I Tried Stuffed Crust Pizza From Pizza Hut, Domino's, And Papa Johns: The Winner Is Clear

It's your turn to host slumber party night for your kid's friend group, so you're going to feed the miniature hooligans stuffed crust pizza. It's really the only reasonable option. Almost every kid (and adult) loves pizza, and the cheese in the crust keeps people from leaving that part on the plate. Instead of having a dry, chewy bread crust around the edge, stuffed crust pizza has mozzarella or string cheese rolled into it, forming a pocket of gooey, salty, cheesy deliciousness. It's yummy by itself and fantastic dipped in sauce. If you're brave, you might even try making homemade stuffed crust.

If you do decide to order out, though, Domino's, Papa Johns, or Pizza Hut, three of the biggest pizza chains in the U.S., have strong contenders in the competition for the best stuffed crust pizza. A lot is riding on your choice; if you pick the wrong brand, the kids might not dig in as enthusiastically. Don't worry — the choice doesn't have to be so hard. I've done the work for you and taste-tested all three stuffed crust pizzas, and even got help from my 11-year-old son so I'd know which one his age group prefers, to see which one is the best.

Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.

To find the pizza with the best stuffed crust, I ordered stuffed crust cheese pizzas to be delivered to my home in Missouri on the same afternoon. All three had the same delivery time. The Pizza Hut and Papa Johns guys looked confused when they got to my door at the same time.

I shared the pizza with my son and asked him to pay extra attention to what he thought about the crust and filling. I took a bite of each crust on its own as well, and sipped water between each sample. I also tried the sauce-and-cheese part first, then the crust, to see how the stuffed crust impacted the flavor of the whole slice. 

I was looking for something specific in the stuffed crust pizzas — and it wasn't necessarily the same things used to simply rank the best pizza chains. The crust itself, seasoning, and cheese filling should contribute to the flavor of the slice. The filling should be abundant while the crust should be thin and even so the cheese can shine. When warm, the cheese should ooze and be gooey. Spongy, more solid cheese just doesn't provide the same eating experience. Although I mentioned the price of each pizza, I did not factor it into my final decision.

Domino's Parmesan Stuffed Crust Pizza tasted bland and had a thicker crust around the cheese than the other two chains. While there was abundant cheese filling, it tended to be spongy rather than gooey. My son was the first to point out how little taste this crust had. I was surprised because it was generously dusted with Parmesan and herbs, yet my kiddo got it right: It doesn't taste like much. On the other hand, eating this crust is a completely different experience when you eat the other end first. Domino's sauce is flavorful and slightly spicy, so when you finally take a bite of the bland, cheese-filled crust afterwards, it balances the bite. The neutral flavor of it also makes it great for dipping in a variety of sauces.

Domino's only offers stuffed crust for medium (12-inch) pizzas. One cost just under $16 with no toppings. That's about $4 more than a pizza with a regular hand-tossed crust. For as little flavor as the cheese filling added to the crust, I will probably order the same Hand-Tossed Pizza I usually do next time I run to Domino's.

Papa Johns Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza stood out because of its sweet flavor and chewy crust. Like the chain's breadsticks and regular pizza, this crust didn't feel greasy, and it had a toothsome texture. It was less uniform than the competition, with spots where the crust is thicker and others where it's thinner. There was a lot of cheese stuffed in it — I found one spot where the molten cheese burst through the crust and drizzled out. The texture of the cheese was deliciously melty and gooey. I enjoyed the crust on its own and after I ate the sauce-and-cheese part of the pizza. The flavor profiles of every part of this pizza tended toward sweet, and it tasted fresh and light.

One downside to this pizza is its price. It is the most expensive of the three at about $22 for a large (14-inch) cheese, the only size available for this crust option. That's about $3 more than Pizza Hut's large stuffed crust. Personally, I'd rather go with a cheaper option and use those extra dollars to add some toppings.

Love it or hate it, everything from Pizza Hut has the same distinctive Hut Dust flavor, and the chain's Original Stuffed Crust Pizza is no exception. If you like that spice mix, you will like its stuffed crust pizza. If you're not crazy about other Pizza Hut products, stay away from this one as well because the flavor is similar. In addition to the spice mix, this was also the saltiest-tasting pizza of the three, which my son and I both found incredibly satisfying. This pizza also had the thinnest layer of crust wrapped around the cheese filling. It was a uniform thickness all the way around. This crust was the lightest in color of the three and tasted crispy and greasy the way pizza is supposed to.

While both Domino's and Papa Johns only let you order one size of stuffed crust pizza, Pizza Hut offers both a medium for just over $13 and a large for just over $19. Both sizes were cheaper than the ones offered by the competition.

Back in 1995, Pizza Hut was the first major chain to offer stuffed crust pizza. Although the invention of stuffed crust is contentious, those years of experience have paid off because Pizza Hut had the best stuffed crust pizza of these three chains. It is flavorful while Domino's is bland. Papa Johns makes a pizza with a sweeter flavor profile, while Pizza Hut's is salty and herb-covered. Pizza Hut's crust is also wonderfully thin, even where it wraps around the cheese. That makes for a superior in-mouth experience and the perfect ratio of crisp crust to gooey filling.

I gave my son a plate with three slices on it. His favorite was Pizza Hut, and it was the only slice he finished off completely. My judgment was slower and more thoughtful, but in the end I agreed with him. I waffled between Papa Johns and Pizza Hut because the former's sweet, chewy dough is also satisfying. I would highly recommend it to anyone who doesn't want their pizza to taste like butter and herbs. The factor that put Pizza Hut's pizza ahead, though, was how the crust interacted with the cheese filling. Papa Johns' was slightly too bready and thick to be the perfect stuffed crust.