Please enjoy this special guest review by Kirsten, a friend of mine who resides in the UK and thus had the opportunity to try Pizza Hut’s new Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza, a luxury (or curse, depending) that Americans do not have. My thanks to her for going out of her way to try this…thing, and review it for me!

The hot dog stuffed crust pizza (let’s just go with HDSC) comes with a ‘mustard drizzle’ which initially caused some concern as to whether they’d undertake the drizzling or I’d be allowed the honour myself. In preparation for the former, I went for the ‘Super Supreme’ option – Spicy pork sausage, pepperoni, spicy minced beef, red onions, whole black olives, ham, mushrooms, mixed peppers (plus pineapple, personal preference) which seems to be standard for US Pizza Huts too – on the basis that it’d work fine if they did offer the HDSC. I kinda wish there was a chilli/sloppy giuseppe version – who wouldn’t jump at the chance of a chilli-dog-pizzatrocity?

Comparing the US/UK Pizza Hut menus shows quite a difference between the two. I hear the US PH is more delivery-centric, whereas here in the UK the restaurants get equal push – marketed to families as a special kid-favourite treat.

The UK menus differ between restaurant and delivery joints, the restaurants serving ‘posh’ options such as ‘Creamy Blue’ (Blue cheese and mozzarella on a Béchamel base with sliced mushrooms and finished with a sweet balsamic drizzle) and the cringingly named ‘Shrimply Delicious’ (King prawns, fresh spinach, mozzarella cheese and mixed peppers.) If you’re eating in, you can even have wine with your meal.

[Editor’s note: I could not get over UK Pizza Hut’s “posh” pizza menu. Béchamel and balsamic drizzle?! Most Americans probably don’t even know what Béchamel is, let alone putting it on a pizza! Crazy.]

We get pasta dishes (“a foot long!”) but you get cinnamon breadsticks, so I know who wins that one.

[Editor’s note: I also could not get over the idea of foot-long pasta. What does that even mean? Who measures pasta by the foot? I’m just saying.]

Delivery offers the ‘Classic’ menu (same as the US options) plus a few more types for variety, and usually a Flavour of the Month. Last year we had A-Team themed ones (each character had a different wackily-named combination of toppings) but usually it’s simply a new combination of meats or flavoured meat.

The pizzas arrived reassuringly hot, and to my relief I was handed two sticks of the mustard drizzle – an oil and mustard dressing, basically.

In retrospect, I would have preferred a more dunkable dip vessel. Maybe I should have just applied it to the crusts somehow, but it said drizzle, and I drizzled. Liberally. Everywhere.

I ordered two pizzas, one for myself and one for my pizza friend, Dan. I only managed 1/3 of mine, whereas he managed 2/3 of his. Toppings were fairly irrelevant in the end, simply being what you worked through to get to the crust. They were incredibly filling, each of us usually able to finish a large pizza in a sitting (perhaps a slice left for breakfast).

Construction wise, it’s pretty much the same as a regular cheese stuffed crust, but on this order the dogs weren’t always covered by the dough.

The crust held firm and was surprisingly non-greasy. UK hot dogs are typically pork-based and these seem to be no exception (though no nutritional information on this is available on the website). Anything more flavourful, like Vienna franks, would have totally overpowered it in my opinion.

The mustard drizzle was a great and in keeping addition to the pizza, though I’m not sure I’ll be fetching the French’s every time I order out from now. It worked well with the Super Supreme topping, and the hot dog stuffed crust, but I wouldn’t recommend it with any of the BBQ sauce bases.

The hot dogs in the crust made for a change from the usual and made the pizza a lot more filling. For the extra £2.50, it stretched the pizza out to two meals worth (or two sharing, I guess) and that is good news in my book. I’d happily order again, if the website didn’t say they’d sold out…

Pizza Hut Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza

• Score: 4 out of 5 Drizzle Sticks
• Price: £18.49 (~$30)
• Size: 14” (only size available)
• Purchased at: Pizza Hut Delivery, Crookes, Sheffield (UK)
• Nutritional Quirks: There’s hot dogs in the crust, isn’t that enough?