The last time they offered their breakfast pizza, I’m pretty sure they only offered the bacon/sausage kind. So I had to get one for myself. This latest time, however, they also had a meat-free “Western” version, which substitutes onions and peppers for sausage and bacon, so I got one of each–one for myself to eat when my wife didn’t feel like cooking, and one for the both of us to share.
I did burn this pizza a little bit, but actually found the extra char to work to its advantage: Even without the meat, this is an insanely flavorful pizza. In fact, I have another confession to make: I actually forgot that this was meatless. The peppers and onion add some extra flavor and texture to the whole affair, while the cheese sauce (a replacement for pizza) is actually quite phenomenal…it’s got great texture, and has a light enough cheese flavor that the other ingredients still have room to shine on their own.
Honestly, I thought for sure that this Western version would suffer from a big hit to the flavor, without the bacon or the sausage, but that was certainly not the case. In fact, I’d probably prefer this one to the meat-covered one, if for no other reason than the decrease in cholesterol and sodium. But the flipside to this, and one of the biggest downsides for me, is that both the Western and the Meat varieties cost the same price. I suppose that shouldn’t really bother me that much, but come on, peppers have to be a lot cheaper to manufacture than TWO kinds of meats; not to mention that meat is generally much more filling than vegetables.
On those grounds, I guess I would probably favor the meat one in the future, just because I felt like I got more food, for the exact same price. But for strict vegetarians, you should feel confident knowing that what you’re getting is every bit as tasty as the meaty version…and that’s not always the case, at least in my opinion. As usual, the biggest downside is that these are only available as a Special Buy; I believe they are a more recent offering, though, so I’ve seen them twice within a six-month span. Hopefully this means it’s one that they put out often, especially during the summer months.
Overall: 9/10. These are absolutely fantastic. As someone who can appreciate both the vegetarian and carnivorous aspects of life, I was expecting there to be a huge flavor drop-off here, with the meatless combination of red and green peppers replacing sausage and bacon, but I thought it was actually better. The meats tend to be overly salty, so this cut back on the salt while still delivering a ton of flavor. Of course, the most important part of any pizza might be the base; the cheese sauce here delivers great flavor that blends in perfectly with the rest. Breakfast pizzas of any kind sadly seem to be a rare breed, but Aldi delivers an excellent one here. The $4 asking price might seem a little steep, but is well worth it.
