I’ve never fully understood how the ‘popcorn’ button on microwaves work (I’ve read different things that may or may not all be true depending on make/model), but my current one always runs for exactly 3 seconds too long and ever so slightly burns the popcorn.
It’s not burned enough to throw it out, but it does give a noticeable “burnt popcorn” smell that kind of ruins my day.
So instead of pressing “popcorn” and doing something else, I have to stand there and watch it to hit ‘cancel’ in time.
Mid 2000’s microwave. Has buttons for popcorn, pizza, potato, bacon, and beverage.
They are all trash buttons too.
The pizza button works pretty well (I think it varies the power kind of like defrost does), but civilized people should always either eat leftover pizza cold or reheat it in the air fryer lol.
I am occasionally civilized!
Air fryer is the best, although sometimes I have to cut them down to fit in the trays on mine.
Microwave can work for some types of pizza, but I find it works way better with a reduced power setting and a little longer so it heats more evenly.
Frying in a stovetop pan can work for hand tossed or thin pizza, but I haven’t had luck with pan or thicker crusts.
Microwave on high is the worst though. Edges of cheese gets hard if it is long enough tonwarm the middle.
I’ve thought about getting an air fryer just for this. I usually use the oven or toss it in a pan.
If I’m having leftover pizza for lunch while smoking a brisket or ribs I’ll toss a couple of slices on the smoker on an uncoated paper plate. That’s actually my preferred method but I refuse to crank up a smoker for leftover pizza.
It’s a little pricy, but we absolutely love this Cuisinart Air Fryer/Toaster Over thing for anything that was properly cooked elsewhere, though I’ve used it for halfway decent roasted potato wedges straight from the knife. Basket Air Fryers hold so little as to be more frustrating than anything, and stacking deep defeats the purpose half the time. I have no idea if the grill setting works well, though.
Bake setting, 325, 2-3 minutes is all you need for most pizza reheatings.
It really is. I was late to the air fryer game assuming they were just another kitchen gimmick, but once I caved to peer pressure and bought one, I can’t imagine not having one.
I think that’s what the “Pizza” button on mine does. You can hear it kicking on and off at a weird cadence similar to but more frequent than defrost, so I assume that’s how it works.
I’ve never tried that, but we have baked deep dish style in a cast iron frying pan.
On the stovetop I like to use a ceramic non-stick to reheat so I don’t need oil to keep i lt from sticking. The goal is evenly heating, so it doesn’t need to hold a lot of heat.
I’ve always wanted to do the cast iron pizza!
What I do for pizzas overloaded with toppings is start in the microwave, finish in the air fryer.
I’m also late to the air fryer game, because I didn’t want to keep making"fried" things… Instead I just kept frying things on the stove…
Putting a tiny cup of water in with your pizza is a game changer. It helps rehydrate pizza that’s been dried out in the fridge and keeps the dough from hardening as much.
I did eventually learn that (read it somewhere), but by that point, I’d started using the air fryer. I’m also not above eating cold pizza straight out of the fridge lol.
I’m gonna give you a culture shock! Try this.
The “beverage” one is a trap. It absolutely ruined my Pepsi.