4 Best And 5 Worst Frozen Pizzas For Supreme Lovers

Fresh pizza is great, and you might imagine many prefer fresh pizza from a swanky joint, but many Americans would prefer a take-and bake option (just another thing to file under facts you never knew about pizza). Frozen pizzas are another alternative, but there are a few aisles in the grocery stores that are so absolutely stuffed with brands and options as the frozen pizza aisle. As someone who loves a great frozen pizza, I made the (delicious) sacrifice of trying a range of brands to discover which ones you should immediately put in your cart and others that could remain in their freezer case.

Over the course of about a week, I sampled pizzas from as many brands as I could, exclusively focused on supreme styles of pizza. This meant the pizzas had meats, cheeses, and veggies on top. Typically, you'll see supreme pizzas with pepperoni, sausage, onions, and peppers. Some supreme pizzas will have more toppings, like mushrooms and olives.

To determine the best and the worst, I kept a few aspects in mind: taste, texture, and balance of ingredients. In the end, I discovered some real winners that I'm eager to purchase again.

Overall, I've been pretty impressed with Target's private label Market Pantry. In general, I can count on these products to be pretty high-quality, both in flavor and texture. Unfortunately, the Market Pantry thin crust supreme pizza did not follow suit. I expected it to be a cracker-crispy crust, and even pulling it out of the oven, judging by the doneness of the pizza, I thought I was in for a win, but, instead, the crust had something of a stale bite to it. It looked like it should have been crispy, but it was actually more wimpy with very little crunch.

Flavor-wise, it reminded me of a Jack's brand pizza: the kind of frozen pizza that I enjoyed as a kid that was ultra-cheap. There's not much special about it, and the flavor is passable, but not something super enjoyable. As a kid, I may not have known any better, but comparatively, nothing about the flavor of the Market Pantry supreme pizza stacks up to other brands.

The private label over at Costco (Kirkland Signature) is a different story entirely. At Costco, you know you've got a winner of a product when the associates at the door checking receipts comments on how tasty it is. In fact, on the trip I picked up Kirkland Signature's cauliflower crust supreme pizza, the associate commented that she thought it had something of a smoky flavor. I'm not a fan of smoky flavors, so the pizza was at a little of a disadvantage right away. It turns out, there was no need.

Anyone who's been around me for the last couple of months knows how impressed I've become with Costco, and that continues with the pizza. Admittedly, I was skeptical. I've tried cauliflower crust in the past and wasn't impressed by its flavor or texture. Here, it's a completely different story. Not only does the cauliflower crust have a great texture, the flavor is stellar too. In places, it tastes like the crunchy bits of hardened cheese you get in cheese bread or pizza. The supreme toppings are balanced well, too. For those who hate olives (like my husband), it's a great supreme because the toppings are pretty simple.

Comparatively, the pizza had fewer calories per serving than most of the pizzas, clocking in at 310. The carbohydrates were comparable to other flavors, even though the crust was made from cauliflower rather than flour. Ingredient-wise, I typically expect to see flour mixed in with cauliflower crust, but this didn't have any of that. In fact, it's certified gluten-free by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization, a huge benefit for people who watch their gluten consumption.

I love buying Newman's Own products, so I was happy to see the company alongside frozen pizza brands you can find at the grocery store. The brand is steadfastly devoted to giving profit back to kids. Right on the box, it states that 100% of profits go to help kids, so it's a purchase you can feel pretty good about. Unfortunately, the supreme pizza is not one of my favorite products by Newman's Own.

The box advertises that the pizza is thin and crispy. While the crust is certainly thinner than many others I tried, it was not crispy. Instead, I would've called it something closer to wimpy. Overall, the dominating flavor throughout the entire pizza was the sauce. It seemed the kind of pizza sauce I had as a kid in those Lunchables. Granted, the pizza was my favorite of those, so it wasn't necessarily a bad flavor here, but it shouldn't be the overarching flavor in the supreme pizza. Not to mention, with it being such a thin crust, the pizza was a little on the small side. According to the nutrition facts, there are only three servings of pizza in each box.

One of my favorite pizzas I tried of the batch came from Freschetta. I was expecting the picture on the box to really be over-selling the fresh flavor I would get, but with the way this pizza turned out, I must say that the packaging was spot-on. On the front of the box, you see a note that it is a naturally rising crust, but even as I took it out of the shrink wrapped package, I noticed that it already had something like a risen crust, so perhaps the rising happens before it is frozen.

As someone who likes both cracker-thin and crunchy tavern-style crust and more pillowy crust, this ubiquitous pizza chain style crust was perfect. I would describe it as fluffy, with much more of a leaning towards a pan pizza than anything else. The flavor itself was a little on the spicy side, but the dough had a handmade feel to it. It tasted so homemade, in fact, if someone served this to me and claimed that they had spent all afternoon making the dough for the crust, in all likelihood, I would believe them. Like other pizzas that were some of the best I tried, the balance of flavors was excellent, and everything worked well together. It might be worth noting that this pizza required one of the longest baking times of any I tried, and I took it out of the oven just after 26 minutes. You're going to need to wait just a little longer to get the quality of this pizza from your oven.

On most frozen pizza boxes, you don't get a glimpse into the ingredients you're actually buying. Most of the time, a picture on the box does all the talking, showing a cooked pizza. This can be misleading because these photos are often re-touched and even re-colored. Certainly, they're typically stylized to make the pizza look the best it can. However, Screamin' Sicilian pizza company went a different route. Rather than showing a picture of a cooked pizza, you get a glimpse at the frozen pizza itself. For this reason, the packaging stands apart and gives the impression that the pizza should be one of the freshest, least tasteless things you can find. After all, you can see what the ingredients are: abundant and tasty looking. Unfortunately, there were aspects of the supreme pizza that made it into one of my least favorite options I sampled.

For one, there was simply too much pepperoni. Like other supreme pizzas that focus too much on sausage or on roasted veggies, Screamin' Sicilian offered way too much pepperoni, overpowering any of the other ingredients, let alone the veggies. Although the box doesn't advertise it having a thin crust, I found that the crust was more on the thin side but still too moist to be considered a cracker crust. All told, the interesting design of the packaging simply doesn't hold up to the quality it seems to be promising.

One of my favorite pizzas came from Motor City Pizza Co., and it's a pizza made in the Detroit style. No doubt you've heard of Chicago or New York style pizza, but what makes Detroit style pizza unique is that it's rectangular and made in a pan with high walls. While some thicker pan pizzas are made in circular pizza pans, Detroit style pizza was originally cooked in steel pans used by area auto builders to hold extra parts. The way these pans hold the pizza allows cheese to crisp up on the outside and get caramelized and crunchy. The inside of the pizza is still cooked, but it's softer, making for a crispy exterior and a softer interior. There's zero reason to avoid the crust on this pizza, and although fresh Detroit style pizza would surely be better, the Motor City Pizza Co. captures the experience pretty convincingly, even in a frozen pizza.

Rather than being cooked in a steel pan, the Motor City Pizza Co supplies a tray to cook your pizza, and that pan is more papery, but it still does the job. It's a little on the flimsy side compared to the style of pan this pizza would normally be cooked in, but it works very well. The baking tray is an absolute necessity for this pizza to come out exactly the way it's intended, and if you see pizza with cheese on the outside of the crust, don't panic, because that cheese will just toast up nicely to leave a delicious crust when its all done. You'll also likely have leftovers here, but whatever you do, please avoid rehearing your pizza in the microwave.

Trader Joe's does not have a pizza the store labels as a supreme, but the Pizza Parlano at Trader Joe's has all the toppings of a supreme pizza, so I'm counting it. I had high hopes for this pizza since it's from Trader Joe's, but I was ultimately disappointed.

Texture-wise, the crust had an odd, not quite soft or hard, but rather stale feel to it. Even though I ate it right after cooking it, the stale was evident. The pizza looked bright and fresh, but this was a total Trojan horse, as it may have been enough to put the pizza in my cart, but it didn't taste at all as I would have hoped. Rather than fresh, crisp veggies, these are roasted, even before putting the pizza in the oven, where they no doubt get cooked even more, leading to mushy veggies with a roasted flavor.

In supreme pizzas especially, I like a mix of ingredients that all work together. There should be a balance to it all, and while some of the pizzas achieved this balance, the Trader Joe's pizza wasn't one of them, with Italian sausage stealing the spotlight a majority of the time. Admittedly, if I were looking for a sausage pizza and it had this Italian sausage on it, I would be pleased, but here, the sausage was overpowering. Some may dig this flavor, but it wasn't one of my favorite Trader Joe's products.

Many of the best pizzas I tried were excellent and ended up being specialty pizzas of some kind, but Red Baron was one of the more simple pizzas I tried. Especially of the basic options, this Red Baron classic crust pizza is a winner.

I found that the sauce ended up being just a touch sweet and even slightly spicy, but it felt like a slightly more seasoned typical pizza sauce. The balance of the flavor was ideal, with no part overwhelming the rest of the ingredients. In terms of crust, this was between a thicker pan pizza and a thin crust, so it was much more of a medium sort of style cross like you might get at Domino's or Papa John's.

I like this as a very agreeable, middle-of-the-road pizza. It's probably not going to be one that you're going to crave, but it's definitely a pizza you would enjoy. I often find that Red Baron pizzas are often buy one get one at stores like Publix, so if you happen to see this supreme as a BOGO option, don't be afraid to pick it up, even if it's a brand you're not familiar with. Expect a decent pizza, and one that would be generally agreeable to most people who might sample it.

As a kid, there was nearly no better gaming snack than Totino's Pizza Rolls. Then, in college, what paired better with cheap beer than Totino's? Nearly nothing. So, when I saw Totino's Party Pizza, I longed to relive those snack glory days. The only problem? Totino's Party Pizza is terrible. When I saw it was rectangular, I got all the rectangular pizza lunch vibes, but calling this similar to an elementary school cafeteria pizza is an insult to cafeteria staff everywhere.

There's just so much wrong with this pizza, and it all begins with the size. When I think of "party pizza," I assume it must be large enough to share with, well, a party. Not so. It's small, barely enough for one person. The flavor is also just blah, with not much going on. The looks of the ingredients aren't going to inspire anyone either. The sausage comes in tiny crumbles and even the pepperoni is cubed. The onions and peppers are also tiny cubes and barely enough to call this a supreme pizza. It was, easily, my least favorite of any supreme pizza I tried.

Over the course of a week, I sampled these pizzas, cooking them according to the package instructions (though I understand your grill can turn frozen pizza into something extraordinary). While sampling each, I noted such essential aspects as the taste of the pizza, the texture of each one, and the balance of ingredients. For taste, I was looking for pizza that was enjoyable to eat. Slightly spicy with some of the ingredients, but not too spicy, with a freshness to it with the veggies. Texture varied based on each pizza, but it needed to create what it advertised it would be. If it was to be thin and crispy, I needed to see that. Alternately, if it was to be pillowy, that should be the texture.

Finally, the balance of ingredients I looked for needed to take all the toppings together so that no part was over or under represented. Items that were enjoyable in taste, an accurate texture according to the box, and a balance of all toppings resulted in the best pizzas.