I Ate Pizza Hut’s New Vegan Pizza and Now I’m Here to Tell You About It

It’s not ‘good,’ but it’s good, you know?

Summer Anne Burton
Tenderly
Published in
6 min readNov 20, 2020

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A photo of a pizza hut pizza taken from one side, no regular cheese but deep red sauce, vegan sausage, veggies, & parmesan
Photos: Summer Anne Burton

We were a Hut family, meaning that Pizza Hut was the chain pizza chain we preferred and which I treasured as the world’s greatest treat. I dunked on Domino’s and Little Caesar’s lovers and they dunked right back on me. Regardless of family affinity, many of us shared fond memories of the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! program that gave you free pizza in exchange for reading books over the summer, a deal my child-self regarded as something akin to getting free diamonds in exchange for taking long baths.

At some point in the last couple decades, though, I’ve noticed that many of my generational peers regard “the Hut” with a uniquely strong disdain. I sometimes keep my chain pizza preferences private, but other times I feel moved to shout, “The pan crust is very good!”

I’ve generally moved away from regarding chain restaurant food as the pinnacle of decadence, but Pizza Hut has still managed to provide comfort at times when I needed something incredibly nostalgic and familiar. As an adult, it can be hard to find a more nourishing vegan option on a long road trip than stopping by one of those iconically-roofed buildings for an oversized fountain soda and a veggie-and-marinara-packed personal pizza in a hot pan. As my…

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Summer Anne Burton
Tenderly

Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tenderly. Former BuzzFeed exec. Moomin. Texan. Vegan for the animals. 💕