I’ve mentioned before but I enjoy trying products that seem like there’s no possible way for them to be good. In other words, the weirder the better, and one product that exemplified that idea is Mama Cozzi’s Broccoli and Cheddar take and bake pizza, available as a special buy from Aldi stores. The combination of broccoli and cheddar is obviously well-known in soup circles, but not one that I would have ever expected to see in pizza form.
I had actually forgotten all about seeing it in the ad (I was going to mention it to my wife), until I saw it in-store. I was already in favor of grabbing it to try, but figured I would have to spend a little time convincing my wife to give it a go, as she is much pickier than I am when it comes to food. Much to my surprise, she agreed without any begging needed.I’ve mentioned before but I enjoy trying products that seem like there’s no possible way for them to be good. In other words, the weirder the better, and one product that exemplified that idea is Mama Cozzi’s Broccoli and Cheddar take and bake pizza, available as a special buy from Aldi stores. The combination of broccoli and cheddar is obviously well-known in soup circles, but not one that I would have ever expected to see in pizza form.
This pizza is a large 12” thin crust. Usually, I’m against thin crust pizzas because I feel like you get less product for the price, but I didn’t mind it here for two reasons: 1.) In this case, I feel like a larger crust would overtake the flavor of the cheddar and broccoli, and 2.) I was honestly pretty sure it was going to suck either way, so it didn’t really matter. I mean, how can a combination known for soup possibly translate to a topping for dough?
We popped it in the oven for about 12 minutes (per the instructions), and were met with a nice, perfectly-cooked pizza (I’ve been on a roll with that lately, despite our old oven). I guess therein lies another positive to the thin crust foundation: it’s generally much quicker to cook, over pizzas with thicker crusts.
Well, well, well: I did not see this one coming. As my wife stated, it tastes like broccoli cheddar soup on a thin cracker, and while that might not sound too appealing, the end result is surprisingly delicious. The cheese pops through with a solid cheddar flavor while the broccoli contributes equally to the taste. I was expecting the broccoli to be bland and to contribute little to the experience besides texture, but I was pleasantly shocked with the results. Even my picky wife agreed…and earning her praise isn’t something that comes very easily at all. Granted, this might be a problem for those who don’t like broccoli that much, but then that begs the question: why would you even contemplate getting a pizza with broccoli on it in the first place?
Despite my praise for it, I’m actually glad it’s a special buy because it’s not one that we would get all the time. And it’s still not quite as good as their mac and cheese pizza (we were actually looking for that one, but must have gotten there a little too late) which is one we have to get almost every time it’s made available. We don’t quite feel the same about this one, but there’s no denying that for $4.99 per 12” pizza, it’s a good mix of value and originality that should be worth the time of anyone looking for something different.
Overall: 7.5/10. This is one of those products I had to try because it seemed too weird to succeed; thankfully we were both pleasantly surprised. It tastes like broccoli cheddar soup on top of a thin cracker, and well that might not sound very appealing, the end result must be tasted to be believed. The cheddar taste is good, as expected, but the broccoli follows close behind, helping to deliver a 1-2 punch to your tastebuds that is far better than it has any right to be. And the $4.99 retail price (per 12” pizza) is reasonable. See why we like to try weird things?
