Pizza is a nearly universal food that can be enjoyed hot or cold and in a huge variety of toppings and styles. If you are a frequent customer of pizza delivery or pickup from Papa John’s, you’ve probably ordered too much pizza before. When you are finished, put it in the fridge and in the next couple days, you’ll be among the 13% of Americans who eat pizza everyday.
Reheated pizza is a little different than the Papa John’s delivery service that’s hot out of their ovens. How can you make your reheated Papa John’s taste as much like the original as possible? By reheating in the oven.
Reheating Papa John’s pizza in the oven is easy. The small amount of extra time needed truly makes a difference in your pizza eating experience. Read below to find out why and how.
Papa John’s Reheat Instructions
You probably haven’t closely examined a pizza box in a while. After all, they only come in a few varieties. Either white or tan with nothing on them but a label bearing your name and type of pizza, or covered in well meaning advertisements.
Papa John’s is one of few pizza companies that offer reheat instructions on the box. We can really appreciate this, especially since the instructions are noticeable. After all, who knows better about how to heat up pizza than the people who made the recipe?
Without further ado, this is an even more simple version of their 4 step instructions.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Place your pizza in an oven-safe dish. While most of the dishes you typically cook with are safe, you can check for an oven-safe marking on the bottom to be sure.
- Put the dish filled with Papa Johns pizza in the oven for about 10 minutes.
- Put on some good oven mitts and remove the pizza to see if it’s as hot as you want. Put pizza back in oven if necessary.
- Take it out when you are done. We suggest using a spatula to remove the pizza from the oven. The box it came in won’t burn your hand, but a hot oven tray sure will.
- Enjoy hot pizza!
Why the oven?
The oven best recreates how the pizza was cooked originally. Sure, you have options including the microwave. Microwaves will make your pizza softer and soggier than original – we don’t like soggy pizza, do you?
When done properly, an oven reheating best mimics the type of pizza you had when you took your first bite. Do you like your pizza with crispy crust, bubbly cheese – and holdable? The oven does this the best.
Since the oven does take longer, you actually get more control over how hot your pizza will be. A microwave heats up very rapidly, and if you aren’t paying close attention, you can scorch the cheese. You’ll also get a slice that hangs when held, making for an unpleasant eating experience – or the need for a fork.
Can I reheat Papa John’s pizza in the box?
This isn’t a good idea for a variety of reasons, which is why we urge caution. Boxes aren’t meant for ovens. They are only meant for keeping the pizza warm and having a stable place to put the pizza when it’s being stored or eaten.
Most pizza boxes, including Papa John’s are made of cardboard. Cardboard is flammable and can actually be used to start fires. That said, your pizza box could start on fire in the oven and there are better options.
Also note that being reheated in cardboard might change the flavor, and potentially release chemicals. Again, we wouldn’t use this method.
If you must, and you are out of safe dishes to put in the oven, read the following.
- Preheat the oven to less than 200 degrees. Higher than this causes an even higher risk of fire.
- Get oven mitts on and keep a close eye on the pizza in the oven to ensure the box and pizza are safe.
- The pizza will take longer to heat up at a lower temperature. Remove after 10 minutes to see if it’s warm enough. Repeat until it’s warm enough to remove.
Conclusion
As stated earlier, the best way to heat up food like Papa John’s pizza is to recreate how it was made – and oven is best. Find a good oven safe dish, get it preheated and throw it in.
Pizza is one of those foods that is the right balance of nutrition, tastiness, and price. Reheating it to get the best experience possible is a way to maintain all three when you couldn’t finish the whole thing!
