I Tried All of Amy's Frozen Pizzas & the Best Was Cheesy and Delicious

It's late. You don't want to cook, and that pizza sitting in the freezer has never looked so good. With a vast array of options filling your grocer's freezer–from plain cheese to meat-and-veggie-loaded supreme and even relatively healthy choices–frozen pizzas have become a go-to solution for nights when doing more than simply turning on the oven feels like an impossible chore. It has become an entire category all by itself, but one company is working to change the way we view and eat frozen pizza completely.

Rachel and Andy Berliner first dreamed up the Amy's brand in 1987. When Andy struggled to find any organic and vegetarian ready-made meals for his pregnant wife, the pair decided to make their own, eventually naming the endeavor Amy's Kitchen after their daughter. Since then, the company has continued expanding its offerings to include soups, frozen burritos, and other frozen dishes, including frozen pizza.

Amy's pizzas are made with hand-stretched dough and topped with only real, natural ingredients. Currently, there are a total of ten frozen pizzas on the lineup. However, in my quest to rank every single selection, I was only able to track down eight for sampling. Two varieties—the Mushroom & Olive and 4 Cheese—proved trickier to track down and were not available in my area. As for the others, I paid $11.99 for those purchased at Lucky's Market and $8.99 for a few purchased at my local Kroger. Let's see which flavors rose to the top.

Here's how each pizza ranked in descending order, beginning with my least favorite and counting down to the absolute best.

Vegan Supreme

To me, the term "vegan supreme" sounds like an oxymoron, but it's certainly fitting for the Amy's brand. The pie is the most intricate of the bunch, loaded up with onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, olives, and garlic. Plus, you can't forget about the meatless pepperonis and sausage, made from tofu, lentils, and other veggies, according to the ingredient list. All this lands on a hand-stretched wheat crust with tomato sauce and dairy-free mozzarella cheese.

The look: This pizza came out of the oven looking colorful and near perfect—almost too perfect—with not so much as an olive slice out of place. I was also troubled by the fact that the dairy-free cheese never seemed to melt and by the suspicious nature of the sausage crumbles.

The taste: There's too much going on here and unfortunately, none of it is good. Most of the vegetables are a tad slimy and cut up so finely that it's hard to even pick out their natural flavors. That is, of course, except for the olives, which are chunkier and overly abundant. (If you're not a fan, the process of picking them off would be a tedious one.) But, the largest bone I have to pick with this one is with the vegan meats. The "sausage" tastes to me like clumps of dry stuffing and the "pepperonis" are akin to a chewy eraser but blasted with a hickory smoke flavoring. I would rather have no meat at all than these fabricated concoctions, and paired with a less-than-appetizing, no-dairy cheese this pizza never had a chance.

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Vegan Margherita

The Vegan Margherita is the only other pizza on the Amy's lineup labeled specifically as "vegan," though there is another dairy-free option in the Roasted Vegetable. This one comes on a thinner-than-average crust made from wheat flour and extra virgin olive oil. The sauce is made with organic tomatoes and simmered with fresh basil. Then, the main focal point is the vegan mozzarella-style cheese made from a blend of potato starch, coconut oil, ground sunflower kernels, organic fruit and vegetable concentrate, and other flavors.

The look: Not too promising, covered in an insufficient amount of both red sauce and cheese. Entire sections of the pie appear to have been missed with the tomato mixture altogether and thin strips of cheese were sprinkled on sparingly.

The taste: The cheese is the largest issue and it's not so much its taste but its texture. It's weirdly gummy and sticky, adhering to the top of my mouth and teeth with each bite–similar to the way white bread does. It's hard to see past this troublesome topping, but there are some other positives happening with this pizza. The crust cooked up to a nice crisp and at no point reminded me of a flat piece of cardboard despite its thin stature. Though on the runny side, the tomato sauce is also decent with just enough zest from the basil.

Roasted Vegetable with No Cheese

Pizza with no cheese—not even the dairy-free kind—sounds like a crime. However, I did my best to not judge this pie by its cover and headed into that first bite with an open mind. It starts with a standard crust, like what's found on the cheese or vegan supreme offerings. Fromage is obviously omitted but so is a classic red sauce. Instead, Amy's goes right in with caramelized onions, marinated shiitake mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and artichoke hearts before drizzling the entire thing with balsamic vinegar.

The look: I thought it would be a bit more veggie-packed, I'm not going to lie. It mostly looks like scattered artichoke remnants with the occasional pop of diced red pepper, all resting on a browned slab of crust.

The taste: It comes off more like a flatbread than a pizza and this specific vegetable combination just doesn't hit the spot. Much of the meaty, earthy taste of the artichoke hearts is lost and the mushrooms are so hard to detect that they may as well not have even been included. The peppers add a pinch of sweetness and color—in more ways than one—but they're unfortunately few and far between. Throw in the fact that the balsamic vinegar glaze is nearly undetectable and these slices land just slightly above tolerable.

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Cheese with Veggie Crust

For our gluten-free friends, Amy's also makes a few 'zas with a non-wheat-based crust. It is alternatively made from an interesting fusion of cauliflower, broccoli, and sweet potatoes. From there, the rest of this cheesy rendition is pretty simple, including just Amy's slow-simmered tomato sauce and melty mozzarella cheese as toppings.

The look: More cheese than others but less than what's on the original Amy's cheese pizza. It's also noticeably thinner than its counterpart, as one would expect. Perhaps even half the overall thickness.

The taste: This crust is magic. It's obvious it's not real dough and the consistency is equal parts chewy and crispy, rather than cushy and bread-like. However, it still far exceeded my expectations with a taste nothing like its three-vegetable makeup and more like a salty and savory parmesan base. With no complaints about the shredded mozzarella or delicate red sauce either, it pained me to place this pizza so low on the list. The truth is that I found each selection from here on out to be a tasty, buy-again type of pizza. Amy's really stepped up its game for the remainder of the lineup. So, while this cheese and veggie crust creation is more than satisfactory—and amazingly only 630 calories for the entire thing—there are others that hit you with just a bit more flair and star quality.

Cheese

Pepperoni often tops the charts as one of America's favorite pizza toppings, but plain cheese isn't too far behind, intriguing adults and kids alike with its basic yet comforting makeup. Amy's was smart to add this one to its books and starts it off with its standard wheat crust. It's then topped with a savory pizza sauce with traditional herbs and spices and the pièce de résistance: grated mozzarella cheese.

The look: Finally, a generous amount of shredded white cheese–much more than what was found on all the pizzas that came before it, even the cheese with a veggie crust. The doughy bottom is also nice and plump.

The taste: If you're going to get a frozen cheese pizza, let it be this one. It's truly one of the best I have come across and I've experimented with my fair share from big names to store brands. The crust isn't quite as meaty as one from, say, DiGiorno but it's nice and thick with a satisfying crunch at the heel. This is balanced by a neutral tomato-forward slathering of sauce and the perfect amount of creamy mozzarella. Since it is so straightforward, there are a few other choices that gained more of my favor. But, this is not a bad pizza by any means. And, if you dress it up with some of your own toppings—a liberty many people take with frozen pizzas—it could really shine.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

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Spinach with Veggie Crust

You can also go green with a couple of spinach pizza choices from Amy's. This one includes the same vegetable-based crust—made of cauliflower, broccoli, and sweet potatoes—as the lighter cheese option from earlier. The same slow-simmered sauce used on most of the brand's pizzas is applied yet again. But, this time, it's joined by both mozzarella and feta cheeses and, of course, organic spinach.

The look: Below the sprinkles of cheese and on top of the lean crust, you can clearly see pops of dark green and also red poking through. To me, it looks more like a pesto sauce rather than a spinach blend.

The taste: Don't let the mention of both spinach and a veggie crust in the same sentence deter you. This is a palatable pie. The typical mushiness of cooked spinach isn't a factor and you don't get any of the usual bitterness from the leafy green, either. Instead, most of the flavor comes from the garlic, basil, and feta—all meant to be complementary elements but which end up running the show. I still very much enjoyed the more brittle veggie crust. But, I think a standard dough would be a better match for this specific grouping of ingredients. That, and a smidgeon more cheese.

Margherita

The only difference between this Margherita pizza and the previous vegan option is the cheese. This one is not dairy-free or vegan and therefore it's made with real mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. Everything else is identical, though, from the thin crust to the organic tomato sauce and basil. Both choices pay homage to traditional Neapolitan-style 'za–a pizza type that thrives on simplicity.

The look: Still light on sauce like the vegan Margherita but here the cheese is more defined in dime-sized circular dollops around the entire pie. There's also significantly more basil, sprinkled over the entire thing in sizeable dark green shreds.

The taste: Everything good about the cheese pizza just elevated even further. This one keeps the gooey mozzarella cheese but adds to it with a few accompanying tastes of parmesan. The sauce is not overly bold yet brings in some pangs of garlic and even a touch of sweetness. Plus, the basil in every bite helps to bring out more of its natural flavor. Last but not least, the crust is near perfection again, doughy and soft in the center with a nice crunch at the bottom. If it were up to me, I would add on another scoop of sauce and an extra sprinkle of cheese, even though I know this lighter garnish method is the Margherita way. But, either way, it's pretty darn delicious.

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Spinach

Last but not least, we have another Popeye special, this time on a customary pizza crust made with wheat and extra virgin olive oil instead of an array of vegetables. Aside from this deviation from the earlier spinach pizza, all else stays the same. Tomato sauce combines with mozzarella cheese combines with a blend of feta, spinach, and spices. And, buon appetito!

The look: Just look at all that ooey gooey cheese piled on–it's even more than what was found on the cheese pizza itself and almost completely conceals the spinach and other toppings. The crust definitely has some bulk to it yet became nicely browned around the edges during its stay in the oven.

The taste: Amy's notes that this pizza actually receives its own fan mail, and I believe it! This delivers on everything I wanted more of in the veggie crust spinach pizza. The near-double dose of cheese adds balance to the umami notes of spinach, garlic, basil, and other seasonings. Meanwhile, the dough soaks up all of this flavor, in addition to the sauce, creating the perfect base that's dense yet spongy. It's a crust I could eat all by itself—no rinds left behind after a slice of this pie.

Out of all the Amy's pizzas, this is not the one I would have guessed to be my favorite. But, I would eat it again one hundred times over.

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