Is the Screamin’ Sicilian really the best frozen pizza ever?

/ August 26, 2015

My dear wife Karen made sure I was thoroughly engaged during our last weekly trip through the supermarket.

Not that my mind is usually wandering, mind you. Not me, the man who prefers the Cicero location even though it’s, oh, the third or fourth farthest Wegmans from the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, but it’s a sure bet to have the Wayback soundtrack for me to dance and sing along to as we fill our cart with our weekly food and beverage needs.

She’s leaving home, bye, bye, MDW reminded me before we departed, so I needed to pick what I’d be making myself for dinner while she’d be gone, gone, gone for her annual Girls Getaway.

High alert, yes.

No fresh in the meat case, so smoked kielbasa goes into the cart. Mrs. T’s four-cheese (potato-mix assumed) pierogi and chopped onions and kraut and beans, check.

That’ll get me two meals. Karen will be gone to the Outer Banks of North Carolina five nights. I know I will be bringing home take-out Chinese from my weekly golf league. Do I want that $2.50 Mickey D’s double-cheeseburger and fries summer special combo for lunch or dinner? … My mind was working hard. I was not singing or dancing.

Frozen Pizza to the Extreme.

Frozen Pizza to the Extreme.

Frozen pizza is another staple of my repertoire, an easy make for two lunches in the Little Bitty. I’ve been eyeing a big bomber for months but hesitant to pull the trigger on the Screamin’ Sicilian because it costs a couple bucks more than the store brand.

But would you look at the boasts on that box!

Effective advertising.

Effective advertising.

Natural ingredients! This could be healthy!! Great marketers at work. I threw it in the cart, along with a bagged salad, mentally marking it down for two meals.

Out of the oven.

Out of the oven.

Monday night, I baked the Screamin’ Sicilian, 18 minutes at 425º F.

It smelled delicious.

At the ding, I pulled it off the center rack and onto the pizza pan to let it cool. My taste buds were doing the dancing.

I sliced half of it into three pieces, plenty after my bowl of salad.

Lookin' good.

Lookin’ good.

Yes, the Supremus Maximus was very good. Way better than Wegmans thin crust Supreme. A tad better than DiGiorno’s Pizzeria! thin crust Supreme. For frozen, my surprised reaction was: Fresh!

The best thing about it was the cheese. The Wisconsin mozzarella was smooth and creamy and very stretchy. The sauce was strong, medium-spicy. The sausage and pepperoni was fresh. The veggies were fair.

As good as a couple slices from Twin Trees or Pavones or Original Italian Pizza? Maybe if they’d been sitting under the counter a long time and then reheated. Close to a whole pie from Angotti’s? Not nearly. Pretty darn good for a frozen pizza nevertheless.

Are you or are you not a fan of frozen pizza, and why? If so, what’s your favorite brand, and why? What’s your favorite frozen meal, and why?

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85 thoughts on “Is the Screamin’ Sicilian really the best frozen pizza ever?”

  1. Read the reviews, got sucked in by fancy packaging and wasted around 8 bucks. I don’t care about what everyone was raving about, there is nothing special about this pizza. Blah is about the only thing good about it. What surprises me is all the food reviews. Can’t believe our taste buds have been dumbed down so far as to accept this as highly rated. Very disappointed but not surprised!!

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  2. Growing up in Chicago frozen pizza scared the hell out of me.Screaming Sicilian is the best frozen thin crust I ever had. A little pricey here in Florida at $8.99 but it’s buy one get one so I’ll stock up the deep freeze.

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  3. This is absolutely the best pizza I think I have ever had! I loved it. Very very tasty and they didn’t skimp on the ingredients. I will definitely buy more. I had the supreme Maximus… Loved it.

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  4. Screaming Sicilian…is the Best frozen pizza I have ever had!!!…three faves….supreme maximus, mambo Italiano and bessies revenge…..6.98 at walmart!!! Really goods quick eats!!

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  5. Wow! When you talk about pizza, people have a lot to say. I think I should consider a pizza post!

    I agree the SS is a great frozen pizza. It is one of the smaller ones but you actually get good tasty pizza. We have a couple that are as good from pizzerias that do frozen now, like Connie’s and Gino’s and California kitchens.

    Otherwise I have lost my taste for commercial frozen pizzas. They are smaller, cardboardy, and just in general they are skimping on everything. We usually buy the grocery store pizzas. Walmart has one and Aldi has one that is fantastic, huge and about 6 or 7 bucks with creamy cheese, and a lot of it.

    I also make it homemade now that I found out how easy it is.

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  7. I’ve never been a big fan of frozen pizza. I was spoiled by growing up with a local pizza place with pizza so good I’ve still never found any to compare. We still visit every time we visit my home town and it’s still great. (Notwithstanding my later discovery of Chicago’s Pizza in the Pan during my Chicago years, which I just think is a different but equally good beast). Of the frozen ones I’ve tried, so far California Pizza Oven has the best. But there’s nothing like pizza made fresh and cooked in a brick oven…

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  8. Not a fan of frozen pizza, but your pic makes that one look very inviting. I used to cook extra stuff and freeze some homemade tv dinners for family when I went away a few days. Sometimes it was still there when I came home…they’d opt for takeout, which was a treat for them, since I’d cook every day. Jim would get his annual Big Mac or 2, and then not crave it for another year ! ☺

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  9. I don’t buy frozen pizza bro Mark. Seldom buy a pizza at all, because I make my own, so I’m not an expert on the pizza from outside my kitchen question. When someone suggests we order in, and I go along with them, I’m usually disappointed. I’m not averse to using sauce from a jar — especially since my son works for a large company that makes sauce and sometimes he gets some overstock free. His family is tired of it, so I’m the winner on that deal, and happy to receive it.
    I also want to add a disclaimer here. This reply is coming as if it is from the Kentucky Angel blog, but it should be coming from my new blog under the name Dixiebox. The blog is called “It’s Not Exactly Rocket Science”. I’m still making changes to it, but just got bored one night when I was too tired to relax. I bore easily I guess. Have a good one bro Mark.

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  10. Better than DiGiorno’s! How could that be!!! I love pizza and to me DiaGiorno’s is the best. Though I saw a commercial where they are advertising fresh tomatoes and sliced mozzarella. Don’t remember name but will write it down. I’m going to have to try this Screamin’ Sicillian.

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  11. Such a weird coincidence! My husband went to the store yesterday, and I told him we needed frozen pizza (and not to get Newman’s because it wasn’t filling at all, and not to get DiGiorno’s bc it made us all sick last time), and that’s what he brought home! So it’s in the freezer right now. What a well-timed endorsement. I’m looking forward to it.

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  14. I am not a fan of pizza – ever since I left Chicago, have never been able to find decent pizza. However, your pizza looks pretty darn good and I really like the box. When the boys are away, and I only have me to worry about, I eat fried eggs on toast, or soft-boiled eggs. And I always make an extra egg for both Maxie and Mikey (the dogs). Yummm! Don’t really have an frozen dinners in our house, nobody eats them – so our freezer is pretty empty -except for frozen peas, corn and coffee.

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  15. No, No, No frozen Pizza in this household. Only fresh. Friday nights are pizza nights here Terp. I run down to my favorite Italian Restaurant and buy two dough balls freshly made that day. (NO, I do not make the dough, it is so much better and cheaper and easier for me to go to Bella’s for it) bring it home set them into individual bowls cover with a damp towel let them rise and baby I go for it. Roll ’em out and make them tasty and pretty for the gang!! Yay pizza night!

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  19. I must confess, I do not love pizza. I like leftover, cold pizza, preferably veggie, maybe some Italian sausage. That being said, we do order pizza about once a month from our local joint. (I obsess over their jalapeno nacho cheese sauce.) Now and again, I buy DiGiorno’s spinach, mushroom, garlic pizza and we have that with a lil salad and olives. This is always a happy thing for my family 🙂
    Like Benson said, I don’t think we have the Screamin Sicilian here, woe to us.
    Now I can’t help but wonder what The Mister would eat if I went away. Heh.

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    • Families in general will like it when mom allows a pizza into their lives, Joey. I would jump on that lil salad and olives. I am an olive-adder to my salads here in the house, love the green ones better, we buy the largest jar on the shelf. Once or twice a year we’ll even splurge on a small cup on the olive bar in Wegmans and take that home to stretch it out over a few salads. At 8.99 a pound or whatever ridiculous price that is, the cheese-and-garlic stuffed big green ones are a big treat in Super Bowl Sunday, for instance.

      I bet the Mister would eat a lot like I do. Go-to easy to prepare and know you’re going to love it + bring it home in a bag or a box.

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      • Oh I know! I love olives, too! All of them. Do you guys have Aldi stores out there? Sometimes they carry the big stuffed olives there, and way cheap! 🙂
        I love a good antipasto bar, too. We don’t have Wegmans, but I’m familiar with them.

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      • We do have Aldi stores, Joey. I poke fun at them for their copycat, one-letter off brands.
        Crammedbells baked beans. Hinds ketchup. Sly stuff like that. I’m making those up, but you get my drfit. But I’ll go there for big stuffed olives way cheap!
        I bet Wegmans has a master plan somewhere with a date for Indianapolis on it. 😉

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      • Oh I love Aldi, lol! I go there first and then get the rest elsewhere. So far, I’ve decided the off brand pasta will not do, and they never have organic whole milk, but the rest is good, and we even have some faves we can’t find other places. Check out the olives, you will not be disappointed!

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  20. Had to smile a your choices for you your home alone time… Pizza I really only eat it when it fresh from the oven and we are in an Italian village square with wine in hand, at home frozen, chilled or fresh it leaves me cold!

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  21. OK, you have convinced me Mark! I have to find the one without sausage (Vegetarian here) but I hope I can snag one. Haven’t even tried to find a good frozen pizza any more. Used to like Celentanos but that was when I lived in NY. Outer Banks? Great vacation! No Carolina is gorgeous and finally not so hot by this time of year. Lucky Karen. We had pizza last night, coincidentally, so this intrigued me. Now I may grab a cold piece for breakfast, after reading this!

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  22. There is always a frozen pizza in our deep freeze–our family slogan is “in case of emergency, tear cellophane.” We picked up one of these bad boys about 6 weeks ago from The Evil Empire, because I ‘m always looking for “the one” and lo and behold, the oven angel brought great tidings of joy. To my tongue. We wondered ourselves: is this is, could it be? I’m thinking that it might be, plus the mustache is a lot of fun.

    And on a completely unrelated note–at risk of being labled as a sexist objectifier, I’m looking at these photos of your followers over here on the right, and it occurs to me that every woman on there is beautiful. What’s your secret? The guys look decent enough, too. You have to have the overall best looking group of fans on wordpress–even with me dragging them down. I mean, seriously; look over there —>>>>>>

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    • So I wasn’t off base on the taste judgment. You like the SS, too. Yay, Chuck!

      As for the state of my WP community, “everybody’s beautiful, in their own way,” as the old saw song goes, Chuck. I write, I take pictures, I read comments and follow back and read other blogs and establish relationships. That’s my daily routine, and I like it.

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  23. I don’t have an oven Mark, so I haven’t tried any frozen pizzas. There is a local pizza chain called Pizza Pizza that makes affordable pizza. They have an after 11 pm special that is an extra large with two toppings for only $20 delivered. I will order that occasionally, eat the fresh pizza, then put the rest in freezer bags – two slices per bag. I then freeze it and take it out and microwave it when hungry. It will give me about 8 meals (16 slices) – which is not bad, I try to get by on $2 per meal and the pizza works out to $2.50, – a good treat. That keeps my monthly grocery bill down to $180.00 .

    We have some specialty pizza shops here that make incredible pizzas that you can hardly lift for the toppings. They are expensive- about $45 for an extra large meat lovers delivered.

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    • Your food thrift astounds me, my friend. And your landlord needs to get you a toaster oven, in the very least. That would help in your cooking costs and taste treatment. Some things are better baked than microwaved, Paul. That will forever be.

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      • That is an excellent point Mark. I’ve been pondering a toaster oven for a while now and was waiting for the universe to cough it up . Ha! It may actually happen Saturday. When I visited the food bank last week, they gave me a chit for $40 that works at the local Salvation Army store. They often have lightly used appliances there and a friend is going on Saturday and has asked me to go along. He has a pick up truck so we will be able to transport our finds back home. A toaster oven is high on my list.

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      • Talking about food thriftiness – I was out grocery shopping at my favorite discount supermarket yesterday and there are tomatoes everywhere. It is that time of year here in Ottawa and the stores buy local produce. The world here is afloat with tomatoes – which I love. Normally tomatoes are about $1.50- $2 a pound. They had 5 pound baskets on sale for $2,88, which is less than 60 cents per pound. I bought a basket and when i had a tomato sandwich last night and sliced up one, they are so thick, they are easily twice as dense as normal tomatoes. Beautiful looking and amazing taste. it isn’t for more than a few weeks a year that we get to eat veggies (actually tomatoes are a fruit) direct from local fields. Yum!

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  25. I am a fan of any pizza any kind, any time any where. We don’t have your Screamin’ Sicilian around here so I usually grab a generic Totinos or the like.I have no real preference because I always add extra pepperoni,banana peppers and a mountain of mozz. The poor little frozen pie gets no respect. You sure give a pretty good testimonial for the Screamin Sicilian.Have you ever thought of writing ad copy? I believe you have a knack.

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    • I have added extras to the frozen base, yes, Benson, but I find that some of the usual mopes can’t stand up to that assault!

      Also, thank you for your kind words. I have sent resumes to every ad agency in town. No takers.

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