5 Ways to Reheat Pizza: Which is Best?

Whether it’s homemade or from a chain restaurant, we’ve all had to store our leftover pizza slices due to overordering or our low appetite. After preserving it in the freezer, how do you reheat it to give you a delicious taste?

There are several methods out there that will show you how to reheat pizza but this article will show you how to reheat it properly for that fresh taste.

One of the popular methods of reheating pizza is through the microwave. Well, the microwave is known for its uneven heating patterns that will often produce half-cold, half-warmed soggy pizza. But do you know there are tweaks to getting a fully crusted pizza taste?

Method 1. How to properly reheat a Frozen Pizza with a Microwave

The regular practice of simply taking out and warming in your microwave should be cast aside. The only perfect way to heat pizza with a microwave is to place beside it a jug of water. Yes, you heard me, place a glass of water alongside your pizza.

You might wonder: if the goal is to dry out the pizza, why add water?

Here is how the practice works, after placing your pizza slices in the microwave and turning it up to heat at a temperature of about 160-170°F for 5-10 minutes.

Microwaves stimulate molecules through radiation to heat food. If a side of your pizza contains more water molecules than the other side, the stimulation will produce a partially heated pizza. But the jug of water there serves as a regulator to avoid this.

It is also recommended to remove the toppings to allow the penetration of heat into the crust so that the soggy liquid layer will escape into the environment.

Halfway into the cooking, you can then rearrange the toppings. Depending on your crust thickness, the time of cooking will lengthen. It is also advised to ensure the plate is permeable, to allow the soggy liquid to drip downwards instead of storing inside.

Some people take two steps further by transferring the microwaved pizza into a pan with a dash of oil to heat it up properly. You can get more information about this in the video.

Method 2. How to reheat pizza in an oven?

An oven is guaranteed to produce the brownest and perfect pizza. This is because the heat level is far higher than the microwave.

First preheat your oven to a temperature of 270°C-275°C for some minutes, get the frozen pizza and carefully place it on the oven rack, with the thick-crusted ones nearer to the fan or on the top shelves and the thin-crust pizzas underneath.

You can place the pizza on aluminum foil sprayed with some anti-stick cooking spray for easy removal.

The average time it should spend ranges from 5 to 25 minutes or depending on the number of pizzas you put in. Ensure the foil is perforated to allow the dripping of the trapped soggy water. Carefully bring it out and serve.

You can gently spray the toppings with water and oil to avoid an extra crusty taste. Ensure you consistently check your pizza once it has spent up to  10 or 15 minutes to avoid burns.

Method 3. How to reheat a pizza with a toaster oven

Heating a pizza in a conventional oven is easy, but what about a toaster oven? This hack is perfect for students or people who have no access to huge equipment.

Remove the frozen pizza from its pack and set it on the toaster oven, set the heat to medium for about 20-30 minutes or too high for half the time. This may not produce a beautiful result as a microwave or oven, but it will sure do. It most likely produces a soggy-free pizza. [6 Easy Steps to Reheat Pizza in Toaster Oven]

Method 4. How to reheat a frozen pizza with skillets

Skillets are also perfect for producing a nicely reheated pizza. Using a skillet on the stove has been one of the oldest methods of reheating foods, including pizza.

Preheat the skillet pan for 3-4 minutes and add the frozen pizza, close the lid, and wait for the same amount of time of preheating. You can then add a few drops of water or oil if needed.

Cover up again and heat for about 1-3 minutes, serve afterward. Ensure you consistently turn the pizza.

Method 5. How to reheat a frozen pizza with an air fryer?

Air fryers are one of the most modern equipment created to make cooking easier, faster, and convenient.

It is also one of the best pieces of equipment out there for reheating food because it uses a conventional fan that dissipates heat throughout the insides to warm your food.

It does not need much work done at all. Start by placing two to three slices of frozen pizza to be warmed; that is if you use the basket air fryer or more if you use an oven air fryer.

Raise the temperature to a temperature of about 160-180°C for 4 to 20 minutes; checking periodically to see if it starts burning. Remove from the air fryer and serve.

This appliance’s small size is perfect for college students who may not have the opportunity to bring larger food equipment into their dorms.

Ensure you lay the air fryer floorings with aluminum foil or holed parchment papers to prevent the strain of melting cheese. This is why many argue that air fryers function like mini conventional ovens. The important thing is that they work.

Which reheating method is the best?

The best reheating method is the oven, several reasons make the oven the perfect heating method;

• High Heat: The oven is capable of producing a high amount of heat to kill any present microorganisms and can thaw the hardest ice. You are most likely to always end with a perfect pizza if you follow the directions properly.
• Space: The oven is spacious enough to warm 2 whole 16 inches pizza. Unlike other pieces of equipment that is limited by their space, the oven has no limit and you can stack several pizza slides conveniently.
• Safer: Unarguably, it is far safer than the microwave. The microwave is known to use radiation to heat foods. This radiation has been questioned several times by health scientists on its healthy nature to humans.

Tips on reheating pizza

1. Do not use aluminum foil inside the microwaves as it is liable to catch fire. Aluminum foil is allowed in ovens as they do not have radiation rays to light them up.
2. Before using any plastic ware in the microwave, ensure it is labeled microwave-safe or microwave-friendly. Do not use plastic plates that aren’t designated as safe. This is because some plastics contain some chemicals which when exposed to heat can melt and seep into your foods. Most of the time they are cancer-causing chemicals. Do not use metallic plates either.
3. Don’t thaw your pizza before microwaving: As simple as that sounds, a lot of people who tried thawing their pizza before heating always had funny stories to tell. Most of the time, there are set of instructions written in the package of frozen pizzas and one of the most highlighted inscriptions is do not thaw. Put it in the cooking appliance as frozen as it was or else you may end up with a semiliquid pizza slide.
4. Line your pizza around the edges: Microwave is often guilty of heating the edges of our foods than leaving the center as cold as we brought it in. A trick is to gather the pizza to the sides of the plate while leaving a considerable amount of space between two pizzas.
5. Ensure you check your pizza regularly, as most times our calculations are not in line with the appliance to avoid burning, checking every 5 to 10 minutes is advised as we want to end up with a golden brown color not burnt black.

Is reheating food safe?

Reheating food is safe as long as the food is not left out to the danger zone temperature of bacteria before heating according to WebMD.

However, there is a general misconception that some of this heating equipments are liable to cause cancer to the users. This has been banished by Health line several times as faux.

Only a few actions make the food unhealthy for humans which starts from the preservation process. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates the danger zone to be 60-75°F.

Will reheating food give me the same taste as a freshly bought one?

If your pizza was stored immediately after it was bought, there is a very high possibility of having that same fresh taste if it was heated properly.

But if it has spent some time out and was not frozen on time, the stale taste will most likely appear when you unfreeze it.

Some people add a dash of oil to give a nice glittery look or add more cheese to it, all this is dependent on the owner’s eating habits.

Bottom Line

Be it through a microwave, oven, or skillet, a good reheated frozen pizza should leave a nice and crispy taste behind. Reheating your food is a very good method to curb food wastage plus it is environmentally friendly.