This Is the Only Way We'll Reheat Pizza From Now On

You'll never have to endure a soggy crust again.

f you love eating pizza, the last thing you want is to eat leftover slices with a soggy crust and rubbery toppings. While you can use a microwave, a toaster oven, or a conventional oven to reheat your pizza, you’re in luck if you own an air fryer. We talked to a food scientist who explained why this countertop appliance is the best for reheating leftover pizza.

Why Does Leftover Pizza Get Soggy?

Fresh-out-of-the-oven pizza is deliciously chewy, soft, and savory. As the slices cool down and become leftovers, they may become soggy and rubbery. The main culprit is usually the tomato sauce, which moistens the dough. The more sauce is used to coat the pizza dough, the soggier the pizza becomes as it cools.

Pizza toppings with high water content (such as broccoli) can also leave leftovers soggy, as the moisture seeps into the crust over time.

Why You Should Always Reheat Pizza in the Air Fryer

The good news is that leftover pizza can taste as good as its fresh counterpart—if you reheat it in an air fryer.

An air fryer is built with a fan that circulates air around and through the food. It also has a heating element adhered to the inner side of the appliance to radiate heat onto the food placed in the fryer basket.

When heat and circulating air from the fan are combined, they create a high-speed circulation of hot air that speeds up the rate of heat transferred to food. You can expect food items to cook faster with higher air speeds because more heat flow is circulated. So, this heat transfer dries up food surfaces quickly, and in the case of leftover pizzas, the high-speed circulating hot air reheats and crisps pizza slices swiftly.

“An air fryer works great for reheating pizza because the hot air circulates rapidly and distributes heat evenly, keeping the temperature even in every direction,” says Dr. Bryan Quoc Le, Ph.D., food scientist.

While you can reheat your leftover pizza in a conventional oven or a toaster oven, an air fryer takes these processes further, reducing the time and electricity used. Quoc Le notes that conventional ovens and toaster ovens are still good alternatives. However, due to uneven heat distribution in conventional and toaster ovens, you are more likely to experience unevenly reheated pizza, where some parts of the pizza could still be soggy while others are crispy after reheating.

How to Reheat Pizza In the Air Fryer

To reheat pizza in the air fryer:

1. Preheat the air fryer to 350 degrees F.

2. Air fry the pizza in slices until it’s heated through, about 3 to 5 minutes.
   

Read the original article on All Recipes.