Frozen Pizza

[Instylarry]

What's the tastiest supermarket frozen pizza?

[NCVeggie]

If you're up for a major calorie bomb, UNO's pizza- you have to cook it in a deep dish pie pan (spray it first for best results). They are delicious, and I think it's less bad for your than the kind you get in the restaurant because they have to print the nutritional information on the box!

[junescook]

Freschetta Simply varieties. The crust is so thin it's actually translucent, and they have really interesting varieties of toppings. At Stop and Shop they're normally $7.19 I think, but they rotate them as specials at $5.00.

PS. At this time of year I will often top any pizza, fresh or frozen, with fresh tomato slicas.

[Rodzilla]

1. American Flatbread
2. Full of Life Flatbread are the next closest

Much Cheaper
3. Dr. Oetker
4. a few CPK aren't bad

5. Amys organic Individual pies.

[INDIANRIVERFL]

Did a test a couple weeks ago. Tostino's at $1.25, Publix at $4.59, and Newman's Own at $5.59. All peperoni. All baked according to instructions in the same oven at the same time. A little overlap, but the slices didn't come from those areas.

The Tostinos had the thinnest crust and was reminiscent of cardboard. I could taste the tomato sauce. The cheese did not melt and had no flavor. The peperoni tasted appropriate.

The Publix hac a very thick crust that was more like a bread. Couldn't taste the tomato sauce but the cheese melted and had some flavor. The peperoni was slightly larger in size if not in flavor.

Newman's Own had a medium crust that tasted like pizza crust. Definite tomato and herb flavor. The cheese wasn't stretchy, but in adequate portions. The peperoni was very good.

So in my opinion, the Tostino's won. And here is why. I bought Publix peperoni slices and mozzerella block cheese. Add oregano and marjoram. That is enough for about 10 pies. Cooking at a lower temp allows the crust not to turn into a cracker. Amortised over ten pies, I am spending $2.00 per pie for an acceptable snack or no brainer meal.

[Googs]

Oh well, when you put it that way... I add a little asiago before (insert brand name here) goes in and some oregano and maybe some chili peppers when it comes out. Makes any piece of cardboard taste good.

[Cameraman]

Costco's Kirkland brand drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with salt, garlic powder and chile peppers and some thin sliced onions is a favorite in our house.

[flinta]

I like Ristorante by Dr. Oetker. I like the Funghi and pesto one the best. I am in Ontario, they are in every store here anyway.

[Googs]

In Toronto, the Highland Farms house brand Country Kitchen pizzas are not bad at all. Okay, they're fresh not frozen when sold, but I occasionally freeze until I have that long day at the office and then I cook them up. Tasty crust and traditional toppings. Better than the others I've seen at any grocery store.

[RealMenJulienne]

If we're talking about taste, I really like Home Run Inn sausage pizza. The quality of the sausage is better than that found in many actual pizzerias. The crust is sort of like a pastry dough so it's a bit denser and flakier than others, so if you you prefer an airier, more breadlike crust you may not like Home Run Inn.

If we're talking about nostalgia, the $1 Totino's Party Pizza cannot be beat. Smells and tastes like undergrad.

[ferret]

Home Run Inn makes very good frozen pizzas as does Vito & Nick (both Chicago-based). HRI's now-discontinued plum tomato frozen pizza was possibly one of the best frozen pizza varieties ever. For those outside the Chicago area you can get frozen Lou Malnati's overnighted anywhere in the US - not quite as good as the real experience, but a damn good frozen pizza.

[Bada Bing]

I agree: Home Run Inn is about the best regular frozen pizza I've tasted. I'm not sure how widely distributed it is, though. We live near Chicago and can buy easily 6-8 different varieties of Home Run Inn. They're all good.

California Pizza Kitchen can also be quite good, although their pies are much lighter in weight than Home Run Inn and therefore rather costly when you factor in what it takes to fill people up.

[THoey1963]

I am still planning on grilling my own pizza here soon, but until then, I like the DiGiorno Cheese Stuffed Crust pizza. I get the plain pepperoni and then add my toppings du jour. Takes a little longer to cook and using a pizza stone is kinda a must as the extra toppings don't allow the crust to brown as well without it.

[jme1beachbum]

That damn Digiorno cheese stuffed crust is my total weakness. Basically only "processed" premade food in my house!

[rockandroller1]

There have been a few other threads about this on CH. Generally, like "real" pizza, it really depends on what you consider a good pizza, which as variable as scrambled egg preferences. Just keep trying different kinds til you find one you want. Most of them are serviceable enough.

[RetiredChef]

One of the fun things our social group did in California was to hold blind taste tests of all sorts of products and cuisine. We taste tested 12 different brands of frozen pizza - out of the "national" brands Freschetta was the crowd favorite receiving the highest average rating. Digiorno's came in close to the top but some of their pies were lackluster (spinach Garlic by Digiorno was a favorite)

For non-national pizza American Flatbread was the clear winner so if you have them in your area check that out.

A oddball that stood out was Stouffer's French Bread Pizza.

Other pizzas that on average did very well were:

Wolfgang Pucks
Whole Foods
Fontera

Pizzas that didn't fare very well were

Tombstone
Amy's
Trader Joes
Red Baron

_____________________

California Pizza Kitchen got very mixed reviews - some people loved them and some didn't like them, however almost everyone agreed that the BBQ chicken pizza was very good.

[alliegator]

That's very interesting! Stouffers French bread is my favorite frozen pizza. Nice to know I'm in good company.

[pinehurst]

Agree with you. God help me, I still love it.

[PantryandFridge]

I agree.

[lynnlato]

As a teenager I practically lived on Stouffers french bread pepperoni pizza. But I also LOVED Tony's pizza, for it's like, flaky crust. Funny, because back then I loved Sicilian crust pizza. Ugh, that stuff would kill me now!

I wouldn't and couldn't eat either one these days, but I loved that stuff back in the day. Today, I will sometimes by Digiorno's thin crust pizza. It's eh, but aren't they all?

[RealMenJulienne]

I applaud your efforts! The results are kind of surprising actually because I think Digiorno is the bottom of the frozen pizza barrel. Do you have a full write up of tasting notes for each pizza you can post?

[fourunder]

http://www.treetavernpizza.com/histor...

The original one...drizzled with olive oil before placing in the oven.....

[ecustard]

That history is hallucinogenic. The Tree Tavern pizza that was fantastic for an inexpensive frozen pie is a relic of the past. Current Tree Tavern pizza bears no resemblance whatsoever to its former, toothsome, rolled-edge crust self that lent itself beautifully to personal customization before baking. In fact it and current Shop Rite branded pizzas are one and the same visually if not literally.

Which makes me sad. :(