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When you hear about Pizza Hut's "new Ultimate Stuffed Crust Pizza," you might think it's déjà vu -- haven't stuffed crusts been around for years? True, basic idea of stuffed crust pizza is nothing new, however their new "Ultimate" Stuffed Crust Pizza takes the slice's edge to a new level, adding not only cheese, but also meat inside. The result is an interesting new rearrangement of their staple ingredients that should satisfy anyone's curiosity about just what Pizza Hut could do to make their fare even more gluttonous. Here's how they rate:
The Claims: Pizza Hut's new Ultimate Stuffed Crusts come in two varieties: Pepperoni (with cheese), or the superlative "Meaty," stuffed with pepperoni, Italian sausage, bacon, and cheese. Both pizza pies come with up to three toppings of your choice. We found no calorie count information for this specific product at the restaurant, nor at PizzaHut.com, although a non-ultimate Stuffed Crust Pizza with pepperoni toppings weighs in at 380 calories per slice (1/8 of a pie). With "Meat Lover's" toppings it's 480 calories per slice, so the Ultimate's calorie count is probably going to be a lot more than that, depending on what toppings you choose.
The Price:$12.99 for a large pie with up to three toppings. (Prices may vary at participating locations.)
The Verdict: B. This "ultimate" pizza only comes in the large 14-inch size -- probably because of logistics; when you're trying to pack a lot of meat into a crust, it's obviously going to be longer than usual when you fold the dough over. The Ultimate Stuffed Crust is two inches long, which makes the whole pie basically a pizza that is ten inches in diameter with two (two-inch) calzones on both ends. And that's not just a joke; the meaty crusts actually taste and feel like small calzones when you bite into them, with a doughier than crispy crust, pinched in a pattern to allow steam to vent.
We sampled both kinds of Ultimate Stuffed Crusts: the Meaty with all vegetable toppings to offset the meatiness (red onions, green peppers, and mushrooms), and the Pepperoni with jalapeño peppers, mushrooms, and -- why the hell not -- more pepperoni. The ten-inches of pizza pie are pretty standard as far as Pizza Hut goes; loads of cheese and toppings baked on a doughy bottom crust that seems mediocre to anyone who is accustomed to crispier New York-style pizza crust, or more flavorful Chicago-style deep dish crust. However, the focus of the stuffed crust pizzas is not on the bottom, it's at the edges.
The two varieties of Ultimate Stuffed Crusts differed; the Pepperoni is the saltier and oilier one -- that is the nature of pepperoni after all. (However, with the crust enveloping the slices of meat, there's no way to pat the oil down with a napkin like some health-conscious people often do on pepperoni slices.) The Meaty crust, although packed with more ingredients, is actually the lighter tasting of the two, perhaps because the sausage and bacon take the edge away from the pepperoni's dominance -- which is either a good or bad thing depending on your opinion of pepperoni. Both Ultimate crusts are what they are -- another way to get more meat and cheese in your stomach -- however they take away from what I think a crust should be: a nice finishing starchy palate cleanser at the end of eating a slice, especially if you're going to have another. With the Ultimate Stuffed Crusts, you never get an "intermission" between slices.
In the end, if you measure your quality of pizza based on the quantity of things you can add to it, this is truly the "ultimate" Pizza Hut pizza. If not, it's just sort of standard as far as Pizza Hut goes, but worth getting if you like buying into the gimmick. Either way, be warned: the Ultimate Stuffed Crust Pizza will ultimately make you feel full (or is it stuffed?) after eating a few slices of it.
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4-05-2011 @2:44PM Mike said... Didn't they do a Stuffed Crust with Pepperoni some years back and it just didn't sell very well? I seem to recall commercials with Willie Nelson psuedo-singing about the product.
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4-05-2011 @3:45PM Larry said... Any resemblance to the above picture of the pizza and the one that was delivered to my home on Monday evening is purely coincidental. I ordered a pizza from the Pizza Hut in Bend Oregon and it was the worst pizza I have ever had. I have actually had better "frozen" pizzas. The cheese was stuck to the top of the box with the pizza sauce. The grease was pooling and soaking through the cardboard box. It looked like my pizza was run over by a Mack truck. I didn't eat it. It went directly to the garbage. What a joke. I no longer order from Pizza Hut. When I order pizza, I only order Pizza from Round Table Pizza or make my own. In my opinion, it's a waste of realestate for Pizza Hut to operate in Bend. ick !
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4-05-2011 @3:47PM Angiebaby said... They don't look or sound too appealing to me. However, for stuffed pizza sticks which come with dipping cups of marinara or garlic butter, they sound like winners, along with the mozzarella stuffed sticks.
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4-05-2011 @4:19PM druid0621 said... I am amazed that they have been able to stay in business. Then again, none of the chains is particularly good. Thank God for the mom&pop's.
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4-05-2011 @5:26PM pizza review board said... Why knock the Hut and praise NY and Chicago style? NY style can't be readily reheated whereas the Hut can and Chicago style is trying to make pizza into quiche and the Hut does'nt do that. Further, the quality of the Hut's cheese is uniformly accceptable whereas the other styles can vary quite a lot from location to location. The Hut is almost always edible and enjoyable, assuming it was prepared correctly; the other styles you can't say the same thing.
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4-05-2011 @5:30PM oldthudman said... Send me a free sample and I'll tell you what I think....................... To think of it I may 2 or 3 samples....
Just to be fair you understand..................
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4-05-2011 @6:35PM kairry said... I was actually really pleasantly surprised at how tasty mine was. I tried the ultimate meaty one with mushrooms and green peppers while my brother ordered the pepperoni with his usual hot peppers (that I'm not a fan of). The overall verdict in our house when gathering with my father was that they were good. I'm not a fan of italian sausage...but still, I enjoyed the pizza's.
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4-05-2011 @6:58PM sj said... Pizza Hut, Dominios, and Papa Johns, these companies don't sell Pizza, they sell GARBAGE! If you want the BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD THIER IS ONLY ONE PLACE TO GO! AND THAT'S BROOKLYN NEW YORK BABY! I TRULY DON'T KNOW HOW PEOPLE CAN EAT THAT DOG FOOD THAT Pizza Hut, Dominios, and Papa Johns PEDDLE AS PIZZA. IT IS SO FAR FROM PIZZA ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY!
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4-05-2011 @7:24PM chris said... How lazy do you actually have to be to eat this garbage? Factory made imitation pizza made out of God knows what GMO materials and chemicals! I realize that real pizza is tough to find in some parts of this country, but please people it is sooooo easy to make the real thing. For what factory pizza costs you can make the real deal and not get dosed with processed by-products. Perhaps you hate your kids????
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4-05-2011 @7:23PM chris said... BTW, that stuff that the factory pizza peddlers refer to as pepperoni does not even vaguely resemble the real thing. Real pepperoni has about 1/10th the salt, no artificial colors, and about a quarter the fat. Oh, and a natural casing. No wonder that the pharma companies are getting richer and laughing about the diabetes "epidemic".
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4-05-2011 @8:31PM greg said... Years ago when I worked at one of the pizza huts the manager had me take his car to the other store to pick up dough. Nasty part was it was loaded up into the trunk of his car and brought back. always disliked the fact i was made to do that.
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4-05-2011 @9:05PM Jeff said... This sounded good to me too. I ordered it. It was delivered and the botom of the box was all grease. The stuffed crust was like cardboard on the outside and not even cooked inside. I called and complained so they sent me another one an hour later. This one was the same. I tried to give them both back but they said no. Needless to say that when even the dog, who loves pizza, didn't eat it they both went in the garbage. I am also a former pizza hut employee. I once saw a large box of cheese dropped on the floor then swept up with a broom and used on the pizza. Needless to say I will never eat from them again.
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4-06-2011 @5:59PM Steven Ruza said... They did have this in the past. they go back and forth with things trying to promote something new but yet they did it before. I dont care, its all good. Bread stuffed with cheese, Yum. - Steven Ruza
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4-07-2011 @2:39PM Pizza Butt said... They have not had this pizza before. At least not in the 7 years I've worked there. I think commenters who say this may be remembering the cheesy bites pizza. It was just a stuffed crust with the crust cut up into 28 bite-sized pieces that you could pull off. I haven't eaten this pizza. It seems like just another variation of the same pizza. I really only like the thin crust because the pan is so greasy and the hand-tossed so bland.
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4-11-2011 @5:23PM B said... God. This is why our country is so fat. Instead of eating a piece of pizza that probably has 500 calorie count... make a homemade pizza if you are craving pizza. So much healthier, and you don't feel like you have to run ten miles to work it all off. Hit the Treadmill America. No wonder there are so many fat people in this country. GEEEZZ
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4-18-2011 @11:40PM Jo M said... Basically, the crust that this pizza begins it's life with is a large hand tossed crust. It's thawed out, (all Pizza Hut crust arrives frozen, 30 or so discs in a box). The dough is stretched a bit more to accomodate the extra toppings and cut with slits every inch or so to give it the look as seen in the reviewers photo above. Nothing special goes into making this pizza and it's just another small variation on what is already being made in the store. Cheese stuffed crust pizzas are made the same way, just sprayed with artificial garlic spray in a can to give it that garlic flavor.
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