I’ve been eating Red Baron frozen pizzas since I was a kid. If it wasn’t Tony’s or Reggio’s (which I haven’t had in like a decade… guess it’s more of a Chicago thing), it was surely that fearless flier that would be heading into the oven that night. As far as frozen pizzas go, Red Baron isn’t a bad option; my only problem with the brand is that they use forests of herbs that get stuck in my teeth and add nothing to the taste. But hey, some people like that, I guess.

Anyway, with all these pizza businesses getting into the pasta business (most notably Dominos’ Bread Bowl Pastas), it’s only natural that the frozen brands would try to emulate their franchise-owning competition. Thus, Red Baron Pan Pasta was borne. There are three flavors: Chicken Alfredo, Rotini with Meat Sauce, and clearly the best, Mac and Cheese with Bacon. If I’d seen the other two at the store I would’ve grabbed ‘em, but I didn’t, so all I got to try was the Chicken Alfredo, which honestly isn’t too bad a thing to settle for.

When you open it up, it’s kinda funny because everything is frozen into a sort of slab of pasta, chicken, and sauce. You could practically use it as a baseball bat, or have your little brother in karate kick it in half. But anyway, you’d think this thing would have to bake for like an hour like those Stouffer’s lasagnas and macaroni platters, but it actually only takes about 30 minutes. Not too bad a wait for a decent amount of pasta, and it is that. It could probably feed three to five kids, or two to four adults.

I’ll start describing the taste by saying it’s obviously not the highest quality Alfredo sauce. It’s a bit bland and perhaps too cheesy to truly be Alfredo, but that doesn’t make it bad. There is an ample amount of sauce, too, it doesn’t bake away or anything. It really is obvious that a pizza company makes this pasta, though. The large amount of grease that simmers around the pasta when you cook it, as well as the stringy mozzarella sauce really give it a less authentic, “cheap” feel. But I doubt authenticity is what you’re looking for when in the market for frozen pasta. The chicken is slightly suspicious; some pieces feel kinda meaty and real, but others feel loose and processed, like McNuggets. Tastes like chicken, though. The whole pasta is about 1800 calories, so depending on how much of it you eat, you’re looking at half to a third of your recommended daily intake, so it’s not the lightest meal. At about $7, it’s not too bad of a buy. It tasted pretty good, and I like it enough to want to find the Mac and Cheese with Bacon, so nice job Red Baron.