The Kitchen Tool You've Never Considered For Reheating Pizza

Type in "how to reheat pizza" in any web browser and you'll get quite a lot of answers. From the toaster oven to the panini press, and everything in between, you can warm up yesterday's 'za with almost any kitchen appliance. Chances are, however, that none of those approaches are as fun and tasty as reheating your slices with a waffle iron.

Leftover pizza isn't quite the same as other leftovers, mostly because it's still delicious if you eat it cold. It's still last night's meal, however, which is enough to turn a lot of people off, and nothing's sadder than perfectly good pizza getting tossed in the trash. It also takes some time to properly reheat a slice of pizza so that it tastes as good as when it was fresh. A hot waffle iron, however, takes care of both problems, because you'll have a whole new meal that comes together in no time, with tons of crispy crust to boot.

There's not a ton of technique involved in heating pizza in a waffle iron, but there are some key steps to follow for the best results. The overarching concept here is to think of your pizza as a sandwich or Hot Pocket-style pastry, which has dough on the outside and pizza fillings on the inside. All you need to do is strategically fold your slice before you put it into a hot waffle iron so that there's crust on both sides and the cheese doesn't stick to the metal of the machine. You can use any kind of pizza for this task, but it's especially easy with a thin, wide slice of New York-style pizza because there's plenty of surface area.

You can fold up your pizza and simply stick it in the waffle iron and you'll get a tasty snack, but where's the fun in that? Since you're already making a whole new dish, feel free to stuff a few extra toppings into the mix, like extra cheese, pepperoni, or mushrooms. Then, when your slice is stuffed and folded, close the waffle iron lid down on the pocket and give it a firm squish.

Depending on the size of your waffle maker's make and model, you can make multiple pizza pockets one at a time, or you can stick two whole slices together and make one big waffle. Cook everything until the edges get golden brown and crispy. Some irons have a light that goes off or on when a waffle is cooked but don't rely on that here since those lights are connected to heat sensors that switch off or on when the iron reaches a certain temperature that's ideal for a cooked waffle. Your pizza waffle concoction is much more dense than a light and fluffy breakfast waffle, so just periodically check back every few minutes to see how the crust is looking.

Once you have an even, golden brown crust, pop the pizza waffle out of the iron and it's ready to serve. You can of course go ahead and eat it as-is, or you can add some sauce or toppings. After all, you don't want all those waffle holes to go to waste. Try spooning some extra marinara sauce on top. Or, if all that waffling has you in a breakfast state of mind, drizzle on a little maple syrup and add an egg. The contrast between savory and sweet might really surprise you, and you'll probably never resort to eating cold pizza for breakfast again.