As they say, birds of a feather flock together, and on this team, we’re self-professed obsessives when it comes to all things pizza. Seriously, what’s not to love? Pizza is a love letter to the seasons, the ultimate entertaining recipe, and a warm hug on a Friday, pajama-clad movie night. And when you add the best pre-made pizza dough to the mix, things only get easier. (And in turn, better.)
While I have my favorite pizza places to order from, and there’s nothing like the tactile pleasure of making your own pizza dough, a shortcut option is always welcome. Don’t get me wrong: On Saturday nights when I have all the time in the world, it’s wonderfully satisfying to pinch dough between your fingers and top swirls of sauce with all the cheese and freshly chopped ingredients. But when I need to cut some corners, ready-made and easy-to-prep pizza dough from the store is convenient to have on hand.
Whether it’s a box of dry mix to keep in the pantry or fresh dough that you can freeze and thaw as needed, we tried eight different pizza doughs, ranked them all, and crowned the best pre-made pizza dough to keep on hand when the craving strikes.
Ranking Guidelines
- Flavor. For our taste-testing team, we said a good pizza crust should have that fermented, yeasty, and well-salted flavor so it doesn’t just taste like bland flour.
- Texture. Chewy over bready.
- Ease of Use. The whole point of a ready-made or easy-to-assemble crust should be that it’s ready in a cinch and makes our lives easier.
- Good Pizza Test. Does the crust hold up to sauce and toppings?
Testing Process
- For other taste-offs, the timing between baking/cooking and the actual tasting isn’t all that significant. But with pizza, we generally like it fresh and hot. Because of that, each crust was made fresh and tasted right away with initial notes taken, then tasted again with all the finished crusts.
- The other callout is that most pizza crusts usually come with toppings. For this taste-off, we made half of the dough topped with sauce and cheese to test the dough’s ability to stand up to additional moisture, as well as baking half of the crust plain to focus on stand-alone flavor and texture.
The Best Premade Pizza Dough, Ranked
When it came to the results, one thing was clear: the fresh dough and refrigerated dough options greatly outranked the dry mixes on both texture and flavor. While dry mix gave us the chance to make a crust from scratch, there were a lot of variables that could impact the final product from a dry mixed dough.
We didn’t love the slightly oily flavor on this one, and the texture reminded us more of a roll-out pie dough than a pizza crust. Our tasters thought this might be good to make a quiche with, but not a pizza.
- Texture: Pie dough
- Where to buy: Walmart, Kroger, Sam’s Club
- Average price: $3.50
This dry mix pizza dough ended up having a more bready texture than a chewy dough. The flavor was also more reminiscent of white bread versus pizza. Fine if you’re making bread, but alas, that’s for another taste-off to come.
- Texture: Bready
- Where to buy: Amazon, Kroger, Meijer, H-E-B
- Average price: $1.29
In full transparency, I grew up with the ready-made Boboli pizza crusts, so I knew what we were getting into. Most tasters didn’t enjoy the slightly tangy and savory flavor as they felt it was overpowering and too forward when you consider more delicate toppings. However, if we toasted this one in the oven and slathered butter on it, we wouldn’t complain.
- Texture: Chewy, with good air pockets.
- Where to buy: H-E-B, Walmart, Kroger, Jewel Osco, Randalls
- Average price: $3.99
While this ready-made refrigerated dough baked up fine, the texture was slightly crispy and a little chewy on the edges. The flavor felt like we were eating Pillsbury crescent rolls and bread dough rather than pizza. I mean, we love the pop tube crescent rolls, but they’re not quite pizza.
- Texture: Slightly crispy, chewy edges.
- Where to buy: Target, Jewel Osco, Walmart, Meijer
- Average price: $4.59
We had high hopes for this dough because of the use of beer in place of water in mixing together. While this dry mix still had more chew than some of the others and a nice flavor to it that leaned yeasty, it was still just slightly on the bready side for us. Overall good—but might want to tweak the prep method to ensure chew.
- Texture: Chewy, but leaned bready.
- Where to buy: Whole Foods
- Average price: $5.49
Among the dry mixes, Betty Crocker edged out the competition based on the crispy edges and chewy interiors. The dough had a few air bubbles that we liked in our slices. But what kept the dry mixes like this one from reaching the top was again leaning slightly bready. However, we did have several tasters say they would keep a pouch of this mix in their pantry for just-in-case pizza nights.
- Texture: Crispy edges, chewy interiors, and good air bubbles. Slightly bready.
- Where to buy: H-E-B, Amazon, Jewel Osco, Meijer
- Average price: $1.54
2. Trader Joe’s
It was a close call between our winner and TJ’s fresh dough. The dough was very chewy with nice air pockets like the ones you’d get from a restaurant’s pizza oven. While the flavor was good, it wasn’t as yeasty and flavorful as our winner, but still a great option for an impromptu pizza night. This dough held up nicely to the sauce and toppings as well.
- Texture: Chewy, good air pockets, restaurant-quality.
- Where to buy: Trader Joe’s
- Average price: $4
1. Whole Foods (Refrigerated Bakery Dough)
This was a grand slam, everyone-on-the-same-page decision. While there was a little discussion between the WF and TJ’s ready-made dough, the flavor and texture sent Whole Foods over the edge. This dough had the most fermented pizza dough flavor that we all enjoyed while also having extra texture from the use of whole grains. You can find it in the bakery section or ready-made food area of your Whole Foods. It held up nicely to the sauce and we loved the chewy crust of each slice. If you’re going to have one pizza dough in your freezer for emergency pizza nights, make it this one.
- Texture: Chewy, with additional crunch thanks to the use of whole grains.
- Where to buy: Whole Foods
- Average price: $4.99
Pizza Recipes to Try
Looking for inspiration for your next pizza night? Here are a few favorites I’ll be trying with our winning store-bought pizza dough:
It’s the crispy sage that does it for me.
Prepare to drool over this flavor combo.
