17 Frozen Pizzas To Avoid At All Costs At The Grocery Store

We don't know about you, but we make it a point to have a frozen pizza on hand at all times. You never know when an emergency will strike — either you're in too much of a rush to prep a full dinner, or you're simply too tired after a long day. When you need to eat but don't have time to prepare, frozen pizza is ready to save the day. But there are few things worse than pulling a frozen pizza out of the oven and discovering it doesn't quite measure up to your standards.

Very few frozen pizzas will be decent mimics of the pies that can show up hot at your doorstep, and we don't expect frozen pizza to perfectly replicate its fresh counterparts. That said, frozen pizza can still be undeniably good — a chewy, crispy crust, melty cheese, yummy sauce, and the classic flavors of all your favorite toppings are very attainable on the frozen pizza market. However, some pre-packaged pies invariably fall short. Unless you're stumbling in the door during the early morning hours from a night out on the town, there are definitely frozen pizzas that are better left on the shelves. We gathered a list of 17 frozen pizzas you should keep out of your cart based both on customer reviews and previous frozen pizza tastings we've done here at Tasting Table.

Though we're huge fans of Trader Joe's, some of its products fall woefully short, and the chain's Spicy Meat Pizza is far from being Trader Joe's best frozen pizza. It looks safe enough, even if its inclusion of Calabrian smoked sausage and red bell peppers makes it slightly more adventurous than your typical cheese or pepperoni pizza. However, reading the comments on a certain Reddit thread will convince even the most die-hard TJ's fan to keep this out of their cart. 

If the title of the thread (which calls the pizza "Horrific!") wasn't bad enough, several commenters chimed in to bash the frozen pizza. Many of them reference the pizza's off-putting sweetness, with one saying the sauce was reminiscent of maple syrup and another recalling that they "could not even choke down one entire slice." If sugary pizza is your thing, maybe you'll love this, but if you're like most pizza-eaters, it should be a hard pass. 

The other Trader Joe's pizza we'd recommend skipping the next time you're grocery shopping is its Organic 3-Cheese Pizza. This pie has previously ranked pretty low in comparison to Trader Joe's other frozen pizzas, and apparently, we aren't the only consumers who hold this opinion. 

In our opinion, if you're going to opt for a plain cheese pizza from the frozen section, it should be something pretty extraordinary. This pie from Trader Joe's is anything but. Sure, it looks delicious on the box, but the result is a relatively bland and texturally non-complex frozen pizza. A review of the pizza on Uproxx could only give it one compliment: Its sauce is pretty decent. If you want a good cheese pizza, you shouldn't pick this one. 

We'll admit, pizza is a great recipe for goat cheese, but Simple Truth's doesn't quite fit the bill. Personally, even before tasting it, this "pizza" hardly passes as such — goat cheese can be a fine substitute for mozzarella, but using beet sauce and even butternut squash makes this seem like a far cry from the frozen pizzas we know and love. 

Appearance aside, we can't get behind this pizza for a couple of reasons. First (and most importantly), the goat cheese refuses to melt after the specified baking time. If you want a pizza with cheese pull — who doesn't? — you won't get it here. The flavors are decent enough that we could imagine enjoying it more were it marketed as, say, a flatbread. But its attempt to mimic a pizza just doesn't quite meet the mark.

Here's a pizza that's probably foreign to none of us: Totino's Party Pizza. Totino's may dominate the pizza market, but honestly, we aren't sure it should. This is the pizza you stick in the oven when you're more than a little inebriated and binge-watching reruns of "Friends," and if that's the mood you want to embody in your frozen pizza endeavors, we won't try to stop you. But if you want anything more sophisticated than a bottom-of-the-barrel pizza, stay away from this one.

This decidedly subpar pizza has been the subject of much debate on Reddit. One commenter describes the internal conflict perfectly, saying, "One month I think they're garbage and the next I crave them like I imagine a pregnant woman has those weird cravings for specific bizarre foods." All that is to say Totino's stands in its own category of mediocrity, and these aren't the pizzas to get if you want a standard frozen pizza experience.

We'll be honest — Wegman's Bake & Rise pepperoni pizza doesn't even look that great on the box. It has a very thick, doughy appearance that wouldn't endear us to it from the aisle. We ended up trying one of the Bake & Rise pizzas only to find our concerns were well-founded — the crust was too thick to balance out the amount of sauce and cheese on this pizza, leading to a pretty lackluster eating experience.

On the other hand, if you prefer a breadstick-esque pizza pie, this could be a good pick for you. Its overall flavors are decent enough to be palatable, and dough lovers might actually prefer this pie to others on the market. Unless that sounds like you, though, you probably won't love this pick.

Standing in stark contrast to the previous pick is DiGiorno's Thin Crust Pepperoni Pizza; however, we still can't recommend this pizza to consumers. First of all, it's not what it purports to be on the box. Unfortunately, those expecting an ultra-thin, crispy crust likely won't get it here. Rather, customers report it being unpleasantly thicker than they expected.

One Reddit thread about the pizza saw some controversy, both about the pie and the DiGiorno brand in general. While some say the pizza tastes fine despite not having a thin crust, others call the sauce "repulsive" and say they're staying away from the brand altogether due to rising prices. Whether or not you continue to buy DiGiorno is up to you, but if you're expecting a great thin-crust pizza, you probably won't find it here.

Sorry, DiGiorno, but you've made this list a second time — this time, it's the Rising Crust pizza selections we just can't get behind. If rumor has it that the brand's thin crust pizza is too thick, we can only imagine how thick its Rising Crust pizza is. Popular consensus seems to agree that, as with the aforementioned rising crust pizza, you should stay away from this selection unless you want a pie that's mostly bread. 

The internet is rife with opinions about this pizza, few of them raving. Many consumers say what we'd expect about the pizza — it's just too doughy, even seeming a bit raw in the middle. Getting a cooked-through pizza might require you to ride the thin line between fully cooking the crust and charring the top of your pizza. If you want to put in the effort, more power to you. 

The Aldi brand Mama Cozzi's seems to garner quite a bit of discussion on the internet, with some customers calling it their pizza of choice and others saying they won't get it again. Particularly contentious is the brand's Cheese Stuffed Crust Three Meat Pizza. We know what you're thinking — how could one possibly go wrong with a stuffed crust pizza? 

One Reddit user didn't blame the pizza's failure on its stuffed crust — in fact, that was the only part they enjoyed. They found every other aspect of the pizza to be unpalatably bland. Other users chimed in with similar opinions, and one even calls the brand the "Worst we've ever bought!" You might be taking a gamble with this pizza unless you've had it before.

Reviewers agree that you get what you pay for with Tony's frozen pizzas. The brand is known for sitting at the lower end of the frozen pizza price range, so you shouldn't expect anything gourmet when purchasing. This could be palatable if all you want is a substandard frozen pizza, but in general, we wouldn't pick it out of a lineup.

One Reddit user doesn't love or hate the pizza, saying, "It definitely tastes like a $5 pizza." They were disappointed by the tough crust and somewhat sweet sauce; still, they (and commenters) refuse to call it downright bad. However, the market is so saturated with frozen pizzas that we aren't sure why you would opt for Tony's when there are better options in a comparable price range.

We're generally a fan of the Screamin' Sicilian brand and were somewhat surprised to give one of its pies a spot on this list. When it comes to its Bessie's Revenge variety, though, the brand should have stuck with a "less is more" mindset. There's no shortage of cheese on this bad boy, and though that may initially sound like a good thing, in reality, it's anything but.

Aside from general complaints that the company's product quality has gone downhill in recent years, Bessie's Revenge gets particular criticism from some of the brand's fans. Some consumers say that the varying cheeses all melt at different rates, and some burns while other spots are just melting. Others say it's too doughy and that, despite having an ample amount of cheese, it's pretty bland. 

California Pizza Kitchen is another brand we were somewhat surprised to see on this list, and fans of the chain may be feeling the same. How you personally judge this pizza will depend on your pizza standards — if you're used to subpar frozen pizzas, you may find yourself enjoying this one. On the other hand, if you typically go for a mid-range frozen pizza at a decent price point, you'll probably find that CPK's isn't worth the extra few bucks.

Reviewers with cultured palates have gone as far as to call the pizza abominable. The consensus seems to be that the pizza is flavorless aside from its cheese blend, but that even the cheese tastes like something has gone awry. The pizza's crust is a point of contention, too — it's insanely crispy and almost becomes like a cracker, which isn't what many are hoping for when they pop a pizza out of the oven.

Did you know that Chuck E. Cheese has its own line of frozen pizzas? We didn't either, but we're not shocked that the brand isn't a mainstay of the frozen section. In fact, we're not sure who would willingly grab this box off the shelf unless they're feeding the pickiest of kids. Whether or not you have fond memories of eating pizza at the chain in between rounds of skee ball, don't go for this frozen pizza.

Reviewers agree that this pizza is ... well, not great. Some give credit to its toppings, saying they're pretty flavorful, but the unsatisfactory crust just can't be justified. Some say this really doesn't compare to the passable restaurant version. Between comments calling it "terrible" and "horrible," you should probably pass on this one.

Gluten-free pizza lovers are likely fans of the cauliflower crust that's become a go-to crust substitution, especially among frozen brands. Cauliflower can indeed be a great alternative to wheat-filled crusts; unfortunately, it sounds like Caulipower's Margherita take on the gluten-free food doesn't quite measure up.

The pizza's biggest problem? Its flavors — or lack thereof. Reviewers cite the pizza as being unpalatably bland, saying that they couldn't even taste the tomato and cheese toppings. Beyond that, the crust lacks any sort of oomph and gets too thin to hold its own as a crust. This might be a passable pizza if you haven't tried the food in a while, but if you're expecting something with a decent amount of flavor, opt for another brand.

We tend to be a fan of Costco's Kirkland Signature product line, but we have to admit, its frozen pizzas really aren't anything to write home about. The only good thing about them is that they, like everything at Costco, come in a bulk size at a bargain price. Need to feed a crowd of hungry kiddos? You won't go wrong with Kirkland's frozen pizza. But don't expect this to scratch a pizza itch.

Unfortunately, this frozen pizza is far from the hype Costco's food court pizza is worthy of. Reddit reviewers say the crust is too reminiscent of cardboard, and the sauce is overall lackluster. The commenters who are in favor of the pizza tend to cite how they doctor it up with extra cheeses, herbs, and other toppings. If you want to put the effort in, you could probably transform this pizza into something palatable. If you want an easy dinner, don't grab this pizza.

This may look familiar to anyone who attended public elementary school in the early aughts. Rectangular pizza, despite being a mainstay in the school cafeteria, was by no means good pizza. Ellio's likely isn't the brand your school served, but taking this out of the oven and letting it cool until it's lukewarm will probably give you an eerie déjà vu experience.

Like Totino's, this pizza is divisive. If you've never had Ellio's before and are trying it for the first time as an adult, don't expect to like it — again, you'll probably be haunted by ghosts of school lunches gone by. However, if you've been munching on this brand since childhood, it might be a regular addition to your shopping cart. Overall, though, you'll likely be underwhelmed by the pizza's cheap-tasting ingredients and lackluster flavor.

Unfortunately, there's yet another rising crust pizza on this list — this time, it's Kroger's own brand. Honestly, from looking at the box, we're not surprised. The pizza pictured doesn't look super appetizing, with a seemingly under-baked crust and congealed cheese. It would seem that the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" doesn't apply to this pizza.

Consumers have indeed been underwhelmed by this pizza. Some say that it didn't even fulfill its promise of having a rising crust. The flavorless and plastic-y cheese doesn't help matters any, though you might find that forgivable if you only grab a pizza for its sauce (which actually seems to be good on this pie). If you want a decent pizza eating experience, though, you should reach for a different box.

St. Louis natives will be familiar with this brand. Imo's is a household name for locals, famous for serving up St. Louis-style pizza that has a thin crust and uses Provel cheese. If you find yourself in the city and want to go to Imo's, we won't try to stop you — there's a good chance you'll like what the chain has to offer. Just don't expect its frozen pizzas to measure up. 

If you can cook this in a pizza oven, it might actually be okay, but Reddit users say standard household ovens just don't get the job done. Others say that the brand's frozen pizza used to be acceptable but that its quality has declined substantially. All in all, you're better off heading to Imo's for its pizza — leave its frozen line alone.

When choosing frozen pizzas to make this list, we consulted various customer forums (such as Reddit) and previous reviews of the product we've done on Tasting Table. Each frozen pizza on this list had at least a few people expressing distaste for it. That being said, obviously, personal opinions vary, and some of the turn-offs of these pizzas may be endearing to you. However, the general consensus dictates that none of these should make your shopping list.