The 10 Best Walmart Bakery Items, According To Customers

If you, like us, are the type to make a beeline straight for the bakery department in any grocery store you happen to visit, you may be well-versed in what most stores have in their repertoire. As a decent home baker, we still enjoy the convenience that comes with picking up something ready-made, particularly if it's items we have no intention of ever making ourself. With that in mind, we sought to check out the bakery department of one of the largest retailers in the country –– Walmart –– to see what they had that's worth spending hard-earned cash on. Of course, for the best results that aren't biased by an individual palate, we looked at reviews from other customers on Walmart's website to determine the best of the best.

To get into this list of the top best Walmart bakery items, each product had to have a minimum 4.4 star rating. And for the most accurate score, there had to be a minimum of 100 ratings. After all, a 5-star product with only a handful of reviews is more a matter of personal preference than overall quality.

Finally, we kept things only to Walmart's house brands: Freshness Guaranteed, Great Value, and the newer Marketside. Spoiler: Great Value didn't make the cut, but that's more because the banner doesn't reach very far in the bakery department rather than a reflection of quality. With all that being said, let's dive into what's worth putting in your shopping cart the next time your sweet tooth comes calling.

Who doesn't love biting into a fluffy, flavorful muffin alongside their morning cup of coffee? The sweet breakfast pastry is a go-to for busy mornings when you need something portable that also tastes delicious, with the bonus of a sugar rush. If you're looking to try something different for your mornings, may we suggest Walmart's Banana Nut Muffins under the Marketside label?

Coming in a pack of four, these muffins have a buttermilk banana base and are studded with walnuts. It's a popular flavor choice (even Aldi has a version one of our writers raved about) that's not too sweet and has added texture from the crunchy nuts. On Walmart's website, customers rave about the moist texture of the muffins with many declaring that the grocery store treats taste just like homemade. Reviewers do mention that, because of the moisture within these muffins, they can get moldy quickly — yuck. Try and consume them within a couple days of purchase to avoid this issue. For the best experience, we recommend microwaving them for 30 to 40 seconds and slathering them with a bit of butter.

Compared to other cookies — the classic chocolate chip, the controversial oatmeal raisin, the holiday-only ginger molasses — peanut butter cookies tend to fade into the background. Unless you're adding miso to it for an unexpected burst of umami, the peanut butter cookie can seem pretty boring. After all, it's basically just flour, sugar, butter, egg, and peanut butter, without any bells or whistles.

If, however, you happen to be a fan of this humble treat, you're in luck on your next Walmart shopping trip. According to customer reviews, Walmart's peanut butter cookies (under the Freshness Guaranteed label) are knockouts. Sold in packs of 10, these soft-baked cookies have a huge nostalgia factor, with one customer writing, "Sounds like a cliche, but they're just like mom used to make when we were kids." That's pretty high praise for a grocery store cookie. While peanut butter cookies may not be our top choice, for a mere $3.47 for 10 cookies, we think it's worth the cost to take a tasty trip down memory lane.

If peanut butter cookies are indeed too Plain Jane for you, then we're headed in the opposite direction with this elegant treat from the Marketside label. The Turtle French Cheesecake Mousse is a mouthful of a name as well as a dessert.

The individually-portioned treat features a chocolate cookie crumb bottom, a layer of whipped cheesecake mousse, a layer of caramel sauce, and a topping of chopped pecans and mini chocolate chips. All the elements of a Turtle cheesecake are here, in an adorable single-sized format. In fact, many reviews praised the size of the dessert, saying it was ideal for an individual treat, even if it was a bit on the pricey side ($2.48 for a single serving). So, if your budget is tight, this may not be an every shopping trip kind of indulgence. However, others say it's definitely worth the expense, "My favorite grocery item...I just added three more to my cart for my next order."

Would you look at that? It's another adorable miniature dessert. There's something about tiny food — or individually sized treats — that make them so much more fun to enjoy. It feels more special to get to have the entire thing to yourself without having to share. It's like encouragement (or at least tacit permission) to be selfish. Plus, when you hear all the great things about this Freshness Guaranteed Mini Pecan Pie, you'll definitely want to stock up.

This pie is your classic pecan pie, just shrunk down to an adorable 3.25 ounces. It has the same flaky crust and gooey filling with real pecans, just begging for a spritz of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream to finish it off. You can even heat these pies in the microwave to really up the indulgence factor. And perhaps the best part of all? A single pie costs less than $1.

Reviewers love the size of the pie as well as the price, but it's the flavor that really wins them over. One happy customer calls this treat a "mid-size bite[s] of heaven", and others say that they're perfect for just about any occasion. Instead of shelling out for Costco's lackluster pecan pie, hit up Walmart and grab some of these for every guest on your list.

'Tis the season for pumpkin spice and even the hallowed aisles of Walmart's bakery department are not immune to its charms. Characterized by ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and clove, pumpkin spice has made its mark on everything from coffee to hummus. With that blend of baking spices, it's obvious that it would be at home in muffins, like these ones offered by Walmart's Marketside brand.

According to the label on the plastic clamshell container, these Pumpkin Streusel Muffins are made with pumpkin purée, pumpkin pie spices (although the exact spices are not stated on the list of ingredients), and a brown sugar spice streusel. While not available year-round, these seasonal treats make a regular appearance come fall. There are, however, quite a few reviews that wish they were available the full 365 days.

For those wishing for a fall-themed snack, breakfast, or dessert, these muffins seem like a great choice, if the ratings of customers are anything to go by. We can see ourselves enjoying one with a generous smear of cinnamon butter when we're feeling peckish.

If you're planning to host a dinner party or a holiday meal, it can be daunting to have to figure out everyone's dietary preferences, or at least their likes and dislikes. However, if you're looking to satisfy everyone's taste buds come dessert, Walmart has the solution for you: a cheesecake variety pack.

Sold under the Freshness Guaranteed label, the Variety Cheesecake comes with six flavors: Caramel Turtle, Chocolate Marble, Raspberry Swirl, Brownie Swirl, New York Style, and Strawberry Swirl. At two slices per flavor for a total of 12, that's more than enough to feed a crowd (or sample them all yourself with plenty left over). The variety and amount for the price ($14.98) makes this a win for most customers, who also say they freeze well if you don't have a dozen people coming over and need to save some for later. Is it a decent bakery dupe? Some reviews say so. For the price, we're more than willing to be the judge. From the simple New York Style to the more decadent Caramel Turtle or Brownie Swirl, there's a flavor profile for everyone at the table with this stellar Walmart dessert.

While the Marketside Banana Nut Muffins received top marks with over 2,000 ratings, the Marketside Banana Nut Cake was even more successful, edging out the former just a smidge. Like the muffins, these cake slices are also scattered with chopped walnut throughout. The amount is also doubled, with eight slices of cake versus four muffins. Ideal for enjoying with your morning coffee or heating up and topping with a scoop of ice cream, it's a homey kind of cake that reviewers love.

Unlike Starbucks' banana, walnut, and pecan bread (which one of our writers found to be exceptionally dry), Walmart's Banana Nut Cake is incredibly moist and delicious, according to numerous customer reviews. Also unlike the version from Starbucks, you get eight slices for a mere $4.98 — an especially good thing when you're hankering for more than just a single serving. Or not such a good thing, since, according to one customer, it "takes quite a bit of control to have only one slice at a time."

If pumpkin isn't your jam come fall time, there's another flavor ready to swoop in and steal your heart: apple. Specifically, apple cinnamon. Another bonus for apple? Unlike the Pumpkin Spice Streusel Muffins, this flavor is available year-round (although your availability may depend on your store). For those who are burnt out by pumpkin spice dominating the aisles once autumn rolls around, apple is ready to be just as festive but with a little less hype.

Unless, of course, you're hyping up these Cinnamon Sugar and Apple Muffins from Walmart's Marketside label. Fortunately for those who are sticklers about the flavors on the label being what's actually represented in the product, these muffins do actually contain apples, not just apple pie spices. They're also studded throughout with cinnamon chips in a buttermilk base and finished with a cinnamon streusel top (although we do think Walmart could be heavier on the streusel, but that may be a personal preference).

Like the other muffins on this list, they come in a pack of four and have excellent reviews. Many customers call them the best store-bought muffins available anywhere and recommend, for a truly elite experience, heating them up with a little bit of butter.

Up until now, everything that's been highly rated in Walmart's bakery department has been something sweet. That's to be expected, of course, since when we think "bakery," we think "dessert." However, a dark horse snuck up from behind and made its way to win the silver medal: Marketside Brioche Hot Dog Buns.

Of course, brioche is a sweeter style of bread, enriched with loads of eggs, butter, and a touch of sugar, but compared to the other items on this list, you probably wouldn't serve up these hot dog buns for dessert. Reviewers complimented how soft these split-top buns – which are sold in packs of eight — are, and that they're the perfect vehicle for when you want to give your hot dogs a bit of a bougie upgrade. While they may seem limited in their uses, one reviewer suggests using them as a base for cinnamon toast or garlic bread to really get your money's worth. While they might be a touch more expensive than your run-of-the-mill hot dog buns, at $4.97 a package, it seems like a pretty affordable price for a little luxury at your next backyard BBQ.

Finally, we have made it to the summit, the crème de la crème of the Walmart bakery department: Marketside Lemon Blueberry Muffins. Beyond regular blueberry muffins — which are delicious, if a little boring, unless you know how to jazz up a boxed mix – this four-pack from Walmart adds extra zing with the help of lemon. The acidic ingredient is a must-add for blueberry muffins if you want a brighter flavor that also enhances the juiciness of the blueberries. In the case of these Marketside treats, lemon pulp is used to add a little extra oomph, as well as the requisite streusel topping.

With an almost perfect 5-star score on Walmart's website, if you pick up any bakery item the next time you visit the chain, have it be this. Multiple reviews say that the lemon is the key to upgrading these blueberry muffins, which they also applaud for being moist and fresh. A new addition to the bakery department (all reviews are only from this year), here's hoping these Marketside Lemon Blueberry Muffins become a permanent fixture.