Papa Johns Pizza Styles, Ranked Worst To Best
Look, life isn't easy. We've got bills to pay, social obligations to fulfill, and doctor's visits to reschedule (ideally multiple times). So when I say ain't nobody got time to eat bad pizza, I mean it. Life's just too short, which is why Chowhound is here to figure out what you should order.
Granted, we're also big fans of making pizza at home. From rooting out all the different types of pie to doing deep dives on pepperoni and avoiding homemade pizza mistakes, we're here for it. Ditto for exploring whether one ought to add goat cheese to pizza and how to take New York-style pizza to the next level; there's never enough to know when it comes to 'za, right? But sometimes, you just need to order a pizza and have it taste great. Naturally, this leads to the question of where you should order it from and what the best options are from every purveyor.
This time around, I took on Papa Johns. With the help of my family — one small girl, one small boy, and one husband — I tried every type of crust Papa Johns has to offer so we could rank them for you. That included two types of stuffed crust, original, thin crust, New York style, and an option for the gluten-free set. We also explored some of the more popular sauce and topping options, as well as a few of the more underrated ones. Without further ado, here's the best of Papa Johns.
6. Gluten-Free Crust
For starters, consider keeping either a pizza cutting wheel or a sharp pair of kitchen shears on hand when digging into a pie. Oftentimes, the pizza place doesn't cut through the middle adequately, leading to the tragic loss of toppings from the end of your slice. Also, if you have little appetites in the house, the kitchen shears work perfectly for cutting large, less-crunchy pieces of pizza in half. The crunchier ones, such as gluten-free and thin crust, are easy to cut with the wheel. (Oh, and personal preference, but we also make a batch of Soda Stream sparkling water every time we order pizza. Just a thought.)
Now on to the gluten-free crust. You'll notice that this is in sixth place, which is kind of unfair because the gluten-free crowd doesn't have any other options. That said, they've got nothing to compare it to, so maybe it's not such a big loss. The best approach, we figure, is to assess this crust based on how it performs against other gluten-free crusts, and in that sense, it does pretty well. While it's a bit too crunchy, it's not greasy, which is the approach some pizza chains take to trying to make GF palatable. We appreciate that they didn't, because then we could apply the garlic-butter dipping sauce to taste. I would like it if I were avoiding gluten, which I sometimes do.
As for toppings, we really liked the original sauce with the mozzarella, and there were plenty of both. We also tried sausage and meatball on this one, hugely enjoying the latter while thumbing down the former.
5. New York Style Crust
New York-style crust continues to baffle me, as it has ever since we did our Domino's taste test. When the husband and I were in college, not a week went by that we didn't get a giant slice of New York-style pizza from the place on campus. He was a pepperoni guy; I was plain cheese. That pizza was bomb, leading to a lifelong assumption that New York-style crust was the only one for me, period.
Yet for the second time, I found that this style was far from my favorite. The crust was chewy and hard, kind of greasy, and not that flavorful. To be fair, we tried it later in our taste test, after trying the Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust, which definitely did it a disservice. But we could nevertheless tell it wasn't as good as most of the other ones in this ranking. The small boy was the only one who liked it, and that's probably because he's into greasy.
The toppings, however, had our vote. We got the original sauce for this one, with bacon on one side and pepperoni on the other. The bacon tasted nice, but it was a bit closer to ham than to actual bacon, with a noticeable lack of sizzling pork fat. Part of the problem is likely that Papa Johns sprinkles another layer of cheese over the toppings after it applies them, which, who can complain? However, it did lead to a less crispy bacon experience. As for pepperoni, it gets a gold star, 10/10, A+, Medal of Honor ... whatever ranking system you choose to apply.
4. Original Crust
I have a deep suspicion of original crust. If it's so great, then what do we need with all the other kinds? Now, surely there's someone out there who is loyally ordering original crust again and again, but I have yet to meet them. In the case of Papa Johns, as with every other pizza joint I've ever patronized, original crust is not worth your time. It was just plain boring, with a bland flavor and a chewiness that was less toothsome and more cud-like, appealing more to ungulates than to humans. The garlic sauce did spice it up somewhat, but not enough to save it.
However, it's important to state that this was the opinion of the two adults in the room as well as the small boy, who has an adult palate himself. (Seriously, give him all the sauerkraut, sushi, and pâté.) The small girl, on the other hand, enjoys the mildest of flavors, and she ranked this her favorite crust after the Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust — which is irresistible and clearly made with Black Magic, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Basically, this is the right crust for small children, who want a mild pizza with a light tomato sauce and a soft, neutral, cheesy flavor. For picky eaters or anyone with stomach troubles (e.g., those who can't digest strong flavors like garlic), this is probably the right option as well.
3. Epic Stuffed Crust
You know how sometimes you look in the mirror and you think to yourself "Gee, I kind of look like Jennifer Aniston! If Jennifer Aniston were way less dedicated to her skincare routine and ate two extra cookies a day." No? Just me? Well, I'm assuming that this is how the Epic Stuffed Crust feels when it thinks about Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust ... fine or whatever, but certainly not at the top of its class.
Yes, the Epic Stuffed Crust was cheesy and melty, and the bread itself was nice and soft. It smelled good and complemented its sauce and toppings well, but it just wasn't that exciting. Since part of our rating process was to taste the crust on its own (see Methodology below), this one suffered when compared to its garlicky cousin. As the husband put it, "Given the garlic is an option, the regular is kind of a "why bother.'"
The toppings, though, were really good. We all unequivocally loved the BBQ sauce, which is saying something, since it's kind of a tough sell in our house. The garlic and onion, which we got half and half on the pizza, were also tasty. The garlic was a bit too strong for the small girl and me, but the boys really liked it. Everyone thought the onions were decent, as they'd clearly been softened and blackened before application, which is a nice change from the semi-raw state of onions at many pizzerias.
2. Thin Crust
Our family does not have the best relationship with thin crust. It is often overly crunchy, falling apart at the lightest touch and taking all your cheese and toppings with it. However, Papa Johns version of SIM crust made for a nice change. It was flavorful and crunchy without being too thin or cracker-like. It held its shape throughout the dining process and didn't immediately dissolve into a gluey base when it sat in the box for a while. Considering we tried it last, it's a testament to its quality that we still ranked it No. 2.
Plus, being reasonably crunchy, this crust was nice when you reheated it, taking on an even more cracker-like consistency — still without falling apart. We've experimented with multiple ways of reheating thin and cracker crusts, from cookie sheets to pizza stones to the air fryer, and we find the latter method most to our taste when it comes to warming the pizza without making for a dry or burnt final product. This specimen was no exception. If we have one complaint about it, it's that it is a little dry.
Otherwise, we were very pleased with this pizza. The olives ended up being the star of the show, taking first place in our toppings rating, an impressive feat in this pepperoni-worshipping household. The mushrooms were quite good too, though they had a certain "je ne sais quoi" that made us wonder if perhaps they'd come from a can. There were plenty of them, though, which isn't always the case with Papa Johns.
1. Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust
Look, there is witchcraft going on here. I don't know how else to say it, because this was, hands-down, the best pizza crust I've ever had in my life. Yes, I said it: the best. It was tasty, cheesy, melty, with strong but not overpowering garlic flavor, and only intensified by the garlic dipping sauce that came with it. It's good when reheated, getting all melty and fragrant once more.
The only complaint came from the small girl, who said it was a bit too salty, even though she still liked it best. If she had her druthers, she would tone the sodium down a little bit to better make room on her palate for other salty flavors. We ended up choosing our toppings well — diced tomatoes and spinach, in this case — because they were nice and mild, perfectly offsetting the flavors of crust and mozzarella. Regarding those, it must be said that the spinach needed a little more cooking and the serving of tomatoes was inexcusably chintzy. If you like these toppings, you might want to jump on the phone when ordering to give instructions rather than buying your pizza online.
Lastly, the alfredo sauce was great. Although everyone in our house likes original pizza sauce the best, if you are a cream-based type, the alfredo will do the trick. It is light and mild but has plenty of that umami, parmesan flavor that we expect from this Italian staple, so you can feel confident ordering it.
Methodology
As with our Domino's taste test, we focused primarily on crust. Crust is the cornerstone of your pizza, after all. Without a top-notch foundation, your pizza can fall apart or, at the other end of the spectrum, be impossible to chew. It should be flavorful but not overpowering. It should work well with sauce, cheese, and toppings, but also be delicious enough on its own to dip in sauce at the end. Let's face it: That's a tall order.
To figure out the best crust at Papa Johns, we tasted them all one after another. The taste test involved first trying each crust on its own, then trying it with the accompaniments of that particular pizza, then dipping a piece of pure crust into the garlic butter sauce. Experiencing each type in three ways allowed us to make up our minds about which we liked best. Although we didn't always agree about exactly where a crust placed in the ranking, we were on the same page within a ranking or two, so we feel confident presenting this list to you as representative of what an average family would like.
At the end of the day, though, sauces and toppings matter too. If we were to build a pizza from scratch, we would choose the Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust with the original sauce and the olives. These were the best in their categories, and when we Frankenstein-ed them together for ourselves, we loved the final result. When we order from Papa Johns from now on, this is what we'll get. Oh, and don't forget that garlic butter sauce, because we can't live without it now.