I promise, Big Vegetable or Big Farma, is not making me or paying me to type the following: I wish Little Caesars’ Cheesesteak Crazy Puffs had green bell peppers in them.

Not having them with the seasoned steak, onions, and cheeses is surprising, especially since Little Caesars is also offering an Ultimate Cheesesteak Pizza for a limited time (and online only), which comes with a pick of pretty pint-sized peppers. Adding them might’ve given them a flavor that really hits home that the iconic sandwich inspired these Crazy Puffs.

If you’re not familiar with Little Caesars’ Crazy Puffs, think of them as being on the other side of the size spectrum from a cheesesteak in a long roll. They’re like mini pizzas, and there are four of them per order, which I find to be filling enough for lunch or dinner. I enjoyed the pepperoni and cheese versions that debuted last year.

These Cheesesteak ones are a bit meh. Also, the first one I bit into squirted at me, like it was an octopus shooting black ink at me, the predator, who wants to eat it. I was taken aback by the liquid and cheese that shot out from it, and then I instantly bit into the other three to see if any of them would do the same. Fortunately, for my dwindling napkin supply, which is 100 percent obtained from fast food visits, they did not.

For the most part, the steak was tender, but there were a couple of sinewy pieces. There seemed to be a decent amount of meat, but I didn’t find it to be very meaty tasting. I also didn’t really get too many onion pieces. But whatever there was, also didn’t have much taste. There was a sprinkle of parmesan on the crispy edges, which I thought added a cheesy sharpness. However, the other cheeses were flat tasting. Without any strong flavors from the main ingredients, these Crazy Puffs taste unexciting, and I don’t think they’re worth another go around, unless, perhaps, the powers that be decide to add green peppers to them.

Little Caesars Cheesesteak Crazy Puffs are not, as anthropomorphic Pop-Tarts like to say, crazy good. I believe they are a serviceable option for those wanting something different from the usual Crazy Puffs varieties. I also believe that raw celery sticks are as satisfying as a bag of potato chips.

Now that’s a line I’d gladly add to any review for the right price. Did you read that, Big Farma?

Purchased Price: $4.99*
Size: 4 pieces
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 690 calories. No other nutritional numbers are available on Little Caesars’ website.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did. The advertised price is $3.99.

I was slightly confused when I heard all the hubbub about Little Caesars introducing a new limited edition Stuffed Pretzel Crust. “I could have sworn I’ve had that before…” I thought, but it turns out I remembered merely customizing a pretzel crust pizza to add stuffed crust to it. This is the first time that “Stuffed Pretzel Crust” itself has officially appeared on the menu, and as a marketing aficionado, I’m happy to accept that as a unique new product worthy of its own celebration.

In the promotional images, the pretzel crust is a rich brown, solid, and stout, shimmering with butter and salt, reminiscent of the iconic Bavarian pretzel. What was inside my pizza box looked so different that I was initially afraid I’d gotten the wrong order. My crust seemed perhaps a tad darker than usual, but it didn’t have the deep shade or sheen I expected.

When I bit in, though, I realized it was perfectly pretzel-y; it was just more like a different type of pretzel: Auntie Anne’s. While it didn’t have a Bavarian pretzel’s telltale hue, firm snap leading to a chewy bite, or malty taste, it did boast a buttery, subtle sweetness, so perfectly complemented by its tender, fluffy texture that it practically melted in my mouth. Though it wasn’t what I expected, it paired with the stuffed crust beautifully. While the doughy pretzel crust didn’t have an overwhelming flavor, it had a noticeable aftertaste. That was well-balanced by the simple, mild cheese inside, which was soft enough that it paired perfectly with the pillowy crust yet never became gooey.

There are a few options on the website for how to order your Pretzel Stuffed Crust; taking the first option as a subtle endorsement, I went with Cheese Sauce & Pepperoni. I must confess I imagined the cheese sauce would be a small cup for dipping the crust into, like how many restaurants offer soft pretzel sticks with cheese dip as an appetizer. It wasn’t until I was partway through a surprisingly mild-tasting slice that it hit me: the cheese sauce wasn’t on the side, it was replacing the tomato sauce on the pizza!

This may sound counterintuitive, but I think the fact that it took me so long to realize this shows how well it worked. The cheese sauce blended perfectly with the cheese topping, bringing a unique creaminess. While tomato sauce usually adds some savory depth, the pretzel crust means that this pizza is covered in a generous, tongue-tingling smattering of salt that already provides plenty of complex flavor, so I appreciated that the sauce was more mellow in comparison. Its color reminded me of Velveeta cheese, but the taste wasn’t so tangy, more like a bland nacho cheese. This plainness also allowed the pepperoni to particularly pop.

First, I was surprised by how my Stuffed Pretzel Crust looked, but by the end of my meal, I was only surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It would be nice if the promotional images were a bit more accurate, but the decadent feeling of combining stuffed crust pizza with my favorite airport treat was way worth the slightly mismatched expectations.

Purchased Price: $9.99
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (Whole pizza) 2660 calories. No other nutritional information is available on the Little Caesars website.

When Little Caesars debuted its Crazy Puffs in 2024, initially available in just Pepperoni and 3 Cheese & Herb flavors, I was genuinely gobsmacked by how much I enjoyed them. The compact, dense, yet satisfyingly snackable size, novel cupcake-y shape, a textural masterpiece of the crispy edges, gooey cheese, and doughy interior, and even the amount of food that came in each order for a surprisingly reasonable price were all thrilling.

The only thing faster than me pouncing on the opportunity to review the new Bacon & Cheese flavor was the employee who handed them to me in a cute miniature box only about five seconds after I ordered them, really living up to that “HOT-N-READY” tagline! (Okay, it was more like “LUKEWARM-N-READY” in this case, but I actually didn’t mind that, as I could appreciate the flavor and texture more without a burnt tongue.)

At first glance, these Puffs really didn’t look different from the original pepperoni-less ones since, in terms of size, color, and texture, the small, craggy bacon bits happen to look a lot like burnt bits of cheese. But, unexpectedly porky and salty for its modest quantity, the taste of the bacon actually reminded me a lot more of ham. This was an interesting change from the original flavor lineup, and the difference was solidified even further when I made it to the middle of my first Puff and encountered the sharp taste of the small, slightly congealed poof of cheddar-forward filling.

It had a nostalgic school lunch quality, reminding me of a rounder, less-likely-to-scald-the-roof-of-your-mouth Hot Pocket. While that was fun, the cheddar’s taste was harsher than I would prefer. It was noticeably different than the cheese on top of the Puff, which seemed to be Little Caesars’ usual familiar blend of mozzarella and muenster, forcing me to realize that when it came to my enjoyment, the cheese on top stayed on top.

That being said, the things I loved so much about the original generation of Crazy Puffs persisted here. The interior had a delightful chewiness (my order was slightly dry, but I’m willing to chalk that up to the natural hit-or-miss nature of chain restaurants), and those edges were still crispy, this time so pronounced that they made the center of the Puffs look dramatically sunken in, which made them even more fun to eat.

I ultimately preferred the original flavors, but that wasn’t so shocking or disappointing since they set such a high bar: in the grand scheme of pizza products, the Cheese & Bacon Crazy Puffs perform nicely, and if my local-ish Little Caesars was more conveniently located, I would love to try them again. It’s not easy to find something that combines portability, a solid portion, a reasonable price, a short wait time, and a delicious taste on top of all of that, so these are nothing to roll your eyes at. (They may, however, be something to roll your eyebrows at, at least if you’re Eugene Levy—go watch his fun Super Bowl commercial for these and you’ll see what I mean! Little Caesars is not liable for any eyebrows that escape in a flurry of zany adventures while consuming their products.)

Purchased Price: $4.34
Size: 4 Puffs
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 740 calories. Other nutritional numbers are not available at the time of writing. < p/>