Dr. Gourmet's Food Reviews

Amy’s Non-Dairy Cheeze Pizza with Rice Crust

In talking with folks with celiac disease one thing they tell me the thing they miss most is pizza. This is understandable. Pizza is, after all, an integral part of our lives. Pretty much everyone loves pizza. We order in and we go out. Some of us make it ourselves and others pull it out of the freezer at the last minute.

There are pizza joints that sell pizza with gluten free crusts but that's not common. One chain out of New Orleans, Naked Pizza, makes a pretty good pie (both regular and gluten free). But that's pretty rare, so those who don't eat gluten generally have to settle for the freezer. We've reviewed some of these with mixed results.

The interesting thing is that good pizza is good pizza - whether the crust is gluten free or not.

The Amy's Non-Dairy Cheeze Pizza with Rice Crust is OK. Not great, mind you, but OK. The crust is a little doughy but with good flavor. There's a light tomato sauce and the cheese is fair (because it's dairy free the cheese doesn't really melt). This essentially tastes like the pizza you got in the high school cafeteria.

This wouldn't be our first choice pizza but if you had multiple intolerances (gluten, dairy) it would be acceptable. As with most Amy's products this one is high in sodium at 680 mg for the whole pizza. It is, however, only 460 calories and does have 4 grams of fiber.

The Glutino Gluten Free Chicken Pizza with BBQ Sauce is darn good. As frozen pizza goes, it's nearly perfect. There's a light, somewhat crispy crust that has the texture of brioche dough topped with a tangy BBQ sauce, cubed chicken and cheese. It all works together well and best of all comes in at only 310 calories. The downside? The center of the crust is a little more bread-like and there is 710 mg of sodium. It is also much lower in fat than the Amy's. These two drawbacks keep it from being an excellent frozen pizza and we'll give this a "good" rating.

All in all, we've had a fair showing with the gluten free pizzas thus far. While going out may not be an option, at least staying in does offer some good alternatives.