Never Ignore This One Factor When Reheating Thin-Crust Pizza In The Oven

Reheating leftovers can be a tough game to play. Some dishes may tolerate a simple zap in the microwave or a quick simmer on the stove, and if you want to reheat Chinese food for first-bite flavor or get your steak back to temperature without drying it out, you're going to need to follow some specific steps. But reheating pizza? Maybe it's not even necessary if you're a straight-from-the-fridge cold pizza fan, but if your eyes were a little bigger than your stomach when ordering something from a top U.S. pizza chain or you're reheating leftovers from a frozen pizza for one, it's super-easy to reheat pizza. Just toss it in the oven and call it good, right? Well, depending on your crust, it may need some extra vigilance.

To get the best texture and temperature when reheating thin-crust pizza in the oven, you need to keep an eye on it. Because it has less surface area, thin-crust pizza is more likely to dry out or heat unevenly and burn. There's also less of a bread barrier to absorb the moisture from the top ingredients; if they're overloaded or too moist, they could pour over the side and start frying underneath, leaving you with a blackened cracker on the bottom. To avoid these issues, here's what you need to know to reheat your thin-crust pizza in the oven.

The first and most important key for reheating thin-crust pizza in the oven is preheating your cooking surface. If you have a pizza stone, that works great, but you can use a regular cookie sheet and cover it with aluminum foil to reduce cleanup. Set your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit with the pizza stone or foil-covered cookie sheet inside. Once your cooking surface is sufficiently heated, put the pizza on it and cook for about 10 minutes, or until you see the cheese start to bubble. This is where it's crucial to monitor the oven — you don't want to see smoke. If one section of the oven appears to be heating faster than another, rotate the cooking surface to allow the pizza to heat more evenly.

If you want to brighten up your leftover pizza, you can add more cheese or other ingredients — just be sure not to load it down too much with extra moisture. A little infused olive oil is an easy pizza add-on that can help brown the cheese and shouldn't weigh it down too much. If your pizza is already a bit dry before it goes into the oven, adding some water in an oven-safe dish can help keep it from drying out, but this may not be recommended for pizzas that are already moisture-rich and pliable. But, most importantly, get your oven nice and hot and keep an eye on it so it cooks evenly.