The pros: Trader Joe's Organic Sicilian Style Pizza is quick and ready in under 15 minutes from your oven. The organic olive oil was an added bonus that I was tempted not to use, but only added to the flavor here.
The cons: The pearl mozzarella cheese and the crust seemed under salted.
The verdict: At $4.99, the organic pizzas are priced about $1 more than regular frozen pizzas at Trader Joe's. No matter, the quality is present in this pie. While it won't be as good as your local pizzeria, it still managed to be tasty. This is as simple as preheating your oven and taking 15 minutes to bake. You probably can't even get pizza delivery in 15 minutes.
The crust on this was nice and crisp and it somewhat resisted my pizza wheel. It held the toppings well but could have used a pinch of salt. Not a deal breaker as there were lots of other flavors going on. The pizza itself is topped with organic tomato sauce which had a lot of flavor to it. It had notes of onion and oregano. It was topped with both a shredded cheese and pearl mozzarella. The shredded cheese bubbled nicely in the oven. The pearl mozzarella and the red peppers were very unevenly spread out.
Out of the oven the red peppers had a nice sautéed flavor to them. The pearl mozzarella melted into little puddles which seemed like they too were slightly under salted. What makes this pizza special is the tiny packet of pepper flavored oil included. At about 7 minutes into cooking, I took the pizza out and put drops of the oil on the pizza. It was organic olive oil that had the kick of red pepper flakes. I placed the pizza back in and the oil added nice flavor and a bit of kick to the flavors here. Baking it seemed to mellow out some of the spices. Just be sure to spread out the oil.
If you enjoy the flavor of red peppers, then this is a good product to reach for. My husband doesn't love pepper flavors, so he said it was ok and was kind enough to leave me a slice. I enjoyed the flavors here and would buy this again.
The box of Trader Joe's Organic Sicilian Style Pizza:
The nutritional information:
The ingredients:
How to prepare:
How Trader Joe's describes this product:
Out of the package you get:
A close up of the tasty but spicy oil packet:
After being cooked you get:
Would I buy this again? Yes, for $5 you'll be lucky to get 2 slices from your local pizzeria. This made a total of four decent sized slices and could be shared by two people. I'd buy this again.
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe's for a searchable list.
judilyn says
Looks very good! I make pizza a lot, but this would be good as a base sometime when I don't feel like starting from scratch. I'd load it up with extra (cooked) veggies, pepperoni and Italian sausage. I keep these meats available always for just such an occasion.
That would probably take away from the delicacy of the special oil, so I would probably save the oil to drizzle over some leftover pasta of some sort, adding veggies, and serving as a side dish to another meal.
Or add the oil-seasoned pasta to a Caprese-type salad with Romaine, along with shaved Parmesan or Romano cheese, and maybe garbanzo beans, for a light meal. I don't usually have cooked eggs around, but a sliced or chopped hard-boiled egg might really make this a spectacular dish. And black olives - YES - black olives!!
A few drops of well-aged balsamic vinegar would really make this combination sing.
Thanks for all the brain stimulation! ;->
Virtual hugs,
Judie
becomebetty says
My husband loves black olives on pizza. I love how you made pizza an entire meal. Keep the great ideas coming. I love hearing them!!
updownflight says
This looks very good! I didn't see it at the Trader Joe's near me. My Trader Joe's is kind of a small store compared to others. I like that this has no garlic in the ingredients. Hubby is allergic to garlic.
I did deliberately buy the 3 cheese pizza you posted about a week or so ago. Haven't tried it. I also bought a kale, sweet potato and butternut squash pizza with Parmesan cheese that had no garlic. We tried the latter. I really liked it, but hubby said it had too much kale for his taste. The crust was delicious. Even hubby agreed on that. I'll probably dress up the 3 cheese pizza with mushrooms and onions or something.
becomebetty says
I remember you telling me that. It's so hard to find pizza with sauce with no garlic. I haven't reviewed the kale, sweet potato and squash one yet (but sounds like I should). Your husband and my husband sound like they have the same taste buds in terms of kale. Thanks for letting me know your thoughts!
Ditch says
Thx for photo of instructions. Ditched box, needed temp!
becomebetty says
Glad I could help!