Hi there.
Whether it’s from friends or family or you, my faithful readers, not a week goes by that someone doesn’t ask me for some kitchen advice. In many cases, it winds up being the same questions over and over again.
So, in the spirit of efficiency and all that, I thought I’d put some of the most common of these questions into blog posts right here. Maybe my regular readers who haven’t yet asked a question will find the answer they’re looking for! Feel free to send me your questions at the email address listed on my “About” page and I’ll do my best to include them in a future post.
So, on to today’s Kitchen Rockstar question:
How can I warm up leftover pizza or fries and make them crispy again?
The trick here has more to do with where you do the warming up than how you do it. If you’re going to use the microwave you’re probably going to have to give up that crispy crust in favor of the time you’ll save. However, if you have a little extra time you can get decent results by using the oven instead of the microwave.
In order to get rid of the sogginess you have to remove the moisture from the food that collects while it sits in the refrigerator. The microwave works so fast there isn’t a lot of time for the moisture to escape and so it stays wet (ie. soggy). Obviously, the oven will give the moisture more time to evaporate – a toaster oven will even work better than the microwave.
I’ve had the best luck getting crispy food by warming up leftovers using a stoneware type pan. You can also line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (shiny side up) if you don’t have a stone pan.
Lastly, cooking at high heat will help crisp up the food, so turn the oven up to at least 350 degrees – probably more like 400 degrees – and make sure you preheat the oven, too. Then, put your food on the stone or foil lined pan and pop it in the oven. Give it 5 minutes or so, then check on it so that you don’t burn it because it really won’t matter if it’s crispy if it’s burnt to a crisp, it won’t taste any better than the soggy option.
Similar Posts:
- None Found
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey angie~ Thanks for this! I always use microwave to reheat them and they turned out soggy as you had mentioned. It is as if someone poured a cup of water on them. Tasted really bad. I will try the oven next time when I am not so hungry!
I have used the toaster oven for left over fries but i get better results when i put light olive oil in a sauce pan on the stove and deep fry the french fries, found that the toaster over is the best for heating up left over pizza.