Review: Pizza Hut - Double Pepperoni Detroit-Style Pizza

Pizza Hut's Double Pepperoni Detroit-Style Pizza features a rectangular pan pizza topped with cheese to the edges and both traditional and Crispy Cupped Pepperoni. It's also topped with a new, vine-ripened tomato sauce after baking.

I bought one for $11.99.

The crust was pretty thick with a moist, fluffy interior and a decently thick, but airy, crispy golden exterior surface. This outer crust is similar to Pizza Hut's pan pizza in terms of airy texture but it less oily. There was a good amount of crispy, burnt cheese at the edges.

There was a good amount of mozzarella on top and it was nicely melted enough for a decent cheese pull when hot. Like most pizza chain mozzarella, it was creamy but otherwise didn't contribute much in the flavor department.

The pepperoni was plentiful and the new Crispy Cupped Pepperoni did indeed cup during the baking process, but it was also woefully overcooked to the point of being completely dry throughout. There was a slightly bitter flavor to it from being overcooked, and it had a texture basically like pepperoni chips. The regular pepperoni fared a lot better with a nice flavor and the occasional crisped edge.

I'm not a fan of the saucing. The tomato sauce came poured or spooned onto the center of each slice, and there wasn't any sauce between the cheese and the crust. Because the sauce was basically a big dollop in the middle of each slice, the tangy and slightly sweet flavor was pretty intense on those center bites. You can mitigate it a little by just spreading the sauce out with a utensil or your finger, but I found the tomato sauce too tangy in general. On the other end of the spectrum, the inner middle cuts were very plain due to a lack of both sauce and pepperoni there. Those portions were also subsequently a bit dry when heating up the leftover slices.

While there were some mishaps in regards to the Crispy Cupped Pepperoni, I still mostly liked Pizza Hut's Double Pepperoni Detroit-Style Pizza and prefer it over their hand-tossed or pan pizza for it's fluffy, thick crust, amount of cheese, and crispy cheese edges.

Little Caesars is the only other of the Big Four pizza chain's to offer Detroit-style pizza (which they sell regular as their Deep Deep Dish). Pizza Hut's version is fairly similar in a good way, although there seems to be a little less cheese and crunch compared to Little Caesars' version. That being said, Little Caesars' Detroit-style is $9 in my area, while the Pizza Hut version was $11.99 plus a 90 cents service charge for operating in California (they're the only pizza chain I know of that tacks a on a fee). While you get more pepperoni on Pizza Hut's pie, you get more edges on Little Caesars' Deep Deep Dish--and given the similar experience and proximity to me, I'd rather save the almost $4. I might have changed my mind had the Crispy Cupped Pepperoni turned out as intended, with a little grease cup of pepperoni goodness, because currently no other Big Four chain offers this.

Nutritional Info - Pizza Hut Double Pepperoni Detroit-Style Pizza
Serving Size - 1 slice
Calories - 330 (from Fat - 150)
Fat - 17g (Saturated Fat - 7g)
Sodium - 720mg
Carbs - 30g (Sugar - 2g)
Protein - 14g