It is no secret that the world loves pizza. It’s an affordable and convenient fast food that is widely available and is always a crowd-pleaser. It is one of the fastest-growing food industries, filled with players like Papa John’s, Little Caesars, Godfathers, Round Table, Sbarros, and more. But the top two pizzerias that are outshining their competitors are Domino's and Pizza Hut. Both pizzerias offer delivery and take-out, which, according to Statista, is a whopping 76% of all pizza sales. Both pizza chains have loyal fans and customers who wouldn't think of ordering from a different pizzeria. But some diners aren't sure of their preference. When it comes to Pizza Hut vs. Domino’s, there are a few differences between the two most popular pizza chains. Let’s explore the key differences and do a taste comparison and menu evaluation to determine which is the best.
Pizza Hut vs. Domino’s: Style and Crust
Pizza Hut is known for pan-style pizzas made in cast iron skillet. The dough is thick and slightly greasy. Pizza Hut pan pizza has a crust similar to oily focaccia bread. While that is their signature crust, Pizza Hut also offers hand-tossed, thin, crispy, gluten-free, and stuffed crusts.
Domino’s is known for its traditional hand-tossed crust. The crust is thicker than thin crust but not nearly as thick as a pan pizza. Domino’s also offers options for Brooklyn style, thin crust, pan crust, and gluten-free crust. But it depends on the pizza size, as some sizes don't have all of the crust options.
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Pizza Hut is the most obvious choice for those who like a thick-crust pizza. They have those pan pizzas down to a science. But if you like a thinner crust, Domino’s has a thin yet chewy, not crispy crust that is the right amount of doughiness without overdoing it. For gluten-free diners, both pizzerias offer gluten-free pizza, but they both have warnings with them as the crust is gluten-free, they are made in a kitchen that isn’t a gluten-free kitchen, and there is some cross-contamination. So if you have Celiac, both pizzerias recommend avoiding their gluten-free options; however, if you have mild gluten sensitivity, then each diner can make their own decision. Both pizzerias show they care about their customers and approach the gluten-free topic with full transparency.
Pizza Hut vs. Domino’s Taste Differences
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Whether you like the most popular pizza topping, pepperoni, or like to mix it up with Canadian bacon and pineapple, both pizzerias offer plenty of popular pizzas like Supreme, Meat Lovers, Vegetarian, and more. While their pizza style is different, they have many of the same toppings with a few differences.
Sauce Options
Pizza Hut uses a standard marinara as a default sauce. It's an acidic, thick tomato sauce. They also offer garlic parmesan, barbecue, and buffalo sauce. Domino’s has a robust tomato sauce as their default sauce. But they also offer a marinara, honey barbecue, garlic parmesan, Alfredo, and Ranch sauce. There isn’t a description of the differences between the robust tomato sauce and the marinara. Both are red sauces, but the differences aren’t clear. Some online commenters claim that Domino’s sauce is sweeter than Pizza Hut’s sauce.
Cheese Options
Both pizzerias use a mozzarella mix as a default pizza cheese. Customers can choose between light, normal, and extra cheese. Neither pizzeria offers plant-based cheese, but diners can request no cheese. Domino’s also offers four kinds of cheese topping: Provolone, Asiago, Feta, and a cheddar blend, while Pizza Hut does not. Neither pizzeria has a classic four-cheese pizza, but Domino’s has a Wisconsin Six cheese pizza for cheese lovers. But cheese lovers will have to settle for a plain cheese pizza at Pizza Hut.
Toppings Options
Pizza Hut has eight types of meat to choose from: pepperoni, ham, ground beef, meatballs, bacon, grilled chicken, and Italian sausage. Diners can build their own or choose one of the menu items.
Dominos offers pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, Philly steak, bacon, chicken salami, and ground beef. So, if you love a good meatball pizza, you will want to stick with Pizza Hut. But Philly steak and salami fans should stick with Domino’s. Pepperoni fans will enjoy the Pizza Hut pepperoni options as diners can choose from regular and cupped pepperoni.
When it comes to vegetarian pizza, both pizzerias offer a vegetarian version. Pizza Hut has seven vegetables to choose from, including mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, banana peppers, onions, jalapeno peppers, pineapple, and tomatoes. Dominos offers all the same vegetables plus spinach. Dominos used to have roasted red peppers, but those are no longer available.
- The must-have convenient reference guide for every home cook!
- Includes more than 8,000 substitutions for ingredients, cookware, and techniques.
- Save time and money on by avoiding trips to grab that "missing" ingredient you don't really need.
Sides and Other Goodies
Pizza Hut's sides are breadsticks, cheese sticks, French fries, and mozzarella sticks. Pizza Hut has more than just pizza. They have pasta bowls with four different pasta sauces. And they also offer wings three ways with three different dipping sauces: Ranch, Blue Cheese, and Honey Barbecue. If you have a sweet tooth, you will be happy to know they offer five different desserts, including Cinnabon mini rolls, Ultimate chocolate chip cookie, apple pie, and cinnamon sticks.
Not to be outdone by the Hut, Domino’s offers six different styles of breadsticks: stuffed cheesy bread, spinach and Feta stuffed cheesy bread, bacon jalapeno cheesy bread, Parmesan twisted breadsticks, garlic bread twists, and Parmesan bites. Plus, they offer dessert breadsticks and cinnamon bread twists. They offer three styles of loaded tater tots—ten different flavors of wings, five pasta bowls, seven hoagie-style sandwiches, and two salads. For dipping sauce, Domino’s has you covered with six different pizza dipping sauces. And they have two cheesy marinara hot dips.
Pizza Hut offers Pepsi products for drinks, while Domino’s sticks to Coca-Cola products. So, it depends on preference and brand loyalty.
Both pizzerias offer plenty of sides and sharables, with Pizza Hut dominating the dessert arena and Domino’s dominating the dips and sauces. Wing lovers can get wings at both places, but Domino’s has more options. But if you like a salad with your pizza, stick to Domino’s.
What is Pizza Hut?
Pizza Hut first opened its doors in Kansas in 1958. Now, they have over 18,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries worldwide; they have carved out a place. At one time, Pizza Hut was a dine-in restaurant with servers and a full salad bar. They even offered a lunchtime pizza buffet with hot slices ready and cold drinks available. Later, the salad bar and the pizza buffet were removed as a part of the menu revamp in 2009. These days, some franchises are delivery or carry-out only, and a few still offer dine-in options.
A fun fact about Pizza Hut is that before 2013, they were the biggest kale consumer. And no, they were not making kale pizza; they were instead using the leafy green to decorate the ill-fated salad bar. In 2013, kale hit the food scene, and healthy foodies started using it in everything from massaged kale salads to smoothies to making chips.
What is Dominos?
Domino’s Pizza opened its doors in college town in Michigan in 1960. They went after the college market and eventually focused on pizza delivery. They were the first to have an ad campaign that guaranteed a hot pizza at your door in thirty minutes or less but later changed it to a 3 dollar refund. They eventually abandoned the campaign for public traffic safety because of a lawsuit involving one of their drivers after a car accident. Today, Domino’s is one of the most well-known pizzerias in the world and has over 17,644 restaurants across the globe,
Conclusion
When it comes to Pizza Hut vs. Domino, it comes down to personal preference. The two chains have a lot to offer and are clearly more than just your average pizza joints. Fast food pizza is part of the American culture; from pizza nights to pizza parties, everyone loves pizza. One of the great things about both Pizza Hut and Domino’s is they always have coupons and special deals, and for some, that may be the deciding factor when it comes to Pizza Hut vs. Domino’s when choosing where to make their order.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock.com.
- The must-have convenient reference guide for every home cook!
- Includes more than 8,000 substitutions for ingredients, cookware, and techniques.
- Save time and money on by avoiding trips to grab that "missing" ingredient you don't really need.