Cooking Pizza in 2025: A Complete Guide for Convection Ovens

Have you ever used a convection oven? If so, you know that they use a fan to assist in the cooking process, and because of that you can often cook faster or crisp things up better than in a regular oven.

Things like pizza and fried foods or frozen foods are some of the best things to cook in a convection oven. Not to say you can’t get similar cooking results in a regular oven, but convection ovens certainly come in handy!

There is just something about how that fan-assist in the oven really makes a difference on getting the food both cooked and crisped that it sets it apart just a little bit. 

How do you cook pizza in a convection oven? While there are certain steps to follow, the process can change depending on the type of pizza you are working with. Whether you’re reheating, cooking fresh homemade pizza, or cooking a frozen pizza, you can cook it all to perfection in a convection oven! 

In this guide, we will share with you how to cook pizza in a convection oven. We will talk about how these ovens work and walk you through step-by-step how to cook your pizza.

We will even cover different types of pizza (frozen, fresh, etc.) so that you know all of the details you might need. 

Stick with us to learn how to cook pizza in a convection oven and more! 

Your Guide To Convection Oven Pizza

Have you ever cooked a pizza and the edges were perfect, but the center just wouldn’t get done? So you ended up with crispy edges and a soft center and it just wasn’t the vision? 

We totally get it! This is a common problem with a traditional oven. It doesn’t mean you are doing it wrong, it just means a convection oven might do it better.

Don’t get us wrong, we are not demeaning the value of a traditional oven. But we do love the turnout with a convection oven for some of these things! 

Let’s look at the processes now. 

How To Cook Fresh Pizza In A Convection Oven

If you’re a lover of homemade pizza or simply fresh pizza with fresh ingredients, you can cook those in a convection oven just fine. While we have some simple steps for you, we do want to remind you that not every pizza or oven is the same!

These will be generalized steps and recommendations, but they will be close no matter what your pizza is made of or what you topped it with. You might need to tweak the timing a few minutes if you have thin crust versus a deep dish crust. 

These steps will work well for just about any type of fresh pizza. Just remember that you want to reduce your standard temperature by 25 degrees and your standard cooking time by 25%. 

Remember that if you have a thinner crust, it will take the least amount of time to cook. If you’re unsure where to start on the timer, we recommend setting your timer for the lower end of time. You can always cook it longer if it isn’t done! 

You certainly don’t want to burn the pizza, so keep an eye on it. Once you’ve made a couple of pizzas, you will be able to better understand how long different pizzas should cook in your convection oven. 

How To Cook Frozen Pizza In A Convection Oven

Cooking frozen pizza will work very similarly to cooking fresh pizza.

The biggest difference is your box for frozen pizza most likely has cooking instructions. This actually might make it a little bit easier because you just need to make your adjustments to the provided instructions and you’re good to go! 

Also, keep in mind that more toppings and a thicker crust typically take longer to cook. However, you really only have to worry about that detail for homemade or fresh pizza as opposed to frozen pizza. 

Again – cooking frozen pizza in a convection oven is super simple. You just need to get the timing and the temperature down!

Remember that the best rule of thumb is to reduce time by 25% and temperature by 25 degrees for a starting point. You will get to know your oven and how it works as well, which will help you get a better feel for the specifics. 

How To Reheat Pizza In A Convection Oven

Reheating pizza of any kind in the convection oven is a really great option since pizza is one of the harder things to reheat without sacrificing the quality of its crust. It only takes a few minutes once you get your oven to temperature! 

We know that some people prefer to cook their pizza on the oven rack, but did you know the best way to get a crisp crust is to actually line a pan with foil? The foil helps with crisping the crust quite a bit when reheating pizza. 

Just like that, it’s super easy to reheat your pizza and with the convection oven, you get pizza that remains crisp and cooked to perfection!

How Does A Convection Oven Work?

So what exactly is the difference between your standard oven and a convection oven? The primary difference between the two is that a convection oven has the assistance of a fan. Both ovens work really well. 

The convection oven tends to help things cook slightly faster and is also known for cooking more evenly because the fan blows the air inside the oven around. 

If you think about a standard oven, it has heating elements within that emit heat. The thing is the heat is pretty direct and comes from either below or above — sometimes both. It really just depends on the oven design. 

Of course, the heat is closed into the oven, which is what allows it to cook your food. 

When a traditional oven becomes a convection oven, a fan unit is added at the backside of the oven. So then, you still have the heat closed in but you also have that fan blowing the hot air and moving it around. 

This minor change means the hot air is being circulated inside of the oven so your food is getting cooked more evenly and probably more quickly. These ovens are also known for helping crisp foods that need to be crisped. 

For example, the pizzas that we’ve talked about in this guide! Those are much more likely to get a crispier crust if you want it. Then you have things like frozen goods, even fried foods, where the convection oven can work some magic.

If you’re at all familiar with an air fryer, the results are pretty similar between convection oven and air fryer!

When Should You Use A Convection Oven? 

The choice is totally up to you on when and where you use a convection oven!

Some ovens allow you to choose to use convection mode or standard mode. This is more and more common in newer ovens and ranges, but it’s found in some older options as well. 

Remember: you can’t use a convection oven exactly like you use a standard oven since it cooks more quickly and can crisp things up. It’s better to make some slight adjustments to both the cooking time and the cooking temperature. 

We’ve shared this in our instructions for cooking pizza in a convection oven, but we will repeat it here.

The general rule is that when you use a convection oven, you should reduce your temperature but approximately 25 degrees. For example, a recipe that typically cooks at 400°F is going to now cook at 375°F with a convection oven. 

Then you have the cooking time, where the same rule is applied. You should reduce your cooking time by about 25%. 

When you make these two adjustments, you’ll get the perfect pizza results you’re looking for, plus how to put the oven to work for you!

There are certain foods that cook the best with convection ovens. Here are some great options:

• Cookies
• Pies
• Casseroles
• Pizza
• Fried foods
• Frozen goods

That being said, you can still cook those things in a standard oven! However, there are some items that are not as great with a convection oven as a standard oven.

If you’re baking or cooking something that needs delicate treatment — something you’re worried about getting too dry during cooking, or maybe something that rises slowly (ex. homemade bread) — we would stick with a standard oven.  

If you’re still not sure when you’re getting ready to cook something, consider whether the food you’re cooking is designed to cook slowly.

Bread is a great example, but there are other dishes that are delicate in nature as well!

Convection ovens can be incredibly handy, but a standard oven can do a lot of the same things. They work really great together and the ovens that have the ability to do both are pretty awesome tools to have at your disposal. 

Consider your desired effect. Are you trying to crisp, roast, brown, or bake quickly? These are all great uses of a convection oven. 

Things like roasted vegetables and sheet pan meals are also really great in a convection oven. You might even want to try toasting nuts or making your own granola!

Related Questions

We hope that you find this guide to cooking pizza in a convection oven to be a valuable resource. It’s pretty easy to do and it really gives you some of the best results you could possibly want for a pizza! 

We invite you to take a look at these popular questions and answers for some additional details that might be useful. 

Is a convection oven better for baking? 

For most baking needs, the standard oven is typically better. The convection could be useful for large batches of cookies, but for things like bread, cakes, and even biscuits are more suited to a traditional oven. 

What is the best temperature for pizza in a convection oven? 

It really depends on your oven as well as your pizza. For most needs, somewhere around 400°F should be suitable. 

Are convection ovens any good? 

Yes, they certainly can be! That added fan can be very convenient for certain cooking needs and sometimes helps to cook more quickly and evenly as well. 

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