Review: DiGiorno’s New Wood Fired Style Crust Frozen Pizzas Are Perfect for a Cozy Night In

There’s something to be said for delivery from your favorite pizzeria, but you just can’t beat a good frozen pizza. You can pop it in the oven whenever that craving for cheesy, meat-laden bread hits, without having to wait on a delivery driver or schlep out to pick up an overpriced pie. Either way, let’s face it: The pizza’s always cold by the time it makes its way through the front door. DiGiorno — a heavyweight champion in frozen pizza since 1995 — works to remedy these woes with delicious, fresh-from-the-oven pies that really drive the brand’s clever tagline home.

I had the pleasure of trying a new line of DiGiorno pies before they were added to the brand’s extensive repertoire of creative recipes — although these new offerings are a little less “out there” than the brand’s Hidden Valley Ranch collab and funky Thanksgiving pizza. DiGiorno’s new Wood Fired Style Crust line includes four varieties: Italian Meat Trio, Four Cheese, Premium Pepperoni, and Supreme Speciale. So let’s dig in and find out if these new frozen pies can really compete with restaurant-quality pizza, or if they’re just wood-fired flair without the flame.

Some recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer.

DiGiorno’s new Wood Fired Style Crusts pies come in four distinct but classic varieties. The Four Cheese includes a delicately curated blend of Romano, Asiago, mozzarella, and Parmesan, baked until it achieves that coveted toasty-brown layer on top. The Italian Meat Trio includes  pepperoni, Italian sausage, and salami, while the Premium Pepperoni is a wood-fired take on the most classic pizza of all time. And finally, the Supreme Speciale comes topped with pepperoni, sausage, and a bright and colorful blend of sweet bell peppers and onions.

Inspired by time-honored pizza traditions, the name “wood fired” alone calls to mind feelings of snuggling up with a hot, savory comforting meal after a long day calls for something to lift the spirits and fill the belly with hearty, garlicky goodness. DiGiorno’s four new pizzas are baked at high temperatures before they’re frozen in order to mimic the taste and texture of wood-fired pizzas straight from a brick oven. These high-temperature ovens are able to give pizza crust a delicate char and crispiness while maintaining a slightly chewy interior, something regular ovens just can’t compete with. It’s safe to assume that DiGiorno is aiming to recreate the taste of fresh, Neapolitan-esque pizzas from a bougie Italian bistro.

Starting in May, DiGiorno’s Wood Fired Style Crust Pizzas are hitting store shelves at all major retailers nationwide. You’ll be able to find the pies in the freezer sections of big-box stores like Target and Wal-Mart and at your local grocery chains. Keep an eye out for the bold packaging highlighting the pies’ charred crust in order to distinguish them from the rest of DiGiorno’s lineup.

All four of the pizza varieties in the Wood Fired Style Crust line have an MSRP of $6.49. Bear in mind that this price can differ depending on the retailer or region where you scooped up your frozen pie. Still, this price blows the cost of delivery or restaurant pizza out of the water, and it compares with the cost of DiGiorno’s other popular offerings. So whether you’re dishing out an easy weekend meal for the family or you’re just saving yourself hassle and delivery fees, the Wood Fired Style Crust pizzas offer plenty of bang for your buck.

The Wood Fired Style Crust Italian Meat Trio is DiGiorno’s take on a classic carnivore pie. This pepperoni, sausage, and salami-laden pizza clocks in at 300 calories per serving (which is one fourth of the pizza), with 790 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbs, 13 grams of fat (of which 5 grams are saturated fat), and 14 grams of protein. I noticed that I had to bake this pizza a little longer than the package instructed — which was 16 minutes — to get the crust decently brown and the cheese properly melted, but this could have been the fault of my oven and not the pie.

For being slathered in meat, the Italian Meat Trio is surprisingly not very greasy and heavy. The salty, hearty meat is balanced out by sweetness in the sauce, as well as an airy crust. In fact, I noticed the airiness of the wood-fired crust more in this pie than in the others, likely due to the contrast between its toppings. The cheese didn’t pull apart as much as I hoped it would, but there was a decently thick layer of it. Said cheese didn’t overpower the meat but also didn’t leave me wanting more gooey creaminess. While there was plenty of meat on the pizza, the distribution could have been more even. I wound up manually moving some of the pepperoni and salami around so that each slice would have a sufficient amount.

If you’re itching to try the new DiGiorno Wood Fired Style Crusts, but your dietary preferences lean vegetarian, have no fear — Four Cheese is here to provide a meat-free pizza experience. This pie contains 320 calories, 10 grams of fat (including 5 grams of saturated fat), 43 grams of carbs, 770 milligrams of sodium, and 15 grams of protein per one third of the pizza.

The cheese on the Four Cheese pizza is already perfectly browned, so there’s no need to worry about baking it until the cheese reaches that not quite crispy but not completely gooey texture that we all know and love. Since this pie isn’t loaded with toppings, the pizza’s namesake crust can stand front and center, complemented by a slight tang and saltiness from the bold Italian cheeses.

There isn’t as hefty of a dose of cheese on this pie as the photo on the box implies, so there isn’t much of a cheese pull to speak of. However, it has enough mozzarella, Asiago, Parmesan, and Romano for a moderately cheesy pie, with a thin layer of sweet sauce to complement it. A touch of herbs really elevates the Four Cheese pizza, giving it the subtle freshness and bright, earthy taste that it needs to not be overly salty or too rich and creamy.

I was excited to see how the Wood Fired Style Crust Premium Pepperoni could hold up to other frozen renditions of this classic pie. Pepperoni pizzas can sometimes look a little basic and boring, but DiGiorno nailed the aesthetic of this pie, elevating it with a generous sprinkle of herbs and the visual appeal of a slightly charred crust. One serving (a third of the pizza) has 370 calories, 15 grams of fat (of which 7 grams are saturated fat), 1,000 milligrams of sodium, 43 grams of carbs, and 17 grams of protein.

After 15 minutes, I pulled this picture-perfect pizza out of the oven to see a thin layer of crispiness on the crust — both the bottom and edges. The meat was more evenly distributed on this pie than it was on the Italian Meat Trio, and there was certainly no shortage of pepperoni. I found the pepperoni a little too salty, but it was at least balanced by a sauce that leaned sweet. The herbs sprinkled over the entire pizza gave it a fresh quality that the other pies didn’t have, which also helped to tone down the rich saltiness of the meat. After trying it sans any additions, I ended up adding a drizzle of sweet and spicy hot honey, which gave the pizza the intense flavor boost it needed while letting the salty, hearty meat mesh more with the other flavors in the pie.

The Wood Fired Style Crust Supreme Speciale has it all. It’s the sweet and savory meat and veggie medley that you need in your life when you’re craving something a little extra on your pizza slice. One serving (a quarter of the pizza) has 280 calories, 11 grams of fat (including 5 grams of saturated fat), 710 milligrams of sodium, 33 grams of carbs, and 13 grams of protein.

Of all four Wood Fired Style Crust pizzas, the Supreme Speciale is easily the most flavorful. Salty meat is balanced out by juicy, extra-sweet peppers and deeply savory onions, making this pie an explosion of complex yet balanced flavors. Typically, frozen pizzas with chopped veggies include a puny scattering of a few tiny diced veggie crumbs, but on this pie, they were plentiful and distributed evenly, along with the pepperoni and sausage. I ended up popping the pizza back in the oven for about three minutes longer than the package instructions recommended to achieve more of a char on the crust, and once I did that, the pie got even more flavorful. The char unleashed a hint of smokiness that contrasted with the salty-sweet toppings to make this pie a flavorful masterpiece on a crispy, airy canvas.

I’ll admit that I’m a bit of a pizza purist, and I usually shy away from most frozen pies. But DiGiorno has me rethinking my feelings on grocery store frozen pizza with its Wood Fired Style Crust line. I was thoroughly impressed with the real, brick oven-like char on the pies — although I had to cook them a little longer than the packages specified to really get the char going. But the crust and toppings are stable enough that they can withstand varied baking times to achieve the ideal texture according to one’s personal taste, making the Wood Fired Style Crust pies more versatile than the average frozen pizza.

I made sure to avoid the most common frozen pizza mistake and not bake the pizzas in a baking dish or on a pizza stone. Instead, I baked the pies directly on the center rack of the oven, which gave them a slight crispy crunch on the bottom that was crucial to enjoy the crusts to the fullest extent. The crusts really were the star of the show in these pies, achieving the ideal balance of crunch and airiness in every bite, as well as a slight butteriness that wasn’t oily or too rich.

I would have liked to see some more creative pizza varieties in this lineup, because a crust of this caliber deserves something a little more gourmet. For example, a margherita-style pizza using this wood-fired crust would have been superb, so hopefully DiGiorno will keep this restaurant-quality pizza line around and unveil a few more eclectic varieties.