How To Reheat Pizza In An Air Fryer
The excitement of eating leftover pizza soon disappears when you open the microwave to a soggy slice that is just not that appetizing!
If you have had many woes in the past with reheating pizza properly – your answer has arrived! Using an air fryer to reheat pizza is possibly the best way to do so, and your pizza will be crispy and piping hot in a short amount of time.
How do you reheat pizza in an air fryer? Reheating pizza in an air fryer is beautifully simple. You follow the guidelines of the air fryer, preheat it for a few minutes, and then place a slice or two into the basket and leave the pizza to reheat for a few minutes more.
Of course, there are some extra tips and steps to follow to ensure you get the best-reheated pizza from your air fryer, so keep reading to find out the best ways to reheat pizza in the air fryer!
What Is An Air Fryer?
If you do not have an air fryer at home, hopefully, this will be the post that convinces you to finally buy one. People who have air fryers always go on about how great they are, but are they really worth the hype?
To understand why so many homes are now using air fryers, it helps to know how they work. An air fryer is sort of a countertop convection oven, but the way that an air fryer works is different from how an oven might bake something.
The top section of an air fryer has a heating mechanism and a built-in fan. Hot air rushes down from the heating mechanism and the fan helps this heat to rapidly circulate around the food.
This leaves food cooked through, crispy, and very similar to how it would have been had the food been deep-fried.
The beauty of it all is that you can use very little, and sometimes no oil at all. Using less oil in the air fryer does not affect how beautifully crispy the food is cooked – which is why families love it so much!
Can You Reheat Pizza In An Air Fryer?
You are able to reheat pizza in an air fryer, and doing so is ridiculously easy. It is almost the same ease you get from reheating pizza in the microwave, but with far better results.
The results you get from reheating pizza in the air fryer are similar to that of the oven.
The pizza doesn’t become soggy and it instead crisps up perfectly, except you do not have to wait as long for the oven to preheat and for the pizza to warm up in the oven.
If you are short on time but still want perfectly reheated pizza, or even if you have all the time in the world but want your pizza crisp and delicious when reheated, the air fryer is definitely the best option around.
The only issue you might encounter when using an air fryer to reheat pizza is that you will not be able to fit a whole pizza inside, and will probably have to reheat 2-3 slices at a time, depending on the size of the fryer basket.
It is best to ensure that the pizza slices are not overlapping or stacked on top of each other, as the air in the air fryer will not be able to circulate around the slices well, and you will not get crisp reheated pizza slices.
However, reheating pizza slices in the air fryer is quick enough, so doing a few slices at a time is not a problem!
Benefits Of Reheating Pizza In An Air Fryer
There are so many great reasons why you should reheat pizza in an air fryer. And the same is true for reheating and cooking many other things in the air fryer as well!
Quick Reheating
Reheating pizza slices and other foods using an air fryer is much quicker than many other methods. The air fryer does have to heat up first, but it takes much less time to heat up than what an oven does.
The air fryer goes from cold to ready-to-cook in just a few minutes, and the pizza only needs to be left in the air fryer for a short time to reheat.
A microwave is quicker than using an air fryer, but you will not get anywhere near the same results when using a microwave, which will reheat pizza to a soggy, mushy consistency.
Less Cleaning
When using an air fryer to reheat pizza, you do not have to put down any baking paper or aluminum foil like you might have to when using a baking tray in the oven.
You can simply place the pizza slices directly onto the air fryer rack and get cooking. If you really wanted to, you could spray some non-stick spray onto the rack, but it isn’t always necessary.
Makes Pizza Crispy
Reheating pizza in the microwave will give you soggy and rubbery pizza. Reheating pizza in the oven takes too long, and you aren’t always guaranteed the best results.
However, reheating pizza in the air fryer will give you a crispy crust and gooey cheese, and the pizza will taste just as good as it did when cooked fresh!
Reheat Any Pizza
There is no limit to the type of pizza you can reheat in the air fryer. Thick crust, thin crust, pizza you made at home, a slice of pizza you bought from the deli, store-bought pizza – all pizza turns out great reheated in the air fryer!
No Oil
You don’t need any added oil to reheat pizza in the air fryer. Simply place the pieces onto the air fryer rack and leave them to reheat.
This is a much healthier way to reheat and cook different types of food, and you don’t miss out on any great-tasting food either.
How To Reheat Pizza In The Air Fryer
Reheating pizza in an air fryer is perfectly easy to do, and you will have some great, crispy pizza once done if you follow a few simple steps.
- Preheat the air fryer to the right temperature. For thin-crust pizza, this will be 325°F. For thick crust pizza, preheat the air fryer to 350°F.
- Lay each slice down onto the basket until there is no more space. The pizza slices should not be overcrowding the basket and should have some space between them in order for the air to flow in the air fryer.
- Place the basket back into the air fryer and allow the pizza to reheat for 4 minutes.
- After 4 minutes, remove the basket from the air fryer and check to see that the pizza is piping hot and reheated through. If not, place it back in the air fryer for another minute or so.
- If you are reheating quite a few slices of pizza, you would have to do so in multiple batches. You won’t need to preheat the air fryer each time, so follow steps 2-4 for each following batch!
Following this will give you some perfectly reheated, crispy pizza slices in next to no time!
Tips For Reheating Pizza In The Air Fryer
There are some extra tips and tricks to follow that will give you the best results when reheating pizza in the air fryer.
Just adjusting one or two things here and there, and avoiding doing certain things, will really make a difference with how well your pizza is reheated.
Here are some tips to use when reheating pizza in the air fryer!
- Do not overlap the pizza slices in the basket of the air fryer. The hot air of the air fryer will not be able to circulate properly, and this means that the pizza will not reheat properly. A few slices at a time is best.
- If you are reheating a large number of slices, try to group them together in sizes. Some slices might be smaller than others, and it is a good idea to reheat small slices together, and then larger slices together. This ensures that smaller slices do not dry out or burn while the larger pieces are still warming up.
- If the pizza is browning too quickly or starts to burn before it is fully warmed through, you can try to lower the temperature a bit. Try lowering it by 25°F first and see if that helps.
- To give your crust some extra flavor and color, you can add a little bit of garlic butter or cooking oil onto the crust before placing it into the air fryer. This will help it crisp up more, give it a beautiful golden color, and it will hold extra flavor!
Should I Keep Toppings On The Pizza?
Pizza with toppings such as pepperoni are fine to reheat in the air fryer.
However, if you do not want these toppings to dry out and crisp up anymore (especially if they were slightly burnt when first cooked), you can remove the toppings from the pizza slice before reheating in the air fryer.
Simply pick off any toppings from the pizza when it is cold, such as pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers, or olives, and put these aside on a plate.
Preheat the air fryer and place the slices of pizza into the basket and place them in the air fryer to reheat.
Leave the pizza slices to reheat, but pull the basket out 1 minute early. Very carefully (as the pizza will be hot) place the toppings back onto the pizza slices, and then put the basket back into the air fryer.
This allows the toppings to reheat along with the pizza, but the toppings will not burn or crisp up too much.
Doing this will ensure that all of the pizza and its toppings are reheated perfectly, and nothing is overcooked or burned!
Can I Reheat Frozen Pizza In The Air Fryer?
If your pizza is frozen, can you still reheat it or cook it in the air fryer? You can cook frozen pizza in the air fryer, and it is really simple to do so.
The only problem with doing this is that most air fryers cannot fit a whole pizza in the basket, so you will either need to slice the pizza up beforehand or only use mini pizzas going forwards!
Here is how to cook frozen pizzas in an air fryer:
- Spray some non-stick spray onto the basket of the air fryer.
- Remove any plastic packaging from the pizza before placing it into the air fryer basket.
- Air fry the frozen pizza at 380°F for 8 minutes.
- After 8 minutes, check to see that the pizza has been cooked through and is piping hot. If it is not, then you could place it back into the air fryer for another 2-3 minutes until cooked through and crispy.
- Remove the pizza from the oven, allow it to cool, and enjoy!
Keep in mind that cooking time will change depending on the type of pizza. For example, a deep-dish crust pizza will take longer to cook than a thin crust pizza, so just take this into account when timing how long the pizza needs to cook for!
Can I Reheat Pizza Twice?
You should never reheat food twice, as this could increase the chance of bacteria growth, which could lead to foodborne illness.
Do not reheat food unless you intend to eat it then and there. You should not let it sit out for hours, or place it back in the fridge, and then reheat it for a second time, as the risk of the food spoiling due to temperature fluctuations increases.
If you have a few slices of pizza left in the fridge but are unsure of how many you are going to eat, heat up the minimum amount first so that nothing goes to waste.
If you are still hungry and want one or two more slices after this, the air fryer will reheat it up quickly for you!
How Long Can I Keep Leftover Pizza In The Fridge?
Make sure to eat leftover pizza that has been stored in the fridge within 3-4 days. The pizza slices should be kept in an airtight container and not come into contact with other food in the fridge.
Leaving pizza to sit in the fridge for longer than this increases the chances of bacteria growth, and you could get quite sick after eating it!
Spending too much time in the fridge also decreases the taste and texture of the pizza, and it won’t be as great to eat as it would have been if you ate it within the recommended time frame!
Related Questions
Now that we’ve gone over how to reheat pizza in an air fryer, let’s take a look at a few related questions on the subject!
How do you reheat pizza in the microwave without it becoming soggy?
There is a way that you can reheat pizza in the microwave without it becoming soggy.
To do this, place a microwave-safe glass with some water in the microwave next to your pizza. Heat the pizza up for 45 seconds and it should be warmed through and not soggy!
You can warm it up for longer than 45 seconds if it is not warm enough, just check on it every 30 seconds.
How do you reheat pizza so that it is not soggy?
To reheat pizza in the oven to make it crispy and not soggy, you can place the pizza onto a sheet of aluminum foil directly onto the oven rack.
This allows the pizza to heat up evenly from the top and the bottom and allows it to crisp up beautifully.