March 15, 2019
Sources/www.cpkfrozen.com (left) and eatcaulipower.com
Two of the healthiest frozen pizza brands listed by nutritionists in a Huffington Post ranking were California Pizza Kitchens's Crispy Thin Crust Margherita Recipe, left, and Caulipower Veggie Pizza, right.
Americans consume a lot of frozen pizza every year.
DiGiorno, owned by Nestlé, had more than $1 billion in sales alone in 2017, according to Statista.com. Other favorite brands include Red Baron (with nearly $572 million in sales) and Totino's (about $350 million in sales.)
But are those brands the healthiest?
DiGiorno's Four Cheese Pizza often ranks as one of the least healthy, according to Huffington Post, which asked three nutritionists to rank the five healthiest frozen pizzas in the supermarket freezer case.
Here are the most healthy varieties on each of their lists:
The top pick from Samantha Stewart, a registered dietitian/nutritionist in Arkansas, picked Caulipower Veggie Pizza, which clocks in at only 310 calories and 14 grams of fat for half a pie. One reason, she told HuffPo: “I am a huge proponent of a plant-based diet,” and this pizza's first ingredient is cauliflower.
Caulipower Veggie Pizza is available at the Sprouts Farmers Market at 1000 South Broad St., the new Giant Heirloom Market at 2303 Bainbridge St. and The Fresh Grocer at 3021 Grays Ferry Ave.
Malina Malkani, a registered dietitian/nutritionist in New York City, went with the Lean Cuisine Farmer’s Market Pizza. One package has 320 calories and 9 grams of fat.
She had praise for the product because its ingredient list is filled vegetables and “other recognizable, whole food ingredients,” like organic tomatoes and organic portobello mushrooms, HuffPo reported.
We'd love to be able to tell you where to pick up Farmer's Market Pizza, but the Lean Cuisine web site's "Where to Buy" says "sellers unavailable" for that product. But you might try anywhere Lean Cuisine products are sold.
Kristi Coughlin, a registered dietitian/nutritionist from Oregon, who told the web site's LIFE section she eats pizza weekly, went with a variety of California Pizza Kitchen as one of her top three picks.
The Crispy Thin Crust Margherita Recipe is topped with ingredients like vine-ripened tomatoes, sweet basil, mozzarella and Fontina cheeses on a thin and crispy crust, and carries 300 calories and 15 grams of fat per 1/3 of a pizza serving size. She ranked it her best traditional option, telling HuffPo: "The taste was delicious; even my youngest daughter enjoyed it, and that is saying a lot.”
CPK's Crispy Thin Crust Margherita Recipe is available at many Target and Target Express, Walmart and Acme stores in Philadelphia.
HuffPo's list has lots of other healthier pizza suggestions from the frozen food aisle, with ingredients and nutritional values (including carbs) for each.
