DiGiorno Thin & Crispy Stuffed Crust Pizzas Review: Fans Of Both Thin And Stuffed Crust Pizza Can Have It All
There are two types of pizza eaters, those who love crust and those who understand that crust is merely a cheese and topping delivery vehicle. If you're in the latter group, you'll appreciate DiGiorno's latest thin crust pizzas — they don't just have a thin crust, they have a stuffed thin crust. I know what you're thinking, "But a thin crust that is also stuffed could not possibly be crispy!" Well, it is. Gather round.
DiGiorno has announced three new "Thin & Crispy Stuffed Crust Pizzas." The first two — Pepperoni & Sausage and Margherita — are available now at "select retailers," which basically means nowhere near my house (hopefully you are luckier than me). The third, a pepperoni pizza with a Mike's Hot Honey drizzle won't be available until June, so at the moment that one is sadly unreviewable. All three pizzas feature a thin crust that somehow remains crispy despite also being stuffed, which frankly seems a bit hard to believe, but that's what personal reviews are for.
Even though DiGiorno has apparently declined to bring its new pizzas to a grocery store near me, I did receive samples of the first two pizzas via UPS, packed into boxes with terrifyingly cold bags of dry ice, which solved the "not in my neighborhood" problem and allowed me to try them out and pass the information on to you.
What's on the Pepperoni & Sausage and Margherita Thin & Crispy Stuffed Crust Pizzas?
If your family, friend group, or annoying roommates can't ever agree on pizza toppings, you'll be happy to hear that these two pizzas are wildly different from each other. The Pepperoni & Sausage pizza is topped with (you guessed it) pepperoni and sausage, so it's good for those who insist on meaty pizzas. The Margherita pizza is better for those who are not meaty pizza fans — it features diced tomatoes, basil, and a four-cheese blend (mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and Asiago). Buy one of each so the meat lovers will be happy and the vegetarians will be happy, until the meat lovers start also eating the Margherita pizza because that's always what happens.
Here are the specifics: The Pepperoni & Sausage pizza features pepperoni made from pork, chicken, and beef, and sausage made from pork and chicken. The cheese — according to the ingredients list — is mainly mozzarella, but small amounts of Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano cheese are also noted. Interestingly, the Margherita pizza, which includes Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano in its product description, also appears to contain similarly limited amounts of those cheeses.
The crust on these pizzas is just as described: thin and crispy. It's made from an enriched wheat flour. As for the stuff the thin crust is stuffed with, I'm not really sure. The promotional photo shows cheese, so let's just go with that ... more details later.
Price and availability of DiGiorno's Thin & Crispy Stuffed Crust pizzas
DiGiorno's Thin & Crispy Stuffed pizzas are medium-sized — smaller than the brand's Rising Crust pizzas and larger than its personal pizzas. All three have an MSRP of $8.99, which is on par with the larger Rising Crust pizza, at least according to the overpriced grocery stores in my area. Thin & Crispy Stuffed pizzas are also significantly lower priced than DiGiorno's regular stuffed pizzas (which are $12.49 at my store), though I can't say for sure that these comparisons will pan out once these products finally hit the shelves since prices can vary significantly between stores.
Since DiGiorno doesn't really say which "select locations" carry its new pizzas, I was kind of left guessing about where you might have to go and how far you might have to travel if you want to try one. I did find the Pepperoni & Sausage version on the Publix website, where I was forced to try a few big city zip codes to see if I could find it somewhere, anywhere. New York was a no (though granted it has a lot of zip codes I didn't try) and so were the zip codes I tried in Milwaukee (DiGiorno pizzas are made in Wisconsin), but I did get a hit for Chicago. So if you're lucky enough to live in the Windy City, check out your local Publix.
How do DiGiorno's Thin & Crispy Stuffed Crust pizzas compare to other popular DiGiorno pizzas?
DiGiorno seems to understand that pizza lovers have a range of crust preferences. Its Rising Crust pizza — the one my family typically buys — is for people who think crust is just as important as toppings. Its Thin Crust pizza downplays crust in favor of toppings, and its Stuffed Crust pizza is like a promise that you can have it all. Where does the Thin & Crispy Stuffed Crust pizza fit into all that? Well, it's kind of like the child of Stuffed Crust and Thin Crust, the one you buy if you think even the regular Thin Crust pizza is still a little bit too crust-forward.
The one thing that stood out the most to me while trying these pizzas is the departure that the Margherita pizza represents from DiGiorno's typical line of products. Meat pizzas are DiGiorno's go-to ... just about every crust iteration has a pepperoni, supreme (sausage and pepperoni), and/or three meat version, and the vegetarian option is typically just ... cheese. (To be fair, I did find a Thin Crust Margherita and an Ultra Thin Veggie Lover on the DiGiorno product page, but I've never seen either of those in my local stores.) I hope the presence of a Margherita pizza in this new product lineup will mean more readily available vegetarian options on store shelves.
What's the nutritional value?
Um, it's pizza, y'all. It has no nutritional value. Okay, that's not completely fair, but let's be real, no one who buys pizza is really thinking all that hard about how nutritious it might be. But since you asked, here's what the plain white box my pizza samples came in told me: Contains bioengineered food ingredients.
Now frankly, I don't care. I don't personally think bioengineered food is dangerous, but some folks will disagree, so there it is. As far as the rest of the nutritional information is concerned, ¼ of the Pepperoni & Sausage pizza has 410 calories per serving, 11 grams of saturated fat, 910 mg of sodium, and 4 grams of sugar. It also has a few pluses, delivering 19 grams of protein and 340 mg of calcium. One-quarter of the Margherita pizza is a bit lighter on the bad stuff, with 330 calories, 9 grams of saturated fat, 620 mg of sodium, and 4 grams of sugar. At 16 grams, it has a little less protein; at 350 mg, it has a little more calcium. Though really, if your goal is to consume protein and calcium, maybe you should try nonfat Greek Yogurt.
Anyway, I'm guessing you aren't disappointed to hear this isn't healthy food because you never expected otherwise. But if you are mostly eating healthy and watching calories, at least now you have some idea about how much of your calorie budget you're gonna blow.
The verdict: How did it taste?
I baked both pizzas for lunch and shared them with my 19-year-old, who expressed a preference for the Margherita pizza, although I have no idea how he actually managed to taste anything while horking down six slices in 30 seconds. I personally preferred the meat pizza, which was enormously surprising since I am one of those people who usually orders mushrooms and black olives with occasional artichoke hearts if I'm being adventurous.
More specifically, both pizzas were delicious. I could definitely taste more cheese/sauce/toppings than crust, but the crust was crispy enough that it contributed some much-needed texture to what otherwise would have been a gooey mess. My favorite thing about the Margherita pizza was the finely diced tomatoes — Margherita pizzas with tomato slices have always been a bit off-putting for me because they're a little too overwhelmingly tomato-y. The pepperoni on the Pepperoni & Sausage pizza had a mildly spicy flavor that was a little different from the pepperoni I've had on other pizzas, though that really could be in my head since I'm usually not a pepperoni kinda gal.
The thing that fell just a little short for me on both pizzas was the stuffed crust. I mean, it was definitely stuffed and I guess it was stuffed with cheese, but I was surprised how hard it was to identify what exactly was between those two thin layers of crust. It wasn't overstuffed, that much was clear.
Methodology
The opinions relayed above are mostly mine, based on my many, many years of pizza eating, which includes frozen pizzas of various brands and varieties as well as pizzeria pizzas (both excellent and terrible), and the weird oversauced pizza-like things my husband makes sometimes. I based my opinion on flavor, texture, and the accuracy of the manufacturer's claims about things like "crispy" and "cheesy." I considered the input of my 19-year-old son but I don't really think inhalation is the best way to review a pizza, so this figured into my opinion rather minimally.
Importantly, I based my opinion — as all humans do — on what I personally like in a pizza, which basically amounts to plentiful cheese, tangy but not overwhelmingly tangy sauce, and crust that doesn't taste like it was part of the box the pizza came in. Because these are my own personal preferences, this means my conclusions may not match yours. I don't think you'll be disappointed, but I reserve the right to deny responsibility if you are.