REVIEW: Pizza Hut Detroit-Style Double Pepperoni Pizza

Pizza Hut Detroit Style Double Pepperoni Pizza Whole

What is the Pizza Hut Detroit-Style Double Pepperoni Pizza?

It’s a Detroit-style deep-dish pizza topped with classic pepperoni, Pizza Hut’s new crispy cupped pepperoni, a layer of cheese that goes all the way to the edge of a crispy, caramelized crust, and two streaks of the chain’s new vine-ripened tomato sauce.

How is it?

Well, it tastes like a pepperoni pizza.

Although some of its flavors are slightly different than any of The Hut’s other pepperoni-topped offerings because of the smaller pepperoni and the sauce’s position.

Pizza Hut Detroit Style Double Pepperoni Pizza Two Pepperoni

The cup pepperoni slices are noticeably spicier than the standard flat pepperoni. Those that aren’t drenched with sauce also provide some crispiness. As for the new sauce, being on top of everything makes its flavors stand out. It’s sweet, but even more acidic. Its placement can be troublesome because there isn’t any sauce under the cheese, unlike most pizzas. So there’s a good chance you might take bites that are sauce-less, which taste okay but aren’t optimal.

Pizza Hut Detroit Style Double Pepperoni Pizza Slice Edges

Just like its box says, the edges are crispy and cheesy, and the inner crust is light and airy. But the crust, when tasted on its own, is bland. Thankfully the toppings layer extends to the edges, so there’s no honkin’ huge flavorless end crust to deal with.

Anything else you need to know?

I hate it when pizza forces me to do homework.

It’s not the “you won’t get any pizza until you finish your homework” forcing. With this Detroit-style Double Pepperoni Pizza, it’s the “I have to fact check whether the pizza is supposed to look that way” forcing. Because I’ve never seen a pizza with two thick tomato sauce streaks painted on it.

After seeing that, I was off to Google to find out if Detroit-style deep-dish pizzas are really like that and because I’m using Google, to ensure I will see pizza-related advertisements on every website I visit for the next few weeks.

Well, it turns out my pizza geography knowledge is lacking.

Pizza Hut Detroit Style Double Pepperoni Pizza Box

But why is the sauce only on top? According to the box, it’s there to keep the crust light and airy. But I find that answer to be a bit strange because Pizza Hut’s Pan Pizza doesn’t need the sauce to be on top of everything to maintain its soft and fluffy crust, but I digress.

Conclusion:

This Detroit-Style Double Pepperoni Pizza is a slightly different tasting pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut. It’s not better than the standard Pizza Hut pizza. It’s also not worse. But it does look like what would happen if we told an extraterrestrial being visiting the Earth for the first time the components of a pizza and have it make one, but not tell it the order they usually go on top of each other.

Purchased Price: $13.99*
Size: N/A
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 slice) 330 calories, 17 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 720 milligrams of sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 14 grams of protein.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

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32 thoughts to “REVIEW: Pizza Hut Detroit-Style Double Pepperoni Pizza”

  1. I don’t like dry bites lol. I wonder if we can get a cup of the sauce on the side like it was with the Big Dipper. Worst case, I guess we could just order a side of their standard marinara to dip the dry spots in.

    There’s also supposed to be 50% more cheese so I’m hopeful that I won’t need to order extra cheese.

    1. You know what Darrell? I think if you need this pizza to be THAT MOIST go get that extra cup on the side ;0.

    2. Had this over the weekend, because the sauce hits you first it feels very covered with sauce.

  2. As I anticipated, there wouldn’t be enough cheese on Pizza Hut’s version to truly deliver on the “Detroit style” (even with the advertised 50% more). That cheese all the way up the crust and to the edge is important, and I guessed that Pizza Hut would likely mess up on that execution point.

    Most “Detroit Style” pizzas don’t go with the sauce on top, like Buddy’s in Detroit does. Is it really different than their regular pizza sauce though?

    1. I Always get xtra chz & was a little worried when they wouldn’t let me add it, but mine came w adequate chz, I was pleased w mine on that part

    2. Ugh. My parents took me to Buddy’s when I first moved to this area. On the entire pizza, I spotted a single instance where there was sauce, cheese, and pepperoni all layered together on the same bite. Most of the rest you’d only get one, maybe two of them together. Several bites, and not just around the edge, were bare bread.

      Now, compare that to a pizza that I got at a local restaurant called The Vineyard, in my home town. I ordered double-pepperoni. They brought out a pizza that puts Pizza Hut’s Pepperoni Lover’s to shame. There was about an inch of bare crust around the edge. Inside of that, you could see about 1/4″ of sauce peeking out, then about 1/4″ of cheese poking out, and the rest of it was solid pepperoni, laid out in circles, so the whole thing looked like a tasty, tasty target. They cooked the pepperoni separately from the pizza, so there was very little grease compared to what you’d expect.

    3. Yes it’s completely different sauce recipe than pizza Huts traditional sauce. And it’s terrible! It’s very strong tasting and has way too much garlic in it! We threw the entire pizza away.

    1. i think it has too much peps and the amount of sauce can be throttled back a bit. But…D style is pretty good, crunchy corners ….

    1. When I first went to the Pizza Hut website, I also didn’t see it. But then I clicked “Deals” at the top and it showed me it existed. It’s weird Pizza Hut isn’t promoting it on the front page.

  3. So basically this is Pizza Hut’s version of Little Caesar’s deep dish, but they put two strips of sauce on top because… reasons?

    Apparently the sauce is chunky, too, so I wonder if they just used the old stuffed crust sauce recipe for this from back when Pizza Hut stuffed crust pizzas had chunky sauce.

    1. This Pizza isn’t offered Nationwide only certain cities. That answers why it may not show up on the Pizza Hut website for you especially if you are logged in.

    2. Thats a lot to think about, I’m gonna ponder this for a while. Thanks. I don’t even think I’ll be able to sleep tonight, because of you.

  4. this looks disgusting. people need to stop being brainwashed that pepperoni belongs on pizza. it is gross and greasy. i actually had a job at a pizza place call centre and on more than one occasion had to explain to people that pepperoni didn’t come standard on a pizza. i think people get conditioned from childhood that you are supposed to like pepperoni, while i honestly think most people do not.

    1. There are three “basic” styles of pizza, which are cheese, pepperoni, and supreme. Most of the time, anything else is either treated as a specialty pizza (Hawaiian, anything in the “Lover’s” category, etc.), or is just an option when you’re picking your own toppings.

      If you order cheese pizza, you might as well just eat breadsticks with dipping sauce. Any time someone orders pizza for a group (without asking what toppings to buy) they always overorder the cheese pizzas because it’s the least offensive variety…but nobody really likes to eat it when pizza with real toppings are available. Supreme is also divisive, because you can’t remove the taste of green peppers once the juices have been allowed to soak into the crust. Pepperoni is always the most underordered because everyone says that they’d prefer “X” variety…and then take a slice of pepperoni to go with it. So, in my experience, the pepperoni slices will be gone before everyone has gotten their first serving unless you order a _lot_ of it, there will usually be a few supreme slices left, and if there’s any pie that’s completely untouched it will usually either be plain cheese, or some really out-there specialty variety that someone forgot they requested before they filled up on pepperoni.

      1. you are so wrong about so many things in your post. one small example: a good cheese pizza can be excellent on its own, not just a default that’s inferior to pizza with other toppings.

        but you do you. I can tell you’re quite pleased with yourself.

  5. I thought it was pretty good.. it kinda tasted, to me tho like they didn’t cook the sauce -> like they just poured warm sauce on it after it went thru the oven. But on that note – it’s Def better leftover than regular pizza leftover – I geuss maybe bc the sauce keeps the chz & crust from drying out?

    1. In some forms of Detroit-style pizza, the sauce is poured on only after the rest of the pizza has been cooked, so it’s likely to be a bit more runny than you’re used to. It’s also not going to make a bit of a difference in keeping anything from drying out, as can be seen by the fact that what is clearly thin-sliced pepperoni is being referred to as “cupped” here. Cupped pepperoni is smaller in diameter and thicker cut. You get about the same total volume in a single slice, but the change in shape means the edge and top dry out faster than the bottom, causing the slice to “cup” while cooking. The only reason you’re seeing it here is because there’s cheese sitting on the slice, preventing the center from cooking as fast as the edge. By the time it takes on a cupped shape, the edge is clearly overcooked, and just shy of burnt.

  6. There’s apparently two basic types of Detroit pizza. The first is the kind you’ll actually find served in Metro Detroit, and the second is the Foodie version served almost anywhere else. The former is like the pizza version of Denny’s, and the latter is the sort of thing you’ll see plastered all over Instagram.

    Buddy’s is the restaurant where Detroit-style pizza was born, but I hated it the one time I ate there. Several other local brands serve their own version. Jet’s is the one I’ve probably had the most (since we used to get treated to it at work periodically). It’s not bad…but I’m not at a point in my life where I desire to fill up on breadsticks before the pizza even arrives at the table, and that’s essentially what it’s like eating pizza that’s deeper than most deep-dish pizzas. Making the top look like a Jackson Pollack painting is just adding insult to injury.

    No, as I’ve grown, I’ve come to realize that it’s what sits on the crust that’s really important. The more crust you eat, the less you get of the good parts. Most hand-tossed or thin crust get closer to a 50:50 mix of toppings vs crust. With a bit of luck, you might be able to find a restaurant that goes a bit crazy, and bumps the toppings up so the crust is more like the shell on a taco.

  7. I am from Detroit and was curious about this new Detroit pizza. Having been raised with Buddy’s pizza until I relocated to Texas, I had to try it. Disappointment is an understatement. Way too much sauce across the entire middle of the pizza. In Detroit, the sauce is spread all over the pizza and it cooks the flavor into the pizza. Eating this version was a mess. The sauce was tasteless. My curiosity was satisfied and I would not recommend this pizza to anyone. PS – “Detroit” pizza is really Silcian pizza, from the island of Sicily. More tomato-y, less cheese, and rectangular in size.

  8. I am from a suburb south of Detroit and had my first deep dish square pizza from an Italian Restaurant in Lincoln Park, a city bordering Detroit , named Vito’s in the late 70s. Deep dish Sicilian Style is not quite the same as Detroit Style which is also Sicilian, because the cheese does not cover the dough all the way to the edges. Vito sold his Lincoln Park Pizzeria and bought a Southgate Pizzeria named Roma’s and continued to sell his delicious Pizza with his original kitchen staff until his untimely early death. After Vito’s death Roma’s kept the same staff and continued to make great pizza until eventually the original staff retired or left the employment of Roma’s and the pizza recipe slowly changed into a pizza that was just not the same as Vito’s original. Vito’s was a very good pizza and it is too bad it is not still being made. I was really unaware of Detroit Style pizza until the 1980’s while working in Detroit i stumbled upon a Shield’s Restaurant Bar Pizzeria. The pizza was great. Thick crust, crisp baked cheese covering all of the crust (caramelized crust), to the point of almost being burnt, all the way to the edge and generous portions of what ever else you ordered on it. I later found out that the Original Detroit Style pizza started at Buddy’s, which by the way was a mere half mile ride from the 1st Shields location. Since then I have had both of their pizzas when the opportunity arises. They are quite similar and if the stories I have heard are true, Shields may have borrowed at least a portion of Buddy’s recipe. Shield’s currently has three locations in the Detroit area including one in Detroit near Wayne State University on Woodward. Buddy’s has expanded to about 19 locations including two in the city of Detroit, one being their original location at Conant and 6 mile roads.
    Today I tried Pizza Hut’s Detroit Style and was totally disapointed. The only way it resembles authentic Detroit Style Pizza is in it’s name. At one time Pizza Hut made a very good Pizza named Pan Pizza, which I really enjoyed. The only complaint I had of Pan Pizza was that the pepperoni was often overcooked to the point of being on the burnt side, perhaps because it was so thin. For some reason they quit making Pan Pizza perhaps 15 years ago. A few years ago they brought back their original Pan Pizza but it was not the same as the original. I have not been back to a Pizza Hut until today and it will be my last time

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