8 Screamin' Sicilian Frozen Pizza Flavors, Ranked

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ... pizza. Or at least, the Sicilian is screamin' for his own pizza. Screamin' Sicilian has been adding personality to the frozen pizza aisle since 2013. But really, the brand's story runs much deeper than that. Before it turned into the overtopped, over-the-top craft pizza brand it is today, it was known as Palermo's. And before it was ever a product, it was a restaurant opened by Sicilian immigrant Gaspare "Papa Palermo" Fallucca. The company also claims to have invented rising crust frozen pizza –I guess they'll have to fight with DiGiorno and its frozen pizzas over that one.

The Screamin' Sicilian brand is recognizable thanks to the giant mouth and mustache on its packaging. The boxes even offer mustache cutouts, so that you can wear and get into character before you dig in. There's a different 'stache for every pizza style, which includes everything from original and stuffed-crust to tavern-style and thin and crispy. To find out which styles and flavors are truly worth talking, or screaming, about, I recently picked up eight different options from the brand to give them a taste.

I tried out a range of toppings, including cheese, pepperoni, all-meat, and supreme. However, all eight pizzas were judged using the same criteria. I was looking for a great textured crust, a flavorful sauce, plenty of cheese, and toppings that were plentiful and fresh. Let's find out which pie is as bold and attention-grabbing as its branding.

This pizza box announces for itself, "I'm thin & crispy." It also gives itself its own movie title on the back, named "Pepperoni & Sausage's Excellent Adventure," making sure to note that the meaty combo makes an epic pairing. I can't say I disagree. The pepperoni and sausage mashup is delicious when it's done well. On this particular pie, though, it's not my favorite.

It has a lot to do with the thin crust. I was expecting more of a New York-style pizza crust that's chewy and a bit crisp at the edges. Instead, the crust was cracker-like at the fringes and soggy in the middle. The shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese also let me down. It didn't melt quite right in the oven, so it came off more rubbery than melty.

These setbacks made it difficult to enjoy, which is a shame because there's definitely some good stuff going on here. The greasy pork and beef pepperonis paired well with the crumbles of Italian sausage. I wish there were more of both — ironically, the box touts that it now has more pepperoni slices. We also have to talk about this tomato sauce. The "secret" recipe includes onion powder, garlic powder, salt, sugar, spices, and a red cayenne pepper-based hot sauce to bring it to life. It's one of the better frozen pizza sauces you're likely to come across, and it's painted in a better light in the brand's other 'zas.

Screamin' Sicilian gets its stuff on with a few of its frozen pizzas. The larger, more fluffed-up mustache on the box lets you know that you're in for a bigger bite. And if that's not enough of an indication, it also lets you know that there's over 2½ feet of cheese stuffed into the circular crust. Now, that's what I'm talking about. I ended up getting my hands on both the pepperoni stuffed-crust pie and this pure cheese stuffed-crust pizza, and after careful consideration, I decided I liked the latter the least. 

It works out to be an oversized cheesy bread, which sounds like a dream. However, it's not all ooey-gooey fairytales. The outer crust is like a school lunch Bosco Stick that's absolutely stuffed to the brim with milky mozzarella cheese, so obviously, no problems there. This helped it beat out the previous thin crust. My issue was with the main part of the pizza. It's actually covered in four different kinds of cheeses, including mozzarella, white cheddar, Romano, and parmesan. It's very cheesy, not that flavorful. The strongest flavor (and aroma) is from the oregano sprinkled on top. Even the sauce tastes diluted here (different from the previous hot sauce-spiked sauce), so it's a bit bland all around. I'd eat the cheesy crust all day long, but as a whole, this pizza didn't do it for me.

Supremus Maximus is the ruler of all pizzas — or so Screamin' Sicilian proclaims. For me, though, the supreme pizza is one of the brand's more middle-of-the-road pies. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it; it didn't do much to impress me.

The box comes with a gaping mouth cutout, so you know exactly what you're getting on the pizza from the jump. You have a stone-fired medium-thickness crust as your base, which is slathered with the brand's secret recipe sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. Then, sweet Italian sausage and premium pepperonis act as your meats, accompanied by onions, black olives, and both green and red peppers. Nearly every square inch of the pizza is covered with something, but I still felt like something was missing. I wanted more of the tasty onions and peppers, which actually maintained a nice, tender texture. There were hardly any sausage crumbles to speak of, and I felt that the bottom became too crispy for a medium-thickness crust. Plus, the tomato sauce gets trampled by the rest, and my slice wasn't nearly as cheesy as it let on.

Most bites felt like a haphazard jumble. So altogether, it reads like any other frozen supreme pizza. It's sturdier than the pepp and sausage thin crust and more flavorful than the stuffed cheese. But Supremus Maxiumus was unfortunately dethroned by several other Screamin' Sicilian rivals.

This stuffed-crust pizza tastes better. No hate to the cheese rendition, it just does. Sure, you lose oregano flakes and three different kinds of cheeses here. We bid adieu to white cheddar, parmesan, and romano in favor of more mozzarella. But we also gain about two dozen pepperonis, which shower the pie in extra greasiness and a smoky, paprika-like flavor.

The mozzarella is more than sufficient to blanket the entire pie. Plus, you still get 2½ feet of it tucked inside the pale crust — once again, it's almost a dead ringer for a doughy Bosco Stick. The plentiful pepperonis only enhance the experience. They make everything taste that much better, and even bring out the flavor of the sauce a bit. About the sauce, though, I wish the brand had brought back its hot sauce-flavored sauce that was featured in the thin and crispy pepperoni and sausage. Tossing a hint of spice into the mix could have made this one stand out and even pulled it higher in the rankings. But I suppose instead you could sprinkle some red pepper flakes over the top.

One other minor drawback to the stuffed-crust pizzas is that they cost $2 more than the other Screamin' Sicilian pies. As much as I appreciate a cheesy breadstick at the end of every slice, I'm not sure the taste is worth the inflated price, especially compared to other pies with a more exciting abundance of toppings.

I'm not sure if it was the aggressive exclamation point in this pie's title or the simple fact that I'm not typically a meat-lover's kind of pizza eater, but something about this box was intimidating to me. I mean, it's very much a whole hog pizza featuring not two, not three, but four different types of pork. Mounds of pepperonis and Italian sausage, coupled with julienned ham and bacon pieces, all stared back at me menacingly as I pulled the baked round from the oven. But when I took that first bite, I was pleasantly surprised by the taste experience.

The mouthfuls were more balanced than overwhelming. Thin-sliced, salty pepperonis were a given in every slice, and mild Italian sausage was more present here than it was in the previous supreme pizza. I was also impressed by the size of the sausage morsels. Instead of tiny crumbles like other brands default to, these are sizable enough to show off their juiciness. After these two core meats, you also get strips of savory ham here and there. Then, my personal favorite part was the bacon. It's chopped so finely that you almost forget it's there until it hits your taste buds. It has a subtle smokiness and a sweet spice that reminded me of hot honey. It paired well with the mozzarella cheese and rich, garlicky sauce underneath, bringing the pizza up significantly in the rankings, behind a few classics and a distinctly unique recipe.

True Italians might grimace at the sight of pizza garnished with chicken, BBQ sauce, and cilantro. I think you may even get kicked out of the country if you even come near a pizza pie with a bottle of BBQ sauce. But, that being said, I think that everyone should give Screamin' Sicilian's take on this recipe a chance — and that goes for Italians, too.

Yes, it uses the same wafer-thin crust as the sausage and pepperoni pizza that I didn't care for. Though loaded up with so many other flavors and textures, it becomes a non-issue. Let's start with the first layer, the BBQ sauce, which is used instead of a standard tomato sauce. Even though it's not as thick as a brand like Sweet Baby Ray's, it's smoky and sweet thanks to a combination of molasses, Worcestershire, smoke flavor, and other spices. Then comes an onslaught of cheeses, including mozzarella, parmesan, and Romano. The one that stands out, though, is the smoked Gouda. I actually thought there was some kind of sauce drizzled on the BBQ chicken pizza, but it turns out it was just strings of buttery Gouda. Finally, there's a top layer of Buffalo-style chicken cubes, which are tender with a grilled tinge, and caramelized red onions.

My only issues are that the BBQ sauce can get a little heavy, and I wish the cilantro were more prominent. Otherwise, it's solid. The next two 'zas are slightly tastier.

With a name like "Bessie's Revenge," I had to get the backstory on this pizza. The back of the box explains that Bessie is the brand's resident cow, and evidently, her revenge is served by smothering this pizza with a mountain of cheese. If that's the kind of vengeance Bessie seeks, I wouldn't be afraid to cross her again and again.

The cheeses that you'll find on this pie are fivefold. On top of a stone-fired medium crust and tomato sauce, it starts with a quartet of shredded mozzarella, white cheddar, Romano, and parmesan, all melted together into one cohesive cheesy unit. With a garlicky tomato sauce to give it even more life, the brand could have stopped there. But they took it a step further by throwing on 10 slices of chewy Wisconsin whole milk mozzarella — the highlight that sold this pizza for me. 

These kinds of slices are not something I've seen too often on other frozen pizzas, yet they give it an unexpected air of freshness and even reminded me of a true Neapolitan pizza — perhaps the Americanized version with extra, extra cheese. Throw on some fresh basil and maybe a little pour of extra virgin olive oil once it's done baking, and it would be unmatched. As is, though, there is one pizza that beats it out. Bessie may have gotten her revenge, but she still isn't quite at the top of the Screamin' Sicilian lineup.

Holy Pepperoni is right. I counted over 30 pepperonis total on top of this foundation of bread and cheese. Once I rearranged them (you know how they tend to clump together right out of the box), they covered the entire span of the pie. Clearly, I was impressed by this Screamin' Sicilian selection from the start. Its pepperoni quantity alone was enough to elevate it above other frozen pizza brands, and it only got better from there.

These pepperonis offer a really great flavor. The thin pork and beef slices are enlivened by paprika and other spices, so they have the slightest bit of spice in addition to their natural umami notes. Extra pepperonis does mean extra grease, but that didn't slow me down one bit. Enlivened with garlic puree, the sauce is also undeniably tasty — miles ahead of other bland pizza sauces. There's a generous layer of shredded mozzarella hiding underneath those pepperonis as well, melted down to the point that you even get a little cheese pull. The crust itself is also right. It's crispy (not crunchy) along the edges with a bit of baked-on cheese, while the center offers a touch more softness and give.

There's just something about this pizza. It's simple and doesn't try too hard, yet each component is executed very well. Hands down, this was my favorite Screamin' Sicilian slice. If I had to scream about and brag about any of its pizzas, it would be the Holy Pepperoni.

The company behind Screamin' Sicilian was started by a very passionate guy, and that passion shows — not in its clever branding, but in the flavors of its pizza. Many of these pies genuinely surprised me with their unique and high-quality taste. To rank them against each other, I baked all eight pizzas in the oven at 425 F for about 14–19 minutes, depending on the crust style. Then I dug in to see what each was working with.

I started at the bottom, with the crust. I was looking for something that held together and offered a nice crisp, but didn't veer too cracker-like. Of course, crust style differed from pizza to pizza — medium, thin and crispy, etc. — so I simply evaluated whether each one lived up to its specific type. For the sauce, I wanted something bold and rich, not just plain tomato, but elevated with add-ins like garlic, herbs, or even hot sauce in some cases. Being cheesy was a given, though most pies excelled in this area. Many even had multiple layers piled on, and it needed to melt into the perfect gooey consistency.

Lastly were the toppings. Since the pizzas varied widely, it came down to whether the meats or veggies were abundant, tasted fresh, had good texture and flavor, and they all worked well together, bringing out the other existing tastes from the crust, sauce, and cheese.