Nothing like delicious gooey hot pizza with melted cheese. After it cools and the cheese hardens it’s not so good. Some people like cold pizza and that’s ok. However, I have a way to heat up cold pizza that makes it tastes like the day you brought it home hot. I’ll show you how to heat up cold pizza, this tip will change your life forever!
Why the microwave doesn’t work:
How to heat up cold pizza, well it’s not in the microwave. We’ve all tried to reheat cold, soggy, lifeless pizza so you know that it never turns out just right. If you reheat pizza in the microwave it’s either mushy or so hard you can’t chew the crust.
According to food scientists. microwaves cause water molecules to heat up. The water molecules in the sauce and cheese evaporate so that part of your pizza is steamed and that is why the center is soggy. The crust does not contain as much moisture so when those water molecules evaporate you are left with a rock-hard crust.
Why the oven doesn’t work to heat up cold pizza:
You might think reheating in the oven is an option, it’s better than the microwave but it’s still not the best. First, it can be kind of inefficient to heat up the entire oven for one piece of pizza. The reason why home ovens don’t work is that they can’t get as hot as a real pizza oven does. A commercial pizza oven heats up to 700-800 degrees. A conventional oven at home can get to 450-500. The high heat of a professional pizza oven allows the dough to bake until it’s crispy but not brittle. The high heat also ensures the middle part with the cheese and toppings are cooked all the way through.
You can try reheating in the oven, put a slice directly on the rack. However, if you turn the heat up as high as it will go, the crust will burn but the center doesn’t get warm all the way through. You end up with a cold center and burnt crust. One last tidbit about the oven, usually cheese or some of the toppings drip down to the bottom and end up burning and smoking at the bottom of the oven.
Try a pizza stone if you have one:
You can try using a pizza stone if you have one. Turn your oven up to 450-500. I have a pizza stone that I used once to make a homemade pizza. It was such a bad experience I put it away and haven’t touched it since. I have not used it to heat up cold pizza so if anybody has experience with a pizza stone I would love to hear about it.
The best way to reheat cold leftover pizza:
Here is a foolproof way to reheat leftover pizza so it comes out with perfectly melted cheese on top and a perfectly crisp crust on the bottom. You need to take out your cast iron pan if you have one. I wrote all about Taking Care of your Cast Iron, which would be the best pan to use. If you don’t have one just use whatever fry pan you have. Turn your stovetop burner to medium, you shouldn’t need oil. There is usually enough residual oil left on the bottom of the crust to keep it from sticking.
You will need a piece of foil kind of shaped into a circle to loosely cover the pizza. You don’t want to seal in the moisture because that is how you end up with a soggy crust. Heat maybe 5 minutes depending on your stove, you can tell if it’s done if you hear the crust sizzling a little and the top is hot and melted. You should end up with a crispy crust that is not burnt. The top and middle of the pizza should be melted and warm all the way through.
You can buy your own pizza oven:
I realize this isn’t some huge secret hidden from the world. But when you think of reheating pizza you think of the microwave or the oven. You never think of putting it in a fry pan but it really works. There are home pizza ovens that you can buy, I don’t know anything about them. I found an article in Good Housekeeping that reviews pizza ovens. The article is 7 Best Home Pizza Ovens of 2021, According to Kitchen Experts. I don’t think I will be investing in one, I have too many appliances already. However, it is interesting reading if you are a pizza aficionado.
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