Sometimes Foodie: BBQ Recipe Chicken Pizza

BBQ Recipe Chicken Pizza - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

Since I was so impressed by the Chicken Club pizza I bought at Aldi, I decided to try another of their "fancy" pizzas. This time it's BBQ chicken themed.

Briefly, I'm going to discuss the packaging. While the photo of the pizza is really appetizing, the background is quite cheesy. ~~(Ha, cause it's pizza.)~~ I get it, California has Palm Trees and sunny weather, but what does that have to do with BBQ chicken pizza? Am I missing something? Maybe this is Aldi's version of a California Pizza Kitchen item? I'm unfamiliar with CPK's products, so I can only assume that this is a store brand version of one of their pizzas, but I could be mistaken. (If any of you get the pizza-to-palm tree connection let me know. Maybe I am just being dense.)The baking instructions were the same as any other frozen pizza, and it cooked up very quickly.

While it was cooking, I noticed that this pizza had a really strong BBQ sauce aroma, but there was also this smoky scent that reminded me of bacon. I'm pretty sure the bacon-y notes came from the melted Gouda cheese (which I refer to as the bacon of cheeses), and it really made me hungry. After such a yummy aroma I was really excited to eat this pizza.

Sadly, it was mediocre at best. The cheese and toppings were the same quality as any other frozen pizza on the market, and the sweet BBQ sauce really overwhelmed the other flavors. The sauce tasted really similar to Kraft's honey BBQ, which I used as a kid, but as an adult I like having a more complex and tangier flavor in my BBQ sauce. That, plus the "chicken" is more like that processed stuff you get in Lean Cuisine than real breast meat. To me, this pizza was too sweet and the ingredients were sub-par, but it was a satisfying meal.

If I was in a bind for a quick dinner after work and I had this in my freezer, I would definitely eat this again (after all it's really convenient and filling), but I really prefer the Chicken Club. The the quality of ingredients for this specific pizza just weren't enough to make me crave more, but I wouldn't turn it away if it was offered to me. With that being said I don't think I'll be buying this again, but if you like sweet BBQ sauces or you have little kids, this might be a hit. If you try it let me know what you think, but I think this might be the last time I buy this specific pizza from Aldi.