I’ve had enough DiGiorno Pepperoni Pizzas to know that if you stuck one in a generic pizza box and told me it was delivery from some local restaurant, I’d take out the pizza, look to see if there were any grease stains on the box and if there weren’t any, I’d put it in the recycling bin. And if there were grease stains, I’d scold you for wasting a perfectly good pizza box on a poorly planned prank.
My internal prank detector would also quickly notice an attempt to swap a regular DiGiorno pepperoni pizza with DiGiorno’s new Gluten Free Pepperoni Pizza. Unlike Gluten Free Oreo Cookies, DiGiorno’s gluten free offering doesn’t look, smell, or taste exactly like the gluten-ful version.
The burnt cheese may say otherwise, but I did follow the instructions. As I pulled the pizza from the oven, I knew the crust’s rigidness meant it would be crispy or crunchy. While regular DiGiorno crust has some crispiness, this gluten free crust was noticeably crunchier and drier. It even looked like it would be with its too long at the tanning salon looks.
According to DiGiorno, its gluten free pizzas are the only ones in the frozen aisle that feature a thick hand-tossed crust.
Of course, crust only is part of the pizza equation. The sauce, cheese, and pepperoni seem to taste like what’s on a regular DiGiorno offering. While they’re the same toppings, the crust really affects how everything tastes. It’s noticeably blander than the standard stuff, and not even the toppings can help hide that fact.
It’s not a bad pizza, but it’s also not a great one. It’s a good enough pizza, and if I was late to a frozen pizza party and this was all that was left, I would gladly eat it. But more importantly, for those of you who have gluten sensitivities, you now have another option. Or do you?
The ingredients list says it contains wheat starch. Yes, wheat contains gluten. But wheat starch is followed by an asterisk that leads to the following statement, “The wheat has been processed to allow this food to meet the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements for gluten-free foods.”
What does that mean? Research for me.
According to the FDA website, a product that contains an ingredient that’s been processed to have less than 20 parts per million (ppm) of gluten can carry a label of “gluten-free.” So, what I take from that is that this may contain a trace amount of gluten or no gluten. But, if there is, it’s below or meets the FDA requirement. Um, yeah, that doesn’t make things clear. So if you have Celiac disease or are very sensitive to gluten, you may want to skip this pizza.
Look, I’m not someone who would typically eat gluten-free food. I’m a gluten-free food hobbyist. I like to try them and compare them with the original version of the product if there is one. I brought up Gluten Free Oreo because it did wonderfully at replicating what a regular Oreo tastes like. But this Gluten Free DiGiorno Pizza wasn’t able to accomplish the same.
DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample. Doing so did not influence my review. Also, my sample was sent in a plain white box, so the image at the beginning of the review was provided by DiGiorno.
Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 26.1 oz.
Purchased at: Received from DiGiorno
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/5 pizza) 320 calories, 12 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 25 milligrams of cholesterol, 970 milligrams of sodium, 44 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, 2 grams of added sugar, and 10 grams of protein.
Odd to me that in making the crust “gluten-free,” they would muck around (to the detriment) with the toppings. 🙁
I haven’t tried this little lady here but I did try the CPK line of GF Pizza and I’d be very worried about them making this more bready vs the thin crust that’s typical in grocery pizzas of this nature. The CPK thin crust was still kinda iffy but very passable if you didn’t tell someone that it was different than your usual thin crust.
It’s a shame that they could not take the time to develop a fully gluten free crust product. So this product is just out there for those who are choosing to limit gluten as a personal choice, not out of necessity. Though I do suppose that if they were to put out a completely gluten free product, they would then have to have it manufactured in a separate facility to avoid cross contamination. Oh the caveats…
Man, I loved DiGiorno as a kid, but I don’t know if they changed their dough recipe or just that my taste buds changed as I got older but the damn crust always tastes like pretzel bread to me and I just loathe it. DiGiorno still charges a premium and so whenever they’re on sale I’ll bite, but lately I frequently get disappointed by them. It’s a shame, too, because I really enjoy their sauce, but bad dough on a pizza is a dealbreaker.
Celiac here. Was in Target recently and pleased to find the Digiorno gf pizza. (Knew there was one years ago that disappeared). Made one this morning and had a slice and only then did I look at the ingredients to see wheat. I was pretty much WTF??? Couple hours later I’m still waiting to see how much of a reaction I’ll have, if any.
However. Interesting you think the gf Oreos taste exactly like the original. They don’t. Granted it’s been several years since I’ve had an original Oreo, but if you’re curious to compare, IMO, Glutino’s gf chocolate sandwich cookie is superior to Nabisco’s.
Celliac Family. We have had a lot of the GF pizza offerings over the years. We were pleased to see a thick crust pizza being made available and we do agree with the Review done. The Blandness is the primary flaw in this product and maybe the DiGiorno folks could work on this. We are accustomed to doctoring all of the GF pizzas to meet our taste with various cheese and other toppings and to date nothing seems to change the blandness issue. If solved, we would buy these exclusively. The Leader in our view is Against the Grain brand when it comes to the crust taste and texture.
Your “gluten free” pizza has wheat as the second ingredient! My husband got sick from it! THANKS!!!!!!!
I bought 2 of these GF pepperoni pizzas after not being able to find a “Against the grain” pizzas. The package showed a thick crust, so it seemed to match the ATG pizza in crust respects. Althought the crust was good, but as mentioned a little bland, I thought there should be more or more tasteful sauce. In a side by side review, Against the Grain has Digorno beat in all catgories.