10 Popular Menu Items From Pizza Hut, Ranked

It's 7 p.m. on a Friday night. You are tired from a long week, and hungry. Pizza it is, you think. But fast. So, you log on to Pizza Hut's website only to see the menu you remember from your childhood look different. An existential crisis starts brewing inside your brain as you contemplate what to order. You like original pepperoni, right? Or, should you go with a brand-new item, always with the risk that you might not enjoy it?

Fear not, as this self-proclaimed pizza expert is here to guide you. What are my qualifications? I live in the recently dethroned pizza capital of the United States: New York City (officially losing out to Connecticut's apizza city, New Haven). I was born and raised in the heart of the pizza belt, and due to both of my aforementioned qualifications, I have both made, eaten, and studied quite a lot of pizzas in my work as a journalist.

There are several factors that should impact your decision when ordering from Pizza Hut, and they are what I used to rank these popular items. The first element is time. The longer it takes you to pick up or have your order delivered, the more quality is lost. The second factor is expectations versus reality. If the menu says the crust is crispy, it better be crispy.

The third factor is price. Pizza is a relatively inexpensive takeout option but can add up quickly depending on how many toppings and extras you choose. If you're looking to splurge, go for it, but I accounted for the price for each item on the list. Finally, personal taste and history are usually the greatest factors in determining what we enjoy.

Since pepperoni was recently rated as the most popular pizza topping, I decided to review not one, but two different Pizza Hut pepperoni pizza offerings: the Pepperoni Lover's, and the Tavern Double Pepperoni.

My logic behind choosing the original pan pizza crust was to have a thicker vessel to hold the two different kinds of pepperoni topping the pie. In addition to the classic pepperoni topping, this recipe also adds what Pizza Hut is calling "crispy cupped" pepperoni.

While in theory, someone who enjoys pepperoni as much as I do would be thrilled with not only increasing the amount of the spicy salami in each bite, but the type as well. I found it to be incredibly overwhelming and greasy. The crispy cupped pepperoni was indeed crispier than its classic counterpart, but the original pepperoni topping just seemed superfluous at that point. The greasiness did not conclude with the toppings. Unfortunately, the thicker, more doughy, and also more oily pan pizza crust had a far too generous amount of sauce and turned into a bit of a runny mess after I took a bite.

If you do decide to order this pie, I'd recommend choosing a different crust and perhaps bringing along some napkins to blot off some of the excess oil. A medium pie came out to $26.34 after tax, making it the most expensive item on this list, and another reason why it's in last place. Save your money by avoiding the original pan pizza and opting for hand-tossed, Thin 'N Crispy, or the new tavern-style crust.

When I'm in the mood for boneless wings, I expect a juicy chicken tender with a satisfying, crackly exterior. And some people do report that their Pizza Hut boneless wings arrive like this. However, after tasting, this was not my experience, nor am I convinced that this is what you can expect from Pizza Hut's boneless wings. 

Pizza Hut's ingredient tracker lists the "bone out" wings as including reformed chicken breast mixed with rib meat, water, spices, and chicken broth. The broth definitely adds a faux juiciness, but it's processed and far removed from what I was anticipating eating, that it's unlikely I would order them again. The meat wasn't tough, but somehow also not tender. The sauce I chose, garlic Parmesan, wasn't bad. I tasted the garlic powder, but I didn't really experience a Parmesan flavor coming through, more of just a hint of dairy. 

The only plus to these boneless wings is the price. The order came out to $11.20 after tax (about $3 cheaper than the traditional wings). However, that does not include dipping sauces, which are priced at an obscene 99 cents per sauce. If you're really craving wings, go with the bone-in variety, but I'd recommend skipping them altogether.

Cinnamon sticks are the cousin of both the cheese and bread sticks on the menu. Using the same dough, but adding cinnamon and sugar on top, this hefty dessert is best enjoyed after a light meal (such as salad; R.I.P. to the Pizza Hut salad bars of yore). Trying these sticks for the first time after consuming copious amounts of heavy, doughy fare was not ideal. They defied logic by being both oily and dry at the same time. The cinnamon and sugar combo on top of the sticks did give it a nice crunch, but the rest of the stick was floppy.

It was a simple carbohydrate smorgasbord when dipped in the included icing cup. The icing wasn't exactly a bad addition, but it lacked any flavor beyond being sugary. Maybe I'd feel differently the cinnamon was incorporated into the icing dip, or I had just gone with one of the pizzas with lighter crusts, but these were a big pass for me, especially with a high (for dessert) price tag of $10.11 after tax.

Tasting the traditional bone-in wings at Pizza Hut was a hot and cold experience. Fast food fans speak very highly of the Hut's partnered brand, WingStreet, which supposedly brought in high-quality wings to the pizza chain. Unfortunately, my experience did not mirror the high regard.

The traditional wings are far superior to the boneless variety, but beyond that, the best thing going for these wings is the mild Buffalo sauce. It has the right amount of garlic flavor (sans intense sugar), and it worked well as a more liquid-y coating rather than a dry rub. That doesn't change the fact that these are still mediocre wings at best. 

The skin on each wing was chewy and thick, not thin or crackly as desired. The meat on the wings was tasty, but they were only moderately sized. I found myself pulling them apart and dipping the meat into the sauce and enjoying that more than focusing on the meat itself. If you have to cover everything in sauce, there's likely a reason. Perhaps the wings are better if they're freshly cooked and ordered at dine-in, but with a half-dozen wings going for $13.39, I recommend ordering your chicken from a restaurant that specializes specifically on bone-in styles. 

The roasted garlic cheese sticks are not bad. A good vessel for a wide variety of sauces, but Pizza Hut's sauces were a huge disappointment. The sticks' base resembles the original pan pizza crust. This dough choice works well in this case, better than the pizza in my opinion. The sticks are fluffy yet dense. It's what I imagine chewing on a cumulous cloud covered in cheese would be like. It had a nice cheese pull when I picked up the first stick, and when I took a bite, I could see there were minced garlic pieces dotted below the cheese. 

This was all fine, but the best part of ordering cheese sticks over pizza is the flexibility of dipping to your heart's delight. However, as I mentioned with the ridiculously high price of almost $1 per sauce, your order will quickly skyrocket if you deviate too far from the included marinara sauce. I opted to add ranch and garlic sauce to my order, which seemed like reasonable additions. However, all three sauces were so sickeningly sweet that I wondered if I had accidentally dipped a cinnamon stick into the "savory" sauces. The ranch and included marinara sauce were even sweeter than the garlic sauce and brought the total up to $12.81. For that price, you're better off using your own ranch dressing from home or forgoing it altogether and ordering a personal pan pizza for almost half the cost.

Stacking the desserts head to head, the triple chocolate brownie wins by a landslide. However, I find the whole idea of eating rich desserts after a very substantial meal takes away all of the fun of indulging in either. Eating this brownie felt like a chore, but not because of the brownie itself. From the look of the brownie, I was expecting to be disappointed. It resembles a dry, prepackaged grocery store cake, but, when I cut into it, I was shocked to see that it was full of fudgy, melty, cocoa goodness. Comparable to a flourless chocolate cake, but fudgier, it was so rich that it was difficult to cut it into slices. This fortunately had no effect on the flavor. I was incredibly full by this point, but I kept taking bites nonetheless. 

$9.79 after tax still seems a bit high for a dessert, but you get a fairly large portion for this price. My advice? Order this when you're in desperate need of a chocolate, chocolate, chocolate fix. Top with vanilla ice cream and save the savory items for another day.

Coming in at $7.61 after tax, each varieties of Pizza Hut melts (there are four to choose from) are the most affordable non-deal items on the menu. I didn't know what to expect when I ordered this, as the description on the website leaves much to the imagination, but I was pleasantly surprised. None of the melts were listed on Pizza Hut's ingredient statement search, but I suspect that the outer layer of the melt uses the new tavern-style pizza crust. A combination of chicken, Buffalo sauce, onions, and cheese can turn into a sloppy mess in seconds, but with the cracker-like crust, it was easy to remain demure while dining. The Buffalo sauce was there, but not overbearing. It could have been a little more present in my opinion, but overall this is a solid pick, especially if you're dining alone and want a quick lunch option.

Curiously, and despite the low price, ranch sauce is included with all of the melts. Perhaps it would pair better with the other melts on the menu (Pepperoni Lover's, Meat Lover's, or a  hicken bacon Parmesan), but I found it to be an unnecessary addition.

The second of the two pepperoni options I tried is a long-standing fan favorite for good reason. Side by side, there was almost as much pepperoni on this pie as the double pepperoni pizza, but with just enough breathing room for the other ingredients to shine. I found the pepperoni with this option to be crispy enough but not overly so like the double pepperoni.

Not only did I like the way the topping was arranged on this pizza, but I also much preferred the crust. Both factors contributed to an overall less greasy and less runny pizza. The hand-tossed crust is a more traditional, New York-style pie and a much better foundation for pepperoni in this author's opinion (though I am regionally biased). I ordered this pizza in a small ($13.60 after tax), but if you go with a medium as I did for the double pepperoni, you'll save almost $4 by opting for the hand-tossed pizza crust option ($22.31 after tax).

Love it or hate it, the most controversial item on this list was surprisingly tasty. A twist on the classic Hawaiian pizza, this recipe combines Pizza Hut's marinara sauce with ham, green bell peppers, chicken, and of course, pineapple. I was very skeptical to try this dish, as ham and pineapple on top of sauce and cheese is already an ingredient and flavor overload, but, the addition of grilled chicken and green peppers actually enhanced the pie instead of overwhelming it.

Pizza Hut's website suggested ordering this pizza with its Thin 'N Crispy crust, and I do as well. The crust is the key to its delicious-ness. The cracker-thin base was the perfect vessel for the strange, Goldilocks-style sweet and savory toppings. You should be aware that the crust is on the drier side so wetter ingredients like pineapple and bell peppers added some much needed moisture to each bite, and balanced it well. Without them, it would have been too brittle, so I wouldn't recommend choosing this crust unless you go with a fruit or veggie topping (preferably both). While I'm normally not a fan of this Canadian-invented creation, it's so wrong, such a culinary curiosity, and so far removed from what comes to mind when pizza that, somehow, it's just right. The price was $22.31 for a medium pie after tax, a reasonable price for a loaded menu item.

Pizza Hut introduced its Chicago-inspired Tavern crust this summer and it's this author's opinion that though new, it reigns supreme. Thin, but not as brittle and dry as the Thin 'N Crispy crust, it is seasoned with "cheesy garlic Hut Dust seasoning" (Parmesan-oregano) and square cut. The middle slices were by far the best of the bunch, covered on all sides by the toppings, but there wasn't a bad slice to be had. The fresh grape tomatoes, garlic, and basil pesto drizzle added another layer of brightness to light as air crust. This was the first item I tried of the bunch, and somewhat upsetting since it was by far, the best. If I had done a blind taste test, I don't think I would've known this had come from a large chain restaurant.

This pizza was the same price as the Hawaiian chicken ($22.31 after tax), so which pizza you choose out of the two can simply come down to personal preference. You have four topping combinations to choose from with this crust (including the Pesto Margherita): The Ultimate, Spicy Chicken Sausage, and Double Pepperoni. While I'm sure all of them are tasty, I would be shocked if any of them would beat out the bright tanginess and visual delight that the pesto provides.

When ranking these popular menu items, one of the first things I considered was expectations versus reality. If it's meant to be crispy but is chewy, that is a huge disappointment (as the wings were). There may be no truth in advertising, but items sticking closely to the menu's description are a must.

With the rising costs of, well, everything, the price was a major factor in my ranking considerations. Charging almost $1 for sauces is price gouging, in my opinion (and for subpar sauces is extra offensive) as is an almost $4 upcharge for the brand's original pan pizza crust.

Personal taste is just that: individual. Still, while you should always take a review with a grain of salt, I reviewed these items with a general eye for flavor. If the menu item was too salty, sweet, or totally unappealing, then it impacted the ranking. One factor I didn't consider? Nostalgia. Since I had the luxury of growing up in the pizza belt, I rarely visited Pizza Hut. This is good news for you, as I went into this taste test with no agenda, and, without happy childhood memories of visiting the restaurant chain clouding my judgment. 

Lastly, I tried to select a wide range of items. My first thought was to add a salad, but strangely, though Pizza Hut was made famous largely because of its salad bars, there are currently no salads or vegetable dishes of any kind on the menu (beyond pizza toppings). Instead, I tried to taste as many pizza crusts as I could, since that is what most people order from this chain.