Mace Dent Johnson is a writer on the kitchen team. To test stand mixers, they baked 18 loaves of bread, 30 dozen cookies, and seven birthday cakes.
What a uniquely modern pleasure it is to keep a whole pizza on hand, ready to be brought to life at a moment’s notice.
For the wonder and convenience it brings, we consider frozen pizza its own category, different from the offerings at your local slice shop or chain pizzeria. A good frozen pie is a welcome blast from the past, catapulting you back to childhood or college days when it was the easiest thing to cook for yourself. There are now more upscale, specialty options too, with pizzas made in New York City or even Italy and sent to a freezer aisle near you.
But not every frozen pizza is worth the freezer space. Some are a pale imitation of the real deal, a far cry from an ideal slice, nostalgia best held at a distance. And splurging only to be disappointed by a newfangled $12 one may make you wish you’d spent the money on delivery instead.
Over the years we’ve tasted 53 widely available frozen pizzas, from traditional cheese and pepperoni pies to gluten-free and vegan options, ranging from $5 to $20 per pie. Here are our favorites.
How we picked
- Scrumptious crusts
Varying in styles, all of our picks have crusts that are well seasoned, tie the pizza together, and bring texture to the table.
- Top-notch toppings
Our picks have quality toppings that are evenly distributed over the pizza and are well balanced with the sauce and crust.
- Foolproof instructions
Frozen pizzas should be simple and low-stress to prepare. We looked for pizzas that cooked true to the package instructions.
- Satisfaction
From refined margheritas to indulgent pepperoni pies, we picked fun-to-eat pizzas that can satisfy a craving.
The research
A truly impressive frozen pizza
Top pick
Stretchy cheese, crispy crust, and ample basil make this a delicious and elevated frozen pizza.
If you like meat on your pizza, we also found Di Fara’s pepperoni pie satisfying (though we overall preferred the brand’s cheese version).
We were drawn to the appearance of Di Fara’s pizzas as soon as they emerged from the oven, with their wood-fired crust, sprigs of basil, and bubbling cheese, dappled with browned spots. And the pizzas matched their curb appeal with equally delicious flavor.
What tasters loved most about the upscale Di Fara Classic Frozen Pizza and Di Fara Pepperoni Frozen Pizza were their crusts (which are the same). Subtly tangy, with a flavor reminiscent of sourdough, they’re thin and crisp in the center and light and airy around the edge — the ideal textural combo.
The crust is definitely the highlight of these pizzas, but the other components are tasty, too. Tasters called the sauce “bright” and “delightfully tangy” and remarked that each pizza came with just the right amount. And the blend of Parmesan and mozzarella — which comes in funny little cubes — is milky, chewy, and stretchy. We also loved the whole basil leaves, more prominent and plentiful on the classic version than on the pepperoni. Their herbaceous flavor counteracts the pizzas’ overall richness.
Between the two versions, we were most drawn to the cheese pie, though the pepperoni wasn’t far behind. The thick pepperoni slices bake into punchy, savory little cups, and some tasters wanted more — but they did make the pizza pretty oily.
If you’re looking for a slightly fancier pizza for your next Friday movie night (these pies cost about three times as much as our DiGiorno pick), both versions left tasters thoroughly impressed.
The best rising crust pepperoni pizza
Top pick
With its thick, pillowy crust and balanced flavors that DiGiorno has down to a science, this pizza is a cut above the rest.
The DiGiorno Rising Crust Ultimate Pepperoni Pizza is one of our overall favorites — of any kind of pizza. Among the only rising-crust styles we tested that actually rose, it came out nicely browned, with a voluminous, bready crust that was crispy on the bottom and fully cooked throughout.
Whereas other crusts were overly salty or sickeningly sweet, completely bland or strangely spiced, this one balanced a mild bready sweetness with a hint of salt and just a touch of yeasty aroma. Even tasters who don’t favor thick crusts admitted it tasted pretty good and provided solid support to the cheese and toppings.
The plentiful pepperoni slices crisped up nicely, the sauce had a garlicky kick, and the cheese was decent and generous. Though not mind-blowing, this is an ample, satisfying pizza that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Each ingredient blends well with the others, resulting in a cohesive, tasty bite.
We much preferred this pizza to DiGiorno’s Rising Crust Four Cheese Pizza, which leaned overly sweet without the salty, spicy pepperoni as a foil.
Deep-dish delicacies
Top pick
Magic happens in this pan pizza as cheese and garlic caramelize and enrobe the crust.
You get only a couple pepperoni per slice, but we didn’t mind.
Authentic Motor City Pizza Co. frozen pizzas have a devoted following, and much of that attention is deserved. You can find these “authentic” Detroit-style deep dish pizzas at many Walmarts, Costcos, and Targets across the country.
They stand out for their crust style — not deep dish in the Chicago sense but so named because their original (nonfrozen) versions are baked in deep, rectangular tins. These are the only pies we tested that come in their own disposable baking pan, to mimic those deep tins. It’s also the largest pizza we recommend, bigger even than the behemoth DiGiorno Rising Crust Ultimate Pepperoni Pizza, so it’s a great choice to feed a crowd.
The thick, pillowy crust is ample and good enough, but it’s not noteworthy on its own. “It’d be great if it were focaccia,” remarked one taster. “It’s like white bread.”
But the magic happens in the pan.
The crust is brushed with a garlic butter that combines with an intentional excess of cheese until it all browns and crisps along the edges and underside of the pizza. These delectable, lacy, crispy bits send this pie to the next level.
The sauce is garlicky and peppery, with notes of Parmesan and a pleasant, silky texture. The cheese on the Four Cheese pizza, a blend of mozzarella, Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano, was pretty neutral in flavor but melted evenly and covered the pizza well without overwhelming it.
The pepperoni pizza is generously cloaked in part-skim mozzarella, but it’s skimpy on the pepperoni, with only around 16 pieces on a pretty large pie. (If you want oodles of pepperoni, you might prefer the brand’s Double Pepperoni pizza, which we didn’t try.)
A showstopping gluten-free supreme
Top pick
Top pick, A genuinely delicious gluten-free pizza Kirkland Signature Supreme Cauliflower Crust Pizza
Kirkland Signature Supreme Cauliflower Crust Pizza
This affordable pizza wowed us with its variety of veggies, flavorful sausage, and crispy, cheesy crust.
Our tasters unanimously loved the Kirkland Signature Supreme Cauliflower Crust Pizza — it was one of our absolute favorites from testing. From the fennel-flecked sausage and the colorful veggies to the flavorful crust, every component of this pie is well executed. Even if you love all things gluten, we think this pizza could win over your tastebuds.
The crust is primarily made of cauliflower and low-moisture mozzarella cheese, plus rice flour, tapioca starch, egg whites, and dried herbs, which together make a crispy, savory base that blows most other cauliflower crusts out of the water. Just as impressively, while the crust can get a little soft in areas with lots of cheese and toppings, it doesn’t buckle under their weight — a feat many other gluten-free pizzas we tested didn’t pull off.
Among the ample toppings are mushrooms, bell peppers, sausage, pepperoni, and zucchini. While some tasters found the inclusion of zucchini a little random, all of the vegetable toppings play together nicely. But the sausage, flecked with fennel seeds, is the star of the show; it’s well spiced and moreish.
The mozzarella cheese on this pizza is stretchy, and you can taste the inclusion of Parmesan in the crust and on top. The sauce isn’t anything to write home about — it’s subtly sweet and herbaceous, like your basic jarred pizza sauce — but we had no complaints.
Many gluten-free pizzas cost more than their conventional counterparts while being a fraction of the size, but this Kirkland pizza costs around $14 for two hefty pies.
The best vegan frozen pizza
Top pick
With its wood-fired crust, sliced garlic, and whole basil leaves, this pizza offers an elevated experience — without the dairy.
A good frozen vegan pizza is not easy to find. The “cheese” is often sticky and acrid, while the crust tends to have the texture of cardboard (or at the very least, feel like an afterthought). It can also be difficult to find a vegan pizza that isn’t gluten-free too, as brands frequently lump dietary needs together.
The Blackbird Margherita Pizza is an exception.
This has been my go-to pizza for roughly a year. Our tasters liked it too, commenting especially on the crust, which looks and tastes wood-fired, with delicious spots of char evoking Neapolitan-style pizza.
Though the crust’s exterior is light, chewy, and airy, the thin center can feel a little floppy. To combat this at home, I cook the pie until done, slice it, and then pop the slices back into my oven for a few minutes to toast up any undercooked spots.
This pie’s sauce is bright and tastes of canned tomato and basil, boosting its overall appeal. We also loved the slices of garlic atop the pizza, as well as the leaves of basil, which bring a fresh, herbaceous kick.
The one component that slightly disappointed us during testing was the cheese — the downfall of many a vegan pie. While better than others we tried, it’s gooey and copious, and it sticks to the top of your mouth in a way that really put off some tasters.
I personally don’t mind the cheese, though it certainly isn’t my favorite part of the pizza, and I do wish there were a little less of it. But the fresh sauce, sharp garlic, and fragrant basil all help this pizza rise above the plight of its vegan dairy. (If you want a vegan pizza with cheese that’s a little less gloopy, Daiya’s Cheese Gluten-Free Thin Crust Pizza is worth considering — if you’re okay with a crackery crust and sweeter, less bright sauce.)
The Blackbird pie’s simplicity makes it perfect for piling on your toppings of choice. I’ve added various combinations of pepperoni, bell pepper, sun-dried tomato, and pesto — it’s good with just about everything.
Extra cheese, extra pep
Top pick
Ready your napkins: This pizza is covered in crispy, oily pepperoni.
If you eat pizza for the cheese, this ooey-gooey pie may be the one for you.
Tons of toppings are the point of Screamin’ Sicilian pizzas, as their boxes boast “Piles of pepperoni!” and “Ridiculous amounts of cheese!” — and it’s not all gimmick. Holy Pepperoni is a maximalist’s dream, with almost two full layers of crispy, oily pepperoni. Combined with the surplus of sauce, this pizza is especially messy to eat — shirt fronts, be warned.
Bessie’s Revenge, Screamin’ Sicilian’s cheese offering, makes good on its promise of generosity too, with a blend of shredded mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and white cheddar, plus a generous handful of fresh mozzarella slices. The browned cheese around the crust brought a lovely nutty, caramelized flavor to the pizza. But some tasters found this pizza intimidatingly cheesy — it’s not for the casual cheese eater.
The sauce on both pies is tangy, pleasingly salty, and actually tomatoey, with garlicky notes and just a hint of dried herbs. The crust is no star; it’s reminiscent of a thicker version of the crunchy, almost cracker-like crust you’d find in a Red Baron or Tombstone pizza. It’s well seasoned and nicely crunchy, though, offering a balance to the oodles of toppings. The result is a canvas just good enough to let the toppings bounty shine.
For nostalgia, served hot
Top pick
If you grew up eating frozen pizza, this pie will take you back, with a crunchy crust, chewy cheese, and a strong pepperoni flavor.
Tombstone’s Original Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza was our favorite among the nostalgic, lower-priced, thin-crust options we tried. This pie screams sleepover pizza — delightful, if not wholesome — and does what it does well.
The crust was crunchy but still maintained a slightly open, airy crumb — it’s not dense, tough, or overly crackery, like others in this category. The ratio of sauce to cheese to pepperoni was spot on, and the toppings were evenly distributed over the pie, with pleasingly browned cheese, especially around the edges.
Perhaps most distinctively, this pizza packed an extra pepperoni punch. On closer inspection we realized why: Little cubes of pepperoni are mixed into the sauce in addition to the slices of salty, smoky pep on top.
We also tried Tombstone’s Original Thin Crust 5 Cheese Pizza, and it was decent, but we missed the pepperoni-in-sauce magic.
Other frozen pizzas worth considering
A margherita pizza with a homemade vibe, in vegan and non-vegan options: Amy’s Margherita Pizza and Amy’s Vegan Margherita Pizza are relatively small pies, but both charmed our tasters with their simple flavors and wholesome ingredients. While they don’t have the exact same ingredients, their whole-wheat crusts both taste nutty and have a satisfying chew — they’re more similar to a good homemade crust than one from a pizzeria. And the sauce on each is bright and fresh, with chunks of tomato, though it’s pretty oregano-heavy. The cheese kept these pies from reaching pick status. On the non-vegan Margherita Pizza, the scant cubes of fresh mozzarella are very mild, with only a slight milky flavor. On the Vegan Margherita Pizza, the shredded fake cheese is a bit gooey, though it doesn’t coat your mouth like some other dairy-free options we tested.
If you want a gluten-free cheese pizza that isn’t vegan: The Caulipower Cheese Cauliflower Crust Pizza was our favorite gluten-free version of the nostalgic pizzas that we tried (think Totino’s). We liked its crunchy crust — crackery, thin, and crisp but not dense, dry, or crumbly like many gluten-free crusts. We also appreciated the just-right amount of sauce, though it did have a somewhat strong dried-herb flavor that one tester likened to Sundried Tomato & Basil Wheat Thins. And although some tasters found the cheese blend — which contains mozzarella, Fontina, provolone, Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago — unremarkable, we agreed it has a nice pull to it.
If you don’t eat dairy but can’t stand super-gooey vegan cheese: Daiya’s Cheese Gluten-Free Thin Crust Pizza had the least gloopy fake cheese of all the vegan pies we tested. While it is unsettlingly yellow, the blend, made from ingredients like oat cream and tapioca starch, manages to have some chew. This stood out to us during testing, as the cheese on most of the other vegan pizzas we tested was off-puttingly sticky. Beyond that, the pizza is just fine. Like Amy’s pizzas, it’s on the smaller side, and the crust has a crispy, pie-crust-like flake that perplexed some tasters. But two panelists did mark it as their favorite vegan pie (mainly because of the cheese), so it’s certainly a solid option.
If you want a gluten-free Neopolitan-style pizza: Oggi Margherita Pizza is a memorable frozen pie, if you can find it. At this year’s Natural Products Expo West, a major food trade show, kitchen editor Marilyn Ong sampled a slice and was impressed by all its parts. Made from ingredients including rice flour, corn and potato starches, and psyllium husk, the crust is soft and lightly chewy; Marilyn thinks it could easily be mistaken for a wheat-based crust. She also says the cheese, sauce, and basil were fresh and high quality. But this brand can be hard to find. We hope to test it with a panel in a future round.
The competition
Cheese
Table 87 Coal Oven Margherita Pizza has bright sauce and milky mozzarella, but we found the crust flat, dense, and dissatisfying.
We thought Target’s Good & Gather Self-Rising Crust Uncured Pepperoni Frozen Pizza had a bland crust and sauce that was nothing special. While tasters liked its chewy, stringy cheese, Bessie’s Revenge from Screamin’ Sicilian is a better option for cheese lovers.
Porta Pizza Margherita isn’t cheap, but it doesn’t taste upscale — it has scant sauce, overly salty cheese, and floppy crust. One taster said it reminded them of Chuck E. Cheese pizza.
The Trader Joe’s Margherita used to be a pick before the brand changed the recipe. But we found the new crust gummy and the cheese rubbery.
Katie’s Burrata Margherita pie is unbelievably thin and compressed, like a sheet of paper, and we could barely taste the sauce. The cheese tasted nicely cultured, though.
We’re fans of Rao’s marinara sauce, but its 5 Cheese Pizza disappointed us. It was far from the worst pizza we tried, but the cheese was bland, the crust was bready, and the sauce tasted too strongly of oregano, falling short of the upscale category the price places it in.
Newman’s Own Thin & Crispy Crust Four Cheese Pizza has a bland, tortilla-like crust, and some bites of cheese tasted powdery and acrid.
Even after extra time in the oven, the DiGiorno Rising Crust Four Cheese Pizza had a doughy flavor and squidgy texture. The DiGiorno Hand-Tossed Style Crust Four Cheese Pizza was also middling, with overly salty sauce and dense crust, evoking chain pizzeria, hospital pizza, and bowling alley pizza for our respective tasters.
Amy’s Cheese Pizza didn’t have enough cheese for our tasters. We much preferred the more satisfying Amy’s Margherita Pizza.
The Target Good & Gather Self-Rising Crust Four Cheese Frozen Pizza had a sickly sweet, under-seasoned crust, overly salty sauce, and rubbery cheese.
California Pizza Kitchen’s Crispy Thin Crust Four Cheese Pizza has a disappointing, pita-like crust, too-strong oregano flavor in the sauce, and an odd, overpowering porky aroma from the smoked gouda.
The Great Value Rising Crust Cheese Pizza tastes like cafeteria pizza, with off-tasting cheese, oregano overload, and salty, oily sauce on a raw-tasting, doughy crust.
Pepperoni
The Table 87 Coal Oven Pepperoni Pizza we prepared was particularly dry. It had a lot less sauce than the brand’s margherita and the same miserable, smooshed crust.
Porta’s Uncured Pepperoni has a bland, crunchy crust that reminded one taster of a communion wafer.
We also found the crust on the Urban Pie Uncured Pepperoni Pizza to be crackery, while the sauce tasted like jarred alfredo.
We didn’t like that Katie’s Pepperoni Straciatella Pizza is sauceless, and the honey drizzle makes it overly sweet, with a disappointing, dense crust.
The Trader Joe’s Uncured Pepperoni Pizza was extremely oily after we cooked it, and some tasters picked up on flavors of mold and fish.
With fewer pepperoni slices and a mealier textured crust, the Red Baron Classic Crust Pepperoni Pizza was outshone by the similar but better-executed Tombstone Original Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza.
We found Aldi’s Mama Cozzi’s Rising Crust Pepperoni Pizza overwhelmingly salty, with a strange and overpowering anise flavor coming from the sauce.
Costco’s Kirkland Signature Pepperoni Pizza has a nice amount of cheese and pepperoni slices, but tasters thought the crust was overly sweet but bland, with a tough, cracker-like texture.
Rao’s Uncured Pepperoni Pizza could be fine for a lower price, but it suffered similar issues to the brand’s cheese pie.
The 365 by Whole Foods Uncured Pepperoni Rising Crust Pizza has a crust with an uncanny seam around it, as though it was stamped out by a machine. We also found it dense and doughy.
People really love Ellio’s Pepperoni Pizza, but the pie we prepared was unappealing, both visually and taste-wise, with sparse cheese that resisted melting, too much sauce, and a cloying crust.
Gluten-free
Target Good & Gather’s Gluten Free Traditional Crust Cheese Pizza has an impressively puffy crust for a gluten-free pizza, but tasters found it bitter and powdery — and some even thought it too thick. Target’s Cauliflower Crust Four Cheese Pizza suffers from similar issues: The crust is bitter and dry.
Tasters found Milton’s Gluten Free Cauliflower Crust Uncured Pepperoni Pizza to be sadly thin and tiny. Its sauce is also quite sweet and lacking brightness, while the cheese and pepperoni taste like what you’d get on a cafeteria pizza.
Against the Grain’s Original Crust Three Cheese Pizza had a tough crust that some thought tasted like Cheez-Its.
While the Walmart Bettergoods Gluten Free Cauliflower Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza had a decent-looking crust, it was somewhat bitter and tough.
On top of Banza Gluten Free Four Cheese Pizza being such a tiny pie, it has a bland, dry crust that gets unappetizingly mushy in your mouth.
Both the Freschetta Gluten Free Pepperoni Pizza and Udi’s Bakery Four Cheese Blend Thin & Crispy Pizza have chewy, mochi-like crusts that we didn’t like, and the sauces are overpowered by the flavor of dried herbs.
There was way too much cheese on the 365 by Whole Foods Market Four Cheese Gluten Free Pizza, and it had an odd, sour taste.
We found the crust on Cappello’s Almond Flour Thin Crust Uncured Pepperoni Pizza simultaneously gummy and mealy.
Vegan
Walmart Bettergoods Plant-Based Cauliflower Crust Roasted Veggie Pizza is blanketed in cheese that we found goopy and unpleasant.
How we picked and tested
We’ve been testing frozen pizzas since 2023, tasting our way through pepperoni, cheese, gluten-free, and vegan pies. At time of publication, we’ve tried a total of 53 pizzas.
To decide which pizzas to test, we asked Wirecutter staffers from across the country to photograph the frozen pizzas available in large grocery chains near them, accumulating a database of pizzas in dozens of stores across more than 20 cities. We tested only pizzas that were widely available; we avoided region-specific options, expensive mail-order pizzas, limited-edition pizzas, or anything otherwise hard to find in a grocery store.
In our first round of testing, we set a price range of about $3 to $11 and disqualified pizzas that exclusively use imitation cheese. We also focused on pepperoni pizzas for that round and defaulted to rising-crust varieties. In 2024, we tested cheese pizzas.
When we conducted additional testing in 2026, we considered the growing category of upscale pizza, tasting pies that cost up to $16. We also sought out the promising vegan and gluten-free options available.
How we tested
We tried each pizza in a brand-concealed taste test with several members of the Wirecutter kitchen team. After examining each pizza frozen out of the package, we baked them according to the package instructions, noting how long each took to bake and any quirks or challenges. Once the pizzas were fully cooked, we took note of which were more or less appealing visually, especially focusing on cheese melt, grease level, and crust integrity and color.
Taste testers rated and reflected on each pizza’s crust, sauce, cheese, toppings, and overall taste. When it came to flavor:
- We avoided overly sweet or salty crusts and noted when they had pleasant flavors, like olive oil or whole wheat. We sought out textures that reminded us of slice-joint pizza, or at least brought something nice to the table, like plentifulness, chew, or crunch.
- We favored sauces that tasted like actual tomatoes, with bright, tart flavors that more closely resembled a fresh or good canned tomato than a bottom-shelf marinara. We developed a deep-seated vendetta against sauces that went too heavy on dried herbs, which can quickly overwhelm an entire pizza.
- We liked cheese that was fresh and milky, and we were pleasantly surprised whenever a cheese blend had a tart, tangy flavor or any notable cheese funk.
- We preferred pepperoni slices that weren’t overly salty but instead offered a balance of salt and subtle spice.
This article was edited by Amanda Arnold and Marilyn Ong.
Further reading
We Fired 100 Pizzas to Find the Best Pizza Oven
by Laura Motley
We tested 10 outdoor pizza ovens and two indoor ovens. They all reach impressively high temperatures, but the Ooni Koda 16 is easier to use and more versatile.The Pizzas I Made When I Lived in Italy Were the Best I Ever Had. This Outdoor Oven Transports Me Back.
by Katie Quinn
The Ooni Koda 16 Gas Powered Pizza Oven lets me cook pizza that tastes like the brick oven pies I made with locals in Puglia.
Everything You Need to Make Amazing Pizza at Home, According to Cookbook Author (and Wirecutter Staffer!) Katie Quinn
by Rose Maura Lorre
Want to live la dolce vita without ever leaving home? Try making your own Neapolitan-style pizza. Cookbook author Katie Quinn has a few ideas.
5 Reasons to Consider Buying an Ooni Pizza Oven Right Now
by Rose Maura Lorre
Ooni pizza ovens are definitely a splurge purchase—but now that one of our favorites is on sale, here’s why you may want to take the plunge.
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