Mama Cozzi’s Hangry Tomato Triple Threat Pizza
The Hangry Tomato frozen pizzas seem to be a newer product line at Aldi. The packaging for these Special Buy (ALDI Find) pizzas caught my eye from the start, with boxes featuring an illustration of a cartoon tomato character eating a slice of pizza. (The tomato character looks a lot like an Angry Bird.)
Flavors in my local stores in recent months have included a buffalo-style pizza and a chicken sausage pizza. I picked up the Triple Threat Pizza, which includes sausage, uncured pepperoni, uncured bacon, cheddar, whole milk mozzarella, and cheddar chipotle sauce. The back of the box proclaims Hangry Tomato pizzas are made with artisan crust, are “faster than delivery,” and feature “unique flavor pairings.”
I now regret not reading the ingredients list more closely and not reading it all the way to the end. As a busy mom trying to get through the grocery store, I simply saw: sausage, pepperoni, and bacon. Good enough. Chuck it in the cart.
It was that chipotle cheddar sauce, that inconspicuous final item on the ingredients list on the front of the box, that did my family in. If you like spicy foods, you’ll be just fine. My family mild to moderately spicy food, but this pizza was too much for us. We ALL (even the grownups) ended up throwing away our cooked pizza and scrounging in the fridge for leftovers on the night we baked this pizza for dinner.
To be fair, if you love spicy food, this pizza will be right up your alley. I’m not sure, but I now suspect most of the Hangry Tomato pizzas have some kick, which might explain their peppy name and snappy packaging illustrations. So, buyer beware. Or bon appetit. It depends on your preference.
Spicy sauce aside, the rest of the ingredients — including the sausage, pepperoni, and bacon — were fantastic. The ingredients were flavorful and the toppings plentiful.
These pizzas are easy to prepare, too. You simply bake for 16-18 minutes at 425 degrees before the instructions tell you to “stuff your face.”
The Verdict:
Aldi’s Mama Cozzi’s Hangry Tomato pizza line seems to focus on spicy or otherwise kicky pizzas. If heat is your thing, these pizzas have good quality ingredients and nice flavor. However, if you can’t stand the heat, keep this one out of your kitchen.