The Hands Down Best Store-Bought Frozen Pepperoni Pizza Knocks DiGiorno Down A Peg

While frozen pizza isn't any match compared to the fresh stuff, it's one of the most convenient freezer meals you can keep on hand. And when it comes to varieties, we know that pepperoni is typically the hot seller in most households. That's why we once ranked 10 brands of store-bought pepperoni pizza to decide which one packed the most satisfaction into every bite. Surprisingly, the brand many of us think of when we think of a puffy frozen pizza, DiGiorno, fell mostly in the middle of the pack, landing in fourth place.

Our surprise winner came from a brand called Pizza Antica, and it was almost unfair, since it comes with a fully cooked Neapolitan-style pizza crust (complete with char marks and all). And to ensure the pepperoni was distributed evenly, it comes vacuum-packed in a small separate packet that's included with the pizza. Our taste tester loved this pizza, saying, "I've found the answer to the ultimate comfort pizza, and it's the spicy, rich, and cheesy Pizza Antica Pepperoni Pizza. I'm still grappling with how to describe this pizza because there was not a hint of the typical dry and hard frozen pizza crust. The crust is thin but moist, chewy but soft, like a foldable, but floppy New York-style pizza, with the classic Neapolitan-style leopard crust and charred spots."

One reason the Pizza Antica pepperoni pizza scored so highly is likely because of the way it's made. Pizza Antica is an actual restaurant with two locations in California, and the frozen extension is also baked in a stone hearth at 800 degrees Fahrenheit. It's clear these handmade pies have the advantage because of this, but the tradeoff is that they are only available in limited markets.

But if you happen to stumble upon the Pizza Antica version, we highly recommend you snag one, since it brings a genuine restaurant-quality pizza to your own oven. Though your home oven might not be wood-fired, what'll come out of it is certainly going to be just that, thanks to the way Pizza Antica makes its frozen pies. Plus, you don't have to deal with unevenly distributed pepperoni slices, since you can deal them out just the way you like them. (And if you're looking for something slightly different, we're also big fans of Motor City's frozen Detroit-style pepperoni pizza.)