The Over-The-Top Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust That Never Made It Out Of Australia

In the ultra-competitive world of fast food, releasing limited edition menu items is vital for garnering both positive press and customer attention. Pizza Hut is no stranger to unveiling unusual menu items, with one that debuted only in Australia and never made its way to American soil. Enter the Pizza Hut Four'N Twenty Stuffed Crust Pizza. This creation was released in 2015 as a pizza with eight meat pies baked into the crust. That's right, each slice would delight customers with a Four'N Twenty pie bite (a favorite down under), making this a collaboration between Pizza Hut and the Australian meat pie company Four'N Twenty.

This brand of meat pies is ubiquitous in Australia — they are sold at grocery stores, gas stations, and convenience stores. A Four'N Twenty classic meat pie contains minced beef and/or mutton mince, and gravy, all wrapped in a pastry. As is traditional in Australia, packets of tomato sauce were served with the pizza to accompany the meat pies, which are often topped with this sauce when eaten on their own. The pizza itself included pepperoni, ham, and bacon.

The Pizza Hut Four'N Twenty Stuffed Crust Pizza might sound questionable if you don't live down under, but in Australia, meat pies are an iconic and nationally beloved dish. Baking them into a pizza crust is no weirder than turning Wendy's chili into a dip for chicken nuggets or Burger King's quadruple-patty cheeseburger. Fast food isn't about playing by the rules — it's about staying top of mind. Yet, even in Australia this creation likely would not have ranked as one of the best Pizza Hut menu items.

Still, there's no way that this dish would have worked in any other market, except perhaps New Zealand). As per early reviews by staffers at The Guardian, this pizza was best left to those heading home from the bar in the wee morning hours. "The joy of a pie is in its flaky, crisp pastry," wrote one reviewer. "In Pizza Hut's attempt, frozen pies are popped in to the edges, surrounded by mounds of pizza dough, making the bases soft and soggy." Another staffer added: "Plopping a tiny, tasteless pie on each pizza slice piece — there was barely any mince to be seen — is the latest attempt to solve Pizza Hut's crust problem."

Since the Pizza Hut Four'N Twenty Stuffed Crust Pizza did not live on past its limited-edition window, it was likely not a hit in Australia. However, it didn't completely ruin the chain's reputation. Despite its apparent insult to the meat pie, ScrapeHero reports that there are still over 270 locations in the country.