Aldi's New Pizza Snacks Have The Internet Buzzing
Everybody knows that meme: "Mom made pizza rolls!" Oh, the unbridled joy of childhood when these were the after-school snack everybody craved. Then you grew up (a little) and learned to read nutritional labels and... sigh. Who knew they were that bad for you? All the calories. All the carbs.
Who can save us from ourselves? Aldi can, that's who. Aldi knows what we want, what we really, really want, but they managed to give it to us in a version that contains enough vegetables for the grown-up part of our brain not to veto the purchase. Yes, they've invented pizza rolls — or "Pizza Snacks," as their product is labeled — that come with a cauliflower crust. This latest addition to their snack line has become yet another Aldi must-try.
So are Aldi's cauliflower pizza rolls any good?
These Mama Cozzi's pizza snacks come in two varieties, uncured pepperoni and three cheese, and Aldi Reviewer says they cost $4.99 for a 12-ounce bag. This is kind of pricey as compared to Totino's rolls (under $4 for a 20-ounce bag at Walmart), and much more than the pizza rolls from Dollar Tree, but of course those cheaper rolls are non-cauliflower crusted.
Taste-wise, results are mixed, but overall positive. One Instagram user found the rolls to be "kinda gummy but edible," while another said they were "pleasantly surprised!! [The rolls] were really good." Aldi Reviewer found them to be softer and less crispy than Totino's pizza rolls and detected a slight hint of cauliflower, but found the rolls to be nevertheless tasty and definitely worth buying again.
How do Aldi's pizza snacks rate for nutrition?
What you're really buying with these cauliflower-crusted pizza rolls is something that's supposed to be good for you, so how healthy are they?
Well, the bad news, keto dieters, is they're not carb-free. In fact, they're not even particularly low-carb, with 28-29 grams of carbs in a single serving as compared to Totino's 30 grams. The source of the carbs is certainly better, though, since they're made with rice flour and brown rice flour instead of wheat flour (which also makes them gluten-free — another bonus!). As far as calorie count goes, Aldi's cheese pizza rolls have 210 calories and the pepperoni rolls have 230 for a 5-roll serving. By contrast, FatSecret says that Totino's pepperoni rolls have 220 calories for 6.
So wait, what gives with these snacks if they're not that nutritionally different than the pizza rolls of the past? Well, in case you missed it, they're gluten-free. Also, that cauliflower counts as a daily serving of veggies, doesn't it? There you go, conscience appeased. Now pass the pizza snacks, please.