Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Sicilian Pan Style Pepperoni Deli Pizza

We love Aldi take and bake pizzas. They’re some of the best pizzas you can buy at a grocery store, and many of the Aldi take and bake pizzas rival what you might get at a pricier pizza shop. You’ll find these pizzas in the refrigerator aisle at the discount grocer.

Some of our favorites include:

• Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Sausage and Pepperoni Extra Large Pizza
• Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Pizza My Heart Heart-Shaped Cheese Pizza
• Mama Cozzi’s Macaroni & Cheese Take & Bake Pizza
• Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Five Cheese Extra Large Pizza
• Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Gluten Free Uncured Pepperoni Pizza
• Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Uncured Pepperoni Cauliflower Crust Pizza
• Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Supreme Extra Large Pizza

We could go on, but we’ve never really had a take and bake pizza from Aldi that we didn’t like. And while these pizzas are sold refrigerated, you can freeze them at home if you don’t intend to eat them right away.

During my weekly Aldi shopping trip, I noticed a new pizza among all the take and bakes: a pan style pepperoni deli pizza. My family likes pan pizza, which has a thicker crust and is often baked in a deep dish. It’s the type of pizza my family often got when I was a kid and we went to Pizza Hut. Aldi sometimes sells some excellent frozen pan pizzas, and we love how the crust gets crispy and fried on the edges as it bakes, giving it a unique texture.

So I couldn’t resist when I saw this refrigerated pan style pizza at Aldi.

The Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Sicilian Pan Style Pepperoni Deli Pizza cost $7.99 at the time of publication. The package describes this as “traditional Sicilian pan style crust topped with sliced pepperoni & freshly shredded mozzarella.”

This is an Aldi Find, so it’s only in stores for a short time. Each store gets one shipment, and after that sells out, it’s gone until next time, whenever that might be. Aldi does not offer online ordering for products that aren’t in stock at your local store.

Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)

The print on the back of the pizza box is large and runs together in some places, so it’s a little difficult to read some of the cooking directions and some of the nutrition information such as daily values for total fat.

If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains milk and wheat.

There are six servings per pizza, and one serving or one slice has 380 calories, 15 grams of total fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 650 mg of sodium, 45 grams of total carbohydrates, and 1 gram of added sugars.

The pizza before baking. The pepperoni need to be spread out.

The box has directions for baking the pizza. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the pizza from the plastic wrap and cardboard tray. (Make sure you remove it from both the cardboard box and a separate cardboard tray it comes packaged in.) Place the pizza on a baking sheet on the middle rack in the oven. Cook for 20-24 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes, then slice and enjoy.

Pizza after baking.

I rearranged some of the pepperoni prior to baking this pizza, since some of them had shifted around during shipping. The pepperoni is very thinly sliced. This is a huge pizza that barely fit on a baking sheet in my small-ish wall oven. The edges of the crust were right at the edges of my baking sheet and even stuck out a little. This pizza was done after about 20 minutes in my oven.

A look at how thick the crust is.

This pizza tastes good, but my family agreed the frozen pan pizzas Aldi sells at certain times of the year are superior to this take and bake pan style pizza. The frozen pan pizzas bake in their own included pans, and they have oil-coated crusts that get crispy and fried while baking, and they’re very flavorful. In contrast, this take and bake pizza has the thick crust of a pan pizza, but the crust isn’t as flavorful, and it doesn’t crisp up in the same way as a traditional pan pizza.

Some family members also thought the toppings were a little light on this take and bake pizza, and it could have used a little more cheese.

Again, it’s not a bad pizza, but we were hoping for something similar to other pan pizzas we’ve had, and that wasn’t the case here.

The Verdict:

The Mama Cozzi’s Take & Bake Sicilian Pan Style Pepperoni Deli Pizza has a thick crust like a pan pizza, although the crust isn’t as crisp and flavorful as other pan pizzas we’ve eaten. The toppings are decent, but some of us thought it could have benefitted from some more cheese. On a positive note, this is a very large pizza that will feed a crowd.