The Game-Changing Trick That Makes Frozen Pizza Better
The promise of hot cheese on a saucy crust, in less than 20 minutes, with little-to-no clean-up is like a hug from the universe after a long day. Frozen pizza is a beautiful thing; we love it, and it loves us back. Now, thanks to The Kitchn, and this "Life Pro Tip" on Reddit, there is a way to make this dinnertime superhero even better. According to a Reddit user, the trick to perfect frozen pizza is to basically ignore the package instructions.
You know those ominous warnings on the box about keeping the pizza frozen until you're ready to cook it? Yep, ignore that. And the part where it says to preheat your oven to 375 degrees? Disregard that, too. The bit about unwrapping and removing the pizza from the box? Okay, we're still going to do that.
Here are the steps to upping your frozen pizza game for good.
Thaw your frozen pizza prior to cooking
Although frozen pizza is designed to go straight from the box, into the oven, and onto your plate in under 20 minutes or so, this is not necessarily the best method. The Reddit user suggests that you thaw the pizza prior to baking it. This is controversial because there's a risk of contamination if your pizza is not thawed properly.
However, Giordano's points out the risk generally comes into play when you thaw and refreeze your pizza. They note that it's the best idea to take your pizza out of the freezer and leave it out for a few hours before baking it — you could even pop it in the fridge the night before. Also, make sure you aren't tempted to refreeze it before baking it. There'd really be no reason to refreeze your pizza after thawing, though, unless you were suddenly inspired to whip up a copycat Stouffer's French Bread Pizza instead? That seems unlikely when perfectly good, thawed frozen pizza awaits you.
Crank up the heat
The next key step in attaining frozen pizza nirvana is to preheat your oven as high as it will go. This mimics the environment commercial pizzas are baked in, according to the Reddit user, who notes that pizzas baked in a pizzeria are usually prepared in stone ovens that can get up to anywhere between 700 and 1,000 degrees.
Super-high heat allows the crust to get crispy quickly, and better yet, before any of the toppings have a chance to burn. During this preheat period, feel free to chef it up a bit and drizzle the crust with a little olive oil and garlic. If you have a pizza stone or a cast iron skillet, throw it in there while the oven preheats and bake your pizza on it. If not, just bake it directly on the rack. Finally, thawed pizza plus high heat equals a shorter cooking time. Bake the pizza for five to eight minutes.
Once it's done — congratulations! You've just managed to improve upon a food that was nearly perfect to begin with.