The Best Take and Bake Pizza When Frozen Won’t Do

When you go to the grocery store to grab a pizza, where do you go? If you’re like me, you go to the frozen aisle. That’s where the Home Run Inn pizzas live and that’s really all I need. But typically, there’s a whole other mysterious pizza realm over by the deli, where you’ll find refrigerated pies rarin’ to be tossed in the oven. I’m talking about the realm of take and bake pizzas.

What are take and bake pizzas and why do they exist?

Good Q, actually! I’d always assumed the point of take and bake pizzas is that they cook faster than frozen pizzas. Well, I did the food prep for this taste test and that wasn’t the case—most of these took about as long to cook as your average thin crust frozen pizza. 

Instead, it’s widely accepted that take and bake pizzas—the refrigerated guys on a (supposedly) fresh, (supposedly) never frozen crust—just taste better than frozen pizzas. Of course, that’s only true if you buy the best take and bake pizza, because I can say from experience that some of these aren’t distinguishable from much cheaper frozen pizzas once they’ve done their time in the oven. 

So what makes a take and bake pizza one of the best take and bake pizzas? 

• Crust quality. Really, it mostly comes down to crust quality. Good take and bake pizzas have a nice, chewy crust that puffs up just a touch in the oven. 
• Fresh toppings. Okay, we found one arena in which take and bakes solidly outdo frozen pies: veggie. The frozen veggies on frozen pizzas release way too much water and turn the whole thing into a soupy mess; but the nice fresh veggies on a take and bake actually brown and get all nice and flavorful. 

Now, before you FREAK OUT, no, Costco’s take and bake isn’t on this list because our local store was out. We’ll taste it in the next taste test and add it if it’s as good as everyone says. But for now, these are the best take and bake pizzas at the grocery store. 

Best Meaty Pizza

Mama Cozzi’s Take and Bake Mega Meat Thin Crust Pizza

Instacart

Another reason to pick a take and bake pizza over a frozen pizza? Often, take and bake pies are way bigger than your average frozen pizza—so if you’re feeding a crowd of hungry carnivores, this Aldi take and bake pizza is the jam. It’s HUGE and the crust is nice and thin. We didn’t like the traditional crust Aldi take and bake pizzas because the crust was just too dry and bland, but the thin crust is perfect for a really meaty pizza because it soaks up all the meat grease and takes on all that flavor. There’s a nice amount of cheese and the sauce is a little bit sweet to balance out all those salty meats (Italian sausage, pepperoni, dry salami, beef topping, and bacon bits). You don’t see a lot of bacon on this pie, but you can tell it’s there because there’s a little bit of a smoky flavor. Nice one, Mama Cozzi. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Unique Crust

Private Selection Sausage & Ricotta Roman Style Crust Pizza

Instacart

We really like the concept of this oblong Roman-style pizza from Kroger. The variety we got had some issues—the ricotta is unnecessarily herbaceous (it tastes more like ravioli filling than ricotta that should be on a pizza) and the soft cheese does make the crust beneath it a little wet. And while the sausage bits are pretty tasty, this take and pizza mostly makes the cut because the crust is awesome. It really tastes like dough that was allowed to rise before it was hand stretched and baked. It has that rough cornmealy sort of texture on the bottom that I, personally, love. We all agreed we would have liked it better with different toppings, but even this version works in a pinch.

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best Cheese Pizza

Whole Foods Three Cheese Pizza

Amazon

If you want take-and-bake pizza, it pains me to say this, but ya gotta go to Whole Foods. They’re SIGNIFICANTLY better than other take and bakes. The crust is tender and almost pastry-like. We overcooked this one on the bottom a little and it tasted great. The char genuinely makes it taste like pizzeria pizza. The crust is thin, tender, and layer-y. The sauce nicely balances savory and sweet, and there’s plenty of cheese. This is a good option if you like fixing up pizzas with your own toppings. And if you’re having company, these are pretty big, too!

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Best Take and Bake Pizza Overall

Whole Foods Veggie Deluxe Pizza

Amazon

All the nice things I said about Whole Foods’ plain cheese take and bake pizza apply to this one, too, but with the added benefit of lovely veggies. It’s loaded up with lots of olives, bell peppers in several colors, diced onions, and little bits of broccoli. We usually kind of hate veggie pizzas from the grocery store because frozen veggies get so soupy on pizza. These take and bakes come refrigerated, so no wetness! This is a great pie with lots of veggie flavor, and the best take and bake pizza we’ve found so far. 

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

10/10

Sporks

Other take and bake pizzas we tried

Marketside Meat Trio Pizza, Marketside Supreme Pizza, Marketside Five Cheese Pizza, Mama Cozzi’s Take and Bake Five Cheese, Kroger Supreme Pizza, Kroger Four Cheese, Signature Cafe Supreme Pizza, Signature Cafe Sausage and Mushroom Flatbread