Product Review: Dr. Oetker’s Frozen Pizza
November 17, 2009 by Feisty Foodie
Filed under Articles, Feisty Fun, Product Reviews, Ready to Cook
I was recently offered the chance to try Dr. Oetker’s frozen pizza.
Dr. Oetker is a German brand/company whose claim to fame is being the best selling frozen pizza in Italy. And now they’re available in the US. Got that?
My boyfriend actually received the deliveries for me, and begged me to let him eat the pizza. Without me. Before I’d even taken photographs. AS IF!!! Hahaha. His arguement was that he’d certainly eaten more frozen pizza than I had in his entire lifetime; while that may true, I’ve also eaten my fair share and just… no! My pizza! Hehe.
I pulled out the mozzarella pizza and was amused to see large rounds of cheese mixed with shredded bits, and frozen green globs. I followed the directions exactly.
Compared to the box photo – hey, pretty close, right?
Closer up -
Upskirt. The upskirt doesn’t really do the pizza justice – no, it doesn’t look particularly appetizing. However, this was actually excellent frozen pizza. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find it in a store near me to verify the price, though I’m told it should be $4.99-5.99.
What makes it excellent: the crust was crisp and thin, without any nasty pronounced cardboard taste like some frozen pizzas have. It was a good base upon which lay some quality ingredients. BF emphasized how much he really liked this pizza, and said it might become his go-to frozen pizza (and yes, he eats a lot of that, so this is a Big Deal with a capital B and a capital D!). He did note two things: the pesto blobs really brought this pizza to an entirely new level, and that, more importantly, the entire pizza was light enough for him to eat without feeling disgusting and heavy, though he was still full after eating one.
**The only reason it “might” become his go-to frozen pizza is because we can’t find it in his neighborhood right now. Waldbaum’s is the big grocery store out that way, so… someone do something!!!
I tried the ‘funghi’ or mushroom version. (And a bit of his, of course.)
Right after taking it out, I noticed the uneven distribution of ‘shrooms.
Problem solved! I was a bit disappointed that they were all button mushrooms. I wouldn’t have minded a mixture or a few portobellos/creminis… the flavor is so much earthier on those. But I wasn’t too worried.
Out of the oven, compared to the box. A pretty accurate representation, I’d say.
Closer up. Do you see the problem in this photo? The center of the pizza has a pool of moisture on it. From the mushrooms was my assumption, since we didn’t have this problem with the mozzarella pie.
Again, you can’t really go by the upskirt, but the crust was crisp and held up well… except the ‘tips’ of each slice I cut, which was soft and a bit soggy. As for the pizza itself, while the crust has a lot to do with how good a pizza is, it was only alright. I really wished this pizza was simply the mozzarella pie, with mushrooms added on top. Which means in the future, that is what I’ll do – buy the mozzarella pie and add whatever I want on top, instead of relying on their mushrooms. Too bad. I mean, the flavor was good/fine, but the mozzarella was just THAT much better!!!
Yvo says: I can definitely see stocking this in the freezer for the BF (and him stocking some in his own freezer!). It’s a great frozen pizza with excellent crust, good flavor (the mozzarella), and makes an excellent meal for one or a snack for two… while watching a DVD maybe on a rainy day or something… toss a salad to go on the side and you’ve got yourself something that you won’t feel too guilty about later. Yummm!!!
recommended
I received no compensation to write this post, though I did receive the pizzas free of charge. I was under no obligation to write a positive or negative review, or any review at all, and do so freely.
Well, since when do “Doctors” put their names on frozen pizzas? Isn’t this the pizza the guy from Top Chef is shilling? Wait, you don’t watch Top Chef.
Dr. Oetker History:
http://www.oetker.ca/en/history
Yes, it is the pizza he is shilling. Looks good, I have to say. “It’s what the Doctor ordered!”
I like your plates! Too cute! And the fork on the front of the box pic? It looks funny – I don’t know I am in a weird mood today – something about having to buy $400 worth of worms has thrown me for a loop, I think.
I am definitely looking for the mozzarella one for the kids – not a bad price for a nummy pizza [and I think the upskirt photos are great - what I would want my crust to look like].
Have a good one!
Dr Oetker’s pizzas are available in every grocery store here in Quebec and I couldn’t tell you how long they’ve been around but it’s been several years at least. I can vouch for the 4-cheese (YUM!), the mozza (my dinner last night), and the pepperoni/ham/mushroom (also part of the dinner) ones and I intend to try the 4 cheese and mushroom one next.
In other words, if you manage to find a grocer who sells those pizzas, I strongly suggest you try as many as you can.
Yes, these pizzas have been available in Canada forever, and they are the BEST! I would rather have one of these than any take-out pizza around, and who can argue with the price? When they go on sale for $3.99 I stock up. There’s a vegetarian one that is to die for, I can eat the whole thing.
We have had these in Sweden for quite some time. Ther’re by far the best frozen pizzas out there but also about 30%-50% more expensive than their competition.
They also have a couple of other variations, try them as well.
Love you blog btw, been reading it for over 1.5 years.
Hey, Yvo!
. I agree, Dr. Oetker’s “Risrorante” pizza is quite good, but believe me, Dr. Oetker’s “Die Ofenfrische” (means something like “oven-fresh”)is even much better. Don’t know, if it’s available in the US (yet). If you’ve the chance to, give it a try. Besides: I’m really curious, how you pronounce “Dr. Oetker” ^^ !
I’m from Germany, reading your blog regulary. It’s really funny to see you writing about something I’ve in my fridge
Cheers!
As mentioned earlier, these pizzas have been in Canada for several years, the spinach one is quite good as well. When on special, they are regularly $2.99 Canadian. Quite a good side dish to have on pasta night as an alternative to a garlic bread.
Here in Queens, they now sell them at the Stop and Shop in Glendale . I just brought the Mozzerella and the Generosa and they are both delicious!!
Love Love Love the Dr. Oetker’s Pizza…. They have started selling them at the Stop and Shop on Nantucket….. there are always a couple in my freezer!!
I love, love, love these pizza’s but have a hard time finding them in our grocery
stores in NH. Come on NH get with it!
These are the best frozen pizzas around right now, and this is coming from someone who’s been a bit of a pizza nut for the last 25 years. So much so that I’ve almost gotten sick of pizza and don’t care for too many of the frozen varieties. But this is one that totally rises above the pack. I don’t even normally like thin crust pizza, but this brand manages to pack in more good flavor than any other brand.
The Funghi one is my absolute favorite. The generous portion of mushrooms combined with the spices used are extremely flavorful, including that little pool of juice that collects in the center of the pizza. There’s even a great mushroomy smell to it. The Quatro Formaggio one is the second best…just an incredible flavor to the combination of cheeses and spices they use. Those two are the real must-haves but the ones with vegetable and pepperoni mixes are also pretty tasty. The Mozzarella one shown here and the spinach one are a little more mediocre and blander than the others.
The consistently good thing about all of them is that the crust comes out just right, just a little bit crispy but still very tender and flaky, and not too browned or burnt. There seems to be a lot of moisture in the pizzas which makes them go down really easy. I was recently able to get a few for $2 each when Giant had them on sale for $3 and Coupons.com had $1 off coupons at the same time! It appears from the official web site that they are only available in the U.S. in the northeastern part (I get them at Giant in Pennsylvania), and only the 6 varieties I discussed here.
The Dr. who gives his name his pizzas sure is a dangerous one; beware of hard objects inside the pizzas, a good cause for chocking or breaking a tooth! It happened to me and never bought the product again as the company took a very rude stand to protect their ass!
DELICIOUS – and far more healthy and tasty than any take-away.
I live in Oz [the land down under] and bought mine at Coles.
NOW, each time I shop fortnightly – totally rapt.
In late January 2011, I purchased a Casa di Mama pizza, a ‘gourmet’ frozen pizza. I ate the personal size pizza and on the last piece, was finishing the soft crust when my bite hit something hard. Suddenly, my expensive bridge splintered and pieces fell into my mouth. I was shocked and swallowed some of the pieces, including I presume the foreign object. After many emails, photos of the damage, a letter from my dentist and a quote of $3800, the company will not contribute to this damage without ‘evidence’. I swallowed the “evidence” as I was in shock. As a result, I was willing to provide a statutory declaration or any legal document indicating what had happened. They still refused to provide any compensation. This company does not stand up to the highest of level of duty of care/standard of care which is product liability. I am disgusted and thinking of pursuing this in court (something I would not normally do). Please be careful when dealing with this company… they will make you jump through many hoops and then say it’s not their problem when clearly it is entirely their problem.
I can’t believe how good these pizzas are. My favorite is mozzarella and Pizza Pollo, but I also like the Four Cheese kind too. It is rare these days that something frozen is actually made with good ingredients, as companies like McCain and Philsbury have degraded over the years and started using extremely low quality ingredients (their pizza pockets contain some disgusting goo nowadays)
Tip of my hat to Dr. Oetker! Don’t sellout and start using cheap ingredients like greedy McCain and Philsbury!
I just bought a bunch of these pizzas with double coupons …but have never eaten a one. Could not figure out who or what was a Dr. Odeker but hey, after most of the positive reviews I just might be pleasantly surprised!!
These pizza’s are excellent. I’ve been enjoying them for a couple of years now. Funghi would be my favourite. I’m quite into the salty, moist and flavourful toppings. The very best frozen ones I’ve had.
I picked up a half dozen of Dr. Oetker’s last week merely because they were on sale at the independent supermarket I shop at here in central PA (3 for $10). I had planned on stashing most of them in our overflow freezer in the garage for consumption at some point in the undetermined future. However, after sampling a Pizza Speciale on the day I bought them, we scarfed down the remainder within three days. These are hands down my favorite frozen pizzas to date–I love the thin yet flavorful crust, and the cheese and toppings seem to be high quality. I hope they keep the price reasonable, though, because they are somewhat smaller and lighter than an average US frozen pizza, and I have hungry kids to feed!
Wow, I didn’t even realize how many comments I’ve gotten on this post over the years. I still enjoy these frozen pizzas from time to time as lack of time will allow, and am sorry to hear those who have had bad experiences with the customer service. I’ve had the pleasure of trying the suprema and enjoy that one – it seems like those in other parts of the world may have access to way more choices than I do!
my GO-TO pizza hands down. mozzerella is my favorite, and i love the peperoni, ham, combo too. sometimes i lay some thinly sliced green peppers on before cooking…and i always sprinkle some hot crushed chilies on top after cooking. the perfect size individual pizza, with a glass of merlot by the tv at night—-bellisimo! (or in this case,”lecker”)
I also had the change to try two Dr. Oetker pizzas for free. We had Pizza Spinaci and Pizza Funghi.
Both were too small for two adults’ dinners. However, the representation on the box really did match the actual product. The amount of toppings was a cut above the rest in the frozen pizza department.
Pizza Spinaci was not bad, plenty of tasty spinach. Pizza Funghi was too salty in my eyes. That’s about all I could taste.
Both had wonderfully crisp crusts, though, so that was a plus.
I wouldn’t pay full retail price for them, but on sale, they’d be okay as part of a meal or as a snack.
Oetkers definitely the best frozen pizza–very like those smaller Euro pizzas, not however, like Brooklyn style pizza. Cannot fold the crust. Mine also curl up when baked on the rack. Note that a “serving” is 1/3 which is just enough for anyone who might have recently eaten a full steak dinner, but it’s a bit skimpy at 260 calories and one small slice. I serve a half, and I cut it with a knife whilst frozen and put the rest back in the freezer if I’m eating alone. The spinach, to me, is the best.