Best Frozen Pizza?

[JeffJ]

For the life of me I can't remember which brand it was but a few years ago my wife and I bought a frozen pizza and it was damn good by any standard. I was blown away by how good it was. Next time I'm at the grocery store I'll see if I can find it and post it here - I'd know it when I see it.

Also, the Chef Boy R Dee pizza kit is quite good. It calls for 2 thin crust pies but I make 1 thick crust pie. It comes with a can of sauce and a packet of cheese - the dried kind similar to the sprinkle parmesan found in those green cans. So, you'll need to purchase cheese and toppings separately but I've gotta say, the crust (add water, mix and let stand covered for a few minutes) and sauce have good flavor.

[Strat50]

I can agree with those above who say frozen pizza sucks.Yes, it can be argued that it's better than nothing, but for my taste, I'd rather have something else.

Here's the deal, though:
Pizza is easy and pretty quick to make yourself. The longest wait is for the dough to rise.
I can be eating pizza in less than 2 hours after I get home from work, for example.
It doesn't take any special equipment either, although those rocking some cast iron have an advantage.
You don't need to cook your sauce, and since I've been watching traditional Italian food vids for the past few years, probably will have a better sauce if not cooked, IMHO. All you need is tomatoes, salt, and pepper. A thin schmear is enough. Add any herbs you like later, especially if fresh. Trust Uncle Strat on this.

I usually have a small package of pepperoni, maybe 1 Italian sausage in the freezer, etc., on hand.Same with mozzarella. Yeah, it's just the shredded, but this is fast and good pizza, not artisan pizza.
It only takes about 10 minutes to make the dough, let rise till double, roll out and use.

Anyway, just my take.

[CaptainMike]

Yeah, this is how I go about it too. In fact, my typical MO is start 3 - 4 days in advance with our SD starter and make a legit pizza. However, with feeling kind of puny the past few days, but still wanting pizza, I thought I'd experiment with the frozen variety. It's been decades since I've had one those old cardboard creations and figured they must be a better product by now. I'll post my results and thoughts later this morning.

[MBMorgan]

We do pretty much the same ... even if not using SD. Our go-to is a modified Margherita ... topped with fresh mozzarella (always some in the fridge), fresh basil (from the little hydroponic thingy in the kitchen), scratch-made sauce ... and then we cheat by adding a little onion, some sliced olives, and green bell pepper.

Tried a frozen Costco "pizza" a few weeks ago and not only was it awful, by the time we added extra stuff in a vain attempt to make it edible, it took longer than scratch.

[rickgregory]

"I can agree with those above who say frozen pizza sucks....I can be eating pizza in less than 2 hours after I get home from work..."

As with others posting stuff like this, you miss the point that if someone wants to grab frozen pizza they DO NOT WANT to spend 2+ hours cooking and likely don't care about it being better.

What IS it with people popping into a post asking about frozen 'za and then saying "other stuff is better"? I don't pop into threads about ribs and say "wings are better!"

[Murdy]

Lotsa Motsa, sometimes available at Costco, are good (though I have significantly limited my frozen pizza consumption due to the sodium content).

[58limited]

I used to buy a stuffed pizza at HEB, I believe the brand was Anthony's or Antony's. It came with sauce and Parmesan packs - you spread the sauce on top, then the cheese, and baked about an hour. They were really good. Just checked and HEB doesn't carry them anymore

[STEbbq]

Our 15 minute pizza recipe is to use garlic naan bread as the dough. Load down with favorite toppings and in the oven for 10 minutes at 400.

[CaptainMike]

Easy peasy

[CaptainMike]

So, I made a list of all of the suggestions and this little piggy went to market. There were many different brands there, but the only one from the list was the Red Baron so I grabbed a 3-pack of the 4 cheese ($9.49, out the door!). Got the frozen delicacies home and into the deep freeze until dinnertime.

I got to wondering if there was a "best method" to cook a frozen pizza so I took my digits for walk across the keyboard and lo and behold there were a couple of sites that offered some great advice. Having a Baking Steel and wondering if I could do a frozen pie on one I checked with them first Cooking a Frozen Pizza? Use These Steps | Baking Steel – Baking Steel ® Then I found one from a pizza joint that many of you Chicagoans might recognize Best Way to Cook a Frozen Pizza | Giordano's. I borrowed a little from each and sallied forth.

For the dinner pizza I added about a cup each of freshly shredded mozz and charp cheddah along with some pepperoni and shrooms I had in the fridge and sliced black olives from the pantry. I put it on some parchment paper and launched onto the 550 degree preheated steel. 6 minutes later it was D - U - N done!

My first impression was the crust. Not cardboard-y like I remember, but definitely not pizzeria/homemade quality (and I wasn't expecting it to be so). It had a nice bite, kind of like a piece of toast and a pleasant chew. It was, however, almost flavorless. The Sauce was the next thing I noticed and it conjured up the same flavor of the last frozen pizza I ate who-knows-how-long-ago. Not terrible, but nothing I'd call good and I was a little disappointed there was no noticeable improvement over the years, at least with this brand. All of the toppings I added and pairing with a nice Cab definitely brought it up to an OK to good dinner with minimal effort. This morning I made carbonara breakfast pie topped with a couple of fried eggs and it was OK.

Summary: With running to town for a frozen pizza and basically topping it as I would a homemade I don't think it was a convenience. If I had some sitting in the freezer that might be a little different, but to echo StratFiddy's and MB Or Whatever His Name Is's comments above, it isn't really any more work, if a little added time, to make a simple pie at home that is much better than the one's we tried. And, of course, this from kidless Mr. EveryDayIsSaturday so take it with a grain of salt. I still have my list and will be on the lookout for all of those others mentioned.

Thanks again for all of your comments and suggestions! This is the best part of the Pitmaster Club experience!

And to prove it happened, the requisite photographic evidence:

[CaptainMike]

ComfortablyNumb once I recover from your crushing advice, I think I'll do that as well.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Nice adventure...We have a couple local pizza joints that par bake and freeze their pizza's so you can have them at home ready to go at a moments notice.
My nephew owns a local pizza place (not one that freezes their pizzas though), we get 3-4 balls of their dough and keep it in the freezer until needed. This is a great way to make almost homemade pizzas without the fuss of making your own dough.

[rickgregory]

Summary: With running to town for a frozen pizza and basically topping it as I would a homemade I don't think it was a convenience. If I had some sitting in the freezer that might be a little different...

Sure, if you have to go to the store, come back, figure out stuff to doll up the pizza, it will be less convenient. But that's NOT what people use frozen pizza for. It's for pulling from the freezer (i.e. you already have it there) and shoving into the oven. Done. No running to the store etc.

I mean, if you want to do all that you might as well cook a real meal. Frozen pizza isn't a substitute for that. It's an alternative for when you a) don't want to cook (tough week, you're sick, etc) and b) you want a meal quickly. Oh and c) take out isn't an option for whatever reason.

Basically, when you add all the overhead of shopping and prepping things to 'make it better' then you lose the reasons for it I the first place.

All of this makes me want to do the experiment I've been wanting to try for awhile - make my own crust, top it, then freeze THAT. Then cook from frozen. Basically, do meal prep but for frozen pizza. This might get the best of both worlds - high quality, pizza with the ingredients I like and then the ability to have 'on demand' pizza from a freezer.

[Strat50]

Pizzas freeze pretty well in my experience. Even fresh mozz doesn't do badly in the freezer. The dough especially freezes well, and I've frozen lots of dough. You can portion and freeze, or roll out flat, freeze , then package.

[rickgregory]

Strat50 I've got some 00 flour and good canned tomatoes. I think I'll whip up some dough tomorrow, grab some mozzarella and try a couple of NY style pizzas next week, one baked fresh, one frozen and then baked.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Frozen pizzas have come a long way since I was young lad. We have a couple places here in our tiny rural area that will par bake and freeze their pizzas for a quick cook at home meal. So my kids get these and keep them around.

[WillTravelForFood]

We've also tried Urban Pie and liked their uncured pepperoni.

Didnt care care for digiornos croissant crust

Tried the Outsiders deep dish chicago and hated it. Bad sauce, bad pepperoni distribution

[Richard Chrz]

If I’m buying a frozen to stow away for those days, mine would be a Home Run Inn.

[Dadof3Illinois]

I lived in the Chicago are back in the mid 80's and started eating home run pizzas and fell in love with that distinct crust. Fast forward 30 + years and found them in my local store, so exciting...I don't think they are as good as they were back then but still tasty!!

[Reds Fan 5]

Screaming Sicilian with Penzey’s pizza topping seasoning.

[Mosca]

I haven’t had one since I don’t know when. Frankly, there’s no room in the freezer, what with all the meat in there.

[Richard Chrz]

We’ve enjoyed home run inn pizza.

[Potkettleblack]

Living in Chicago, it's kind of a sin to be eating frozen pizza, given the wealth of quality pizzas in nearly every neighborhood.

That said, screaming sicilian has been my favorite pandemic lunch pie for the last year. Comes out of the oven pretty good, nice balance of sauce to cheese, the pepperoni is pretty decent, and they give you chunks on top of slices, which allows for better distribution. Crust is not cardboard, which is a vote of confidence, imho.

[Murdy]

I know it's kind of in the Kraft Mac & Cheese and canned tomato soup department, but Tombstone still has a nostalgia factor that I love.