Tag: Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut’s new Melts appear to be its attempt to offer a menu item that’s similar to Papa John’s Papadias, which I assume have been popular since they’re still around and now can be crusted with cheese or pepperoni. They’re both basically pizza sandwiches for one person. Although, if you’re a Pizza Hut PHan (I assume that’s what they’re called), you might think Papadias are Papa John’s take on the P’Zone. But that’s another story for another never.

Pizza Hut says the Melts feature two slices of its Thin N’ Crispy crust loaded with toppings and cheese, folded over using basic crust origami, and baked to melty perfection. It’s available in four varieties — Pepperoni Lover’s, Meat Lover’s, Chicken Bacon Parmesan, and Buffalo Chicken — but I only purchased the first three listed for this review.

(No disrespect, Buffalo Chicken. While Melts are made for one, they have the nutrition numbers for three. Yes, I did buy three of the four, but I guess 79 total grams of saturated fat is my limit.)

Also, each one comes with a dipping sauce — ranch for the chicken varieties and marinara for the other two.

The top crust is sprinkled with parmesan oregano seasoning, which is something I didn’t expect nor something I read in the press release. It adds a little cheesy and herbacious flavor if you decide to take bites sans the dipping sauce, but I don’t recommend skipping the marinara or ranch. (I’ll bring that up later.) The top is also pleasantly crispy, but not so much when it comes to the unseasoned bottom crust.

When I peeled back the carb cover, it was surprising that the filling wasn’t the equivalent of smooshing two fully-topped pizza slices together. So “loaded with toppings and cheese” might not be totally accurate. Of course, there’s a chance that mine were made wrong.

Even though they weren’t what I hoped “loaded” would be, there still was a noticeable amount of toppings and cheese, and eating one was filling. But the dipping sauces are necessary to turn the Melts into flavorful experiences since there’s none in them. Without the marinara or ranch, these are a bit bland, especially the Chicken Bacon Parmesan.

Pizza Hut’s Melts seem to be the chain’s way to sell you folded pizza slices, and there’s nothing really unique flavor-wise, especially with the Pepperoni and Meat Lover’s varieties.

Now I can see how some might think I’m down on these, but I really did enjoy their crispiness and flavors when the sauce was involved. However, while great to experience once, I’m not sure I’d buy these over a cheaper and less nutritional eye-popping Personal Pan Pizza if I want something meant for one from Pizza Hut.

Purchased Price: $9.49 each*
Size: n/a
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 melt) Pepperoni – 1150 calories, 62 grams of fat, 28 grams of saturated fat, 1.5 grams of trans fat, 165 milligrams of cholesterol, 2660 milligrams of sodium, 95 grams of carbohydrates, 8 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar, and 53 grams of protein. Meat Lover’s – 1100 calories, 59 grams of fat, 24 grams of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat, 130 milligrams of cholesterol, 2700 milligrams of sodium, 93 grams of carbohydrates, 7 grams of fiber, 17 grams of sugar, and 49 grams of protein. Chicken Bacon Parmesan – 1170 calories, 70 grams of fat, 27 grams of saturated fat, 1.5 grams of trans fat, 130 milligrams of cholesterol, 2400 milligrams of sodium, 86 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 49 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. The advertised price is $6.99.

It wasn’t a conscious choice on my or my husband’s part, but we’ve slowly slipped into a routine where every Saturday is pizza for dinner. When the targeted Pizza Hut ad came across YouTube advertising the return of the Detroit-Style pizza, I knew where our next Saturday pizza would be coming from.

First introduced in January 2021, this is the third release of this limited-time-only pizza from the chain. A departure from its standard circular offerings, the Detroit-Style pizza stands out with its rectangular shape, thick crust, extra cheese, and sauce strips on top. When it comes to toppings, you can choose from three recipes or build your own. We went with the Supremo, a new option that included Italian sausage, green peppers, and red onions.

I missed out on trying the item the first two times, so I was excited to get a chance to taste it for myself. While I am very much in the camp of NY Style pizza, I have a soft spot for the thicker pan-pizzas. I was shocked by the box’s weight when I picked it up. It’s certainly a lot of pizza in a smaller container.

When opening the box, I couldn’t help but immediately notice the sauce unevenly globbed on top of the pizza. I expected this and was ready to spread it more evenly across the pizza with my spoon. Visually, the green peppers and Italian sausage were there and well distributed throughout the item. The red onions were, unfortunately, substituted with their boring cousin: white onions.

I went for a corner like the packaging recommended for my first piece. My first bite was overwhelmingly dominated by Pizza Hut’s sweet sauce, and I had never realized how sweet it was until this moment. In an effort to taste more than just the sauce, I scraped some off the top. My second bite was much more enjoyable without the mouthful of sweet red sauce. The focaccia-like texture of the crust was absolutely delightful. It was light but also had a denseness that held up to the toppings.

The toppings were present but got a bit lost in the sauce, so to speak. The Italian sausage brought an earthy savoriness, and the green peppers brought a bright crispness to the pizza when you got a bite not drowning in sweet sauce. The onions were barely noticeable both in flavor and visually. The cheese was the star for me with this item. The salty, gooeyness helped save the pizza from being completely overwhelmed by the sauce and greatly improved my enjoyment of it.

Obviously, this is a popular item to be on its third limited edition run in less than two years, but it was middle-of-the-road for me. I liked the base, cheese, and toppings, but the sauce was a huge negative for my personal tastes. If it was a less sweet sauce, it might have been a hit for me, but as it is now, it’s not something I’d get again.

Purchased Price: $12.99
Size: N/A
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 square) 290 calories, 13 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 570 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of protein.

As four distinct variants that nonetheless have many key characteristics in common, I like to think of Pizza Hut’s new line of Oven-Baked Pastas as quadruplets. Each flavor has a unique personality, but they share two crucial features, perfectly smooth penne pasta and a top layer of thick, baked-ziti-esque cheese. Two are adorned with Alfredo sauce, two don a sweet red sauce, and all four are delicious in their own ways. Serving size-wise, one order of any of these pastas would make a good meal for one person – maybe even with leftovers if all that cheese is too much for you! – but the portion is so filling that I can definitely see it as a shareable appetizer/side/snack too.

Cheesy Alfredo

I worried this might pale in comparison to the chickened version; it turns out I needn’t have. This pasta was swimming in a gooey, creamy, downright decadent copious sea of sauce so bright white it looked positively pristine. (Though I am slightly confused how such a wonderful garlicky flavor could come from something whose handy-dandy online ingredients list only notes garlic under “Contains less than 2% of the following.”) Our friends at Pizza Hut were not kidding when they dubbed this one “cheesy,” and I’d say swapping meat for all that extra dairy is a worthy tradeoff.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 order) 880 calories, 48 grams of fat, 31 grams of saturated fat, 1,180 milligrams of sodium, 84 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of sugar, and 30 grams of protein.

Chicken Alfredo

If anything, the poultry felt paltry compared to its queso’d cousin. I described the cheesy Alfredo sauce as “gooey,” but the same can’t be said here, with the sauce relegated from main attraction to mere sidekick. The ostensible star of the show, that chicken, packs a hefty herbal aftertaste that I couldn’t immediately put a finger on, but apparently is courtesy of dried parsley. However, its distribution in my batch was sort of spotty —- some bites came with a dime-sized dollop, some with more like a silver dollar, and most with no chicken at all.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 order) 930 calories, 49 grams of fat, 32 grams of saturated fat, 1,340 milligrams of sodium, 85 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of sugar, and 37 grams of protein.

Italian Meats

The main meat in mind is sausage, and Pizza Hut’s offering is a perfect fast food specimen; chunky, juicy, zesty, and abnormally (like, almost scarily) tender. Because this is Italian meats, not Italian meat, I should also mention the presence of pepperoni. But, hidden directly under the cheesy coating, it was pretty handily obscured both visually and taste-wise. I also need to take a moment to appreciate the sweet red sauce, so pleasantly mild and yet so simply tasty that it felt like a hug for my mouth. I usually find pasta with red sauce a little boring, but this was more than enough to hold my interest.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 order) 860 calories, 37 grams of fat, 15 grams of saturated fat, 1,640 milligrams of sodium, 97 grams of carbohydrates, 17 grams of sugar, and 36 grams of protein.

Veggie

I liked this one more than I expected. I mean, not more than I liked any of the others, but still! The toppings were kind of random (sure, green bell pepper, black olives, and “diced Roma tomato” are pretty normal to find in a pasta separately, but all of them at once?), yet they mingled well. That gently sweet sauce and rich cheese were perked up by the refreshing pepper, which also provided a texturally delightful snap, while the tomato offered a surprisingly intense and unsurprisingly delicious burst of flavor, and the olives… well, I could have done without them, but their flavor was subtler and less briny than I typically fear, and I must give them credit for adding some nice umami undertones.

Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 order) 640 calories, 16 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 1,170 milligrams of sodium, 99 grams of carbohydrates, 18 grams of sugar, and 17 grams of protein.

If you’re still not convinced to give one — or all! — of these a try, I should also mention that each comes with an order of breadsticks. Yes, that means that in the course of writing this review, I acquired twenty breadsticks, so if you need me, I’ll be busy trying not to devour them all in one sitting.

Purchased Price: $8.99 each