9 Thin-Crust Frozen Pizzas, Ranked Worst To Best

Since its ancient inception, pizza has evolved to become a wide-ranging food category that encompasses countless styles around the globe. One way to categorize pizza in its many forms is by crust thickness. There's the chewy, airy, and blistered crust of a Neopolitan, the buttery, bready thickness of a Chicago deep-dish, and dozens of styles in between. For my money, though, there's nothing like a crispy thin crust. Whether New York, tavern-style, or Roman, these pizzas are easy to eat but difficult to perfect if you're making them from scratch. That's where frozen pizza comes in.

When you're in the mood for a crispy pizza but don't want to cook or wait for delivery, frozen thin-crust pizzas can be ready in a flash, and they'll run you a fraction of the cost and effort of those others. In an effort to discern which store-bought frozen thin-crust pizzas are the best, I gathered eight common brands — all pepperoni — and tested them against one another. Crust was key in determining the winner, but I also took into account the pizza as a whole, including sauce and toppings. Read on to find out how they ranked, from worst to best.

First, I shopped at a variety of local grocery stores and made a note of all available pizza brands that offered some version of a thin crust. I then narrowed it down to brands that seemed the most widely available. To keep things as even as possible, I decided to stick with one classic flavor for all of the pizzas: Pepperoni, the most popular pizza topping in America.

Once the pizzas were procured, I cooked them one at a time as per the instructions on each package. Each was tasted and assessed first and foremost on its crust: texture, flavor, and how well it cooked. I looked for crusts that were thin yet substantial enough to comfortably hold their toppings without becoming soggy or falling apart, and that weren't too overdone or brittle. While the crust was the main driver of this ranking, I also took into account the other elements of each pizza — sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and any other flavoring additions — and how well they worked with said crust. 

At first bite, Target's Market Pantry brand thin-crust pizza seemed like it had some promise, despite the fact that it cooked unevenly, with charred edges and a gooey soft interior. The crust was chewy and fairly pliable, there's lots of beautifully melted cheese covering the crust all the way to the edge, and they weren't stingy with the pepperoni – you're sure to get some in every bite. The balance of toppings was done well, with just enough tomato sauce to complement the rest without having so much that it sloshed all over the place.

The problem with this pizza is flavor — or rather, lack of it. Many of the elements look great on paper, but everything to do with this pizza is just bland. The crust itself doesn't taste like much of anything, the cheese melts well but also lacks taste, and the pepperoni is the least spicy of all the meats on this list. I did like the flavor of the sauce, which was less sweet than some of the others and had a pleasant kick of garlic. That, and the very low price, are the only reasons to opt for this pizza over any of the others. Market Pantry's pepperoni thin-crust pizza sadly takes another last-place spot.

Jack's thin-crust pizza is the cheapest of the bunch, which is the main thing this pie has going for it. I cooked it in the oven for the recommended 11 minutes, which was definitely too long, as the edges turned out burnt and dried out. The crust itself was as brittle as a cracker, although the bottom was a nice golden brown. It's a sturdy surface for the toppings, which is good because there's a whole lot of tomato sauce on this pie. Together, the crackly, unyielding crust and the abundance of sauce made this pizza tough to eat — the toppings slid around a lot, and the contrast of hard and soft textures seemed out of balance. I had already tried Jack's pepperoni pizza for a previous ranking with a better outcome, so it seems consistency may be an issue.

That said, the pepperoni — made from pork, chicken, and beef – was spicy and flavorful, and there was plenty of cheese, although it didn't come quite to the edge like many of the other pizzas on this list. The sauce landed a bit on the sweet side, but that worked nicely as a foil to the pepperoni. In the end, it's the crust that puts this towards the bottom of the ranking. Texture-wise, it just didn't work, and flavor-wise, it didn't taste like anything except burnt toast. This isn't the worst pizza, especially for the price. It just has a lot of issues compared to the others. 

Red Baron's thin and crispy pepperoni pizza definitely earns the award for looking least like the picture on the box. I've been around the block a few times, and I'm well aware of the often hilarious discrepancies between marketing photos and the real thing, especially when it comes to food. However, this looked like a completely different product altogether. That wouldn't be a dealbreaker if the pizza was amazing, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

The crust was actually the best part of this pie, even though it was much thicker than advertised — especially along the edges. However, the rest of the crust had lovely flaky layers, a soft chewy texture, and the bottom somehow remained strong and intact despite the heaviness and greasiness of the toppings. If it were just about the crust, Red Baron would be close to the top. Let's talk about those toppings though. The cheese didn't melt right, maintaining the texture of individual shreds instead of becoming a blanket. The pepperoni was zesty and spicy, but also super greasy, and the pools of grease sat on top of the strangely firm cheese with nowhere to go. While the sauce was robust and flavorful, there was quite a bit of it, and it kept erupting through the holes in the cheese as I took a bite. It's a shame the toppings are such a mess, because this crust deserves better.

Kroger's thin-crust pizza has a bit of an advantage, as it's the only one of the bunch that boasts double pepperoni: The usual sliced discs as well as some thicker chopped chunks, both made from pork and beef. I was worried that these hefty toppings wouldn't balance out, but somehow, all of that extra meatiness didn't seem out of place on the super-thin crust. There's also plenty of golden, blistered cheese that covers the pizza perfectly, right up to the razor-thin edge. The crust, despite its strength and firmness, had great pliability — I was able to easily fold each slice with no resistance or cracking.

My main gripe with this pizza was the lack of sauce. I don't mind a lightly sauced pizza. In fact, in many instances, I prefer it because it makes a more streamlined, easier-to-eat pie. However, Kroger's pizza had so little sauce that I actually pulled the toppings off to make sure there was any at all. There was, but it was barely perceptible. Despite that main issue, this is still a largely successful pizza, and shows that you can have a paper-thin crust that's both strong and flexible. 

Walmart's Great Value brand thin and crispy pizza took me completely by surprise. Based on many of my previous experiences with this brand's products, I was not expecting much. I opened the box and noticed a generous sprinkling of herbs covering the pie, and from the second I put it in the oven, that aroma filled my kitchen — there was only one other pizza on this list that went for a strong herbal flavor, and it cost almost twice as much.

That thoughtful detail wasn't the only thing that worked with this Great Value pizza. The sauce and cheese were applied in thin layers to echo the crust so that nothing got overwhelmed, while the pepperoni was more generous (though I could have used just a couple more slices). I love a golden, blistered cheese blanket on a pizza, with a touch of that caramelized flavor, and I definitely got it here. I appreciated the complex combination of cheeses, too — mozzarella, of course, but there's also provolone, Romano, and parmesan. A cross-section of the crust revealed some nice flaky layers, but the closer you got to the edge, the crunchier and more dried out it got. Still, if you're looking for a low-priced thin-crust option, skip the other cheap pizzas and put this one on your list. 

I appreciate what Screamin' Sicilian is trying to do here: Take a super thin, crispy crust, and try to see how much you can throw on it before it breaks under the weight. It's a fun experiment, and the pizza, it turns out, is pretty darn good. It's just a bit too chaotic and over-the-top. Sometimes less is more, and when I'm in the mood for a thin-crust pizza, I'm not trying to go overboard. I usually want simplicity and balance, and neither of those words describes this pizza. That said, it's unique, and it's got a lot of good qualities.

Let's start with the cheese — whole milk mozzarella gives this pie a rich creaminess lacking in many of the others. The pepperoni is savory, meaty, and there's so much of it. The top layer of slices curled into cups and got those nice crispy edges, while the bottom layer stayed soft and practically melted into the cheese. A rich, fairly dense tomato sauce rounded out the toppings. The crust had a great chewiness and flavor, but under the burden of all that meat and cheese, it was desperately clinging together. In fact, it began to crack as I pulled it out of the oven, and gobs of cheese fell over the edge and onto the rack and oven floor below. Thanks to this pizza's wildly excessive toppings, I now have to clean my oven. Something to keep in mind.

I immediately dismissed this DiGiorno pepperoni pie as I pulled it out of the oven. The puffy edges made it look way too thick to be considered a thin-crust pizza. I felt betrayed and misled. Then I let it cool off a bit to settle into itself, and I cut a slice. Yes: The edges are puffy, but once you get into the rest of the crust, it's golden and flaky and fabulously thin. There's beautifully blistered cheese along the edge, right up to the rim of the crust, and a creamy golden-white layer with barely a speck of sauce showing from underneath. The pepperoni is everywhere, often layered atop itself. This pizza actually looked better in real life than the photo on the box.

DiGiorno's thin crust had a rich, buttery flavor that every other one lacked. If they made a plain version of it with no toppings, I would happily buy it and eat it. Between that flavor, the gorgeous layer of cheese, and the generous portion of meaty pepperoni, this had all the makings of a winner. Unfortunately, it's a grease bomb. Don't get me wrong — I love a nice sheen of pepperoni grease on my pizza, but this was flooded with the stuff. Even after dabbing away some of the excess with a paper towel, I had trouble cutting and biting into it without having rivers of grease flowing everywhere. That made the rest of it tough to enjoy.

I'm an unapologetic fan of California Pizza Kitchen, a chain that's been a part of my life forever. CPK, as it's familiarly known, is famed for inventing the barbecue chicken pizza. While the brand's frozen pizzas can't really compete with what you get in the restaurant, they're still some of the best around, and the crispy thin-crust pepperoni pie is a testament to that quality. CPK's pizza was hands-down the most complex and the closest to gourmet you can get in this category. It was also the spiciest, with pork and beef pepperoni that packed a bit more of a punch than the others and built to a lingering heat.

What really sets this pizza apart is its cheese blend, with nutty fontina and savory smoked gouda in addition to the traditional creamy mozzarella. This combination gave every bite a different sensation. The herbs generously layered atop this pie — led by basil and oregano — add yet another dimension and perfectly complement the bright tomato sauce. The most impressive part of this pizza is the crust, which, despite being incredibly thin, has air pockets throughout that give it a lovely lightness. The only ding on this pizza is that it's the most expensive of the bunch, that the edges were a little stiff, which made it hard to slice, and that it didn't have quite enough sauce, making it just a bit too dry.

Of all the pizzas on this list, Newman's Own thin and crispy pie cooked the most evenly. The crust was almost miraculously identical from edge to center, both on the golden, freckled bottom and in the sliced cross-section. Just like the California Pizza Kitchen crust, this one had visible air pockets throughout, giving it a light, almost ethereal quality, which is exactly what I look for in a thin crust. Atop that beautiful base, the toppings were winners across the board.

The pork and beef pepperoni was rich and meaty with a good hit of spiciness, and there was plenty of it. Just mozzarella cheese here — nothing different or fancy — but it had just the right creaminess to pull all of the other flavors together. Aside from the crust, the real star was the sauce. This was the only pizza on this list to absolutely nail the tomato sauce. Intensely flavored with a deep, roasted tone beneath the classic tomato tang, it had a concentrated texture that allowed it to impart moisture and flavor to each bite without dripping onto your shirt or sliding everything off your slice. Every element of this Newman's Own pizza did its job admirably and worked synergistically to produce a classic thin-crust pizza experience. While some of these pizzas might require a manual upgrade, Newman's Own is perfection right out of the box.