This Smart Hack Will Change Your Mind About Frozen Pizza

That woman sprinting in heels to the frozen food section at 5 p.m.? That’s me when I forget to plan something for dinner. I’m a working single mom with three kids, and I’ve definitely been known to heat up a couple of frozen pizzas, bust out the paper plates, and eat in front of the television with my kiddos. But honestly, my brood has never actually loved frozen pizza night. They complain the crust is too soggy and tell me my homemade pizza is way better.

As much as I love a compliment, I also love easy meals — and I refuse to give up on frozen pizza night. So when I saw a hack claiming to be “the best way to cook frozen pizza,” I had to try it out.

The hack was originally posted on Reddit as a Life Pro Tip (or LPT for short), by numbahtwelve. He writes:

Having recently done a lot of experimenting with “upgrading” cheap frozen pizzas to make them taste less, well, cheap and frozen, this has been by far the most important trick.

So what’s the trick? For starters, forget the instructions on the box, which likely tell you to pop the still-frosty pizza straight into the oven, and start with a thawed pizza. This is easy enough when you buy a few frozen pies and leave them in your car for a few hours while you finish running errands.

Then, turn your oven up as high as it will go. The idea is to mimic commercial ovens, which “get up to 700 to 1000 degrees, which is why they bake so quickly and end up with nice crispy crusts and un-burned everything else.” I set mine for 550 degrees. (Just don’t turn the broiler on.)

If you have a pizza stone or cast iron skillet, put that in the oven until it reaches max heat and cook your pizza on the hot surface. If not, set the pizza right on the rack.

Cook for five to eight minutes — and that’s it. (Well, if you want to get fancy, numbahtwelve suggests brushing your pie with olive oil and sprinkling with garlic powder, but I skipped that step.)

Was it as good as advertised? My kids were skeptical when they saw me come home with two boxes in hand. I could tell they were holding in their grunts and groans. But I told them they might just be surprised — lo and behold, they were.

I knew as soon as I cut into the pizza that the texture was different. The crust was perfectly crisp; there was nothing soggy about it. It really did resemble brick oven-style pizza! I’m not kidding. And the kicker? I just bought store-brand pizza, nothing fancy or expensive.

The best part is my kids were thoroughly impressed, and ate both pies in under 10 minutes. They are excited for our next pizza night. Who knows, it just might be tomorrow!

Your turn: What’s your smartest food hack?