If you are picking up some pizza that you cannot eat right away, then you might be concerned about keeping that crust nice and crispy.
Cause nothing is worse than soggy, limp pizza.
Well, in addition to keeping a pizza warm in transit, you can keep it crispy in the box.
Below I’ll share the tips that I have used to keep my pizzas perfectly crispy and crunchy in the box when I cannot eat it right away.
First, Keep It Warm
The first thing that you need to focus on is keeping the pizza warm until you get home.
I’ve already shared my tips on this in a separate article, so let me just recap from it below.
It is entirely possible to keep your pizza warm on the ride home from the carryout pizza shop to your home.
Here are the options that you can use:
- Stick the box in an insulated grocery freezer bag
- Wrap the pizza box in blankets or towels
- Use the seat warmer to keep the pizza box heated up
- Use hot water bottles to trap the heat in the pizza box
And yes, I do recommend that you use more than one of these methods at a time so that you maximize the chances that the pizza stays as hot as possible on the ride home in the car.
Fortunately, keeping the pizza warm during transit also helps to preserve the crispiness of the crust.
But what if you still cannot eat it right away when you get home?
My next tip helps with that.
Then, Put The Box In The Oven
I know what you’re thinking – if I put cardboard in the oven, won’t it start a fire?
Not in this instance – you just need to do it without using too high of a heat.
First, check that the pizza shop hasn’t put anything plastic in the box with the pizza, as they sometimes do.
Remove anything plastic, then close the pizza box and put it in the oven.
Put your oven on the lowest possible setting, which is usually around 170 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is really all it takes to keep the pizza both hot and crispy until you are ready to eat it.
One thing to remember is to not raise the oven temperature too much.
Anything over 300F runs the risk of the cardboard catching fire.
You should also know that you can turn the oven off 30 minutes before you’re ready to eat the pizza because the residual heat will keep the pizza crispy and warm in the box.
Final Word
As you can see, keeping a pizza crispy in the box is a really simple process.
All you need is an oven at a low temperature and your pizza will be hot and crispy when you’re ready to eat it.
Enjoy!
