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May 13, 2014

Review: Pizza Hut - Blake's Smokehouse BBQ Pizza

Pizza Hut's new Blake's Smokehouse BBQ Pizza features a hand-tossed pizza with toasted cheddar cheese on the end crust and honey barbecue sauce instead of pizza sauce. It's topped with bacon, ham, and ground pork pieces. The pizza was inspired by country music artist Blake Shelton, hence the name.

I picked up a large for $11.

With all the pork, I figured the Smokehouse BBQ would be super salty, but the various meats, particularly the ham and the bacon, were actually significantly less salty tasting than is typical.

The combination of the three forms of pork made for a pretty meaty pizza. The bacon was just slightly crisp and lightly smoky and the ham had a nice, slightly sweet flavor. The ground pork didn't look so great and was porky and fatty tasting. Between it and the bacon, there was a bit of a shiny, greasy film atop the pizza, more so than the typical mozzarella grease.

The honey barbecue sauce was judiciously applied with just a thin layer under the cheese. When I first saw the pizza, I was worried that they might have forgotten the barbecue sauce by mistake but sure enough, it was there. There was a tasty but measured honeyed sweetness to it, but not so much in the way of smoky and tangy notes. It went well with the meats.

The cheddar on the end crust was not quite as flavorful as the parmesan of Pizza Hut's recent Garlic Parmesan Pizzas, but still delivered a nice crunch and discernible cheddar flavor. It was pretty much like a fresh toasted/baked cheddar breadstick.

Overall, Pizza Hut's Smokehouse BBQ Pizza was pretty good but not quite as good as the preceding (and departing) Garlic Parmesan Pizzas. The meats weren't too salty but could use a kick in the flavor department and the sauce was light but good. I especially liked the toasted cheddar end crust.

Nutritional Info - Pizza Hut Large Blake's Smokehouse BBQ Cheddar Crust Pizza
Serving Size - 1 slice
Calories - 370 (from Fat - 150)
Fat - 16g (Saturated Fat - 7g)
Sodium - 790mg
Carbs - 40g (Sugar - 6g)
Protein - 15g