Aldi's Fan-Favorite Red Baron Dupe Is Finally Back In The Freezer Aisle

Long before the cauliflower and cabbage crust pizzas of today, there were other, carbier pizza crust alternatives. English muffin pizzas were an old-school DIY dinner for '80s kids, while French bread pizzas were an old-school frozen food that's actually still around. Stouffer's, the first company to market French bread pizza back in the '70s, continues to sell this product, while Red Baron offers its own copycat. Aldi, in turn, has come out with a clone of Red Baron's pizza: Mama Cozzi's Pizza Kitchen Pepperoni French Bread Pizza.

What you see is what you get here: a half baguette, split in two and topped with pizza sauce, mozzarella, and sliced pepperoni. This type of pizza tends to be best when baked in an oven, although you can air-fry or even microwave it in a pinch. There's also the option to combine the microwave and oven methods with a minute or so in the microwave to thaw, followed by about 10 minutes in the oven to crisp up. (Without the pre-zapping, these pizzas take about 20 minutes to bake.) At $3.29 per box, a single serving comes out to about $1.65, making it a pretty economical meal. It's also easy to prepare a single portion instead of having to bake up an entire pie.

French pizzas have been in and out of Aldi's frozen food roster for years, and once upon a time, there were several different flavors. Extra cheese and Deluxe (which apparently included sausage) aren't currently available, however, making pepperoni the one and only option.

As might be expected, Aldi's French bread pizza is priced slightly lower than the name brand ones offered at other stores. Each box of two costs $3.19, while Meijer sells a similarly-sized package of Stouffer's French Bread Frozen Pizza for $3.69 and Walmart lists the Red Baron variety at $3.87 per box. (These prices are all from stores in the Milwaukee area and may be different in other locations.) The cheaper price tag isn't the only thing Mama Cozzi's French bread pizzas have going for them, though, as many people actually prefer this product.

One Redditor compared Aldi's French bread pizzas head-to-head with Red Baron's and found them to have more sauce, more cheese, and thicker pepperoni. They favored the latter because they prefer a less saucy pizza, but admitted: "If you are a fan of sauce/tomatoes then you would probably like the Mama Cozzi better." A commenter chimed in, stating, "I like Mama Cozzi better. It tastes like pizza is supposed to taste." Another r/aldi thread showed a photo of the Mama Cozzi pizzas with a caption reading, "These Are Better Than Stouffers." 

The thread posters went on to explain that Stouffer's changed its formula over the years and that the Mama Cozzi ones were more like the Stouffer's French bread pizzas they grew up on. A member of Facebook's ALDI Aisle of Shame Community concurred, saying, "They are WAAAAYY better than the Stouffer's pizza French bread. You won't be disappointed!" while another r/aldi thread eschewed all comparison and simply declared, "French bread pizza from frozen aisle is VERY delicious."