How To Reheat Pizza In The Oven For A Soft Crust That Still Holds Its Shape

Have you ever bought a whole box of pizza for yourself so you could eat it for subsequent dinners? Okay, meal prep pro — you've definitely got this in the bag. That said, heating it can be tricky, especially if you're in the camp that wants to achieve a soft, pillowy crust rather than a crispy one, without turning it into a soggy mess akin to a casserole, or a dry one that's as hard as cardboard. The best way to reheat your delivery pizza for a softer bite is so simple and impossible to mess up. Just place your slice atop parchment paper (aluminum foil also works) on a sheet pan and toss it into a preheated oven.

It's one of the parchment paper cooking hacks that will change how you eat your leftover pizza, as placing it on something cool allows it to warm slowly. It helps that the juices seep into the crust, creating a warm yet soft slice just the way you like it. To reach the desired gooeyness of the cheese, though, you have to wait at least five minutes to let it achieve the perfect consistency that melts into the soft crust. If it's a thick slice, it could take up to nine minutes to get the same effect.

Here's the short answer as to why this tip works: Since soft crust is the name of the game here, you want to avoid accelerated browning that comes with achieving a crisp texture. Long answer: To fully explain why starting with an unheated baking sheet works for a softer crust, we first have to explain why preheating it results in a crackly slice. A preheated surface will make your pizza trigger the Maillard reaction faster because it already starts heating up the moment you put it there. The Maillard reaction is what happens when you heat your food at around 280 to 330 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in a golden hue and crispy texture, which overall creates a bolder flavor and an inviting aroma you could smell from down the block. 

Achieving the golden crunch requires two things: high temperature and ample cooking time. That's why a lot of tips for better baking tell you to always preheat the oven and the baking sheet. To yield the opposite effect, we have to be able to warm the pizza up for a longer time under a low temperature. So now that you know why preheating the baking sheet makes it trickier to keep the crunch out of your crust, the only question is what kind of pizza you are going to order tonight to try out this tip.