Make room for Her Majesty, the PIZZA!
To start, let me share some fascinating pizza trivia with you guys. Did you know that approximately 3 billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. every year? And that pizza industry makes 30 billion dollars per year!?
Kids between the ages of 3 to 11 prefer pizza over all other food groups, no matter if it’s for lunch or dinner. But I can bet some kids would gladly eat pizza for both meals if they could, of course. October is a National Pizza Month.
The first basic pizza most likely was made in prehistoric times with bread cooked on flat, hot stones. Approximately 1,000 years ago, herb-and-spice-covered circles of baked dough were very popular in Naples, Italy. It was known as focaccia then, these rounds were served as appetizers. The pizza was peasant food, mostly topped up with leftovers. It was designed to be eaten without utensils.
But pizza, as we know it today, could not evolve before the late 1600s when the Europeans discovered tomatoes. And, of course, the peasants of Naples were the first ones to add tomatoes to their focaccia bread circles. The world’s first pizzeria was opened in the 1830s and was named Port’Alba. The pizzas were cooked in ovens that were lined with lava from Mount Vesuvius.
The modern pizza was born in 1889 when Queen Margherita visited Naples. The owner of the taverna, Don Esposito, was asked to prepare a special dish in honor of the Queen’s visit. Esposito made a pizza featuring tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil. Those ingredients present the colors of the Italian flag. He named it the Margherita Pizza in honor of his guest.
Reheat Pizza in Oven
The history of pizza is very rich and colorful. I could write many pages about that, but the point of this article is to teach you how to reheat pizza in the oven! Before I learned how to properly reheat leftover pizza, I usually ate it cold, but that never seemed like a good choice to me. I am glad to be able to help you with this burning problem for us all!
I’ll be explaining the following techniques today:
- How To Reheat Pizza In The Oven
- How To Reheat Pizza In The Microwave
- How To Reheat Pizza In The Skill
- How To Reheat Pizza On The Grill
But first, there’s one small thing to address:
How to Properly Store Leftover Pizza in the Fridge?
It’s very important how you store your pizza in the fridge. Most of the time, people just throw the box with the pizza in it into the fridge and leave it like that. This is, of course, an acceptable way. But the best way to store your pizza and make sure you preserve all the freshness you could is to line a plate with paper towels, then put a layer of pizza, then again a layer of paper towels, then wrap it up in a plastic wrap.
1. How To Reheat Pizza In The Oven
For many of us, pizza is the #1 go-to meal when we don’t have the time to cook. It’s just one call away, can it be easier than that? The only bad thing with pizza is that the next day it ain’t even close to that fresh, delicious slice you munched on the day before.
Many have tried to reheat it, many have failed. Why is it so hard to reheat the pizza and not over-dry it and make it taste like, well, cardboard? You can heat up your pizza in the oven on the baking tray with the foil or put it directly on the wire rack, so you make sure your crust gets crispy but be aware this can make a lot of mess in your oven.
And finally, if you have one, you can use the pizza stone, but it might take some time to heat up. The choice is yours just follow these three steps, and you will be surprised how easy the oven method is.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F (190.5 °C). This is the most important step. Always make sure the oven is heated up fully before you even try to reheat your pizza. Never allow your pizza to get slowly warmer and warmer cause this is the main reason why it goes dry.
- Get your baking tray and line it up with foil, and put it in the oven for a few minutes. Make sure the tray and foil are fiery hot before you put your pizza on it.
- Take out the hot tray from the oven but be sure to use some oven mitts. Place your pizza on it, and put the tray back into the oven for around 10 minutes. Check it from time to time to be sure it doesn’t burn. In the end, you will have a hot, tasty, and crispy pizza.
Further Reading: Can You Put a Pizza Box In the Oven?
2. How to Reheat Pizza in the Microwave?
This one is by far the fastest and most convenient method of all. But this method isn’t recommended unless you really don’t have time to do it any other way. The problem with this microwave method is that when pizza is moved from the microwave, the crust is soft, but after a few seconds, it turns rubbery and hard.
Why? The answer is in flour.
See also: Do you know how long flour last?
Flour consists of gluten and starch, and starch consists of sugar molecules. So, that’s why your freshly reheated pizza feels so soft. But as it starts to cool down, those sugar molecules start to recrystallize, and that’s why crust first goes rubbery, and then hard.
- Always place a paper towel between the plate and the pizza. It will absorb excess moisture and grease.
- Try setting your microwave to be at 30% to 40% power and let it heat up for about 45 seconds. Check your pizza and repeat if necessary. If you ain’t quite satisfied with how your pizza turned up, you can always finish it in a toaster oven.
3. How to Reheat Pizza in the Skillet?
It may sound a little odd, but this method really works! Reheating pizza on the stovetop in a skillet is a great option when you only want to reheat a slice or two. The bottom crust stays crispy, the cheese melts perfectly, and the toppings are heated all the way through. You can use a cast-iron skillet, stainless steel skillet, or even an electrical skillet.
- Put a non-stick skillet on the stovetop and let it preheat on medium heat for a few minutes. Place the slice of pizza and heat it up for a couple of minutes.
- Add a couple of drops of water to the sides of your pizza. Important – don’t drop water on top.
- Cover the skillet – this is a crucial step! The point is that the skillet steams up and melts the cheese. If you don’t have an appropriate lid for your skillet, use some foil. Cook your pizza for 6 to 8 more minutes until you see the cheese is bubbly.
4. How to Reheat Pizza on the Grill?
We all know about the existence of grilled pizza, don’t we? So it’s natural to use the grill to reheat your leftover pizza slices. This method will guarantee the crunchiness of the crust everyone desires, the cheese will be melted perfectly, and the pepperoni will be crisp. This method isn’t a good choice when the weather is bad, though.
- Set your grill to medium-high and allow it a few minutes to warm up completely.
- Put your pizza on the grate without adding oil, and let it cook for approximately 6 minutes. Remove your pizza from the grill and check the results. If you ain’t satisfied, just put it back on the grill for a few more minutes.
What is the Best Method to Reheat your Pizza?
This is a tough decision, I must tell you. I would not recommend the microwave method cause it gives you a hard, rubbery crust, and if by any chance you don’t have paper towels with you (like maybe in the office), you will end up with a soggy slice of reheated pizza.
Conversely, the grill and the skillet approach are both superb. The bottom crust is crisp, the cheese is melted throughout, and the toppings stay warm no matter which method you choose. Skillet cooking wins out over the grill any day due of its portability and ease of usage. The pan cover method also works wonders on a cold pizza slice. The findings shocked me, and I expect them to do the same for you.
Final Thoughts
For many years, pizza is known as one of the men’s best friends. In fact, pizza is the second most popular takeout food in the world. Pizza is the main ingredient of every Super Bowl weekend. Pizza is something like a social glue. It always brings everyone together because let’s be honest – everyone loves it!
You will have some unexpected guests coming over tonight, and you don’t know what kind of food to serve. Homemade or from your favorite pizza place – you can’t go wrong with it. Don’t forget it’s recognized all over the world – there is no place on earth where you can’t find it. You will never stay hungry, and you can never go wrong if you are in doubt about what to order in the restaurant.
When you have a hard day at work, pizza is the comfort food you deserve. And if you are lazy and don’t want to make a mess and spend time reheating it, you can always eat it cold too. But for the love of pizza, try to do that as little as possible you can.
Related article: My Top Suggestions For Frozen Pizza
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