Discussion: Best Frozen Pizza
I’m on a quest to find the best frozen pizza. No that’s a lie, let’s just talk pizza. There have been many advances through the years and big changes since my days of grubbing on Mama Celeste pizza as a kid. So what’s your favorite frozen pizza? What would you say is the best? How does DiGiorno really stack up against delivery? What’s the worst frozen pizza? Most overrated/underrated? Right now I’d have to say my favorite frozen pizzas would be the Jamaican Jerk Chicken from California Pizza Kitchen and the Freschetta Brick Oven Pepperoni. Frozen pizza discussion time!
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Tags: Best Frozen Pizza, Favorite Frozen Pizza
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Best- Canadian Bacon Pineapple Freshetta naturally rising and Simply Inspired versions
Worst- Anything Orvs
I haven’t had too many lately but I did recently have American Flatbread the kind with sun dried tomatoes and even though they look small they made to pretty good meals and were crisp and pretty good. I usually like lots of sauce and only a little cheese and these were the exact opposite so I was surprised I liked it. I will say though that they are expensive and I wouldn’t pay for it if I didn’t have free coupons.
Even though it is very basic I am a sucker for the quick elio’s and even though it says not microwaveable, I beg to differ.
As a kid I really liked Tombstone and Digiorno
I enjoy the new Red Baron ‘Baron’s Best’ pan pizza; it’s thick and bready (which I like) and doesn’t have the same weird sauce that the regular Red Baron has, and it’s also not ‘rising crust’. Unfortunately it’s also about $6 when not on sale. I’ve never had luck with the rising crust pizzas like DiGiorno; they never seem to turn out right for me.
Freschetta’s brick oven mushroom and spinach pizza is my personal favorite. This is the only frozen pizza I’ve had that has a unique flavor. The rest of the frozen pizza’s sort of blend together. And yeah I know that this isn’t really the pizza that a bigger guy should go around telling people he likes.
You read my MIND on that Freschetta Brick Oven. It truly is the tastiest/best quality delivery pizza I’ve yet found. As for California Pizza Kitchen, their line of thin crust chicken pizzas gives you the best bang for your calorie buck, although I prefer the BBQ chicken myself. Then there’s the prize for best nostalgia frozen pizza, which goes to Totino’s. Plus they put straight up fennel seeds on their pizzas, who does that? For just your inexpensive, run-of-the-mill frozen pizza, Red Baron is a solid bet. DiGiorno’s is good, too, but the problem with them is they claim to be better than delivery so the whole time I’m eating it all I’m thinking about is how much better delivery pizza would be. And the cheese in their stuffed crust is kind of tasteless. Jack’s is okay in a pinch and sometimes very cheap – I saw a 5 for $10 deal at a Walgreen’s in my college town once. Anything less expensive than Jacks…don’t bother. I know price isn’t always a gauge of quality but I’ve met some truly awful frozen pizzas in my life. Peace out, I’m gonna go eat some frozen pizza.
Totinos hamburger, although not a full sized pizza, delicious.
I haven’t tried too many, honestly. But since my boyfriend is a pizza fiend, I try to indulge him sometimes, which lately has meant I pick up a frozen pizza. I have tried a couple from Trader Joe’s and those were quite good. Just the right texture for the crust, crispy and soft at the same time. One of the pizzas I got was a roasted vegetable pizza that was apparently vegan… yeah, no cheese. I didn’t do that on purpose and was pretty upset (as was the BF). We added the tiny bit of shredded cheese we had in the house, but surprisingly it was good! It had some unidentifiable creamy-consistency vegetable based sauce that was flavorful, yet I will note that it tasted healthy. At any rate I recommend trying TJ’s frozen pizzas if you have one nearby.
Unfortunately I don’t have much more to contribute, but I’m interested to see what everyone else has to say, as I was planning on grabbing a frozen pizza for dinner some night this weekend.
The CPK Jamaican Jerk is up there for me, maybe even #1. I love a couple of Trader Joe’s pizzas, too. The worst I have ever had was Frontera Foods Barbecue Chicken pizza. Truly awful. (Do they make those anymore? I haven’t seen them for a long time.)
My favorite frozen pizza ever was the Digiorno deep dish pepperoni that took about an hour to cook and contained 2000 calories.
JESUS CHRIST! You are not alone. That pizza was fantastic and will never be eaten again. Digiorno are idiots for not still selling what might have been the best frozen pizza ever.
This really existed? Damn, I missed out…
The pizza pictured above is my favorite actually
My favorite national brand:
Freschetta PizzaAmore Supreme
My favorite regional pizza brand:
Connie’s “special” – cheese,sausage,mushroom,onion,green peppers
http://www.conniesnaturals.com/products/connies-naturals-thin-crust-special-pizza.html
I had my first Connie’s recently (sausage) and I was impressed! I think they’re new to my area (St. Louis) and are only in one store. I don’t usually shop there but now that you reminded me I’m going to have to go back and pick up another Connie’s!
My oven doesn’t work right, so I have to go for tiny toaster oven sized pizza. I like Stouffers French Bread pizzas. Either the White pizza or Roasted Vegetable.
RED BARON PEPPERONI FOREVER
I have to go with Red Baron Pepperoni as well. I’ve tried every brand in the freezer section but none of them flaunt the unique deliciousness of Red Baron!
Freschetta southern bbq chicken is the best. Digiorno single pepperoni and single pepperoni stuffed crust are good too. All CPK frozen pizzas suck!
Anything Freshetta is the best frozen pizza by far. Best crust and best sauce.
I’ve yet to find a frozen pizza whose sauce doesn’t leave the roof of my mouth sore from the over-acidulated sauce. Having said that, I don’t think you can judge frozen pizza on the same scale as sit-down or delivery. There’s just no way to recreate actual pizza from frozen. So I tend to look at frozen pizza almost like a completely different food, almost the same way I look at Pizza Hut (greasy fried dough covered in lots of “stuff?” not bad…). Adam Kuban had a pretty good take on frozen pizza recently on Slice:
http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2012/10/a-pizza-my-mind-the-best-frozen-pizza-period.html?ref=search
Gonna have to go with Freshetta. The sauce taste so good as well as the bread.
Home Run Inn
Agreed on Home Run Inn! Sausage and Pepperoni. The crust on these are different, almost like a pie crust. Another one I love are the ‘upscale’ Walmart brand World Table pizzas. They have a Pepperoni and Fresh Mozzarella that is delicious. Thick cuts of meat.
Home Run Inn!! When you can find them. I have bought them from Target and Walmart. Cheese is DENSE, you have to choke it down, but it’s really good. I love when frozen pizza fans have never had an HRI, it reminds them what a guilty pleasure frozen pizza is all about.
I also love to buy the $1 Totinos and add extra toppings. The chewy greasy crackly crust is so good.
Yes and Yes! Home Run Inn pizzas are so good, and I just recently tried the World Table Pepperoni and fresh Mozzarella and loved it. Those 2 brands are my absolute favorites!
Seconded. It is a very rich pizza though, and I can usually only eat 2-3 slices at most.
The best-selling frozen pizza in all of Chicago retails for $8. That should tell you Home Run Inn is somethin special if people are willing to pay. (It’s often on sale for $5, though.) To say it demolishes all other frozen pizza is an understatement. Flaky, buttery crust, thick sauce, lots of cheese, and the best italian sausage ever frozen.
Red Baron Pan pizza ain’t bad.
reggios, or red barron fire baked
Trader Joe’s triple cheese pizza.
world table thin crust pepperoni pizza from Walmart
I agree — Walmart’s World Table brand is very, very good! The Philly cheesesteak pizza is delicious (especially with added sauteed onions and peppers) as is their pepperoni. I’ve heard good things about their buffalo chicken pizza, but I haven’t tried it yet. These pizzas were defintely a surprise and I always make sure to have one or two in my freezer now.
I also really like Amy’s 4 cheese and margarita pizzas. The crust is crispy but chewy and I really the sauce, as well.
Publix Margherita pizza. So good.
http://nathanalbert.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/photo-apr-02-8-24-40-pm.jpg
Home Rin Inn
My absolute favorite frozen pizza is from a company called “Pizza Corner”, based in Valley City, North Dakota. Unfortunately, they only sell it in the Dakotas and Minnesota.
http://www.pizzacorner.net/
Home run inn pepperoni and tombstone surprisingly too!
I love digiornos and freschettas rising crust pizzas and CPK’s garlic chicken
I always have a Mama Cozzi’s rising crust pepperoni pizza from Aldi’s in my freezer. It’t their (better) version of a DiGiorno, but the sauce is less acidic, the pepperoni less spicy, and the dough is lighter. And at around $3.50 apiece everyday, a great deal as well.
On occasion, they also have a fantastic frozen Stone Baked Margherita with basil, mozzarella and tons of diced tomatoes on a thin crispy crust. Its one of their rotating selection of specialty pizzas which also include a decent four cheese. As well, they have fresh pizzas of various types in the fridge.
Of course, like anything frozen, you can improve on it with a little spice like garlic powder and oregano…and sometimes a little bit of expensive Grande pizza cheese (the best pizza mozzarella you can buy) which adds a little salt as well.
tombstone!!
Tombstone is by far my favorite. Not bottom-tier, but also not desperately trying to be something it isn’t. It’s a perfect middle-of-the-road frozen pizza, and still tastes exactly the same as when I was a kid!
Totino’s Pepperoni (not the “classic pepperoni.” That one has sliced pepperoni.) You may have to eat two of them to fill you up, but for $1.15 each at Walmart, that’s no problem. The “Combination” version is very good too. A very light and crispy crust.
Red Baron Deep Dish is ok. And Mystic Pizza is very good, though I think that’s only available in CT. I don’t enjoy the rising crust pizzas; Digiorno’s or anyone else’s. If I want that kind of pizza I’m better off buying a pizza from a pizza joint. Hell, I’d consider a Little Caesar’s $5 pizza an upgrade over one of those rising crust frozen pizzas, and those grocery store bricks of dough are often more expensive. Frozen pizzas are best when they’re their own thing.
I miss Tombstones pepperoni stuffed crust pizzas from when I was a kid. I haven’t had a pizza as good since they discontinuted it. I guess a close second would be Freshetta’s bbq chicken pizza. So good.
Totinos (hamburger, supreme, or 3-cheese),
Orvs (“pepperoni supreme” or “veggie supreme”)
Roma (deluxe)
Tombstone (various)
Bagel Bites (not pizza, but w/pizza toppings) (pepperoni & sausage)
Lots of others are so-so, and taste overly processed.
As a guy who is on a quest to try every kind of frozen pizza in the US I would have to say American Flatbread has the best so far out of the 50 I’ve tried.
I’ll agree with a couple others, saying that Red Baron and Tombstone have a quality of pepperoni the expensive brands can’t seem to match.
I’ve never gotten a bad pizza at Aldi, and they have a wonderful cheesy bread too.
Target (Archer Farm’s and Market Pantry) make good pizza too.
And I too love the Pepperoni from Totino’s.
I’m not too picky, so I usually buy the kinds I like that are on sale. I like Home Run Inn and some of the local brands that have big pieces of sausage and other toppings. I also like Jack’s Mexican pizza which I add hot sauce, sour cream, and shredded lettuce. It sounds bizarre, but our elementary school used to serve Mexican pizza like that (minus the hot sauce) when I was a kid, so maybe it’s just nostalgia.
The worst frozen pizza I’ve had was a CPK BBQ Chicken pizza that I tried after hearing hype. The one I got wasn’t made correctly, and had almost no cheese on half of it. The other half wasn’t much better, and it had a sparse amount chicken. The only thing I could taste was dry crust with a little dried out bbq on it, and I had to use my own bbq and ranch just to eat it. The concept of that pizza could really work well and I might try to make my own someday, but for what they try to charge that was just awful.
Totally agree CPK frozen pizzas suck. To make matters worse CPK frozen pizzas are also the most expensive.
Has anyone tried the pizzas with the added wings or cookies? I’ve always wondered if they were any good.
My favorite would probably be the Stouffers French Bread Pizza. Take two, put them on top of one another and make a toasted pizza sub
Newman’s Own
California Pizza Kitchen
Amy’s Organic
Home Run Inn
I first ate frozen pizza (and the wretched Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee kits) in the 1960s, and they were uniformly awful. Almost no cheese, thin soggy crusts, and pinkk watery ketchup for sauce. BIG leap forward with Elio’s frozen pizza in the 1970s. Today, I wouldn’t eat that except for nostalgic reasons. There are really a lot of very decent frozen pies, and folks have named them here. Freschetta, DiGiorno (I like the rising crust, it was a breakthrough), and house brands like Mama Cozzi at Aldi. Bottom line, DiGiorno and most frozen pies today ARE “better than delivery” because most pizza places are the awful big chains, or mom-n-pops using the cheapest Sysco ingredients and undercooking their pies, serving up wet greasy slop.
In this review, I compared DiGiorno to local pie: http://mainlinepizzaquest.blogspot.com/2012/11/review-digiorno-rising-crust-pizza.html
Here is my review of a take-and-bake by Mama Cozzi’s: http://mainlinepizzaquest.blogspot.com/2012/12/review-mama-cozzis-pizza.html
And when you get a chance to go out for top-notch pie, here are the 49 best places I’ve tried: http://mainlinepizzaquest.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-favorites-49-pizzas-worth-calories.html
Are the Chef Boyardee pizza kits today substantially different from the ones of the ’60s? Their ads of that time always crack me up with how much they play up the “authentic Italian” angle, because of course we didn’t know any better back then. But I’ve always been curious about how certain foods and food products tasted decades ago as compared to now – Heinz ketchup, McDonald’s burgers, etc…
When I was a kid we had Appian Way pizza from a box, and it was pretty awesome!
I still have an Appian Way pizza baking pan – but I can’t say I remember the pies.
Good post, I agree… there’s some decent frozen pizza out there. It’s not cheap these days, so I guess that’s why it’s not getting as much credit as I’d thought. I wouldn’t say DiGiorno is way better than average delivery pizza, but it’s at least close. You could do a lot worse, so it’s a great option when you’re going for something convenient.
Frozen pizza is best when it’s not trying too hard. If you’re eating frozen pizza, you’ve already resigned yourself to a certain price and/or maximum level of quality. After all, there’s no point in shelling out $8-9 for a “premium” brand when you can get a fresh option for about that much… unless the convenience of a frozen pie means that much, which is understandable. For me, it doesn’t, so if I’m going frozen, it’s with the low-to-mid-tier brands that have been the same since time immemorial: Totino’s, Jeno’s, Tombstone, Red Baron, Tony’s, Jack’s. (One of the tastiest pizzas I ever had was a cheap-ass Jack’s with added honey and goat cheese that I happened to have lying around!) The “premium” brands will get a look from me only if they’re on sale. For the most part, they’re disappointments for the price, though Freschetta has a few decent entries.
Home Run Inn Sausage and Mushroom or the new Home Run Inn Atomic with Sausage, sliced fresh red and green jalapenos and red pepper flakes, delish!
I would enjoy Home Run Inn pizzas a lot better if they had a different crust. Something about corn meal pizza crusts turns me off.
It’s not made with corn meal. It’s made with a fermented kinda flour which makes the flour flaky and kinda naturally buttery. It’s fantastic!
I grew up on the cheapo rectangular Elio’s pizza, popped it in the toaster oven for countless late night snacks as a kid.
I don’t indulge too often now, but the Aldi’s frozen pizza is actually pretty decent especially considering the price. In general, there are some really good buys in the Aldi’s frozen section, although I’ve had a few purchases that were major busts.
Mystic makes some really good frozen pizzas, I’m a fan of their roasted veggie. But, Dr. Oetker’s makes the best frozen pizza, hands down.
I agree 100%. Dr Oetker’s is the best I’ve found, and Mystic is second place in my personal rankings. Stouffer’s French bread pizza is also tasty.
we go way back, the two of us. right now my favorite is kroger’s ‘private selection’ brand (specifically the pepperoni with roasted garlic). it is pretty absurd and I recommend checking it out if there are kroger supermarkets nearby!
Culinary Circle thin crust pizzas are really good. It’s a store brand I get at Albertson’s.
Evol Meatball and Mozzarella pizza is my current #1. Also Artichoke Pizza Co. in New York city makes their own frozen pizza know, found at my local A&P in NJ, haven’t had it yet, but if it lives up to their fresh Artichoke Pizza that would be my #1.
Red Baron pan pizza is fantastic in my opinion. The Freschetta line is also pretty good and usually on sale at my store. Digiorno is okay… too saucy as I see it but a lot of people like that. I’d take the Red Baron pan ANY day over any other frozen pizza.
Totino’s sports a hefty load of trans fat in their pizzas …probably what makes them taste so good (in part), unlike most, if not all, of the other brands with zero trans fat. Regardless of that fact, I still buy Totino’s.
It has a hefty load of trans fat because Totino’s, instead of cheese, uses shortening (yes, Crisco) shaped like shredded cheese on their pizza. Look at the ingredients list. Imitation mozzarella cheese. Imitation! It’s revolting.
Hush. I don’t need to know that. lol… If you go out for burgers or pizza, there is plenty of trans fat to go around. While Totinos is high compared with other store bought pizza, it’s still on par with the fast food world in general, at least burger-wise. Half a Totinos pizza = one McD quarter pounder, or two McDoubles, trans fat-wise. On the other hand, as far as pizzarias go, some, such as Pizza Hut and Rocky Rococo, have very little to zero trans fat, while other places are likely to have more. Shop around for a place with greating food + zero trans fat.
Who cares about trans fat when your eating frozen pizza? Seriously! It’s obvious that it’s not health food. I’ll take Totino’s over the higher priced failures that try to imitate real pizza any day. The way I see it, is if your in the mood for a frozen pie, go cheap. If you want the flavor of an actual pizza shop pie, don’t be a cheap chump and order a pie from your local mom & pop shop. Another five or six bucks isn’t going to hurt you, and if it does, then that’s why there’s Totino’s.
Jack’s Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza!!
NO one has stated the Palermo’s Primo Thin Special Edition Pepperoni Pizza yet????
Freschetta Brick Oven line is actually my guilty pleasure, and the only frozen pizza I’ll buy. The Mushroom and Spinach and the Supreme are my favorites. I’ve tried multiple DiGiorno’s and they just don’t even come close.
Try dipping the spinach and mushroom one in some old balsamic vinegar. It’s amazing!
Palermo’s Margherita!
Palermo’s Primo Thin Margherita is the absolute best!
Call me simple, but the Totino’s (any variety) pizza still holds a place in my heart. This accounted for a lot of after-school snacks with me. I still enjoy them…the crust is weird but good.
I used to like the Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, but the sauce is way too sweet now.
…so it just isn’t me when it comes to Stouffers French Bread Pizza. They were a favorite of mine, but the sauce has indeed changed of late, and it’s terrible. The same can be said with a few other brands I once enjoyed as well.
There’s no such thing as a good frozen pizza … I forget what it’s called. Freschetta? That’s the only one that’s tolerable. Everything else tastes foul.
Tombstone tastes like blood, and DiGiorno’s crust tastes like fish.
hah… The older I get, the more I can’t stand store-bought processed pizza either. Even some of the pizzarias aren’t that great, but you just have to try different places, and see if they have any weekly specials / coupons. Once you start paying $8 or 9 for store-bought, you may as well go for quality from a decent pizzaria.
Freschetta is a good pizza, their pepperoni is my favorite.
It begins and ends with Stouffer’s French Bread Pizza.
Totinos is the best bc of the crust with all it’s trans fat goodness.
I used to love Tony’s when it had the pepperoni that would curl into little grease filled cups. Why did they ever change it? *sigh*
Now, I buy the Premium Selection Brand thin crust with extra pepperoni. It’s the bomb.
tony’s pizza was the best when they had those pepperoni i miss that so much
Home Run Inn Pizza is the most consistently good tasting frozen pizza I’ve had. Also, Gino’s East has great frozen pizza here in Chicago.
I say another vote for RED BARON PEPPERONI …
My absolute FAVORITE frozen pizza is a classic pepperoni pizza by Jack’s. The crust is just the right thinness and the cheese and sauce are incredibly tasty. I have never had a sour experience with Jack’s pizza. I will buy them when theyre on sale, but only that because I dont think theyre worth the 3.5 they sell them for originally because of how thin the crust is.
I think Freschetta makes the best overall frozen pizza. Sadly though it seems there being pushed out by DiGiorno. Red Baron and then Archer Farms.
I love Amy’s pizza’s or the ones by Newman’s Own. He has a terrific thin crust margherita that is so fabulously crispy and delicious. Amy’s has good veggie toppings.
Home Run Inn (any version) by far. Freschetta’s Spinach/Portabella Mushroom/Garlic Alfredo Brick Oven is second. Connie’s despite being bland is 3rd.
Favorite Frozen Pizza currently being made would be the Green Mill Pescara style.
But the one that I’ll never forget that stopped being made years ago, was Papalos pizza. Tastiest sauce around, perfect crust and toppings. Damn I miss that pizza!
Am I the only one who thinks Digiorno’s crust tastes like #@%*?
No, your not alone. Their crust tastes like yeast and their sauce sucks.
Speaking of crappy sauce, what did Red Baron and Tony’s do? Something changed with both of those brands, and it resides in their sauce. Tony’s was never that great, but their offers as of late, are damn near uneatable now. Red Baron is still good, but something changed with the sauce, and it just ruins it.
I hate to say it, but if I have to settle for frozen pizza, I would just assume have a cheap Totino’s Party Pizza. There’s just something about those things. All the brands trying to imitate real pizza fall short, cost too much, and leave me disappointed. Totino’s Party Pizza never fails to live up to my expectations of frozen pizza nostalgia.
Which reminds me. The Mama Celeste reference brought back some good old memories for me. I remember when they were pretty much the only game in town during the 70′s and early 80′s.
Best ever will always be the freschetta sauce stuffed crust pizzas. I really wish they still made them…
Newmans Own Four cheese or uncured pepperoni! Just tryed both the other day. They were a little small and pricey but really good! My normal goto frozen pizza is Red Barron, I love their sauce:)
Jeno’s. (plus your own pepperoni & cheese)
Unfortunately they’ve been hit by the grocery shrink ray.
Dr Oetker’s 4-cheese. Dr Oetker’s also wins the award for the pizza looking the most like the picture on the box.
Home Run Inn! Pepp & sausage. Elios in the 70′s/early 80′s I used to love late night. I like Stouffers but as mentioned their sauce has changed for the worse and they are mush smaller than they used to be (like everything)
Stouffers will always hold the record for “most roof of mouths ever burned by 1 food”
Freschetta classic rising supreme and their new Margherita. It all starts with the dough and Freschetta has the best dough I’ve ever tasted of ANY pizza including from a pizza shop. I have no time for thin crust, why bother? Tonight we had the Margherita. I like to top with freshly chopped garlic and pizza seasoning. I also like to pour some extra virgin olive oil on the plate and dip/rub the crust in it before each bite. Heaven…absolute heaven.
[...] all frozen pizzas are created equal, as we saw from our frozen pizza discussion a few months ago. A few brands in particular stand out to me in their efforts to make their pizza [...]