Trader Joe's Vs Aldi: Which Store Has The Better Frozen Pizzas?

Trader Joe's versus Aldi in a face-off competition? This could get interesting! These two brands share many similarities. For one, they have a smaller footprint and selection than massive superstores like Target or Walmart, or food-specific grocers like Harris Teeter or Publix. Though Aldi and Trader Joe's are both small, they offer a less overwhelming shopping experience, reliably great deals, and solid customer service. They also both sell the subject of today's face-off: frozen pizza.  

To perform this ranking, I went to both stores and chose equivalent frozen pizzas in five categories: cheese, meat, vegetable, barbecue chicken, and a wildcard category. I chose as similar pizzas as possible, cooked them based on the directions on the package, and tasted them hot from the oven. I judged the crust, sauce, cheese, toppings, and how they all worked together, comparing the slices from each category against one another. I considered really only two basic factors, taste and texture, as well as the most important consideration: Which slice would I want to take another bite out of? 

Let's start with the basics — the universal, the everyman's pizza: classic cheese. Now, there are a lot of ways cheese pizza can go, even with such a simple combination of crust, sauce, and cheese. Is the crust thick or thin? Does the sauce taste like fresh tomatoes or simmered homemade Sunday sauce? Is the cheese light or heavy-handed? These differences set the Trader Joe's and Aldi pizzas apart. 

The pizza I grabbed from Trader Joe's had a thin, chewy crust, a thin layer of mild tomato sauce, and a thin layer of cheese. Everything was slight and light. Honestly? It wasn't very good. Or, at least, it made very little impact. Every element — from the crust to the cheese and from the taste to the texture — was bland. I was underwhelmed. 

The cheese pizza I chose from Aldi, meanwhile, had a puffy, thick "self-rising" crust, plenty of sweet-ish tomato sauce, and tons of gooey cheese. It was underwhelming in an entirely different way. Just because there was more of everything doesn't mean the flavor was better. Still, I preferred it to Trader Joe's because it had more flavor, if not better flavor, simply because there was a little more to work with. Although neither cheese pizza impressed me, I'd repurchase Aldi's before I'd repurchase Trader Joe's.

Of course, I had to compare some of the most (if not absolute most) popular pizzas at Trader Joe's and Aldi: the meat pizzas. As in, pizzas topped with more than one kind of meat, and preferably as much as possible. Pepperoni, meatballs, ham, sausage, bacon, and more are all on the table.

The funny thing is, at the time of publication, Trader Joe's actually had few meat pizzas to choose from. The closest I could get was this Pizza Parlanno, which has sausage and pepperoni. It also, however, has peppers and onions — which might be a no-go for the meat-only pizza lovers out there. It has a chewy crust that's crunchy on the edges. The cheese-to-sauce ratio is great, and the sauce has a warm, home-cooked flavor. The sausage is savory, the pepperoni is a bit spicy, and the vegetables are nicely roasted. Overall, I think this is a very good multi-meat frozen pizza.

The meat pizza I found at Aldi, meanwhile, is pretty intense. First of all, it has a cheese-stuffed crust and incorporates sausage, pepperoni, and bits of ground beef. The crust is thick and soft, and that extra cheese inside feels a little gratuitous — more for spectacle than flavor. The sauce is fine — a nondescript red tomato sauce — and the cheese is just melted mozzarella. I thought the meat was suitably greasy and satisfying, but not particularly well-seasoned. This pizza is a lot, and a lot of everything, but it sacrifices complex taste for high impact. Trader Joe's wins this round easily.

There are many reasons to choose an all-vegetable pizza; maybe you're vegetarian, going for a lighter option, or just prefer the taste. Aldi's stone-baked veggie pizza has a thin, crisp (but not quite crispy) crust with tons  — really, very many — vegetables atop classic tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. The vegetables include grilled rainbow peppers and zucchini, red onions, and spinach. Honestly, I thought it was excellent for a frozen veggie pizza. There's a distinct basil flavor in the sauce, which is simple and takes a back seat to the vegetables. The cheese also isn't the main attraction. The focus is instead on the abundance of vibrant, fresh-tasting vegetables that make the pizza pleasantly textured, flavored, and colored. And I don't usually like veggie pizzas at all!

Trader Joe's organic roasted vegetable pizza includes zucchini, peppers, red onions, and, as a bit of a twist, eggplant. Its crust is slightly less crisp than Aldi's, and very unremarkable. Then there's the tomato sauce, which is thin, almost not present at all, and completely bland. I couldn't taste anything about the sauce whatsoever, only that it was the glue for holding down the vegetables. The cheese is similarly lacking. The vegetables are nice (I love eggplant) and have a great smoky grilled flavor, but they taste much less fresh than Aldi's veggies did. Overall, there was a clear and easy winner here: Aldi's stone-baked veggie pizza was fantastic.

While barbecue chicken pizzas might seem like a random entry in this matchup, I wanted to see how both stores would do with the same specialty pizza. Trader Joe's barbecue chicken pizza was smaller, cheesier, had a thicker layer of toppings, and a thicker crust. Aldi's was thin-crust, with smaller bites of chicken, a thinner layer of cheese and toppings, and plenty of herbs sprinkled over it.

Trader Joe's is sweet — from the sauce to the onions. It's also very cheesy. The crust is soft and slightly chewy, almost like a pita bread. And the center, where everything is thickest and the cheese almost pools, is very gooey. There is cilantro on this pizza, which is either a massive pro or con depending on whether or not you think cilantro tastes soapy; I'm a big fan, and I thought it was an excellent addition.

Aldi's, meanwhile, sports a cracker-like crust and a tangier, saucier barbecue sauce. Since the toppings and cheese are in a lighter, the sauce really comes through. You have to love barbecue and large slivers of red onion to love this pizza. Aldi's pizza also boasts a surprise spiciness that lingers on your palate after you've chewed and swallowed it, whereas Trader Joe's isn't spicy in the least. Ultimately, both pizzas were very good, but I crown Aldi the winner of this round. The Aldi pizza just had some much flavor and great textures. 

For my wild card round, I chose two different pizzas that were unique to each store. In fact, I had never tasted pizzas like these. Aldi offered a pie truly out of left field: breakfast pizza topped with pork belly crumbles, bacon, pepper, and onion toppings. It had a "flaky biscuit crust," mozzarella and cheddar cheese, and a country-style gravy sauce. I thought the pork belly and bacon were indistinguishable and tasted vaguely sweet. I wasn't in love with the cheddar cheese either, and the sauce was filmy. I really, really loved the biscuit crust, though. 

Trader Joe's wild card pizza is very different. It featured four Italian cheeses and roasted garlic over a pesto sauce and deep-fried crust. And let me tell you, I tried the Trader Joe's one after Aldi, and as soon as I bit into it, I knew who won this round. This Trader Joe's pizza is so good. I had thought that, because the crust was fried, it would be extra crunchy. Instead, it's soft in the middle and on the top, but has crisp, very chewy edges. It also tastes strongly and wonderfully of olive oil, which is always a plus for me, especially since Trader Joe's olive oils are so good. The pesto is incredibly bright and savory, the cheeses are far more flavorful than I'd expect to find on a frozen pizza, and everything is underscored by aromatic roasted garlic. It's a must-buy at Trader Joe's.

And now is the time to announce said winner, best three out of five. Trader Joe's had the better meat and wildcard pizzas, while Aldi had the better cheese, vegetable, and barbecue chicken pizzas — meaning that Aldi is officially the winner. It's by a very, very small margin, though, because the cheese pizzas were both underwhelming. 

The top three pizzas from this ranking were, of course, the roasted garlic and pesto pizza with a deep-fried crust from Trader Joe's; the stone veggie pizza from Aldi; and the barbecue chicken pizza, also from Aldi. Neither of the stores was entirely consistent, with hits and misses (like I said, both those cheese pizzas were quite bad). But if I had to choose one store from which to pick up a frozen pizza for dinner, judging by these results, it would be Aldi.