I may cook and write about food for a living, but there are many evenings when I am simply too exhausted to prepare a meal from scratch. Sometimes dinner is a snacking affair of vegetables and dip or cheese and crackers, and sometimes dinner is…a frozen cheese pizza stashed away in my freezer for a rainy day. It’s a convenient and affordable meal, and depending on the pizza you buy, it can be good enough to scratch that pizza itch in a pinch.

With many brands available in the freezer aisle, it can be hard to know which are worth stocking in your freezer. Given the even more dizzying number of topping options on frozen pies, we limited this test to classic tomato-and-cheese pizzas (or “margherita” pies as they’re sometimes marketed), pulling together 17 different frozen pies you’re likely to find in your local supermarket and putting them to the test.

After slicing and tasting our way through the contenders, we found an overall winner we’d be happy to pop into the oven once or twice a week. We’ve also compiled a list of some other very solid pies we heartily recommend, including pies for lovers of cheese, sauce, and more.

The Criteria

As with fresh pizzeria pies, the criteria for what makes a great pizza is deeply personal. Some people love a thin crust, some love New York-style pies, and some prefer Neapolitan pizzas. Some want an even coating of cheese, while others are happy with islands of gooey melted mozzarella floating in a thin slick of tomato sauce.

Though our editors all have different opinions on what makes an excellent pizza, we all agree that pizza crust should not be soggy or limp, nor tough or overly chewy, and there should be an appropriate ratio of sauce and cheese to pizza. There’s no ideal ratio, but it’s clear when some pies lack sauce, cheese, or both. The sauce, meanwhile, should be tomato-forward, well-seasoned, and have a subtle sweetness and tang.

Overall Winner: Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza

Costco’s Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza ticked all the boxes: It had enough sauce, plentiful cheese, and a crust with good spring. Of the 17 pizzas we tasted, it was the only one that satisfied almost all of our picky editors who all had very specific pizza preferences. Almost everyone commented on how thick and bready the pizza dough was: Both Amanda Suarez, our associate visuals director, and Sabrina Tan, our art director, thought it was the perfect combination of crisp and doughy. Others, however, thought it was a touch too bready and verged on the dry side. Still, this pizza was appropriately cheesy and had a sauce that reminded our editorial director Daniel Gritzer of a “classic” New York slice, which is the best kind of compliment.

A four-pack of this pizza cost us just $14.42 from Costco; at just $3.60 per pie, our winner also happens to be the most affordable of all the pizzas we tried.

Runners Up: Our Favorite Frozen Pizzas

The Best Pizza for Cheese Lovers: Newman’s Own Thin & Crispy Four Cheese Pizza

“Very cheesy,” “quite cheesy,” and “so much cheese” are just some of the reviews Newman’s Own Thin & Crispy Four Cheese Pizza received from our editors. While there was plenty of good cheese coverage here, some tasters thought it was a touch too salty, and Daniel thought the cheese tasted a little aged…which doesn’t have to be a bad thing, if you want a little funk in your pizza.

The Best Pizza for Sauce Aficionados: Screamin’ Sicilian Thin & Crispy Cheese Pizza

This pizza reminded our executive editorial director Tess Koman of Chuck-E Cheese pizza in the best way possible: It was saucy and had enough cheese to make her go “heck yeah” in the comments (the rest of us aren’t sure we’ve ever said “heck yeah” about something that reminds us of Chuck-E Cheese pizza, but we get what she meant). Our social media editor Kelli Solomon thought the sauce was “plentiful,” and Sabrina thought this had a great sauce to cheese ratio. While this pizza didn’t skimp on the sauce, it was a little lacking in the dough department, and some of our editors complained that the dough was “barely present” and slightly chalky in texture.

The Best Pizza for Dough Enthusiasts: DiGiorno’s Four Cheese Pizza

DiGiorno, it looks like you have fans: Our editors all thought this pizza had adequate sauce and cheese, and Tess thought this was “FAR AND AWAY the most substantive and satisfying” crust. Based on our editors’ reviews, this pizza tasted the way we thought a frozen pizza should: “This is what I expect from a frozen pizza conceptually,” Amanda wrote, and Sabrina raved that it had an “iconic frozen pizza flavor” and “delicious” crust.

The Best Margherita Pizza: Roberta’s Margherita

“This cheese is the real deal!” Kelli exclaimed. “Not homogeneously distributed, but that gives it a Neapolitan-style vibe.” Multiple people complimented the pizza on its pleasant chewiness and subtle tang, and our associate editorial director Megan O. Steintrager liked that the sauce was “tomato forward” with a “nice tart edge.”

The Best Pizza If You Want Lots and Lots of Herbs: Dr. Oetker Four Cheese Pizza

Our editors enjoyed the flavor of this pizza, though everyone thought Dr. Oetker was a little heavy handed with the herbs. Tess thought it tasted “more herb than anything else,” while Daniel found it “oregano-y.” While this wasn’t the right pie for all of our editors, it might be for you—especially if you appreciate an herbaceous kick.

The Contenders

• Amy’s Kitchen Margherita Pizza
• California Pizza Kitchen Thin Crust Four Cheese Pizza
• DiGiorno Traditional Crust Four Cheese Pizza
• Dr. Oetker Four Cheese Pizza
• Ellio’s Cheese Pizza
• Kirkland Signature Cheese Pizza
• La Rossi Margherita Pizza
• Lean Cuisine Protein Kick Four Cheese Pizza
• Newman’s Own Thin & Crispy Four Cheese Pizza
• Porta Margherita Pizza
• Rao’s Brick Oven Crust Five Cheese Pizza
• Red Baron Classic Crust Four Cheese Pizza
• Roberta’s Margherita Wood Fired Pizza
• Screamin’ Sicilian Thin & Crispy Cheese Pizza
• Target’s Good & Gather Signature Wood-Fired Margherita Pizza
• Trader Joe’s Organic Three Cheese Pizza
• Urban Pie Pizza Co. Frozen Eight Cheeses Thin Artisan Crust Pizza

In Conclusion

Going through the taste test results, it was very obvious that everyone had very different pizza preferences. Some tasters sought out pronounced herbs in their sauce, while others did not enjoy that at all. Some loved a nostalgic tasting slice that reminded them of the pizza bagels they enjoyed as kids, while others detested anything that could have passed for a middle schooler’s lunch.

Overall, however, our editors preferred pies with simple, tomato-forward sauces that weren’t too sweet and were light on basil and oregano. With the exception of Roberta’s margherita pizza, our favorites were all “four cheese” pizzas. While the kinds of cheeses included varied, they all contained mozzarella—some full-fat, some skim.

Ultimately, all the top frozen pizzas are ones most of us would be happy to keep in the freezer for a quick, easy meal, ready to reheat at a moment’s notice.

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample 1 first, while taster B will taste sample 6 first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.