Five major frozen pizza brands went head to head, in order to find out which one truly deserves to be in your refrigerator. After comparing Jack’s, DiGiorno, Red Baron, Screamin’ Sicilian, and Tombstone across price, variety of flavor, availability, and even a blind tasting, we discovered a resounding Red Baron.
To back up my comparisons, a group of tasters sampled all five brands without knowing which was which. Each pizza was scored for crust, cheese, sauce, and overall flavor in a 10 point scale. When everything was tailed up, Red Baron took first place. Tombstone followed close behind Screamin’ Sicilian and Jack’s ranked on the bottom. DiGiorno landed in the middle.
When it comes to price and availability, Jack’s and Tombstone take the lead, both being budget-friendly and easy to find at nearly every grocery store nationwide, but lost points because of taste and variety.
“Tastes like a piece of paper with spaghetti sauce on it,” said Erin Shafer, one of the blind tasters. “It’s not the worst one here, but it definitely could use a boost in the crust department.”
DiGiorno offers a wide variety of crusts and flavors from rising crust to stuffed crust, and even Detroit-style. Its large variety of flavors and crusts make it a good contender, but Screamin’ Sicilian aims for the premium market. With toppings and flavors that give a more high end feel, it delivers a sort of restaurant-style pizza at home. But you need to remember the price that’s roughly double that of Jack’s and Tombstone, its quality just isn’t worth that hefty price tag.
“Screamin’ is ok, but not worth double,” said Brent Williams, another one of the taste testers after being told which pizza was which. “I think the sauce is pretty well done, but the crust is the worst of the five of them.”
Across all of the categories, Red Baron was rated best. What makes Red Baron so good, is its balance of everything. It’s pretty affordable, it’s widely available in a bunch of different stores, and it has a good amount of different flavors that make it not feel like the same bland type of pizza all the time. And it does all this while still tasting fairly good. It’s not the best in any category, but it’s good in every category.
In the end, each brand offers something that can make it appealing for buyers. Jack’s and Tombstone are cheap and available, while DiGiorno has thick crust and any kind of pizza you can imagine. Screamin’ Sicilian caters to people who want classic restaurant style pizza, and don’t mind paying extra for premium toppings. But if you’re looking for a little bit of everything, then Red Baron is the one to go.
