Archer Farms Frozen Pizza
Archer Farms frozen pizza is amazing! Somehow, Target was able to get Italians to make pizza, freeze it, and ship it over here, and then charge only $4.79! And many varieties are organic! The crappy kinds (most of them) are much more expensive than that and sure to be full of calories and weigh you down with all that crust and cheese and not satisfy in the end. It’s actually fairly simple to make some delicious Italian style pizza at home providing you’ve got frozen pizza dough from a local bakery. However, you have to have all of the ingredients and quite often, I’m missing only basil or fresh mozzarella. When I’m making my own it’s typically margherita, but that is the one imported Italian pizza variety Archer Farms sells that I’m not fond of. Whole Foods used to sell similar types imported from Italy but they stopped (I went through my own personal little mourning stage) and I was ridiculously happy to find Target’s version. The low price is the most impressive part about it! How in the world can they do that? The smaller single serving sizes (which feed my toddler and I) are $3.79. Of course, you are paying more per ounce but sometimes, you just don’t feel like having leftovers when you know they could go to waste.
For the most part, they’re made with wheat flour, and then simple ingredients to top it off. Keeping it simple and not piling on ingredients and adding fillers gives these pizzas a more delicate flavor in comparison with American style pizza, and they’re actually healthy! I drizzle olive oil on top because it adds a bit of nutty fresh olive oil flavor as well as some omega 3′s. A few of the varieties I have in my house right now (beautiful photo above) Spinach and Goat cheese, Four Cheese made with mozzarella, brie, pecorino and grana, and Mediterranean Vegetable made with red and yellow peppers, mozzarella, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, mascarpone and spinach.
We’ve had plenty of other varieties of the Archer Farm’s pizzas not imported from Italy, and they were pretty darn delicious for the most part as well. Pizza is one of the best ways that I can get my toddler to eat his vegetables, so I try to buy varieites with some type of vegetable included (he really loves the spinach and goat cheese one), but those four cheese pizzas are delicious! It’s interesting because brie can be so overwhelming alone, but mixed with the other cheeses it provides a nice brie bite without overwhelming the pizza. Which reminds me of the possibilities: I one time had a four cheeese pizza in Spain and blue cheese was one of the cheeses. It was the nastiest pizza I’ve had in my life. If you like blue cheese, Archer Farms also has an apple and gorgonzola that I hear is great but there’s no way I would like it! I hear I’ll develop a taste for blue cheese when I’m 40. Until then.
3/2010 UPDATE: Unfortunately, they changed the recipe for 4 cheese pizza - they switched out the brie for asiago. Instead of having the old delicate balance and bite from the brie, it now has more of a bitter aftertaste from the asiago. I love asiago, but this was, in my opinion, a bad swap. I wonder if it’s because asiago is cheaper or because people were afraid of brie? Either way, my son still likes it, but I am now not a loyal customer of this 4 cheese. Unless of course, they change the recipe back to the original… Also, they stopped making (at least at my Target) the smaller size, which is disappointing because it was the perfect amount for my son and I to split. However, since I don’t like it that much anymore, I will be shopping around for a small 4 cheese elsewhere anyway.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Is the goat cheese pasteurized?
I don’t know- good question since American cheese is all pasteurized and this is imported (I don’t have a box handy to see if it says) - but as long as you cook it properly- I’m guessing it’d kill off whatever could’ve been there otherwise!
My Target store seldom carries your Archer Farms Pizzas. I live in Las Cruces, New Mexico and find these pizzas excellent. Please tell me where I can get them on a regular basis, I have had goat cheese and spinach todate
Judith,
Archer Farm’s is one of Target’s brands- so if I were you, I’d ask the store manager to get more in, and get your friends to ask too! The more people ask about products, I find the more likelihood of the store actually listening!
I just tried the tomato and goat cheese last night and my bf and I really enjoyed it! We were looking for Digorno because I had a coupon (I love coupons) but they didn’t have anymore, so we decided to try the Target brand because it was $4.99 for the small size. I’m glad we did! I’ll be buying more of them.
Yeah, this was a surprise find for me. I tried them because I had a 2 for 1 coupon and expected them to be cheap tasting like Totino’s. When they were actually good I started stocking up every time I go to Target (Target is a bit of a drive and I have a Walmart two blocks away). The Spinach and Goat Cheese is amazing. I have a little problem with the center still being a bit soggy when the sides are brown. I tried baking on a pizza stone instead of a cookie sheet but no difference. Could be my oven though. In any case, they are still delicious.
I do not purchase frozen pizza. My husband purchased it and offered a slice to me. I was REALLY surprised, it was delicious. Our 17 year old was REALLY surprised and commented on the flavor of the pizza. This doesn’t taste anything like frozen and better than some fresh pizza’s straight from the pizzeria. Don’t change anything when these start flying off of the shelf. We plan on stocking up, I can’t wait to try different varieties.
As far as I know, none of the imported Archer Farrm’s pizzas are gluten free
I was so disappointed in the Spinach & Goat Cheese pizza. It actually was awful. When I took it out of the box, I thought it looked like a cheap frozen pizza but thought it will be good. It just wasn’t. I took one bite and had to spit it out. It was just mushy, soggy, etc. We use a pizza oven and have no troubles otherwise. I wouldn’t recommend it nor will I probably try another Archer Farms pizza.
Mary, I haven’t had it in so long, I really hope they didn’t change it like they changed the four cheese! It’s a huge difference in my opinion.
Thanks for the awesome post! I was really disappointed with the new four cheese as well - I actually just reviewed it on my blog. Their thin-crust pizzas are still really good, though! I love the pepperoni in particular. =)
Does anyone know if they still sell the garlic chicken pizza? I’ve been looking in my local Target every time I shop there and haven’t been able to find in in 6 or 7 months.
These pizza’s are fabulous. I keep my freezer stocked with them. Our Target’s never sold the small ones just the large and they are $4.99 and every few months they are 2/$8. They’ve added about 3 new ones in the last few months so I think my Target usually has about 8-9 choices.
I think there are only 4-5 varieties that are actually imported from Italy and I can honestly say I have tried them all and not one is anything but great. We NEVER order delivery anymore.
I always put a light coating of olive oil on the pizza pan and a drizzle around the edges of the crust for that pizzeria taste.
HINT:If it’s coming out with a mushy crust your oven is not hot enough when the pizza goes in. If you are setting it at the temp suggested and still get a mushy crust raise the temp 25 degrees and set the timer on the lower cooking time.
One of Target’s BEST offerings to date in the Archer Farms label
Excellent comment Melissa G, thanks!
Cool web site, nice to see fellow pizza lovers. I’ve never ever saw the small size pizzas before, do you recall how if they were like a 6 or 8 inch pie? I’ve only had the 11 inch pies that cost $4.99.
I like to put thinly sliced prosciutto on the pizza and fresh arugula on the pizzas just as they get done baking. Mighty tasty.
Hint: Don’t put the pizza on a cookie sheet, just put it on the center rack in the preheated oven. Nowadays, most frozen pizzas tell you to just place it on the rack, it helps alot.
Stan - unfortunately, they keep changing their offered pizzas on us - and so my favorites are gone anyway and the small ones, which were perfect for my kids and I to eat the whole thing together, are now gone replaced by these little flatbread squares that are not near as tasty (in my opinion). I like your tasty additions though!
My pizza came without cooking instructions. Please tell me the temperature and time to cook.
Thank you.
Carole- I couldn’t tell you what your pizza box says- but for all frozen thin crust pizzas- I tend to ignore instructions and cook it at 425 for about 12 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown and bubble and the crust turns golden brown.
Hey, I just saw some new Archer Farm Pizzas at my local store today. I spoke to a employee there, and she said, there are several new pizzas. I took home a couple and baked one up for an early dinner. The one I baked up for dinner was the eggplant parmigiana. Generally, I don’t like eggplant, but, I’m trying to eat more vegetables these days to help the ole waist line. It actually tasted good, though next time, I’ll sneak some meat on there. Looks like there are several new ones for folks to try out.
the buffalo cheese margherita was bland and dry-totally meh. i have tried almost every frozen pizza and i have not found one that is outstanding. amy’s margherita was small but decent and digiorno’s four cheese rising crust at least had some sauce under the cheese.