mouth (in a good way)," said Gus. "As my dad said, this tasted like real cherries. It was amazing."

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This story was originally published by Parade on Jul 2, 2025, where it first appeared in the Food & Drink section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.