A Guide to Frozen Vegan Pizzas

Pizza is a popular meal for many Americans and has become a staple at countless events. Frozen pizzas have made it even more convenient for individuals to prepare this meal. Luckily, there are many frozen vegan pizzas on the market to choose from. There are multiple brands that offer different styles of vegan pizza, making it convenient and exciting to try the different flavors.

In this guide, we have compiled a list of frozen vegan pizzas to compare the costs, nutrition facts, taste, and other characteristics of each. This guide can help you to decide the perfect frozen pizza to purchase next!

Taste Test

We were able to sample some — not all — of the brands of frozen vegan pizza that are in this guide.

Amy's

We sampled Amy's Vegan Margherita and Roasted Vegetable pizzas. The Vegan Margherita pizza bakes in 9-10 minutes, while the Roasted Vegetable pizza bakes in 10-12 minutes. These options had a thick and crispy yet tender crust, and they tasted incredible. The Vegan Margherita pizza was the most similar to dairy pizza in terms of look and taste. It seemed to have the perfect amounts of tomato sauce, vegan cheese, and spices, creating a flavorful and delicious pizza. This option was also pleasantly oily, allowing it to better resemble dairy pizzas. The Roasted Vegetable option did not contain any cheese, and instead it was packed with an assortment of vegetables. The roasted vegetables were soft and flavorful, and the pizza was sweet in taste.

Daiya

We sampled Daiya's Pepperoni and Supreme pizzas, which cook in 10-15 minutes. Both of these options looked and tasted delicious. The Daiya pizzas had thinner, crispier crusts with a gooey, well-melted layer of cheese. The Pepperoni pizza was topped with savory slices of vegan pepperoni, which complemented the pizza well. The pepperoni slices were mildly spicy with a similar taste, texture, and consistency as meat pepperoni. The Supreme pizza was loaded with toppings, making for a beautiful blend of colors. It was full of flavor from the combination of mushrooms, peppers, Beyond Meat sausages, and more.

Tofurky

Tofurky's Pesto Supreme Pizza is a great vegan and gluten-free alternative to traditional supreme-style pizza. The frozen pizza cooks in about 10-12 minutes. The crust is made of rice flour and is relatively thin but crispy when cooked. The pizza itself had a mix of herbs in the pesto, such as basil and oregano, as well as many toppings including roasted bell pepper, onion, and Italian veggie sausage. The sausages had a smoky flavor that was well-balanced by the lightly flavored cheese. Additionally, we sprinkled some dried red chili flakes and cracked black peppercorn on the pizza to give it some extra heat! We really enjoyed this pizza and found it to be light and not too oily. We also liked how flavorful each slice was due to the variety, abundance, and tenderness of the toppings.

American Flatbread

We sampled both the Vegan Harvest and Farmers Tomato Pie by American Flatbread. Both of these options cook in just 5-8 minutes in the oven! The Vegan Harvest had a layer of Daiya cheese that gave it a gooey and satisfying taste. The pizza was also topped with fresh parsley that made it even more flavorful. The Farmers Tomato Pie did not appear as appetizing as the other pizzas since there was no cheese on the pizza, but it had a light and refreshing taste. This option had more tomato sauce than the Vegan Harvest, and it had additional tomato chunks on top. There was a blend of spices mixed into the sauce, creating a delicious, light, and flavorsome pizza. Both of these options had thin and crispy crusts.

NUTRITION

For the comparison, we used DiGiorno's Crispy Pan Pepperoni, Crispy Pan Four Cheese, and Crispy Pan Supreme pizzas. None of these comparison pizzas are vegan. The vegan pizzas tended to be lower in calories, protein, fat, and saturated fat than non-vegan pizzas.

The serving weight of each pizza varies based on the size of the pizza, and it ranges from 113 grams to 194 grams for the vegan options. This is generally between one-quarter to one full pizza. Rachel's Cosmic Cuisine offers pizza bagels, and the serving size is two bagels, which is only 91 grams. In comparison, DiGiorno's non-vegan pizzas were larger, and the serving size ranged from one-fifth to one-sixth of a pizza. The serving weight was between 140 and 151 grams, which is comparable to the vegan options.

The calories in the vegan pizzas ranged from 160 to 480 calories per serving. This is a large variation, which is likely due to the difference in serving size. Other factors, including additional toppings and the amount of vegan cheese, would also affect the calorie total. DiGiorno pizzas ranged from 380 to 430 calories per serving. This is comparable to the upper end of the vegan pizza options, but it is higher than the majority of the vegan options.

The vegan pizzas have lower amounts of protein than the non-vegan pizzas. The vegan options range from 3 to 15 grams of protein per serving, while DiGiorno pizzas have 16 to 18 grams of protein per serving. Of the vegan options, Tofurky's pizzas contain the highest amount of protein with 15 grams of protein per serving, while Ian's Natural Foods and BOLD Organics are on the lower end with only 3 grams of protein per serving. Most of the other options range from 5 to 10 grams of protein per serving. DiGiorno has about double the amount of protein than most of the vegan options.

While DiGiorno pizzas are higher in protein, they also have much higher amounts of fat and saturated fat than most of the vegan options. Pizzas from Daiya and Amy's Kitchen contain higher amounts of fat than the other vegan brands. These range from 9 to 28 grams of fat per serving, although most of the Daiya and Amy's Kitchen pizzas have between 14 and 19 grams of fat. The majority of the other vegan brands contain less than 10 grams of fat per serving. In comparison, DiGiorno pizzas have between 20 and 22 grams of fat per serving. This is similar to Daiya pizzas, but much higher than most vegan brands. Many of the vegan pizzas contain less than 3 grams of saturated fat per serving. Daiya had slightly higher amounts of saturated fat ranging from 3.5 to 7 grams of saturated fat per serving. Again, DiGiorno is higher than most vegan brands but similar to Daiya since it contains 6 to 8 grams of saturated fat per serving.

Generally frozen food, including frozen pizzas, are known to be high in sodium. DiGiorno pizza contains 570 to 620 milligrams of sodium per serving, while a serving of vegan pizza has between 300 and 930 milligrams of sodium. Brands including Tofurky, Rachel's Cosmic Cuisine, Ian's Natural Foods, and BOLD Organics all contain less than 400 milligrams of sodium per serving.

All of the brands of vegan pizza contain under 80 milligrams of calcium except for Ian's Natural Foods, which contains 200 milligrams of calcium in one serving. These products also contained small amounts of iron (less than 15% of the Daily Value) and Vitamin A (less than 20% of the Daily Value) per serving. DiGiorno pizzas have higher amounts of calcium and contain between 200 to 300 milligrams of calcium per serving. They also have low amounts of iron (10% of the Daily Value) and Vitamin A (4% - 6% of the Daily Value) in each serving.

COST

There is a common misconception that vegan foods will cost more, which can sometimes discourage people from adopting a vegan diet. The truth is that many of the staples on a vegan diet are quite affordable. Foods like legumes, rice, fruits, vegetables and nuts are on average much cheaper overall than the non-vegan staples commonly found in the grocery store.

Currently, vegan pizza options are still somewhat more expensive than their non-vegan competitors, which may be due to the higher cost of vegan cheese. A 6.8 oz. personal pizza (vegan) from Whole Foods 365 costs $3.99, and a 6 oz. vegan pizza from Amy's costs $6.99. A 7 oz. non-vegan personal pizza from DiGiorno costs $4.69, and a 6.05 oz. frozen non-vegan pizza from California Pizza Kitchen costs $4.50. Larger vegan pizzas are also available with between 3-4 servings per pie such as Bold's 11.9 oz. pizza, Daiya's 15.3 oz. pizza, and Tofurky's 18 oz. vegan pizzas, which all cost $9.99. Non-vegan brands such as Tombstone sell a 19.8 oz. pie for $4.99.

*All prices from Whole Foods Market and Ralphs Supermarket.

CHARACTERISTICS

Multiple brands use Daiya cheese on their products. This includes American Flatbread, Amy's Kitchen, Daiya, and Whole Foods. Daiya cheese options are soy-free and are made using pea protein. In addition to Daiya cheese, some of Amy's pizzas use a soy-based cheese or no cheese. BOLD Organics uses Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella. Ian's Natural Foods, Rachel's Cosmic Cuisine, and Tofurky use their own cheese option. While many of these products use soy-free cheese, some of them have toppings containing soy, so it is important to verify on the packaging if you have a soy allergy.

Many companies also offer gluten-free pizza options. The full list of gluten-free pizzas is below:

• All Daiya pizzas
• Amy's vegan pizzas made with rice crust
• All Tofurky pizzas
• All BOLD Organics vegan pizzas

OTHER PIZZA OPTIONS

In addition to the many options of frozen pizza, vegan pizza can be customized and ordered through some chains or made fresh at home. Vegan pizza crust can be homemade or purchased from chains such as Wegmans or Trader Joe's. This can be topped with tomato sauce and an assortment of veggies and/or vegan cheeses. Nutritional yeast also makes a delicious pizza topping! Chains including &Pizza and Mellow Mushroom have vegan pizza selections and offer vegan cheese. More information about ordering vegan pizza at chain restaurants can be found on our website at http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php.

VEGAN PIZZA BRAND AND PURCHASING OPTIONS

American Flatbread
Products:	Vegan Harvest and Farmers Tomato Pie
Brand Characteristics:	Non-GMO (Vegan Harvest only)
Where to Purchase:	https://americanflatbreadproducts.com/product-locator/

Amy's Kitchen
Products:	Vegan Margherita, Roasted Vegetable, Pesto Pizza Rice Crust, Spinach Pizza Rice Crust, Roasted Vegetable Rice Crust, and Dairy Free Cheeze Rice Crust.
Brand Characteristics:	Non-GMO, gluten-free options, soy-free options, and kosher options. Soy-free options include Roasted Vegetable Pizza and Vegan Margherita Pizza. Kosher options include Pesto Pizza, Spinach Pizza, Vegan Margherita Pizza, and Cheeze Pizza.
Where to Purchase:	https://www.amys.com/where-to-buy

BOLD Organics
Products:	Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Vegan Cheese Pizza and Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Veggie Lovers Pizza.
Brand Characteristics:	Non-GMO and gluten-free.
Where to Purchase:	Whole Foods and selected grocery store chains

Daiya
Products:	Pepperoni, Supreme, Spinach & Mushroom, Cheeze Lovers, Margherita, Fire-Roasted Vegetable, and Mushroom & Roasted Garlic.
Brand Characteristics:	Gluten-free and soy-free
Where to Purchase:	http://daiyafoods.com/find-us/where-to-buy/

Ian's Natural Foods
Products:	Cheesy French Bread Pizza
Brand Characteristics:	Gluten-free and soy-free.
Where to Purchase:	http://iansnaturalfoods.com/where-to-buy/

**Ian's Natural Foods pizza is not labeled "vegan." Note that it contains unspecified cane sugar.

Rachel's Cosmic Cuisine
Products:	Pizza Bagels
Brand Characteristics:	Non-GMO
Where to Purchase:	http://www.rachelscosmiccuisine.com/where-to-buy/

Tofurky
Products:	Barbecue Chick'n with Roasted Corn, Pesto Supreme, and Pepp'roni & Mushroom.
Brand Characteristics:	Gluten-free and non-GMO.
Where to Purchase:	http://www.tofurky.com/find-a-store/

Whole Foods 365
Products:	Everyday Value Vegan Pizza
Where to Purchase:	Whole Foods stores