We taste tested popular menu items at Papa Johns and Pizza Hut, and while Pizza Hut was a winner in certain areas, it lost to Papa Johns overall

… a garlic bread side order, …

Katie Canales/Business Insider

… an 8-piece order of wings, …

Katie Canales/Business Insider

… and a chocolate dessert.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

The prices for each menu item we tried were similar between the two chains, except for the pizzas. Each pizza was divided into the standard eight slices …

Our Papa John’s order.

Papa John’s/Business Insider

… and a medium pizza at both Papa John’s and Pizza Hut cost about $17.

The price of a medium pepperoni pizza at Pizza Hut was $17.24.

Pizza Hut/Business Insider

The dipping sauces were priced similarly — Papa John’s charged 65¢ for each, and each cost 50¢ at Pizza Hut.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

We were able to have our orders delivered from Pizza Hut and Papa John’s. The bill at each was $71.93 and $56.75, respectively.

On the left is our total from Papa John’s and on the right is our total from Pizza Hut.

Papa John’s/Pizza Hut/Business Insider

But if we had chosen carryout instead of delivery at Pizza Hut or Papa John’s, the costs would have been closer to $56 and $47, respectively.

On the left is our total at Pizza Hut and on the right is our total at Papa John’s.

Pizza Hut/Papa John’s/Business Insider

There was a nifty tracker in the Papa John’s app that helped us keep tabs on how far out our order was. It took 25 minutes for our order to be delivered, which is what the tracker estimated.

Papa John’s/Business Insider

Pizza Hut didn’t have a tracker, but it did offer to send tracking updates via text message, which we opted for. Pizza Hut was quick too — we placed our order at 5:58 p.m., received a notification that it was out for delivery at 6:12 p.m., and then met our delivery driver at 6:22 p.m.

Pizza Hut/Business Insider

Finally, our orders were laid out in front of us — and it was time to feast.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

First up were the garlic-y side dishes. We ordered Garlic Knots from Papa John’s and Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Garlic Knots.

Papa John’s Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

The Garlic Knots from Papa John’s are made with freshly baked dough and seasoned with garlic and parmesan, according to the website. A container of “pizza sauce” was included for dipping.

Papa John’s Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

In a word, they were good. The texture of the bread struck a solid balance of doughy and crunchy, but the pizza dipping sauce wasn’t anything too spectacular.

Papa John’s Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

But it doesn’t matter because they were no match for Pizza Hut’s exquisite Stuffed Garlic Knots.

Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

The dish comes with 10 garlic knots filled with melted cheese and encrusted with garlic and parmesan.

Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

They were doughy and warm and melted in your mouth. We were fighting over these until the very last one was gone.

Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

It’s not that the garlic bread dish from Papa John’s wasn’t good, because it was.

Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

But the fact that Pizza Hut’s were stuffed with melted cheesy goodness gave it a significant edge.

Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

And so Pizza Hut wins the battle of the garlic bread.

Papa John’s Garlic Knots and Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Garlic Knots.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

A medium pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

We kept it simple with only pepperoni on both of our pizzas, since you can’t go wrong with the topping.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

And as it turns out, many Americans feel that way — more than a third of pizzas sold in the US come adorned with pepperoni.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

We took a whirl with Papa John’s first.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

At first glance, the crust looked fluffy, the pepperoni placement was on point, and the cheese seemed generous …

A medium pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

… but we soon realized that maybe it was a little too much cheese.

A medium pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Biting into a Papa John’s slice resulted in an overwhelming mouthful of it. The balance of cheese to dough to pepperoni felt off.

A slice of pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Apart from the cheese overload, the pizza was doughy and, for the most part, yummy.

A medium pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

The pizza also came with two dipping sauces: buffalo and garlic, which were both tasty.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

And the chain’s signature pepperoncini accompaniment was a nice touch.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

But overall, we concluded that we weren’t jumping at the opportunity to order another Papa John’s pizza in the future.

A medium pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

We thought that with Papa John’s, we’d already found the loser for this round out of the two chains …

A medium pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

… but we were very, very wrong.

A medium pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

The crust on our Pizza Hut pizza was lacking in texture, and the flavors in each slice called to mind what one would find at a roadside gas station.

A medium pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

On the flip side of our Papa John’s experience, which had way too much cheese, the cheese on our Pizza Hut pizza was extremely slim, which was strange given that Pizza Hut is one of the largest cheese buyers in the world, using over 300 million pounds of cheese annually.

A medium pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

And so we ask: why couldn’t more of all that cheese make its way into our pizza?

Katie Canales/Business Insider

So as imperfect as Papa John’s pizza was, it wins this round by default since Pizza Hut’s pizza was so hard to stomach.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

We somehow still had enough room to taste test the next category: the wings.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

We ordered Pizza Hut’s plain boneless wings and unsauced roasted bone-in wings from Papa John’s. And with each dish, we ordered a side sauce: we chose ranch and BBQ at Papa John’s and buffalo sauce at Pizza Hut. Some came with our wings orders and some cost extra.

Pizza Hut’s plain boneless wings.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

They also tasted superb. They looked like they were a bit fatty, but their roasted flavor made up for it.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Pizza Hut’s wings, however, were a totally different story.

Pizza Hut’s plain boneless wings.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

They were the only wings out of the two chains that came without bones, which made them easier to eat, but they were more reminiscent of a frozen aisle bag of chicken nuggets than an order of wings from one of the country’s largest pizza makers.

Pizza Hut’s plain boneless wings.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Tried as we might, we couldn’t finish all of them.

Pizza Hut’s plain boneless wings.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

And last but certainly not least, we turned to our chocolate desserts: the Papa John’s Chocolate Chip Cookie and Pizza Hut’s Ultimate Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

First up was Papa John’s cookie dish, which was rich and good, but it wasn’t anything noteworthy.

Papa John’s Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

What stuck out the most was Pizza Hut’s dessert, made with Hershey’s chocolate.

Papa John’s Chocolate Chip Cookie and Pizza Hut’s Ultimate Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Maybe it was the chocolate chip placement, which ensured there were chips both within and on top of the cookie cake, but the cookie was gooey and delicious in every bite.

Pizza Hut’s Ultimate Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

It was a good way to wrap up our taste test.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

In each category, there was a winner.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Pizza Hut’s Garlic Knots were out-of-this-world delicious.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

The pizza from Papa John’s, though not perfect, was clearly better than Pizza Hut’s.

A medium pepperoni pizza from Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Papa John’s wings reigned supreme.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

And Pizza Hut’s Ultimate Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie took the cake, if you will.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Final count — Pizza Hut: 2 and Papa John’s: 2.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

So which is the winner of our taste test? That would be Papa John’s.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

Pizza Hut, on the other hand, shone brightly in two categories — garlic knots and dessert — but the chain’s wings and pizza, which is arguably the most important part, were wildly unsatisfactory.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

So despite its pizza’s cheesy goo, Papa John’s wins for its overall quality across each category.

Katie Canales/Business Insider

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We taste tested popular menu items at Papa Johns and Pizza Hut, and while Pizza Hut was a winner in certain areas, it lost to Papa Johns overall

We ordered similar items from each store: a medium pepperoni pizza, …

… a garlic bread side order, …

… an 8-piece order of wings, …

… and a chocolate dessert.

The prices for each menu item we tried were similar between the two chains, except for the pizzas. Each pizza was divided into the standard eight slices …

… and a medium pizza at both Papa John’s and Pizza Hut cost about $17.

The dipping sauces were priced similarly — Papa John’s charged 65¢ for each, and each cost 50¢ at Pizza Hut.

We were able to have our orders delivered from Pizza Hut and Papa John’s. The bill at each was $71.93 and $56.75, respectively.

But if we had chosen carryout instead of delivery at Pizza Hut or Papa John’s, the costs would have been closer to $56 and $47, respectively.

There was a nifty tracker in the Papa John’s app that helped us keep tabs on how far out our order was. It took 25 minutes for our order to be delivered, which is what the tracker estimated.

Pizza Hut didn’t have a tracker, but it did offer to send tracking updates via text message, which we opted for. Pizza Hut was quick too — we placed our order at 5:58 p.m., received a notification that it was out for delivery at 6:12 p.m., and then met our delivery driver at 6:22 p.m.

Finally, our orders were laid out in front of us — and it was time to feast.

First up were the garlic-y side dishes. We ordered Garlic Knots from Papa John’s and Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Garlic Knots.

The Garlic Knots from Papa John’s are made with freshly baked dough and seasoned with garlic and parmesan, according to the website. A container of “pizza sauce” was included for dipping.

In a word, they were good. The texture of the bread struck a solid balance of doughy and crunchy, but the pizza dipping sauce wasn’t anything too spectacular.

But it doesn’t matter because they were no match for Pizza Hut’s exquisite Stuffed Garlic Knots.

The dish comes with 10 garlic knots filled with melted cheese and encrusted with garlic and parmesan.

They were doughy and warm and melted in your mouth. We were fighting over these until the very last one was gone.

It’s not that the garlic bread dish from Papa John’s wasn’t good, because it was.

But the fact that Pizza Hut’s were stuffed with melted cheesy goodness gave it a significant edge.

And so Pizza Hut wins the battle of the garlic bread.

We kept it simple with only pepperoni on both of our pizzas, since you can’t go wrong with the topping.

And as it turns out, many Americans feel that way — more than a third of pizzas sold in the US come adorned with pepperoni.

We took a whirl with Papa John’s first.

At first glance, the crust looked fluffy, the pepperoni placement was on point, and the cheese seemed generous …

… but we soon realized that maybe it was a little too much cheese.

Biting into a Papa John’s slice resulted in an overwhelming mouthful of it. The balance of cheese to dough to pepperoni felt off.

Apart from the cheese overload, the pizza was doughy and, for the most part, yummy.

The pizza also came with two dipping sauces: buffalo and garlic, which were both tasty.

And the chain’s signature pepperoncini accompaniment was a nice touch.

But overall, we concluded that we weren’t jumping at the opportunity to order another Papa John’s pizza in the future.

We thought that with Papa John’s, we’d already found the loser for this round out of the two chains …

… but we were very, very wrong.

The crust on our Pizza Hut pizza was lacking in texture, and the flavors in each slice called to mind what one would find at a roadside gas station.

On the flip side of our Papa John’s experience, which had way too much cheese, the cheese on our Pizza Hut pizza was extremely slim, which was strange given that Pizza Hut is one of the largest cheese buyers in the world, using over 300 million pounds of cheese annually.

And so we ask: why couldn’t more of all that cheese make its way into our pizza?

So as imperfect as Papa John’s pizza was, it wins this round by default since Pizza Hut’s pizza was so hard to stomach.

We somehow still had enough room to taste test the next category: the wings.

We ordered Pizza Hut’s plain boneless wings and unsauced roasted bone-in wings from Papa John’s. And with each dish, we ordered a side sauce: we chose ranch and BBQ at Papa John’s and buffalo sauce at Pizza Hut. Some came with our wings orders and some cost extra.

They also tasted superb. They looked like they were a bit fatty, but their roasted flavor made up for it.

Pizza Hut’s wings, however, were a totally different story.

They were the only wings out of the two chains that came without bones, which made them easier to eat, but they were more reminiscent of a frozen aisle bag of chicken nuggets than an order of wings from one of the country’s largest pizza makers.

Tried as we might, we couldn’t finish all of them.

And last but certainly not least, we turned to our chocolate desserts: the Papa John’s Chocolate Chip Cookie and Pizza Hut’s Ultimate Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie.

First up was Papa John’s cookie dish, which was rich and good, but it wasn’t anything noteworthy.

What stuck out the most was Pizza Hut’s dessert, made with Hershey’s chocolate.

Maybe it was the chocolate chip placement, which ensured there were chips both within and on top of the cookie cake, but the cookie was gooey and delicious in every bite.

It was a good way to wrap up our taste test.

In each category, there was a winner.

Pizza Hut’s Garlic Knots were out-of-this-world delicious.

The pizza from Papa John’s, though not perfect, was clearly better than Pizza Hut’s.

Papa John’s wings reigned supreme.

And Pizza Hut’s Ultimate Hershey’s Chocolate Chip Cookie took the cake, if you will.

Final count — Pizza Hut: 2 and Papa John’s: 2.

So which is the winner of our taste test? That would be Papa John’s.

Pizza Hut, on the other hand, shone brightly in two categories — garlic knots and dessert — but the chain’s wings and pizza, which is arguably the most important part, were wildly unsatisfactory.

So despite its pizza’s cheesy goo, Papa John’s wins for its overall quality across each category.

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