Mmmmmm… The warm, savory texture of cheese oozing through your teeth. The hot, spicy twang of pepperoni bursting flavor throughout your mouth. The chewy, fluffy crust seasoned with mouth-watering garlic… Nothing screams “party” like the greasy appearance of a hand-tossed pepperoni pizza. Along with the increasing popularity of the internet came the ability to order your favorite pizza online from the comfort of your home or office. But with the growing reputation of dieting in recent years, how do two popular American pizza restaurants stack-up against each other? Does Pizza Hut or Domino’s make the so-called “healthiest” hand-tossed pepperoni pizza?
Pizza Hut
Founded in Wichita, Kansas, in 1958 by brothers Dan and Frank Carney, Pizza Hut is well-known for its unique variety of appetizing foods, from its eye-catching salad bar to its overflowing buffet of all-you-can-eat pizza. Over the years, Pizza Hut has claimed fame with several interesting varieties of pizza, including the Bigfoot, P’zone, and Chicago Dish pizzas. Whether served with buffalo wings, breadsticks, or garlic bread, Pizza Hut’s hand-tossed pepperoni pizza serves as one of the traditional and most popular items on the restaurant’s menu. With about 360 calories per slice, this pizza classic packs a punch with 16 grams of fat, 7 grams of saturated fat, and 1.5 grams of trans fatty acid per slice (about 1/8 of a pizza, or 4.9 ounces). If that doesn’t mean much to you, these figures translate into 25% of the typical daily total fat allowance, and 35% of the typical daily saturated fat allowance. For those with high cholesterol, a single slice of pepperoni pizza comes with about 40mg of cholesterol, or about 13% of the daily content.
On a similar note, Pizza Hut crams a little over 1000mg of sodium into each slice of greasy indulgence – that’s about 42% of the daily sodium intake per slice! Those who joined the bandwagon during the low-carb diet craze would take note of the pepperoni pizza slice having 35 grams of carbohydrates (12%) and 2 grams of dietary fiber (6%). On a lighter note, Pizza Hut’s hand-tossed pepperoni pizza contains nearly 17 grams of protein, and only 4 grams of sugars per slice. And as for calcium, the cheese melted into each heavenly slice helps account for 200mg of calcium, nearly 20% of the daily amount. If these numbers seem shocking, don’t lose your appetite for pizza just yet! While the nutritional information screams for moderation with just a few slices, people across America voted Pizza Hut hand-tossed pepperoni pizza the best tasting pizza over Domino’s and other leading competitors nationwide. But just how well does Domino’s pepperoni pizza compare with Pizza Hut’s feast of indulgence?
Domino’s
Founded two years after Pizza Hut in Ypsilanti, Michigan, by brothers Tom and James Monaghan, Domino’s Pizza has evolved from a simple menu of ordinary pizza to one including bread sticks and chicken wings. In fact, Domino’s Pizza began the use of cardboard delivery boxes which became an industry-wide standard. From advertisements featuring “The Noid” to ones including “Bad Andy,” Domino’s Pizza has become the second-largest pizza chain in the United States. Whether ordered with a Coca-Cola soft drink or cheesy breadsticks, the Domino’s pepperoni hand-tossed pizza packs its own punch when it comes to nutritional value. Each slice (4.9 ounces) of pepperoni pizza provides the customer with 14.2 grams of total fat (22%), 5.3 grams of saturated fat (26%), and 0 grams of trans fatty acids. Cholesterol weighs-in at 16mg (5%), as sodium levels fall around 696mg, or 29%. Carbohydrate fanatics take notice of 44.3 grams of carbs, or 15% daily value. As for dietary fiber, 3.2 grams serves up nearly 13% of daily fiber intake. In addition, Domino’s pepperoni pizza stacks up with 105.4mg of calcium, nearly half that as Pizza Hut’s pepperoni pizza.
Summary
When comparing fat content, Domino’s hand-tossed pepperoni pizza wins the battle by having almost 2 grams less total fat than Pizza Hut, nearly 2 grams less saturated fat as compared with Pizza Hut, and nearly zero trans fatty acids per slice, compared with Pizza Hut’s 1.5 grams. Likewise, Domino’s also gains marks by having 24 grams less cholesterol than its Pizza Hut counterpart and 314mg less sodium. However, carbohydrate-watchers should be aware of Domino’s 9.3 gram disadvantage behind Pizza Hut. Finally, Domino’s hand-tossed pepperoni pizza bears 1.2 grams more dietary fiber, but almost half the calcium as Pizza Hut’s classic pizza.
Overall, Domino’s hand-tossed pepperoni pizza seems to be the healthiest choice of fast-food pizza for those counting the nutritional information (that is, except for carbohydrates). However, if nutrition is at the back of your mind, personal experience has shown that Pizza Hut remains the number-one choice for mouth-watering pizza when compared to its competition. Whether in celebration of a little league baseball victory, a friend’s birthday, or just a night-out with the family, pizza serves as the prime symbol of American culture. The next time you decide to order a pizza, dial-up your local restaurant and order your favorite pizza loaded with all the toppings you want. That is, unless you have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow! After all, if the doctor asks where those few extra pounds came from, you might just know the answer – from last night’s pizza!
