6 Newman’s Own Frozen Pizzas, Ranked From Worst To Best

There’s a good chance you’ve heard of Newman’s Own salad dressings, but what about pizza? Indeed, Newman’s Own — a charity-driven brand that was founded by Oscar-winning actor Paul Newman — is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to the products that it offers. There are the salad dressings, but you’ll also find chips, juices, pasta sauces, and even pet foods with the Newman’s brand logo on them. And if you foray into the frozen aisle of certain grocery stores, you’ll find Newman’s Own frozen pizzas, too.

Considering just how many brands of frozen pizzas there are out there, it’s easy to miss Newman’s Own on the shelf. In case you’re interested in trying the brand’s pizza (and perhaps want your hard-earned pizza dollars to go to a good cause), I’ve tried six popular Newman’s Own frozen pizzas to determine which ones are worth checking out. When ranking these pizzas, I considered which ones most accurately lived up to the flavor they were supposedly meant to deliver, which had toppings that were more plentiful or tasty than others, and which ones generally tasted the best (be it because of an extra-delicious crust or particularly savory topping). 

Kicking off this ranking is perhaps the simplest pizza in Newman’s Own lineup, the four cheese pizza. What you see is what you get here: a thin-crust pizza with no frills, no surprises, and unfortunately, not a whole lot of flavor. I will say that there was nothing overtly wrong with this pizza, per se, but when you’re paying more than $10 for a frozen cheese pizza, it’s only natural to hope it might have a little something special to make it stand out amongst other plain cheese pizzas out there.

If you’re a fan of very, very thin and crispy crust, then you might enjoy this more than I did. Unfortunately, I found the crust a tad too crispy (teetering into straight-up hard territory) for my liking, and the sauce and alleged four cheeses really weren’t helping the cause. Did this pizza taste like it had four distinct cheeses on it? Definitely not, and if I didn’t know any better, I would wholeheartedly assume that there was just mozzarella (and a sparse amount at that) on top of the pizza.

Between the lackluster amount of cheese, slightly too-crispy crust, and lack of any stand-out features or flavors, Newman’s Own four cheese pizza takes last place in this ranking. I didn’t hate anything going on here, but I found all of the minimal elements too bland and forgettable.

It’s hard to beat a good pepperoni pizza, and in my experience, I’ve come across some real winners in the frozen aisle (like Costco’s Detroit-style deep dish pepperoni pizza, for example). Alas, I can’t sit here and say that Newman’s Own has a particularly exceptional frozen pepperoni pizza, or even one that I’d consider repurchasing in the future. Much like with the cheese pizza, there was nothing terribly wrong with this pizza, but it was too lackluster to stand out or make a mark in this ranking.

Also like the cheese pizza, this pepperoni pizza came on a thin and crispy crust, and thin and crispy the crust certainly was. The addition of pepperoni upped the ante at least slightly, helping add a little more flavor, textural contrast, and chewiness to an otherwise crispy pizza. I also appreciated that there was a good amount of pepperoni on the pizza, and that it was evenly distributed across the pie (there’s nothing worse than opening a frozen pizza box to see the pepperoni haphazardly strewn on only half of the pizza). However, pepperoni can only go so far in terms of improving a lackluster pizza, so I ultimately felt pretty lukewarm about this option in Newman’s Own lineup. 

One doesn’t have to be fluent in Italian to guess that quattro formaggi translates to four cheeses, but one (such as myself) might be slightly confused about how a quattro formaggi pizza would differ from a four cheese pizza in the Newman’s Own lineup. This pizza proved itself considerably different from the four cheese one, not only because it was more transparent about what the quattro cheeses in question were (buffalo mozzarella, ricotta, Pecorino Romano, and fior di latte), but also because it came on a stone-fired crust as opposed to a thin and crispy one.

It was clear how much more successful this pizza was from the crust alone. Obviously, this is largely personal preference, but the crust on the quattro formaggi pizza was quite delicious, offering up a perfect chewy bite that felt on par with what you might get from an actual pizzeria. The toppings (which were the assortment of cheeses and a few errant pieces of spinach) weren’t bad, but they weren’t great, either.

My biggest gripe is that all of those cheeses pooled up a considerable amount of oil in the center of the pizza, which made for some soggy and less-than-pleasant bites. Also, considering that fior di latte cheese is essentially just a specific type of fresh mozzarella, it felt like a cop-out to call it a fourth cheese on a pizza that already had fresh mozz. This pizza was an improvement from the previous two in terms of crust and flavor, but it’s not the best in the Newman’s Own lineup.

The beauty of a supreme pizza is that it doesn’t have to be the most mind-blowing, amazing iteration of a pizza to still taste pretty good. The combination of pepperoni, sausage, and peppers truly is supreme, and such toppings can go a long way to take a less-than-stellar base and make it taste pretty darn good. I would argue that this is the case for Newman’s Own’s thin and crispy crust supreme pizza, a frozen fare option that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but luckily, it doesn’t have to.

I can’t pretend like I necessarily enjoyed that ultra-thin crust any more than I did with the cheese or pepperoni pizzas, but the toppings on this pizza helped contrast against the crust. The pepperoni and sausage provided a distinctly meaty, rich, savory, and subtly spiced flavor profile, while the peppers added a lovely burst of juiciness and freshness. If I have one main gripe with this pizza, it’s that I wish there had been more of those delicious toppings, especially the peppers (and maybe throw in some onions for good measure while we’re at it). But, as-is, this supreme pizza makes for a perfectly acceptable frozen option — not the best that Newman’s Own has to offer, but getting there.

Barbecue chicken pizza has had a moment in recent history, and for what it’s worth, I’m a fan. While it’s hard to beat that classic combination of acidic, tomatoey pizza sauce with cheese and pepperoni or sausage, barbecue chicken pizza offers a way to switch things up without veering into pizza territory that feels too unfamiliar. Though not every iteration of barbecue chicken pizza is going to be successful, I feel confident in saying that Newman’s Own’s bourbon BBQ recipe chicken pizza is one of the better frozen ones I’ve tried.

Right away, I appreciated how distinct the barbecue sauce was when I took a bite of this pizza. Sweet and tangy, the sauce made for an excellent base on this pizza, and it contrasted beautifully against otherwise very savory toppings. The cheese wasn’t exactly anything to write home about, but it certainly provided that neutral, rich, and somewhat creamy layer to contrast against the sweet barbecue sauce. The chicken and onions worked well as toppings, with the former providing a neutral but meaty bite and the latter adding a slight pungent edge. Overall, this is one of the tastier options in the Newman’s Own frozen pizza lineup, and if you enjoy slightly sweeter pies (or barbecue chicken pizzas in general), then this bourbon BBQ chicken pizza is worth trying.

I certainly didn’t go into this ranking assuming that the unsuspecting margherita pizza would take the top spot, but alas, here we are. I’m not one who goes for a margherita pizza too often (mostly because there are just so many toppings out there that I simply can’t pass up when I order pizza), but I was impressed by this frozen version from Newman’s Own. Between the chewy crust, tangy tomato sauce, slabs of mozzarella, and sprinkling of basil, this pizza was nicely balanced and reliant on tried-and-true flavors to really make it shine.

While I didn’t always love the thin and crispy crusts in the Newman’s Own pizza lineup, I was a fan of the stone-fired crusts, and the margherita had the best iteration of such a crust of the ones I sampled. The true success in this margherita pizza lies in the balance that it struck, with the crust-sauce-cheese ratio being about as ideal as a frozen pizza can get. I was also somewhat surprised that the basil retained any fresh flavor, considering that it had been frozen, but it too shone through and added a nice burst of herby goodness to the pizza. Overall, I had nothing bad to say about this pizza after enjoying a slice, thus making Newman’s Own’s margherita pizza a pretty easy choice for the top spot in this ranking.

Each of the six Newman’s Own frozen pizzas that I sampled for this ranking called for the same cooking method and time, regardless of crust type or topping. So, I cooked each of these pizzas in a 425 F oven for 11 minutes (the instructions called for 10 to 12 minutes) to get the most accurate and fair impression of each pizza when it came time to actually eat them.

When I sampled each of the pizzas, my biggest criterion came down to the texture of the crust (and the pizza as a whole) along with flavor. Obviously, there was some subjectivity at play, seeing as I simply preferred the stone-fired crust over the thin and crispy crust. That said, I kept an open mind for those pizzas with the thin crusts, allowing other elements of the pizza (like a tasty sauce or toppings) to guide my opinions. A good example of this is with the bourbon BBQ recipe chicken pizza, which had a thin crust but also had a tasty barbecue sauce and chicken topping, so it ended up coming in second place.

Other than texture and flavor, I also had to give credit to those pizzas that were perhaps a bit more interesting with the toppings. Those pizzas, like the four cheese, pepperoni, and supreme, were ultimately quite similar in the crusts, sauce, and cheese, but the supreme ranked higher because it had more toppings that made the pizza a bit tastier all-around.