I Tried Every Frozen Pizza at Trader Joe’s — These Are the Very Best Ones

Trader Joe’s frozen pizza has long been a staple for my family. As a kid I learned there’s nothing like a quick, frozen pizza dinner on a school night, eaten while gathered around the television and catching up on Friends or Will & Grace. Of course, frozen pizza has significantly changed since my high school days. No longer is a three-cheese pizza the most gourmet pizza in the freezer section (although it certainly remains a tasty option). Now, Trader Joe’s has a fully loaded frozen pizza section with tons of fun options to choose from.

As the @traderjoesampleking, I set out to sample all the oven-ready frozen pizzas I could find at my Trader Joe’s. If you’re wondering, that was 17. (I would say that 17 pizzas in a week is enough to make anyone want to give pizza a rest for a bit, but I recently moved back to New York City, so who am I kidding?)

Each pizza was reviewed using the following four factors: crust stability, cheese pull (or cheese generosity), sauce flavor, and toppings ratio. Buying a wide variety of these pizzas was a fun experience for me and my roommates, and I highly recommend conducting such a taste test with your own roommates or family. From the 17 pizzas I was able to find, here are our three winners: the three best frozen pizzas you can buy at Trader Joe’s.

Call me biased, but this classy Trader Joe’s pizza can do no wrong. It’s been on offer for years and it’s a regular go-to for me. It has a perfectly salty pesto sauce, and is neatly paired with fresh-tasting tomatoes and broccoli. I love this pizza and will come back to it time and time again. It honestly tastes like something you’d pay $20 for at a gourmet pizza shop.

One of the benefits of sampling all the pizzas was that I was able to veer outside of my comfort zone and discovered another great dinner. This frozen BBQ Chicken Pizza isn’t something I would have normally tried, but it was very good and I can safely say I’ll be adding it to my shopping list again soon. There’s a lot of chicken on top, an incredible barbecue flavor that beautifully balances savory and sweet, and a crispy, crunchy crust to hold it all together. Highly recommend, even for those who generally steer clear of BBQ chicken ‘za. 

The third place ranking was actually a tie between the Pizza Parlanno and the Organic Roasted Vegetable Pizza. I loved both of these and I think they serve together really well (particularly if you have both a vegetarian and a meat-lover in your family). I thought the Parlanno pizza’s sausage-and-pepperoni combo was very tasty, and I also really enjoyed the roasted veggie pizza’s generous toppings and variety! No harm in getting both; each pizza costs under $5. 

For those wondering which of the classic cheese pizzas to pick up, I have to recommend either the Pizza 4 Formaggi (compared to the three-cheese; the fourth cheese really makes a difference) or the Pizza Margherita. My roommates and I agree that the cheese of the 4 Formaggi and the crust of the Margherita make these pizzas stand out. Note: Straight out the oven, the Margherita pizza had an excellent cheese pull.  

Also earning an honorable mention is the Tarte d’Alsace flatbread with ham, caramelized onion, and Gruyere cheese. This flatbread was delicious and filling, and a genuinely interesting shake-up on the traditional pizza crust. Although its pastry base gave it a lower rank on the crust stability scale, I would recommend this tarte as a thin-cut appetizer for any future dinner party. 

Do you have a favorite frozen pizza at Trader Joe’s? Tell us about it in the comments below!