The frozen pizza dilemma: Don Mauer shares two options that meet his nutritional standards
After a long day at work, some nights I just do not want to make dinner. And some days, there are zero leftovers in my fridge. That means turning to my freezer and pulling out a frozen dinner, usually pizza. Not just any frozen pizza, though. One that meets my dietary and nutritional standards.
These days I am doing my best to steer clear of ultra-processed foods.
Isn’t a pizza ultra-processed? Yes and no. The mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce and Italian sausage mirror my scratch-made pizza.
The pizza dough I make uses extra virgin olive oil and so does my sauce. If I buy Italian sausage for my pizza, it is made from ground pork plus seasoning. If I make Italian sausage at home, it has similar fresh ingredients, plus a splash of red wine.
As you may know, some frozen pizzas use seed oils in their sauce and crust.
Seed oils? Yes, those are oils made from seeds such as soybeans, canola and corn. Those oils are nearly always refined, bleached and deodorized and also have higher levels of Omega-6 fats, which some believe can cause inflammation. That’s why I exclusively use two fruit oils: olive and avocado. By law, extra virgin olive oil cannot be refined, bleached or deodorized.
I recently spent some time reading frozen pizza ingredient labels to see if any brand exclusively uses extra virgin olive oil.
Surprisingly, I found two using only extra-virgin olive oil: Porta brand Roman Style Pizza (Target, $9.99) and Di Fara brand ― Classic, Hand-Stretched and Pan-Baked Grandma Pizza (Target and Mariano’s, $12.99).
Yes, both brands cost more than standard frozen pizzas, which is why I believe many standard frozen pizzas use less expensive oils to hit a certain lower price point.
Both pizzas I compared serve four people and are far less costly compared to heading out to a local pizza place. And both crusts are thick, New York-style crust; Di Fara is more of a focaccia bread crust.
I made both pizzas following the box directions exactly, including the oven temperature, oven placement (middle shelf) and time (Di Fara says 12 minutes, and Porta is 14 minutes). They both exited my oven looking very similar to the pictures on the boxes.
Let’s dig a little deeper. One quarter (125 grams) of Porta’s pizza delivers 280 calories, 11 grams fat, 31 grams carbohydrates and 640 milligrams sodium. One quarter (139 grams) of Di Fara’s Grandma Pizza delivers 340 calories, 12 grams fat, 43 grams carbohydrates and 1000 mg sodium.
Both pizzas tasted great, with a crisp crust on the edge, yet a slightly chewy center, with balanced (not too sweet or acidic) sauces. Di Fara uses whole-milk mozzarella cheese, fresh mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and whole fresh basil leaves. Porta uses low-fat part-skim mozzarella cheese and chopped fresh basil leaves.
Except for the cost, you will not be disappointed by either.
• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.