We Style-Examined 17 Frozen Pizzas—Right here Are the Winners

I’ll prepare dinner and write about meals for a residing, however there are numerous evenings when I’m just too exhausted to organize a meal from scratch. Typically dinner is a snacking affair of greens and dip or cheese and crackers, and generally dinner is…a frozen cheese pizza stashed away in my freezer for a wet day. It’s a handy and reasonably priced meal, and relying on the pizza you purchase, it may be ok to scratch that pizza itch in a pinch.

With many manufacturers obtainable within the freezer aisle, it may be onerous to know that are price stocking in your freezer. Given the much more dizzying variety of topping choices on frozen pies, we restricted this take a look at to traditional tomato-and-cheese pizzas (or “margherita” pies as they’re generally marketed), pulling collectively 17 completely different frozen pies you’re prone to discover in your native grocery store and placing them to the take a look at.

After slicing and tasting our manner by means of the contenders, we discovered an general winner we’d be comfortable to pop into the oven a few times per week. We’ve additionally compiled a listing of another very stable pies we heartily advocate, together with pies for lovers of cheese, sauce, and extra.

The Standards

As with contemporary pizzeria pies, the standards for what makes a fantastic pizza is deeply private. Some folks love a skinny crust, some love New York-style pies, and a few desire Neapolitan pizzas. Some need an excellent coating of cheese, whereas others are pleased with islands of gooey melted mozzarella floating in a skinny slick of tomato sauce.

Although our editors all have completely different opinions on what makes a wonderful pizza, all of us agree that pizza crust shouldn’t be soggy or limp, nor robust or overly chewy, and there ought to be an applicable ratio of sauce and cheese to pizza. There’s no perfect ratio, nevertheless it’s clear when some pies lack sauce, cheese, or each. The sauce, in the meantime, ought to be tomato-forward, well-seasoned, and have a delicate sweetness and tang.

Total Winner: Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza

Costco’s Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza ticked all of the packing containers: It had sufficient sauce, plentiful cheese, and a crust with good spring. Of the 17 pizzas we tasted, it was the one one which happy virtually all of our choosy editors who all had very particular pizza preferences. Virtually everybody commented on how thick and bready the pizza dough was: Each Amanda Suarez, our affiliate visuals director, and Sabrina Tan, our artwork director, thought it was the right mixture of crisp and doughy. Others, nevertheless, thought it was a contact too bready and verged on the dry aspect. Nonetheless, this pizza was appropriately tacky and had a sauce that reminded our editorial director Daniel Gritzer of a “traditional” New York slice, which is the perfect type of praise.

A four-pack of this pizza value us simply $14.42 from Costco; at simply $3.60 per pie, our winner additionally occurs to be probably the most reasonably priced of all of the pizzas we tried.

Runners Up: Our Favourite Frozen Pizzas

The Greatest Pizza for Cheese Lovers: Newman’s Personal Skinny & Crispy 4 Cheese Pizza

“Very tacky,” “fairly tacky,” and “a lot cheese” are simply a number of the evaluations Newman’s Personal Skinny & Crispy 4 Cheese Pizza acquired from our editors. Whereas there was loads of good cheese protection right here, some tasters thought it was a contact too salty, and Daniel thought the cheese tasted a bit aged…which doesn’t must be a nasty factor, if you’d like a bit funk in your pizza.

The Greatest Pizza for Sauce Aficionados: Screamin’ Sicilian Skinny & Crispy Cheese Pizza

This pizza reminded our govt editorial director Tess Koman of Chuck-E Cheese pizza in one of the best ways potential: It was saucy and had sufficient cheese to make her go “heck yeah” within the feedback (the remainder of us aren’t positive we have ever stated “heck yeah” about one thing that reminds us of Chuck-E Cheese pizza, however we get what she meant). Our social media editor Kelli Solomon thought the sauce was “plentiful,” and Sabrina thought this had a fantastic sauce to cheese ratio. Whereas this pizza didn’t skimp on the sauce, it was a bit missing within the dough division, and a few of our editors complained that the dough was “barely current” and barely chalky in texture.

The Greatest Pizza for Dough Fans: DiGiorno’s 4 Cheese Pizza

DiGiorno, it seems to be like you have got followers: Our editors all thought this pizza had ample sauce and cheese, and Tess thought this was “FAR AND AWAY probably the most substantive and satisfying” crust. Based mostly on our editors’ evaluations, this pizza tasted the way in which we thought a frozen pizza ought to: “That is what I count on from a frozen pizza conceptually,” Amanda wrote, and Sabrina raved that it had an “iconic frozen pizza taste” and “scrumptious” crust.

The Greatest Margherita Pizza: Roberta’s Margherita

“This cheese is the actual deal!” Kelli exclaimed. “Not homogeneously distributed, however that offers it a Neapolitan-style vibe.” A number of folks complimented the pizza on its nice chewiness and delicate tang, and our affiliate editorial director Megan O. Steintrager favored that the sauce was “tomato ahead” with a “good tart edge.”

The Greatest Pizza If You Need Heaps and Numerous Herbs: Dr. Oetker 4 Cheese Pizza

Our editors loved the flavour of this pizza, although everybody thought Dr. Oetker was a bit heavy handed with the herbs. Tess thought it tasted “extra herb than the rest,” whereas Daniel discovered it “oregano-y.” Whereas this wasn’t the proper pie for all of our editors, it is likely to be for you—particularly if you happen to recognize an herbaceous kick.

The Contenders

• Amy’s Kitchen Margherita Pizza
• California Pizza Kitchen Skinny Crust 4 Cheese Pizza
• DiGiorno Conventional Crust 4 Cheese Pizza
• Dr. Oetker 4 Cheese Pizza
• Ellio’s Cheese Pizza
• Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza
• La Rossi Margherita Pizza
• Lean Delicacies Protein Kick 4 Cheese Pizza
• Newman’s Personal Skinny & Crispy 4 Cheese Pizza
• Porta Margherita Pizza
• Rao’s Brick Oven Crust 5 Cheese Pizza
• Purple Baron Basic Crust 4 Cheese Pizza
• Roberta’s Margherita Wooden Fired Pizza
• Screamin’ Sicilian Skinny & Crispy Cheese Pizza
• Goal’s Good & Collect Signature Wooden-Fired Margherita Pizza
• Dealer Joe’s Natural Three Cheese Pizza
• City Pie Pizza Co. Frozen Eight Cheeses Skinny Artisan Crust Pizza

In Conclusion

Going by means of the style take a look at outcomes, it was very apparent that everybody had very completely different pizza preferences. Some tasters sought out pronounced herbs of their sauce, whereas others didn’t take pleasure in that in any respect. Some beloved a nostalgic tasting slice that reminded them of the pizza bagels they loved as youngsters, whereas others detested something that would have handed for a center schooler’s lunch.

Total, nevertheless, our editors most well-liked pies with easy, tomato-forward sauces that weren’t too candy and had been gentle on basil and oregano. Except Roberta’s margherita pizza, our favorites had been all “4 cheese” pizzas. Whereas the sorts of cheeses included diversified, all of them contained mozzarella—some full-fat, some skim.

Finally, all the highest frozen pizzas are ones most of us can be comfortable to maintain within the freezer for a fast, straightforward meal, able to reheat at a second’s discover.

Our Testing Methodology

All style checks are carried out with manufacturers utterly hidden and with out dialogue. Tasters style samples in random order. For instance, taster A could style pattern 1 first, whereas taster B will style pattern 6 first. That is to forestall palate fatigue from unfairly giving anybody pattern a bonus. Tasters are requested to fill out tasting sheets rating the samples for numerous standards. All knowledge is tabulated and outcomes are calculated with no editorial enter as a way to give us probably the most neutral illustration of precise outcomes potential.