Hands down, pizza is on pretty much everybody's list of favorite foods. It's not hard to make at home and it's even easier to have your favorite delivered. But what if all you have to work with is a frozen pizza? The pies from the freezer case don't have to be sad; you just need to do a little bit of extra prep work first with one of these frozen pizza hacks.
Videos by Wide Open Country
The thing about these frozen pizza hacks is that they work with any kind of frozen pie and you can work with the ingredients and equipment you already have in your kitchen. Of course, if you have any leftover, make sure you reheat it the best way, too.
10 Frozen Pizza Hacks
Save some for later
While we're all in favor of having leftover pizza, sometimes you'd rather not have more pizza than what you can eat in one meal. With a frozen pizza, you don't have to worry about it. Just slice the pizza while it's still frozen and pop the slices you don't want back in the freezer, well wrapped.
Customize your toppings
Get a plain frozen cheese pizza and go wild with your choice of toppings. Even better, everyone in the house gets to choose their own pizza night adventure. One kid wants pepperoni and the other wants mushroom? No problem. You can even pre-slice the pizza so that the two pizza toppings don't have to touch each other.
Make it extra crispy
Brush the crust with a little olive oil, both on the bottom of the pizza and around the edges. The extra oil will help the crust crisp up in the oven.
Cook it a better way
Most package instructions tell you to pop your frozen pizza directly into a preheated oven. Instead, take the pizza out of the freezer and let it thaw just a bit while you preheat the oven. If you have a pizza stone or cast iron skillet big enough to hold the pizza (you can turn it over and use the bottom of the skillet, too, if you're pizza is bigger than the inside of the skillet), stick that in the oven when you turn it on. You can also use a metal pizza screen, which is basically like baking your pie on the oven rack, or a preheated baking sheet. To make your pizza extra crispy, turn your oven temp up to 500 degrees and cook it for less time (about five to eight minutes, depending on your oven and the pizza).
Hack your frozen pizza with extra cheese
There's never enough cheese on frozen pizzas, so this hack lets you add your own. Almost every cheese has mozzarella. You could simply add more, or you could add a blend of parmesan and provolone or some smoked cheddar.
Spice it up
One of the simplest ways to hack your frozen pizza is to just add herbs and spices. An Italian herb mix is a good place to start; a little oregano, basil and garlic helps cover up the previously-frozen flavor.
Drizzle or dip it
If you miss the little tub of garlic butter that comes with some delivery pies, make your own. You can also drizzle ranch on top of your cooked pizza, or maybe a sour cream and hot sauce blend for a spicy-smooth kick.
Make the crust extra special
Don't forget to jazz up the crust! Brush it with garlic butter and sprinkle extra grated parmesan on it. Or add some sesame seeds or crushed red pepper.
Top your frozen pizza with salad
After your pie comes out of the oven, toss a pile of kale, arugula or romaine lettuce on it. You can add other salad stylings, too (try a fig, arugula and honey combo or a Caesar dressing with extra parmesan cheese).
Top your salad with frozen pizza
If you've got a frozen pizza hanging around but you're not in the mood to eat it by the slice, you can cut the pizza up into about one-inch pieces, toss them in a bit of olive oil and bake until hot and crispy. Let them cool a little bit and toss them into your favorite salad for a pizza crouton.
