Thaw Frozen Pizza Before Cooking

This Hack Will Change the Way You Cook Frozen Pizza

Here's a quicker at-home approach that will emulate your favorite restaurant slice.

Everyone has their favorite brand of frozen pizza. Whether you resort to yours out of convenience or because you're short on time, a ready-to-eat pizza—whether frozen or from your local supermarket's deli section—can be a dinner saver. It goes without saying that most frozen pizzas leave something to be desired when it comes to quality, but there's actually a way to cook them that will save time and emulate your favorite pizzeria's pie.

Eating healthy should still be delicious.

Users on the popular social forum Reddit have stumbled upon a hack to improve the quality of packaged pizzas using the highest temperature of your home oven. Since commercial pizza ovens are traditionally set at temperatures upwards of 700 degrees, the pizza outside of your home is normally baked faster with a crispier crust – and without any unwanted mushy toppings.

One Reddit user swears by mimicking that method of cooking at home – setting the oven as high as it will go (without entering a broil mode) and flash baking the pizza for 5-8 minutes. Note: If your pizza is frozen, you'll have to let it thaw to room-temperature beforehand – and make sure you cook it immediately after thawing.

This method requires to you to either place the pizza on the bare oven rack or on a preheated cast-iron skillet or pizza stone. If you're looking for an extra crispy crust, try brushing your pizza with olive oil. Dress up your pie with a sprinkle of garlic powder, which adds a seasoned note to any premade pizza, or pre-cooked vegetables for an extra nutrition boost.

The flash baking method requires you to keep a close eye on your pizza – the suggested 5 to 8 minutes that Reddit users swear by can go south quickly if you're not careful, and even a few extra minutes in a high-temp oven can make the difference between a perfectly golden crust and a smoky disaster.