I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m no stranger to meat substitutes. My grandfather and stepdad are both vegan, my girlfriend used to be vegan, and I spent two years in college as a pescatarian (eating only fish). While I’ve settled in my omnivore ways as a taxpaying adult, I’m not opposed to a nice Impossible Burger or Tofurky Sausage, and I am legitimately fascinated by the huge wave of plant-based options that have swept fast food in recent years.
If you had told me Little Caesars would beat McDonald’s to the punch in adding a fake meat offering, I’d call ya crazy, but that’s exactly where we’ve landed. Little Caesars’ Planteroni Pizza is a large round pizza with Field Roast Plant-Based Pepperoni.
Pulling up to my second closest Little Caesars (my closest is usually a jam-packed nightmare I wanted to avoid), there were zero advertisements of this new plant-based ‘roni, likely because this item hasn’t rolled out nationwide. Although it still seems like a secret, even locally, it was prominently featured on LC’s terrific app under Limited Time Offers, and ordering went off without a hitch.
It looks great — nice and shiny cheese with a fresh and zesty aroma that instantly makes my mouth water. Field Roast’s “pepperoni” are faux meat made up of canola oil, wheat gluten, potato protein, and pea protein, along with a ton of other binders and flavors. They have a deeper color, thicker cut, and way less greasy shine than your average pepperoni.
Unfortunately, their different look and lack of shininess translate to a lackluster flavor as well. I have no issues with the tougher texture of plant-based proteins, but the lack of salty and fatty intensity really brings down the experience. With pepperoni that isn’t chockfull of salt and animal fat, the cheaper components of Little Caesars’ pizza are exposed, and the crust and sauce both taste weaker and less impactful than any LC’s pizza I’ve had in the last two years.
The saving grace was the Butter Garlic sauce I added to my order, which, hot take alert, is even better than Papa John’s with a more robust and intense garlic flavor. When dunked into that glorious silky sauce, the pizza is pretty good, bringing the necessary salt and fat desperately lacking from Field Roast’s creation.
Another issue with this is that it’s not vegan. Nothing has changed about this pizza except for the pepperoni, and I don’t see this as an improvement over plain cheese or a wonderful veggie combo like mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers for those who don’t eat meat.
At the price point that Little Caesars is offering this pizza, $8.49, it should at least be an ExtraMostBestest, with extra cheese and pepperoni, but it isn’t, and that lack of indulgence makes for something that’s pretty underwhelming. For a $2.50 upcharge (the most I’ve ever paid for an LC pizza), I don’t think the Planteroni delivered anything exciting to the Little Caesars experience, aside from a cool and catchy name.
Purchased Price: $8.49
Size: Large
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 pizza) 2180 calories, 84 grams of fat, 32 grams of saturated fat, 2 grams of trans fat, 150 milligrams of cholesterol, 4580 milligrams of sodium, 256 grams of carbohydrates, 14 grams of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, 107 grams of protein.
This is a terrible idea, IMHO. I can’t imagine that this would be appealing to pretty much anyone. Why wouldn’t someone just order a plain cheese pizza if they’re a vegetarian, instead?
Actually it’s a brilliant idea and will appeal to many vegetarians. Also LC gets to make more money due to the addition of the faux pepperoni. And people will get more protein vs a plain cheese pizza.
Well, that is disappointing. We’ve had some good experiences with Field Roast, too! Respect the attempt by LC, even if they came up short. Maybe they’ll shame McDonald’s into speeding up their fake meat game, at least?
Due to the size of McDonald’s they can’t “turn on a dime”– this means they often can’t be early in capitalizing on trends due to logistical issues.
I think LC’s would have been better served doing a fake italian sausage. This just doesn’t look appetizing.
I think you’re right about the ‘fake italian sausage’. That would have been a much better product in my opinion.
Those fake meat discs are laughable.
You ate only fish? /s
Little Caesars is pretty horrendous to begin with. It’s not surprising they’re jumping on the vegetarian bandwagon but I don’t think this will last. The photos are giving me a greasy stomachache even if this fauxroni doesn’t add extra grease.
That looks absolutely disgusting, made me loose my appetite, ick
Love ,love the calzone ppizza! Forever a fan please keep it coming… my new favorite! With the extra sauce on the side. Worth breaking any diet. Kids favorite after school now too and anytime on weekends! Love it!
Pass on the plant based though. Calzone pizza every week all day long! The best!
I don’t even want to think about what that would taste like. ewwww