I tasted 5 different frozen pizzas, and the best also cooked the fastest

Tombstone's pizza is the only one that didn't come in a box. Instead, it came wrapped in plastic with a circular base made out of cardboard. 

Information like cooking directions, ingredients, and nutrition facts were printed on a sticker attached to the shrink-wrap, which I accidentally threw away in my haste (and later retrieved). 

This pizza advertises five different kinds of cheese — mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, Asiago, and Romano — and a buttery, crispy crust.

The cooking directions recommended baking this pizza for 17 to 19 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, but I didn't end up needing the full cooking time. 

This pizza was very middle-of-the-road for me, and the crust, level of crispiness, and overall flavors were just OK. 

My husband, who also tasted these pizzas, said this Tombstone pie made him nostalgic since it was his family's go-to brand when he was a kid. He also suggested that chopping up some extra toppings and baking them onto the pizza would vastly improve the overall taste of this pie.

I couldn't help but hear the brand's tagline — "It's not delivery, it's DiGiorno!" — in my head as I picked up this frozen pizza.

In the store, DiGiorno had a few different types of crusts available, but I went with the rising crust because it seemed the most standard. 

This pizza box advertises a four-cheese blend of mozzarella, parmesan, Asiago, and Romano; the same cheeses on Tombstone's frozen pizza, minus cheddar. 

Although the other pizzas I tried were shrink-wrapped, DiGiorno's came in a "freshness wrap" that was easier to remove from the packaging.

I was able to cut around the seal and simply lift the pizza out of the plastic rather than making strategic cuts across shrink-wrap to remove the frozen pie without disturbing the cheese topping and getting it all over my kitchen.

The directions on the box called for cooking the pizza in the oven for 19 to 22 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I took the pizza out after 21 minutes because it looked perfect. 

But everything wasn't perfect while this pie was in the oven. While the pizza was cooking, the side of it began sliding between the oven grates.

I chose to open the oven and intervene, but judging by the look of the final crust (which was rather puffy) the issue likely would have corrected itself during the rising phase.

Overall, I enjoyed the thick crust of DiGiorno cheese pizza, which had a yeasty flavor and managed to be fluffy and crisp at the same time. The cheese tended to slide off the pizza a bit as I took bites, but it had a lot of cheese and a thick sauce, which made up for it. 

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Red Baron's classic-crust, four-cheese pizza is topped with mozzarella, cheddar, provolone, and parmesan.

Following the package's directions, I baked this pizza in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 18 minutes of the recommended 21, since I saw the crust and cheese had already browned to my liking. 

In terms of flavor, the more orange-hued pieces of cheese provided a stark, flavorful contrast to the rest of the blend. Like the previous two pies, there wasn't a distinguishable crust as the cheese and sauce extended to the edges of the pizza.

Even so, I enjoyed the thin, crispy crust and salty cheese (of which there was a great amount). 

My husband said that, in terms of overall flavor, this pizza lacked the distinct "frozen-pizza taste" that the others had, and that made this his favorite of the bunch so far.

Made with organic flour and tomatoes, Amy's frozen pizza also boasts a hand-stretched wheat crust. It's simply topped with mozzarella cheese.

I cooked Amy's pizza in the oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for just over 12 minutes of the recommended 14.

The first thing I noticed when eating a slice was that the tomato sauce, which had an acidic flavor, dominated the overall taste. I liked the sauce but was let down by the lack of cheesy flavor and spongy texture of the crust.

Although the other pizza slices held firm with their crispy crusts, this pizza sort of flopped over in my hand. 

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Boasting no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives, the Newman's Own pizza is made with a multigrain crust and topped with a four-cheese blend of mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, and Asiago.

I noticed these were the same cheeses used on several of the other pizzas, such as Tombstone (which also had Romano cheese) and DiGiorno.

When I peeked into the oven toward the end of the recommended cook time, which was 10 to 12 minutes in the oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, the cheese was hot and super bubbly and I was excited to dig in.

This pizza checked off all the boxes: a crunchy crust; stringy, perfectly salty cheese that didn't slide off when I bit into my slice; and a flavorful sauce that was dotted with herbs.

Albeit a touch bland, the Tombstone pizza offers eaters an opportunity to get creative with toppings and make it their own. 

The DiGiorno pizza had a fluffy, yeasty crust that I enjoyed even though I had issues with the cheese sliding off the slice as I bit into it. 

Red Baron's pizza had a solid taste but was lacking in terms of appearance and I didn't like that it didn't have a distinct crust. 

Amy's pie had a tart sauce that I enjoyed but the other elements of the pizza were bland by contrast and the texture was too spongy. 

But as for the Newman's Own pizza? There were no faults to find with this perfect pie.

In addition to having the shortest cook time (just under 12 minutes), this pizza also had a great flavor and texture.

It also had a distinct crust — something that several of the other frozen pizzas lacked — and stringy, salty cheese that didn't slide off the pizza when you bit into it. 

But at the end of the day, you really can't go wrong with any of these frozen pizzas since each of them produced a low-cost, cheesy meal that was ready in a short period of time.

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