If you don't know already, we like eating at California Pizza Kitchen. But how does one get to eat CPK products at home other than eating it in their restaurants or ordering take out? Well, the simple answer is frozen pizza. California Pizza Kitchen has been doing frozen pizzas for quite a while now, and now, they're available at Costco! Do you see the words "3 pack"? That's why. Normally you would just get one pizza if you were at your local supermarket for around $5 dollars.
This product was a bit different as it touted the crispy thin crust version, but in BBQ chicken flavor (which is my favorite, but I haven't seen in in this variety before). For your information, the information of "special ingredients" on the top exactly says (yes, with the capitalization too), " Crispy thin pizza topped with White Chicken, BBQ Sauce, Smoked Gouda Cheese, Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese, Red Onions, and Cilantro."
This product was a bit different as it touted the crispy thin crust version, but in BBQ chicken flavor (which is my favorite, but I haven't seen in in this variety before). For your information, the information of "special ingredients" on the top exactly says (yes, with the capitalization too), " Crispy thin pizza topped with White Chicken, BBQ Sauce, Smoked Gouda Cheese, Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese, Red Onions, and Cilantro."
So, we baked it up, but NOT according to the package. We've found them, for our situation, to not come out properly! The middle of the crust is always gummy and not really crispy at all for our situation. And so, I experimented, putting the pizza on 325 degrees Fahrenheit and cooking it by eye (when it was a light golden brown on the sides and the cheese was just about to start to bubble, I turned the oven off and let it sit in there until it was time to eat- about 10 minutes).
The results was fabulous. It looked just like the box when it came out. But to make it look and taste even better, I added a sprinkling of green onions/cilantro on top of the pizza to make it kind of look like if you had it at CPK (they use basil).
Taste? Just like if you were eating it at California Pizza Kitchen. It's also why California Pizza Kitchen's frozen pizzas are my favorite frozen pizzas. Like they said, it had a crispy crust, and there were plenty of chunks of chicken and red onion. The barbeque sauce was also just like at CPK. My addition of green onions also made this taste better :). All in all, it was fantastic!
And for those who want to know how the pizza looks like when cooked by the box's directions and no added ingredients other than the pizza itself, it looks like this:
Not very good looking right? That's why I cooked it differently and refrained from posting this two months ago. It just didn't look delicious enough.
Comments
I agree, the restaurant pizza seems to taste better than the frozen pizza! The dough's taste is different by a lot.
I think it could have been better with a tad more cheese and BBQ sauce. This cost less than supermarket price too for us as we bought it at Costco.
You said you set the oven to 325F and just cooked it by eye (until the edges turned brown and the cheese just started bubbling)
Can you please tell me how long this took in minutes?
Thank You,
Rohit
It should take about 10-15 minutes, I don't remember exactly as it's been quite a long time since I tried this product! Anyway, just peek at the oven around 10-15 minutes and see what you have. You will also get more browning if you let it sit in the oven after the oven is turned off.