Pizza-for-breakfast is an American classic, but you’ve probably been doing it wrong. Using the oven takes too long, and a microwave turns last night’s pizza slice from cold and stiff to hot and soggy—plus the heating is so uneven, you might as well eat it cold. Or, you can use a skillet on your stovetop to restore your slice to its former crispy glory.
Preparing leftover pizza on a stovetop re-crisps the crust and gets the cheese nice and melty melty. It’s super easy, and takes only a couple minutes. Below are two variations of the skillet-pizza method—but all you really need to know is “stick it on a frying pan.”
How to reheat a slice of pizza on a stovetop with foil
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Chef John from Culinary blog Foodwishes, creator of the pizza-reheating video you see below, claims that he uses this method for pizzas he sends out for delivery to improve the crust. It’s a little weird, but chefs are like that.
Here’s what you do:
- Slap your cold slice in a cold pan and turn the heat to medium. There’s no need for oil or butter even in a regular pan; the pizza is greasy enough.
- Cover the pizza loosely with foil. But don’t make it airtight. You’re trying to get the heat to circulate and melt the cheese and heat the toppings, but you don’t want to trap steam and make the pizza soggy.
- Keep it on the pan for about 4 or 5 minutes, until the bottom of the pizza is crisp.
How to reheat a slice of pizza with a lidded frying pan
I find the above method to be perfectly adequate, and this one to be too close to “cooking an actual meal” for simple breakfast pizza, but to each their own. Method two comes courtesy of the menu for Roberta’s pizza in Brooklyn:
- Place cold pizza slice on a cold, non-stick skillet and turn the heat to medium-low.
- Cook for two minutes or so, uncovered, until the crust is crispy.
- Add 2 drops of water to the pan, away from the pizza, and turn the heat to low.
- Put the lid on the frying pan and let it cook for another minute.
Whichever of these methods you choose, I promise your morning-after pizza will be twice as delicious as a microwaved slice, and eight-times more palatable than shoving it in your mouth, straight from the fridge.
This article was originally published in 2011 (wow) and updated on July 19, 2023 to add more complete instructions and update it to current Lifehacker style.