We taste-tested three of the most popular 'zas to find out who makes the best stuffed crust pizza.
The best part about calling up your local pizza chain on a Friday night is that you don’t have to do any of the work. There’s a time and a place for homemade pizzas, but when we’re craving a cheesy, stuffed crust, it’s time to order takeout.
When we set out to discover the best stuffed crust pizza, there were several factors to consider. For comparison purposes, we ordered each pizza with a simple, classic topping—pepperoni. Of course, the taste and caliber of the pizza as a whole was important, but we were really focused on the stuffed crust. Give us all the cheese! The flavor and texture of the dough as well as the quality and quantity of the cheesy filling mattered most. We counted marina sauce in our ranking since it’s so fun to dip a stuffed crust.
On our quest we visited three popular restaurants:
Domino’s
Papa Johns
Pizza Hut
Take a look to see how your favorite restaurant ranked!
1/3
KRISTINA VANNI FOR TASTE OF HOME
3. Papa Johns
Coming in at the bottom of our list for the best stuffed crust pizza is the Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza from Papa Johns. It’s important to note that oftentimes, each restaurant only offers the stuffed crust in a certain size pizza. For Papa Johns, that meant ordering a large. In addition to its Epic Stuffed Crust, it also offers a Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust option. That one is described as “even more flavor with our Special Garlic Sauce stuffed into and drizzled on the cheesy crust.”
The pizza sells for $21.99 with the original pizza dipping sauce cup costing an additional $0.75. Of course, Papa Johns always includes a cup of its Special Garlic Dipping Sauce with every pizza as well as a couple of pepperoncini peppers.
We found this pizza to be less flavorful than the other two we tried. The crust was soft and pillowy but also had a hint of sweetness that we didn’t find necessary. There was a lot of cheese in the crust, and it was perfectly melted, but the cheese lacked flavor. The garlic dipping sauce is always great for crust dipping, but the original pizza dipping sauce we ordered was thin and under-seasoned.
Bottom Line: We love the additional garlic dipping sauce that comes with an order from Papa Johns, but, overall, this stuffed crust pizza was not the most impressive on the list.
2/3
KRISTINA VANNI FOR TASTE OF HOME
2. Pizza Hut
Next up: the Hut. We ordered a large original stuffed crust for $24.78 and a cup of marinara sauce for $0.89. This pizza was a bit greasier than the other two we tested. It also had the most substantial pepperoni toppings, so that could have contributed to the greasiness. The stuffed crust wasn’t as full as the other two pizzas on our ranked list. The crust almost felt a bit deflated in comparison. That being said, even though it wasn’t as stuffed, the cheese was quite flavorful, and the pizza overall was more delicious than Papa Johns.
The dipping sauce was a bit thinner than we would have liked, but it was well-seasoned.
Bottom Line: Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust pizza was middle of the road in terms of taste and value.
3/3
KRISTINA VANNI FOR TASTE OF HOME
1. Domino’s
The leader in our quest for the best stuffed crust pizza came from Domino’s. The Parmesan Stuffed Crust Pizza is only available in medium for $20.24. It has a cheese stuffed crust and a garlic and Parmesan seasoning sprinkled over the crust for added texture and flavor. The marinara dipping sauce we ordered was an additional $1.39.
This pizza was tops in all categories. The pie itself was the most delicious, making us excited to nibble all the way to the crust and keep the party going. The dough was flavorful and perfectly cooked. The cheesy stuffing was prevalent through every bite and was significant enough to make us feel like we got a bonus cheesy bread side dish with our meal. Finally, the marinara dipping sauce was head and shoulders above the others. It was rich and thick, making it adhere nicely to the crust on each dip. Also, the sauce was well-seasoned with notes of oregano standing out on our palate.
Bottom Line: Domino’s also ranked near the top of our list of the best pizza chains so it’s no surprise that it has the best stuffed crust. It’s safe to say the chain knows what it’s doing in terms of crafting ‘zas.
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