Pizza Hut is making a trio of pizzas aimed directly at those who love spice, so we gave it a try.
Pizza Hut describes their new Spicy Lover’s Pizza like this:
Spicy Lover’s Pizza features a new spicy marinara sauce that provides a touch of heat and sweetness, sliced red chilis and Fiery Flakes made from a custom blend of herbs and crushed red peppers. Each layer of heat is balanced with full zesty flavor – the carefully crafted combination performs an intricate dance on pizza lovers’ tastebuds and brings the spice of life we all so desperately need – resulting in a masterpiece of piquant that offers a craveable bold taste, not burn.
I’m not sure about you, but nothing inspires me to eat some pie like having to look up a word I’ve never seen before in the press release. Piquant, apparently means having a pleasantly sharp taste, so that must be very appealing for those that can actually interpret the word. Regardless, I’ve always loved spicy food, so this pizza line is pretty enticing considering it is the first in memory that a chain has aggressively marketed a spicy one. Typically the answer is to just dash on some red pepper flakes and move along your way.
Pizza Hut has three topping options for these pizzas with Spicy Double Pepperoni, featuring standard and crispy cupped pepperoni, Spicy Hawaiian Chicken, featuring pineapple and chicken, and lastly Spicy Veggie, featuring green peppers, mushrooms, and red onions. We decided to try out the Double Pepperoni, figuring it had the most wide spread appeal.
Pizza Hut is mailing in the presentation on the boxes these days. Back in the day, these signature featured items would have their own special box, but we’re stuck with standard operation these days.
Opening the box, I will say that I was immediately enveloped with a peppery, spicy scent in the air. If there’s such a thing as smelling spiciness, it was present here. Appearance wise, you can see the sliced red chilis sprinkled throughout, although I honestly couldn’t see the Fiery Flakes that were supposed to be dashed all about, which was a little disappointing.
If you look close enough, you can decipher the standard Pizza Hut pepperoni that ends up flatlined on the cheese, while the cupped pepperoni is slightly smaller and bowl esque.
The pizza tasted very spiced and zesty. There was a very present red pepper spice that was tasty, yet not too overpowering. While I couldn’t see the Fiery Flake sprinkling blend on top, it certainly tasted like it was added in at some point, maybe even at the sauce level. The marinara sauce was super peppery and contributed to the differing layers of flavor. This pizza comes standard on Pizza Hut’s “Hand Tossed ” crust, which is relatively boring and mundane. You can alter the crust to Pan or Stuffed Crust even if you so choose for additional charges.
While I can’t suggest this for those who aren’t fans of spiciness, I would very much recommend it for those who live their food life on the proverbial edge. The pepperoni zest, spicy sauce, hot peppers, and pepper flakes contribute to a flavorful and significantly spicy pizza. This pizza is screaming for some ranch dressing dipping sauce to help cool things down to compliment the pizza’s zest, so while Pizza Hut doesn’t include it, I would recommend it.
Pizza Hut’s Spicy Lover’s Pizza provides a relatively unique aim at spicy pizza. It was spicy but not too overbearing to the point where it was inedible. Definitely worth a try. Double Pepperoni is most likely the typical choice of the masses, but if you’re not fundamentally against pineapple on your pie, that Hawaiian Chicken sounds intriguing as well.
Pizza Hut Spicy Lover’s Double Pepperoni Pizza: 7/10