7 Store-Bought Breakfast Pizzas, Ranked Worst To Best

Americans love their pizza. As a whole, we eat over 3 billion pizzas every single year. That works out to about 350 slices per second. It's a large feat, but we do it by getting creative. We're always coming up with new ways to enjoy the bread, sauce, and cheese combo. We reinvent the crust or toss on a new and exciting array of toppings — pineapple was just the tip of the iceberg. Of course, we've also stretched the indulgence to all hours of the day. 

It's not enough to enjoy a saucy pie for lunch or dinner. We've also standardized the late-night slice, and the most interesting development is that pizza can now even be enjoyed for breakfast. I don't think the Italians would be particularly happy about the way their beloved recipe has evolved, but that hasn't stopped us.

Breakfast pizza is a completely new way to pizza, and several brands hopped on the trend — from big names in the frozen pizza business like DiGiorno and Red Baron to private-label store brands that bake up their own fresh take-and-bake pies. They pile your classic morning-time fixin's (like scrambled eggs, cheese, and breakfast meats onto rounds of biscuit or croissant-style dough) to create a pizza that's ready to be paired with your morning cup of coffee. But do any of these sunrise slices live up to the hype? I recently tested seven different store-bought options to find out.

Costco sells a two-pack of breakfast pizza from Heggies Pizza. This was my first experience with the company, but apparently, its Minnesota-based pies have something of a cult following. It's known for its thin crusts and ample toppings, and this a.m. variation is no different.

The frozen pizzas come dressed with country-style sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, green onions, country gravy, cheddar cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Based on this mouthwatering description alone, I thought it was going to pull away with the victory in this taste test, no problem. But that wasn't my experience. My slice fell flat, starting with the crust. It's extra crunchy, cracker-like, and doesn't do the pizza any favors. Other breakfast pizzas give special attention to the crust, drawing inspiration from biscuits or croissants to fit the theme, and this one feels bland compared to that.

The rest of the toppings feel quality, yet lack flavor. The sausage crumbles are okay, the bacon is hard to notice, and the green onions are nearly nonexistent. Meanwhile, the country gravy adds a creaminess to the pie, but it's lacking those rustic notes of umami and pepper. That leaves the broiled cheeses and a few egg clumps to do the heavy lifting on your taste buds. I'm sorry to say it, but I don't think this is the particular pie that built Heggies' reputation.

The Red Baron swoops in to help with the most important meal of the day. The brand offers two varieties of breakfast pizzas, which it calls "Breakfast Scrambles." One is topped with sausage, egg, and cheese, while the other is garnished with bacon, egg, and cheese. I picked up both at the grocery store and found the sausage, egg, and cheese to be the less desirable option.

It's not that it's bad. There's just not a lot to it. In fact, it's mostly crust. It's essentially a personal size deep dish pizza, so it's tremendously crust-forward — the opposite problem as the last pizza. You can probably see that there's hardly any scrambled egg bits at all. So, beyond its base, it's covered in small sausage morsels and both mozzarella and cheddar cheese. I was also hoping the creamy sausage gravy promised on the box would carry the flavor, but it's surprisingly light — in both application and flavor.

Still, I liked Red Baron better than the Heggies version. The spiced pork sausage brings a nice punch of savory flavor, and it's noticeably cheesier overall. It actually reminds me of a classic sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich, albeit a somewhat mediocre one. Like the Heggies pie, it also comes in a two-pack, so I can always give it another shot down the line — maybe with a few extra scrambled eggs of my own sprinkled on top.

The bacon, egg, and cheese version of the Red Baron Breakfast Scrambles pizza is a touch more enticing. But it's the same pizza as the sausage take. Once again, it's a deep-dish-style pie in an individual size, so it leads with crust first — a standard kind of crunchy pizza crust. On top is a familiar combination of cheese, scrambled eggs, breakfast meat, and gravy acting as the sauce. I struggle to file the substance in the gravy category, seeing as it offers a muted hickory-smoky taste and not much else. But hey, at least the pizza is still plenty cheesy, covered in a fusion of both mozzarella and cheddar.

This pizza surpasses the sausage, egg, and cheese in the flavor of the meat itself and the amount of fluffy egg curds. I'm assuming it's just luck of the draw, and that there are likely some Red Baron breakfast sausage pizzas out there that do bring more eggs into the fold. However, based on the two I sampled, the bacon, egg, and cheese clearly got a better distribution. I was also surprised by the taste of the bacon bits. They're small, yet mighty with the right amount of smokiness, saltiness, and a decent texture between chewy and crunchy.

Breakfast is not a high priority at most national or even regional pizza chains. So, it's pretty easy to tell that this particular pie is not in fact delivery, but DiGiorno. The brand actually bakes up two different breakfast pizzas. Both come in personal sizes, like Red Baron's, and their standout feature is undeniably the crust. It's said to be a croissant crust, with the box touting "flaky & buttery layers." I'd say the taste is closer to Pillsbury biscuits than delicate croissants, but it's certainly soft at the center, crisp at the fringes, with the taste of butter laced throughout. It put Heggies' thin crust and Red Baron's thick-cut crust to shame, so DiGiorno wins the award for best crust. 

However, the subpar toppings on this pizza drag it down in the rankings. I was expecting a slice of Southern comfort from the combination of sausage crumbles and gravy, yet it didn't fully deliver. Despite the cheesiness from cheddar and mozzarella, it was more greasy than anything, and the gravy was mediocre. It carried a noticeable peppery kick, but was missing that thick, savory richness — someone really needs to school these brands in the art of whipping up a proper gravy. At the same time, the Italian sausage was solid with a light spice, but there wasn't enough of it to make an impact. So despite a buttery triumph of a crust, this DiGiorno pizza still lands in the middle of the pack.

At the Midwestern chain Meijer, the breakfast pizzas can be found in the deli section rather than the freezer aisle. The store's Crafted Market brand carries several fresh take-and-bake pizzas, including this installment topped with eggs, breakfast crumbles, a three-cheese blend, and a creamy cheese sauce, all on a biscuit crust. It sounded delicious from the jump, and I'll admit, it turned out pretty tasty.

While the crust isn't quite as delicious as DiGiorno's, it still has a fluffiness and buttery edge that makes it the perfect base for a heap of savory toppings. It's the kind of crust I would eat all by itself. Across the entire large, 2-pound pizza, clusters of egg add to its heartiness, and cheese hits you from all angles. You have a thin layer of American and cheddar cheese sauce, which is a good start, albeit not distinctly peppery as promised. Then, you also have mozzarella, smoked-flavored Gouda, and a bit of grated Parmesan loaded on top.

Everything was going right for this pizza until I bit into one of the crumbles. I was wary of them from the start, seeing as the brand refers to them as "breakfast" crumbles, rather than sausage crumbles. They are made with pork, but also taste manufactured, and there's just something about the taste and texture that's off-putting. I was tempted to pick them off so I could enjoy the rest of the pie in peace.

Different supermarket. Nearly identical breakfast pizza. Walmart's offering matches up with Meijer's on nearly every single front, all the way down to the size and packaging: a square cardboard box with yellow details and a cutout to see the pie waiting inside. The ingredients are also sneakily similar. The biscuit crust is back, as well as scrambled eggs, cooked breakfast crumbles, cheese, and peppered cream gravy. It's almost like the two pizzas came from the same source. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

With so many similarities, the two also share the same problems, namely the breakfast crumbles issue. The bits are juicy and made with pork, but present an unsavory gristle on top of a strange, meaty flavor that I didn't care for.

Clearly, there's something going on with these two pies. But there are a few subtle differences that give Walmart's pizza the upper hand. Rather than a combination of mozzarella, smoked Gouda, and grated Parmesan, Marketside focuses on Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses, giving the pizza a sharper, more defined flavor. The sauce is also Monterey Jack-based, mixed with milk, butter, and coconut oil to form a creamy layer right on top of the crust. Speaking of which, the biscuit crust was doughier and thinner than it was on Meijer's variation — another defining quality. It made for an even tastier slice, especially when paired with a richer cheese.

The breakfast pizza truly worth waking up for is DiGiorno's Canadian Bacon and Egg Scramble. You'll be happy it comes in a personal size, so you don't have to share. The croissant crust is once again the star of the show, just as I knew it would be after the brand's earlier sausage and gravy iteration. It separates into distinct pillowy layers with doughiness at the middle and a light crisp at the edges — like a fresh-from-the-oven biscuit. Perfection. Plenty of shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese crown the top, and scrambled eggs were more abundant than they let on — more clumps were found hiding between the cheese and crust.

Now, I will admit, the Canadian bacon (which is, for all intents and purposes, really just ham) is scanty. One-half of the pizza was completely devoid of the core topping. However, it offers a surprisingly good flavor that's equal parts salty and savory, and a texture that's easy to chew. Plus, it has another secret ingredient helping it to boost the pizza's overall appeal: the hollandaise-style sauce. You can't really see it, but you can feel it and taste it in every bite. It gives you a hint of that butteriness you would expect in a plate of eggs Benedict, and elevates the pizza's status to a more gourmet-style slice. I'm not a huge DiGiorno fan, but it's doing something right with this breakfast 'za.

Despite breakfast pizza's growing popularity, it's harder to find on grocery store shelves than you may think. Classic pizzas span an entire freezer aisle, but when it comes to morning slices, there are only a few options to choose from. I picked up as many as I could, including frozen options from Red Baron, DiGiorno, and Heggies, and fresh take-and-bake options from Walmart and Meijer's private label store brands. Once I got them home, I baked them in the oven for their instructed time and tried a slice of each.

When it came to analyzing and ranking each one, I started from the bottom with the crust. It didn't matter to me whether it was thin or thick, but I preferred something with a good ratio of bread to toppings. I favored pizzas that leaned into the breakfast theme with a biscuit or croissant crust — especially one that was doughy with delicious layers. I then looked for a flavorful sauce (or gravy, in some cases) and plenty of gooey cheese spread on top. If eggs were included, I only asked that they were fluffy and plentiful. The breakfast meat also made a big difference. If it was low quality or the texture was tough or off-putting, it threw off the entire pizza.

Most pizzas I tried came close to being a good morning-time option, but didn't deliver in one or two key areas. The DiGiorno ham and egg offering, however, checked all the breakfast pizza boxes.