In my last month in Ann Arbor, Iāve had to give up cooking, which has made having decent meals at home a bit difficult. I thought this would be a great time to try a bunch of frozen pizzas, which I would normally NEVER allow to enter my home. I tried to more or less get their pepperoni pizza version, so that things would be consistent. All of the pizzas were prepared correctly according to their instructions using a regular gas oven. Letās begin!
Well I had to start with the most popular frozen pizza brand out there. I picked their hand-tossed pizza because I thought the crust looked a bit thinner than their traditional. The crust wasnāt very tasty, and I couldnāt get a good fold on it, it was almost like eating stale bread. As I ate more of the pizza, I was realizing that all of my fullness was coming from this subpar dough. The sauce was all but non-existent, I could see it, but I couldnāt taste it. I thought the pepperoni was actually quite good, and the cheese was decent. I would never recommend this pizza over going out, it was mediocre, but surprisingly to me, not terrible.
Screaminā Sicilian Holy Pepperoni
This pizza really surprised me, it was truly good in a way I was not expecting at all. Screaminā is not a well known brand, but with some decent advertising I think this frozen pizza is going places. Everything tasted great, however the crust was pretty chewy and not as good as the other components. My other complaint about this pizza was that there was an insane amount of cheese on it, which could not be held in by my fold attempt. Definitely my favorite pizza of the group.
California Pizza Kitchen Signature Pepperoni
CPK is pretty well known for their frozen pizzas, so I was a bit disappointed and underwhelmed by this one. As usual for CPK, it wasnāt your standard pepperoni pizza, they put their own unique spin on it, but I wasnāt that into it. It had a good CSR, but it was heavily spiced and the taste of the pepperoni was lacking. It had an extra thin cracker crust which I thought was pretty good. Itās possible that a thin crust comes out better with a frozen pizza, but itās just speculation.
Amyās brand items are sold as being from higher quality ingredients, so I was interested to see how their pizza was going to taste. I thought this pizza had the best tasting crust out of all the frozen pizzas I tried, it was light and flaky. Unfortunately, thatās about all that this pizza had going for it. The sauce and cheese were not great, the sauce itself was very watery and was falling off my slices. Most of the bites you can only taste the crust, so this was a disappointment overall.
I had heard great things about Trader Joeās frozen pizza, so I was excited to try this one. However all of my joy turned to ash in my mouth upon attempting to eat this. The taste was just terrible, and I got no further than one slice before deciding that it wasnāt worth continuing. This pizza is horrible, and it was the only pizza from this review that I did not fully finish.
Trader Joeās Pizza Margherita
Thankfully I had a backup from Trader Joeās so they could at least have the chance to redeem themselves. My pizza didnāt end up looking like the picture at all, the mozzarella patties sitting like that arenāt very appetizing. The crust on this one was very hard, there was no chance for a fold, However the crust was crispy and actually tasted pretty good. The sauce and cheese on the other hand were very bland, having little taste. Overall, a very mediocre pizza.
Tombstone Pepperoni Pizza
Strangely, this pizza folded up in the oven for reasons I cannot explain. It had a very crunchy crust, the crunchiest of the group, but unfortunately it was not a standout in terms of taste. The sauce and the cheese actually tasted decent, not great, but there was a lot of cheese. Overall I thought that this pizza exceeded expectations and may actually be a good value for the price it is sold at.
Red Baron Brick Oven Pepperoni
Red Baron had the most hefty, substantial crust of the bunch. You could get a good fold on it which I was happy to see. The toppings however were not great, the overall taste was mediocre, yet not terrible. The cheese tasted off, and I think it ruined the rest of the pizza. I also noted that you taste a lot of crust in each bite.Ā
I am glad my journey to the center of the freezer aisle is over. Obviously, I donāt think anyone expects frozen pizza to be anything like what youāll find at an actual pizzeria, but what is being sold here is a cheap imitation of pizza.
The hardest thing to get right with these by far was the crust. I donāt know if itās truly possible to prepare a pizza crust for the freezer aisle and have it come out of the oven like a real pizza crust. The frozen pizza crusts I ate mostly tasted like stale bread, and thereās no way I would ever mistake them for something fresh from the oven. Something in the way the dough unthaws in the oven makes it overpower the other components of the pizza. The sauce, cheese, and pepperoni on each pizza were typically bland, with a few standouts.
My favorite pizza by far out of all of these was the Screaminā brand pizza, which I thought had all of their components tasting pretty good. If I had to pick a number two, I would go with the Digiorno, but I would be wary of anything other than their hand tossed varieties.
Iām certainly not going to be stocking up on frozen pizza anytime soon, and Iām happy to be done with this once and for all!
I had to make sure two of the most popular pizza products too!
Pizza Bagels were a favorite of mine growing up. We never had them in our house, so I could only have them when hanging out with friends. That all changed in college of course, for better or for worse. I still quite enjoyed having these even now. They have certainly lost some of their luster but the bagel part of the pizza bagel is very satisfying to eat and fills you up. Iāll never be ok with what the surface of one of these things looks like, though.
Pizza Rolls are what I regarded as the lesser cousin of Pizza Bagels. The pocket of dough that contains them, is very bland to me even when properly toasted in an oven, never a microwave! Also, itās very hard to get to these during the short window when they are still warm and the cheese and sauce are ooey gooey delicious. Taking a bite too soon after they come out of the oven may be disastrous, as the insides are said to be as hot as lava. Wait too long, and youāre eating cold sauce. Pizza Rolls can stay in the supermarket, as far as Iām concerned.
Better late than never! I grew up eating Ellios Pizza so I wanted to review it but it wasnāt available to buy in Michigan, but now I can finally add it to this review. Ellios pizza is trying to be (obviously) square pizza, and the picture has always shown ripping these into thirds but has anyone honestly ever done that? Look how small this thing is on its own, so why bother. Anyway, I loved this stuff growing up, but as an adult I was not impressed at all. Itās got the standard issues with frozen pizza, tough crust, cheese and sauce are lacking in flavor. It was a fun breakfast to have on Saturday mornings when I was 10, but thankfully I do not crave this pizza anymore.