How to Reheat Chicago Style Pizza

Chicago style pizza is certainly the kind of pizza that you might find so filling, you’ll have to reheat it later to finish. This kind of pizza is also often known as deep dish and can have more crust, cheese, and topics. You could probably eat fewer slices than thin crust – but it’s really good and you might want more anyway!

Chicago style pizza also has slightly different reheating methods than regular pizza. 

There are many ways to reheat your chicago style pizza. The best ways often involve the same method that cooked the pizza – the oven. You could also use a microwave or other heating devices to get good results.

Reheating chicago style pizza in the oven

We recommend the oven first because most of the time, we would assume that a nice, thick chicago style pizza would be cooked in a hot oven. 

You are going to need the following:

1. A cooking sheet
2. Aluminum foil
3. Non stick spray for the cooking sheet
4. Oven mitts to get the cooking sheet out of the oven

Why do we need all of this? You’ll find it.

1. Preheat your own to 450 degrees.
2. Cover the baking sheet in a layer of aluminum foil
3. Spray the aluminum foil itself down with non stick cooking spray
4. Place the deep dish slices on the aluminum foil and leave some space between them
5. Spray them with some water so add some moisture to the crust. You could also spray them with oil.
6. Put the cooking sheet in the oven with the pizza on it, and wait about 10 minutes
7. Remove the cooking sheet with oven mitts. Check to see if it’s hot enough for your tastes.
8. If not hot enough, put the pizza back in the oven.

Leaving the pizza in the oven for 10-15 minutes is a bit longer than you would leave normal thin crust pizza in there. Why longer? Chicago style pizza tends to have thicker crust and more toppings, so heat takes a little while longer to sufficiently warm all areas. 

You also might have a convection oven. These ovens heat up faster and can get hotter than every day electric or gas ovens. Check your food temperature more often with convection.

Finally, for the oven – you can cook at a lower temperature if you wish. The only difference is that the cooking process will take longer. This isn’t necessary a bad thing, as it’s essential to keep an eye on the pizza to keep it from drying out. Cooking at a lower temperature gives you more control.

Reheating chicago style pizza in the toaster oven

Not as many kitchens have a toaster oven, but you might have one at work or at your dorm.

The method is basically the same as the oven. The difference is that a toaster oven might have a temperature control without numbers – like low or medium. Use at least medium.

Most toaster ovens have the slight advantage of having see through doors so you can see how your pizza looks.

Reheating chicago style pizza in a skillet

In some ways, skillets differ from ovens only in that skillets don’t offer over the top heating unless you put the lid on. 

Skillets do tend to heat up faster in a smaller area, so this is a bit quicker.

You’ll need

1. A skillet
2. Olive oil
3. A cover for the skillet

Here’s how you do it

1. Pour some olive oil into the skillet
2. Put the pizza sleeves into the skillet
3. Turn the heat up to medium
4. Cover the skillet
5. Cook for 3-6 minutes. 
6. Check the temperature to see if it’s to your liking.
7. Repeat the process as needed if it’s not hot enough

The skillet advantage is that you don’t need aluminum foil and it can be faster. 

Reheating chicago style pizza in the microwave

The microwave is fast. It’s not necessarily our favorite, but it works. With the microwave, you’ll want to pay close attention to moisture and heat. Otherwise you could get soft, soggy pizza. If soft, soggy pizza is your thing, definitely use the microwave.

You’ll need

1. Microwave safe dish
2. A damp paper towel or oil

1. Place the pizza slices on the microwave safe fish. 
2. Either sprinkle with oil or place a damp paper towel over the top to retain moisture
3. Put the dish in the microwave.
4. You could just use high heat for the purpose. We suggest starting with 30 seconds to heat
5. Check the temperature. Outside of very powerful microwaves, 30 seconds might not be enough. Try another 15 to 30. 
6. Check the temperature frequently. Microwaves heat up quickly and could make your pizza go soggy in a few seconds
7. Remove the dish when done and eat!

What’s the best way to reheat chicago style pizza?

We will be real honest here. It’s hard to choose between the skillet and the oven. The oven provides the same method of cooking from the pizza kitchen, but it’s a little bit slower – and can take twice as much time.

There really isn’t a big quality difference between the skillet and the oven. The speed does help since a stovetop burner will probably heat up faster.

Either of these methods will probably retain the taste and texture of everything from the crust to the ingredients inside. The cheese will stay nice and gooey too.

Can I reheat chicago style pizza in the ox?

The easy answer is no. Most chicago style pizzas come in a cardboard box, which is flammable at fairly low temperature. As suggested in all of our instructions, use a microwave or oven safe dish.

It’s possible to keep chicago style pizza warm in the oven with the box, but keep the temperature very low. Also, use a regular plate or dish instead just in case – don’t use the box.

Conclusion

Reheating chicago style pizza is easy. Most kitchens, whether at home, or the office, are reasonably equipped to recreate the right texture and flavors.

We recommend trying the skillet method if you have a stovetop available. The combination of speed and flavor retention is great.