8 Store-Bought Pizza Rolls, Ranked Worst To Best

As Americans, we simply can't get enough pizza. The average American eats eight slices a month, per data gathered by Pizza Hut, and on any given day, 11% of us eat it, per 2024 USDA data. We just love those saucy topping-covered rounds. But we may just love them even more when they're shrunk down and wrapped into poppable bites.

No one can resist a pizza roll. I can hardly even wait two minutes after they've been pulled from the oven to dig in. That's exactly why pizza rolls are just as synonymous with burnt tongues as they are with after-school comfort food snacking. There's just something about that golden, crispy shell and gooey, lava-like filling that makes them impossible to pass up. Many of us are familiar with the Totino's brand of them. The brand is credited with the inventing pizza rolls — back when it was known as Jeno's Pizza Rolls — and it still stands as the category's most well-known player. However, that doesn't mean that other brands haven't caught on and spun up their own version of the iconic bite-sized snacks.

From private-label store brands to better-for-you options, there are plenty of pizza rolls on the shelf, and I recently gave several of them a try. I assessed the crunchiness of their breading, the filling-to-crust ratio, and ingredients to rank them from worst to best – most curious to see where Totino's, the so-called "king of pizza rolls," really lands in the order.

Costco's frozen foods aisle houses many great items: Kirkland pizzas, Just Bare chicken breast chunks, tempura shrimp — the list goes on and on. But unfortunately, the pepperoni pizza snack rolls from Bellisio Foods don't earn their keep in the freezer chest.

They're absolutely massive, we'll start with that — both in terms of packaging size (they're sold in a warehouse-size 120-count box) and individual roll size. They would put a plate of Totino's to shame, and I reckon they're about 50% larger. The crust is also different from the pizza snacks I'm used to. It's much thicker and sturdier, making for an extra loud crunch straight out of the oven. You'd think this would be a mark on the pros side of the board, but it's this overbuilt outer shell that also makes them terribly dry. There's not nearly enough filling inside to make it snackable. Plus, the combination of tomato paste, mozzarella cheese (both real and imitation), and pork and beef pepperonis isn't that flavorful to begin with. I found myself wishing for a cup of tomato sauce or ranch dressing to dip them into.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels this way about the Bellisio rolls. Customers have echoed these complaints, noting that the snacks are "too bready" and lacking fillings. So, if you won't take it from me, take it from them: Skip these pizza rolls.

The Great Value pizza roll dupes have earned their own fair share of bad reviews, largely for the same reasons as Bellisio's. And I would have to agree that they could use some work.

I picked up the pepperoni version of the snack rolls (there's also a pepperoni and sausage combo flavor), and based on the information on the bag, everything seems up to snuff. The gang of tomato paste, mozzarella cheese, real pepperoni bits, and even some spices is all here. Then, you pour them out of the bag and realize they're just as big as the Bellisio Foods rolls and have similar breading. It's just as dense and almost seems as though it was deep-fried or even double-fried. I likened it to empanada dough, while my husband thought it was more like fried wontons (I would never admit it to him, but I think his assessment was more accurate).

This breading was probably the most interesting thing about them, considering the burning hot nucleus was once again scanty. The rolls were only slightly fuller than Bellisio's (or rather, they're inconsistent, so some are moderately filled while others are close to empty). There aren't a whole lot of pepperoni pieces, and in many pockets, that combo of real and imitation cheese is missing entirely. That really just leaves a slather of sauce here and there, making for a sad little snack.

Kroger's offering is basically a copy and paste of Walmart's rolls. I always get the feeling that generic store brand products often come from the exact same supplier, and that's as evident as ever with these particular bags.

The Kroger and Great Value rolls look nearly identical. They both come in pepperoni and combination varieties, and both come in 50-count bags for essentially the same price — Kroger's bag rings up at just $0.06 more. The pepperoni snacks also share a sneakily similar list of ingredients (seriously, it's word-for-word). So with all these similarities, it comes as no surprise that they also taste like the exact same product.

It was hard to even place one ahead of the other in the ranking, since the thick and crispy breading is back, as well as the middling filling. But I did pick up on a slight advantage for the Kroger rolls. The sauce is the slightest bit more robust and reminded me of a glob of Prego marinara. There also seemed to be more cheese here than in the previous two offerings — and when I say more, I mean I actually got a tiny cube or two in each roll. It's an improvement, to be sure. But compared to other brands, this muted flavor and meager attempt at pizza rolls just don't cut it.

Totino's may be the biggest name in frozen pizza rolls — and takes up the most real estate in the freezer aisle — but I don't think it rolls out the most remarkable recipe. That's right, I said it.

Without comparison, I've always viewed the OG pepperoni pizza rolls as one of the tastiest snacks money could buy. They have childlike nostalgia on their side, but they also make for the perfect post-night-out nosh — that's when they really shine. I thought they would make it far in the taste test and probably win by a mile. But when evaluated side-by-side with other rolls, their flaws are harder to ignore. They looked flatter than I remember as I pulled them out of the oven, and I also noticed they spurted out filling more than any of the other brands — which was a shame, because there wasn't much to spare. Many of the rolls seemed rather empty, and with every bite I took, things felt more and more underwhelming. It didn't quite seem like the Totino's I remembered, or maybe I just wasn't paying that close attention before.

That said, they do still have some high points that bring them above the previous store brands. The corners were still as crispy as ever — I was still tempted to nibble off all four before finishing the rest of the roll. Additionally, the combo of sauce, pepperoni, and cheese had a nice peppery flavor to it that gave it a little bit of life.

Stick with me on this one. At first, I was also unsure of a pizza roll wrapped up in a vegetable shell. But just like cauliflower-crust pizzas, it proved to be much better than it sounds.

The Caulipower snacks are easy to spot. With a much paler color and fatter dimensions, I was never worried about mixing them up with another brand's. The faint aroma of cauliflower that emerged as I pulled them from the oven was another major sign that they were not my typical pizza roll. However, once I got past all these differences and looked at them from a more objective lens, I actually started to enjoy them. I finally got the acceptable ratio of filling to breading I was craving. They're bursting with a rich marinara sauce, and it's actually laced with plenty of herbs. Mozzarella cheese is packed in there as well, though in a smaller amount, and I even picked up on a subtle hint of pepperoni spice.

I didn't even mind the taste of the surrounding breading. Since it's made of cauliflower, rice flour, and a few other ingredients, it does carry the faint flavor of the vegetable, but it's mostly masked by the flavors inside the rolls. Where these rolls lost me a bit was the texture of this outer crust. It's oddly powdery and felt crumbly rather than crunchy. It made me realize just how important crispness is to the overall integrity of a good pizza roll.

Mama Cozzi is an Italian icon in the Aldi freezer aisle. Her pizza lineup runs deep, and while some varieties are more popular than others, they all deliver a slice of convenient, no-frills comfort. So, it came as no surprise to me that her pizza snacks offer the same (just in roll form rather than a slice).

These pepperoni pizza rolls have that classic kind of breading that you'd expect from a pizza roll. It's not dense and overbearing like the Kroger and Great Value rolls were, and it's not too feeble like the Caulipower variety. It has that Goldilocks texture and taste similar to that of Totino's. However, whereas Totino's decides to skimp out on the fillings, Mama Cozzi's made sure to pack her rolls with an ample amount of chunky sauce. It has a nice tang and gets some extra flavor from salt, garlic, onion, and even a touch of Parmesan cheese powder.

Between the breading and the tomato sauce, it makes for a solid bite. The pepperoni and mozzarella, though, could use some improvement. Both are hard to find in the pockets — lost in the sauce, if you will. So, Mama ranked behind a few other brands that brought it in this department. But this is still a good choice, especially for a lower-cost option.

This is another variation with an odd look. Amy's snacks are not so much pizza rolls as they are pizza envelopes. The breading is folded over rather than completely closed off at the ends. I thought it was an interesting design choice, and, just as I predicted, it also allowed for a decent amount of spillage out the sides. No matter, though, because they still tasted just as good, even with some of the filling on the outside rather than the inside.

The Amy's brand only offers a cheese pizza and a Vegan Cheeze pizza rendition of her snacks. So no pepperoni is included here. Instead, the cheese pizza rolls include a sauce made with organic tomatoes, red onions, and extra virgin olive oil paired with part-skim mozzarella cheese. Tucked into an almost pie-crust-like breading, the bites felt like a cross between Bosco sticks and true pizza rolls. They're extra saucy and cheesy, with a real cheese pull when you tug them apart. The sauce is also a bit more nuanced than what Mama Cozzi's spins up. It's oily, laced with honey for sweetness, and spotted with garlic and black pepper for more flavor.

Based on the lighter color, you wouldn't expect the rolls to be crisp. But they still deliver a light crunch at the edges and at the center, where they came in contact with the pan — a small detail that pulls Amy's far above Caulipower's pizza snacks.

Amy and Annie — two ladies who know what they're doing when it comes to pizza rolls. Annie's poppers are admittedly hard to find. I didn't see them at standard retailers like Walmart and was only able to find a bag at a local natural grocery store called Lucky's Market. According to the brand's website, they can also be found at places like Sprouts Farmers Market. Annie's carries both three-cheese and pepperoni pizza poppers, and I went with the pepperoni option to stay consistent with most of the other rolls I tried.

Now I will say that they don't look super impressive right out of the oven. They look just like a plate of Totino's and even have some filling bursting out the sides to match. However, the flavor is a major upgrade. These are loaded up with just enough sweet sauce, are dressed in herbs, and the surface crisps up nicely. You can tell the mozzarella is real cheese, and the pepperoni morsels are actually recognizable. They're made of pork and beef and actually reminded me of crumbly sausage in some of the pockets.

They feel like the quintessential pizza rolls with the crunch and comfort food flavor. They're made from organic ingredients and don't contain artificial flavors or added nitrates or nitrites. The only downside is that they are a bit pricey, but judging by taste only, these were my favorites.

I had to tool around to a few different grocery stores to track down all of these pizza rolls, making stops at Kroger, Walmart, Aldi, and even a local organic market here in Columbus. Once I gathered them all up, I brought everything home and fired up the oven. The air fryer is also an option for most of these rolls, but I stuck with the conventional method: a conventional oven. Most of them required about 10 to 12 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. The Amy's Kitchen snacks were the only pesky ones that were different, calling for roughly 12 to 14 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. After baking, I gave them plenty of time to cool (no burnt mouths here) before digging in.

As I ate my way through each batch, I realized that a well-made breading is of the utmost importance. You don't want anything too thick and heavy, or anything too fragile or soggy. You need something nice and crisp — right in the middle. In addition, the amount of filling can make or break a pizza roll. I wanted something with plenty of sauce — and a flavorful one at that, laced with herbs and spices — on top of real mozzarella cheese and at least a few perceptible pepperoni bits (where applicable, of course). These are the criteria I used to rank each pizza snack, and I have to say some of my top picks really surprised me (sorry Totino's).