'I tried Iceland's spiciest £3 pizza - I stupidly ignored the box's warnings'

30 January 2024 , 15:15

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I had a serious shock when I tried the pizza (Image: Danielle Kate Wroe)

I'm a spice addict, and I wholeheartedly believe everything tastes better with lashings of hot sauce and plenty of chopped chillis - I've also been known to choose the hottest curry on the menu in restaurants, only to be greeted with a concerned look and questions about whether that's what I actually want to eat.

So, when I found out that Iceland had launched a £3 pizza that was so spicy it had warnings all over the box, I thought it'd be light work. After all, I take my Nando's order extra hot, so surely this wouldn't be any hotter?

When I read that the product development team at Iceland reportedly had to wear PPE when producing the product to keep them protected from the intensely hot sauce, I thought it was a load of rubbish. The pizza contains "super hot sauce, spicy salami, spicy beef and red jalapeno pepper", but I still wasn't concerned - because how hot can a supermarket pizza actually be?

The pizza promised heat - but I just wasn't convinced (Danielle Kate Wroe)

Pulling it out of the cardboard, I thought it didn't look too aggressive, nor did it smell particularly spicy. I followed the cooking instructions while I thought cocky thoughts about how I was going to devour half of the pizza for my lunch, shared with my partner.

Iceland has also only created a "limited number" of pizzas as they don't believe customers can handle the heat. I scoffed as I pulled it out of the oven, excited to try.

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Cutting it into slices, I still was not feeling at all apprehensive, so I took a big bite of the slice, only to receive what I can only describe as an assault on my tastebuds. Don't get me wrong, it was flavourful and delicious, but all I could focus on was the raging inferno in my mouth that as the seconds ticked by, was getting worse and worse.

I didn't think that the pizza looked too aggressive (Danielle Kate Wroe)

Mid-eating the slice, my friend came round and their first question to me was 'are you okay?'. No, I really wasn't - my tastebuds were tingling and my lips looked and felt as though I'd had filler.

Despite my reaction (which was dramatic, but not over-dramatic given how hot the pizza was) my boyfriend decided to give it a whirl - and he proceeded to fling open the fridge door and down some milk straight from the carton.

My worst ever attempt at eating a pizza (Danielle Kate Wroe)

We both managed just a single bite of a slice each, and we were laughing at how this was a rare sight for us. We were both well and truly defeated - but glad that we'd given it a go. Tentatively, I peeled back a slice of salami and tried it alone, and it was really tasty - so I think it is the hot sauce making it unbearably spicy. I have eaten spicier things in the past, that have been so hot they've tasted chemically - but this definitely still retains flavour, while being insanely hot, which makes it pleasant.

Overall, if you're a massive fan of spice, I'd definitely give this a whirl - who knows, your tastebuds may be more hardened than mine and you might really enjoy it. But, please heed the warnings on the box! I could've eaten more, for sure, but I just really didn't fancy it. One bite was enough for me on this day. For £3, it's well worth it, and it can be purchased from Iceland.

Danielle Kate Wroe