The Aldi Pizza Rolls That Shoppers Aren't Sure About

When you shop at Aldi, you won't find many of the familiar name-brand products you would at other grocery stores. In fact, according to the company's website, over 90 percent of the items on the shelf are manufactured by Aldi or exclusively for Aldi. This allows the store to sell its products at a lower price point. But while generic versions of popular products are generally known for being subpar, Aldi's are consistently well-received by consumers. When it comes to the pizza rolls, however, not everyone is a fan.

Judging by most of the comments on several Aldi subreddits, the store's pizza rolls seem to be considered edible at best. Even people who found them decent still said they believed the name brand to be far better than the Aldi version, which goes by Mama Cozzi's Pizza Snacks. "I bought them and was HORRIFIED," one user wrote, concluding that they went "Into the trash." A more positive review on another thread describes them as "Not quite as good as Totino's, but they taste close enough to purchase." Either way, it doesn't seem like people are too satisfied with the product.

The biggest complaint customers have about Aldi's pizza rolls is the crust. The majority say that the consistency is too thick and floury, and unfortunately, the filling does little to make up for this. In addition to lacking flavor, there's also hardly any of it in each roll. The only perk to this scarcity of filling, as a review on Mashed points out, is that it won't seep out of the sides of the pizza roll.

Despite the dough-to-filling ratio being off, Aldi customers say it's still possible to make the Mama Cozzi's product taste better. Rather than heating them in the microwave, the key is to either deep fry them or bake them in the air fryer or oven so the texture won't be as doughy. Afterward, you simply drench them in pizza sauce and cheese. You could also try the popular pizza rolls TikTok hack, which involves brushing them with melted garlic butter and coating them with parmesan cheese and parsley. Ultimately, customers appear to agree that Aldi's pizza rolls need some sort of doctoring up to be enjoyable.

Mama Cozzi's pizza rolls may look like the leading brand, Totino's, but they don't seem to taste the same, and there's a good explanation for it: the formula is different. Part of what makes Totino's pizza rolls so special is that the crust is inspired by (and was originally made with) egg roll wrappers, not pizza crust. The unique product was patented in 1968, and when inventor Jeno Paulucci sold the rights to Pillsbury in 1985, the name "pizza rolls" was also trademarked.

The manufacturing process and recipe have undoubtedly evolved since Paulucci first invented pizza rolls in the '60s. However, the distinctions between the name brand and the Aldi version are still evident just by looking at the ingredients list. In addition to the type of flour (Aldi includes malted barley flour while Totino's primarily uses wheat flour), the fillings are also distinct. While both versions have a mixture of imitation and real-deal mozzarella cheese, the Aldi pizza rolls use tomato paste, while Totino's favors tomato puree. Considering how central these ingredients are to pizza rolls, it makes sense that the two products would taste different.