Pizza Hut has deemed themselves to be the inventor of a new type of food. It’s not quite a bagel bite, and not a personal pan pizza. Somewhere in between, Pizza Hut declares that “circles are the new slices.” The 3.5-inch dishes, standing about an inch tall, allow up to three toppings, and come bundled three for $5 or nine for $10. While you lose a little bit of quantity, the bargain works out towards more the variety and personalization options. Theoretically, you can order nine different pizzas, and share them with eight other friends.
Technically, they’re not “sliders” (and we don’t mean the “traveling the multiverse” type that aired on FOX in the 1990s). The traditional slider has equal parts cooking from the griddle as the steam from the onions. It’s unlikely that the Pizza Hut toppings are cooking the pizza as much as the oven it’s place in.
Still, the name will stick… or slide, depending on how sales will fare. Announced in conjunction with a Super Bowl promotion (in which everyone would receive a slider if a player said “Hut” during the game), the dish has hit most Pizza Hut chains.
The sliders seem to be more “full-size Bagel Bites”. While they might not use bagel dough (instead, opting for the traditional Pizza Hut crust) like their mini cousins, they do share about the same size and concept of “dough with toppings”. It doesn’t seem like the little width allows for much crust room.
Have you given the Slider a chance? Would you go for nine pepperoni pizzas, or take a whole variety pack?