Oh dear, we’ve gone and bought ourselves another pizza. Yes, folks, we’re addicted to that gooey cheese, that tomatoey sauce, and that soft, warm crust. We just love pizza, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us from expressing that love at every opportunity.
Today, we’re testing out the Red Baron Brick Oven Crust Cheese-Trio Pizza. This is a freezer-aisle staple, and it’s on the cheaper end of the pizza spectrum. This is more spendy than a Totino’s pizza, but cheaper than a DiGiorno. Pricing-wise, we generally find these to be in the ballpark of, say, a Bellaoria pizza.
Heating this up is basically what you’d expect, though Red Baron does one neat thing that we really appreciate: They list out instructions for both the bare rack and a pan. We’re baking-sheet enthusiasts here at Freezer Meal Frenzy, so we’re always frustrated that so many pizza-makers insist that we rack our pizzas. Then again, the difference between these cooking methods is almost negligible, and we find that adding a minute or two of cook time is usually all it takes. (If you want to read the full cooking instructions for both cooking methods, scroll down to the bottom of this review and check out those package scans.)
The lettering on the box makes it seem like Red Baron is super, super proud of their brick-oven-style crust. Now, we’ve had brick-oven pizza many, many times (we are pizza enthusiasts, remember), and we don’t find this stuff to be particularly authentic. Maybe it would be if we actually cooked it in a brick oven, but we didn’t; we just used our plain ol’ kitchen-style oven.
That said, this crust is actually really good. It has that lovely quality that feels like a perfect balance between soft and crispy. It will make a crackle sound when you bite into it, but it’s mostly warm and soft. It also tastes pretty dang good, and it has a lovely texture.
But the real flavor comes from the sauce. This is a super-sweet tomato sauce that’s rich with flavor. We appreciate a sweeter pizza sauce, so we’re in hog heaven here, but we’re pretty sure this will be too sweet for some people. It’s really, really sweet, and we’d be interested to see how it might taste on a Hawaiian pizza, where sweetness is just part of the package. (We’ll also point out that the brick-oven pizzas we’ve had in the past generally lean toward a more tomato-tasting sauce rather than a sweet or spicy pizza sauce.)
The cheese here is a blend of mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan, and it comes sprinkled with parsley. While we appreciate this blend, we thought the cheese portion was a little scant for something that calls itself a “Cheese-Trio.” Then again, we’ve been spoiled by Lotzza Motzza, and once you’ve taken that cheese-filled journey, it’s hard to look at other pizzas the same.
The nutrition facts cut this pizza into quarters, which we appreciate. Too many pizza-makers expect us to chop up our pizzas into fifths or sixths, which is mathematically ridiculous. But quarters? That makes sense. Good on you, Red Baron. Good on you.
If you eat the recommended 1/4 of a pizza, you’ll be downing 320 calories and 710 mg of sodium. That means that half a pizza — which is the obvious serving size — will have 640 calories and 1,420 mg of sodium.
The Red Baron Brick Oven Crust Cheese-Trio Pizza might not be a gourmet pie, but it’s absolutely loaded with flavor. The crust is amazing, the sauce is great, and the cheese is… well, passable. But still, as a budget-priced option, this pizza has a lot going for it. We definitely think we’ll be trying more of Red Baron’s lineup in the near future, especially their brick-oven-style offerings.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions for this frozen pizza, check out the package scans below.
