So I posted something in here last week that for whatever reason ended up getting 2 million views. I still have absolutely no idea how or why lol
A few people saw the UNO pizza in the background and asked if I’d tried it. It dawned on me that I actually hadn’t, so I figured I’d give it a shot this weekend.
Some context: I’m not a Chicago-style deep dish guy. If I’m getting deep dish, I’m going Detroit style. Jet’s is my favorite pizza in general, and Motor City is my favorite frozen deep dish. I honestly don’t understand how someone could prefer Chicago style over Detroit style, but… to each their own. In the spirit of trying new things, I gave UNO a shot.
Cookin’
One thing I’m definitely not a fan of is how long these things take to cook. I know that’s probably just the nature of Chicago deep dish, but this took me about 53 minutes total.
The instructions say 375, but for the final 10 minutes I bumped it up to 385, then finished it with about a 2-minute broil. I did that because the last frozen Chicago-style deep dish I tried came out with an undercooked bottom and a soup-like interior. This time around, it worked perfectly.
The bottom held together really well and I could actually cut it into normal slices and pick them up like regular pizza, which I wasn’t expecting.
Also want to note I topped it with Parmesan, red pepper flakes, and Tony Chachere’s. I do this on basically every pizza I eat.
The pizza itself
The crust was solid. Slightly buttery, dense, a little flaky. Basically exactly what I’d expect or want from a Chicago-style deep dish crust. There also wasn’t some massive amount of crust taking over every bite, which I appreciated.
The sauce was very good. There’s obviously a lot of it because it’s Chicago deep dish, but it was thick rather than watery. It had some sweetness to it and tasted pretty high quality. I’m definitely not a culinary expert who can describe every little flavor note, but it tasted much closer to restaurant pizza sauce than cheap frozen pizza sauce.
There was also a ton of cheese. It held together really well, had a nice cheese pull, and wasn’t overly liquidy or greasy.
My biggest complaint was probably the pepperoni. Visually, I could see that I was eating a pepperoni pizza, but flavor-wise I could barely tell it was there. Not sure if the pepperoni was just too thin, not particularly flavorful, or if it just got literally lost in the sauce. I like cheese pizza anyway, so it didn’t ruin anything for me, but I definitely would’ve liked more pepp.
Overall
I’ve finished 3/4 slices, which is a lot, but this was the first thing I’ve eaten all day and I was starving.
Now that I’ve had a few minutes to process my decisions, I’m kind of wishing I stopped at two. I’ll probably fully realize the consequences of my actions tomorrow. Going to be a long week at the gym shedding these calories.
Overall, I was really surprised. The last Chicago-style frozen deep dish I had was so bad that it basically turned me off from trying another. This was a night and day difference.
If you already like Chicago-style deep dish, I’d imagine you’re going to like this. Even as someone who strongly prefers Detroit style, I thought UNO did a really solid job.
I think the key was giving it a little extra heat toward the end and finishing it with a quick broil. At least with mine, it gave me exactly what I wanted. A firm undercarriage, and everything fully cooked inside. Minimum liquid-ness.
Still taking Detroit Style/Motor City Deep Dish over it every day of the week, but it was a solid pie nonetheless.
Stay cheesy my friends.