You May Want To Think Twice Before Buying Rao's Frozen Pizzas

You probably know of the brand Rao's thanks to its pasta sauces, but you may not know that the company also sell frozen pizzas. Here at Daily Mail, we reviewed Rao's Made For Home Pizzas and the consensus was that they taste good enough, but they're nothing special (unlike Rao's highly rated pasta sauces). Rao's offers four pizza options — and we tried them all. The Five Cheese was a little too heavy on the herbs, while the Uncured Pepperoni featured flavorful pepperoni but was underwhelming overall. Meanwhile, the Meat Trio fell flat on the bacon, while the Fire Roasted Veggie lacked any "wow factor" in flavor.

The consensus seems to be the same among shoppers who have also given the Rao's pizzas a try. On Reddit, one user complained that the pepperoni pizza didn't have enough cheese, that the sauce was "mediocre," and that it had too much crust overall. To top it off, they found the pizza too expensive — depending on where you buy it, the price seems to land somewhere between $10 and $12 (this is pricey compared to other brands). 

Another Reddit user complained that the cheese pizza didn't cook evenly, agreed about there being too much crust, and deemed it "unmemorable" in taste. They added that they would only consider buying it again if it was half off. With all of this in mind, Rao's may not be the brand you want to reach for in the frozen pizza aisle.

There are a ton of frozen pizza brands out there, so you don't need to try out Rao's just because you may be familiar with the brand through its sauces. Lucky for you, Daily Meal also tried 15 brands of frozen pizzas for the ultimate ranking. For the number one spot, we picked Signature Select Rising Crust Five Cheese Pizza, which is the in-house brand at Safeway, thanks to its strong flavor and even balance of cheese and sauce (and it retails for around $7). If you don't live near a Safeway, we ranked Amy's 3 Cheese Pizza with Cornmeal Crust and Trader Giotto's Organic 3 Cheese Pizza in the second and third top spots, respectively, so either of these are safe options.

There are also ways to make a frozen pizza taste a little better. For example, you could add extra cheese or drizzle on some sort of sauce after baking, such as homemade ranch, barbecue sauce, or hot honey. You can also set your oven to a slightly higher temperature than what's listed on the box instructions to ensure an ultra crispy crust.