How to Reheat Pizza in Air Fryer?

There are many ways to reheat your pizza from last night's dinner, but using an air fryer is by far the best way to reheat pizza.

Learning how is not only one of the easiest things you can do, but it also makes your pizza taste freshly made like it was right out of the oven.

Jump to:

Why Air Fry Leftover Pizza?
What You Need to Reheat Pizza in the Air Fryer
Learn How to Reheat Pizza in Air Fryer
Tips on How to Reheat Pizza in Air Fryer
Removing Reheated Pizza From Your Air Fryer
Cleaning Up Your Air Fryer When You're Done
Can You Reheat Frozen Pizza in an Air Fryer?
Turn Your Air Fryer Pizza Into a Meal
From Soggy to Spectacular

Why Air Fry Leftover Pizza?

Air frying is the best way to reheat pizza because it's easier than using the stove, quicker than using the oven, and tastier than the soggy microwave pizza.

Reheating pizza in a regular oven not only takes significant time to preheat, but it can also substantially heat your kitchen.

Using the microwave is quick and easy, but you're left with a soggy pizza and a leathery pizza crust. The outer edges are often hot with the center still being cold.

Reheating leftover pizza on the stovetop is much like cooking a grilled cheese sandwich.

If you try to cook it too fast, the crust gets too crispy long before the cheese melts. The result is a half-hot pizza and half-cold pizza, especially when reheating a deep-dish pizza.

Air fryer pizza not only takes less time, but it also gives you a perfectly reheated pizza in mere minutes.

What You Need to Reheat Pizza in the Air Fryer

Learning how to reheat pizza in an air fryer doesn't require much, but you will need a few items on hand. In addition to your slices of pizza in an air fryer, you'll also need these items:

Foil, parchment paper, or silicone liner
Knife for punching holes
Saucer or paper towel for removed toppings
Olive oil (optional)
Oven mitt, tongs, and plate

Learn How to Reheat Pizza in Air Fryer

Using the air fryer to reheat leftover pizza is a fairly easy process, but it will vary from pizza to pizza and fryer to fryer. However, this guide will cover the basics.

Prep Your Air Fryer Basket and Crumb Tray

Regardless of which air fryer you have, it helps to do some prep work to make your clean-up process a bit easier.

Lay aluminum foil, parchment, or a silicone liner over your rack or basket to catch any toppings or melted cheese. Use a knife to poke holes in your liner for sufficient airflow, especially under the crust.

Otherwise, your day-old pizza won't heat properly.

You can also line your crumb tray if your air fryer has one.

Do I Need to Preheat My Air Fryer?

While preheating your air fryer is not a requirement, I do turn mine on while prepping my food. Since I have a toaster oven combo, I have found that its larger size takes longer to cook than the smaller basket-type air fryers.

However, this is totally optional and unless specifically required for your model, there is no need to preheat your air fryer at all.

Feel free to experiment with your leftover pizza to find what works best for your air fryer. Once you find that perfect pizza slice, stick with it.

Prep Your Leftover Pizza for the Air Fryer

While your air fryer is preheating (or not), pull out as many slices as you need from your refrigerated leftovers and prepare them for the air fryer.

You can protect delicate toppings from burning by spraying the top of your leftover pizza slices with a bit of olive oil.

Remove any tender items, like basil or tomatoes, that were originally placed on your fresh pizza at the very end of its original cooking time.

Doing this before placing your pizza in the air fryer basket or on the baking sheet will prevent them from burning.

Toss them back on just before your reheated pizza is ready to serve to allow them sufficient time to warm, usually after 3-4 minutes of cook time.

Do I Need to Use Oil To Reheat Pizza?

There is no need to use any oil when reheating your pizza in the air fryer, except as mentioned above.

However, if you like really crispy pizza, spraying the bottom with a little bit of olive oil helps get your pizza extra crispy.

Additionally, if you want to pep up a pizza slice, lightly spray them with a little basil- or oregano-infused olive oil to add a little excitement to your dish.

When using oil, choose one low in saturated fat like avocado or extra virgin olive oil.

What Temperature Do I Set My Air Fryer?

Here in lies the million-dollar question! Because some air fryers cook hotter than others, there's no one-size-fits-all temperature setting, but the general rule of thumb is to set your air fryer in the neighborhood of 350°F (176°C) to 360°F (180°C).

If you have an air fryer toaster oven, you may only have an 'air fry' option, so you won't need to worry about a temperature setting.

Some people prefer to reheat their slices of pizza at higher temperatures for a shorter time. If you're really in a hurry, you can set your air fryer to 400° (204°C), and your pizza reheats in just a couple of minutes.

If you're reheating deep-dish pizza, you'll want to reduce your temperatures to around 330°F (166°C). This will help prevent your cheese from browning while the thicker crust is reheating.

Place Pizza in Air Fryer

Whether you're using a basket-style air fryer or an oven-style air fryer, place cold pizza slices on the baking tray in a single layer. When heating multiple slices, be sure no two slices are overlapping.

You need plenty of room for proper hot air flow so your pizza slices heat evenly throughout.

You should already have your parchment paper or tin foil in place, which will help prevent sticking and make cleaning up a cinch.

How Long Do You Reheat Pizza in the Air Fryer?

The amount of time it takes to reheat pizza in the air fryer depends on your personal air fryer, the thickness of your pizza, and your temperature setting.

Obviously, thin-crust pizza heats much quicker than thick-crust pizza. Additionally, reheating pizza at 400° (204°C) will cook much faster than reheating pizza at 350°F (176°C).

Also, if you're cooking in multiple batches, the latter batches will likely cook faster than your first batch because your air fryer will be hotter.

A general guide, however, is that a thin-crust pizza will cook in approximately 3-4 minutes at 350°F (176°C), whereas a thick-crust pizza will cook in 4-5 minutes at the same temperature.

If you've reduced the temperature to the 330°F (166°C) mark, you're looking at closer to 6 minutes of cooking time.

Tips on How to Reheat Pizza in Air Fryer

air fryer partially wrapped in aluminum foil

No matter the temperature setting, a good rule of thumb is to check your air fryer pizza around the 3-minute mark. This allows you to gauge the doneness of your pizza and whether or not you need to cook it any longer.

It's also the perfect time to replace any delicate toppings you may have removed at the outset.

If you find your cheese is starting to brown before your pizza is thoroughly warm, reduce the temperature by 25-30 degrees.

If you don't like an overly crispy crust, cover it in foil before reheating or just before it's reached your desired doneness.

Removing Reheated Pizza From Your Air Fryer

Reheating pizza in the air fryer can leave your basket or toaster oven quite hot. It's a good idea to wear an oven mitt to remove your tray or basket. You should also use a pair of tongs to transfer your pizza from your air fryer to your plate so you don't burn your fingers.

Be sure to let your pizza cool a bit before chomping into it. Otherwise, you may just scald the roof of your mouth.

Cleaning Up Your Air Fryer When You're Done

If you took the time to prep before placing your pizza slices in the air fryer, then cleaning up is as simple as tossing your liners and wiping down your fryer.

Otherwise, remove your rack, tray, or baking pan and wash them in hot water with dish soap. Check your owner's manual before placing any accessories in the dishwasher.

Can You Reheat Frozen Pizza in an Air Fryer?

Yes, you can absolutely reheat frozen pizza in an air fryer. You can air fry both store-bought frozen pizzas or previously frozen restaurant pizzas.

The only catch is that since they're frozen, they will take a little longer to cook. So, check your pizza around the five-minute mark instead of three.

Turn Your Air Fryer Pizza Into a Meal

Why settle for just two slices of pizza? Make it an all-out pizza night instead.

Just like Pizza Hut offers its elaborate meal deals, you can do the same. Try adding some of these tasty dishes to your air fryer pizza.

From Soggy to Spectacular

Air frying your pizza is a real game changer giving you the scrumptious hot gooey cheese and perfectly nice crispy crust that we've all come to love. Air frying is absolutely the best way to reheat your pizza.