Look, I’m not here to pretend I’m above frozen pizza. I love frozen pizza. It’s there for me at 9pm when I forgot to meal prep, when the kids are hangry, when I just cannot with one more decision today.

But here’s the thing: your oven takes forever. Preheating, waiting 20 minutes, heating up your whole kitchen in July like some kind of punishment. Meanwhile, your air fryer is sitting there like, “Hey, I could have this done in eight minutes with a crispier crust, but sure, take your time.”

So let’s talk about how to actually nail frozen pizza in an air fryer because there’s a method to this, and once you figure it out, you’ll never go back.

First Things First: Will It Even Fit?

Before you try to origami a 12-inch pizza into a 5-quart basket (don’t ask me how I know this doesn’t work), let’s talk sizing.

These drop right in, no drama:

• Personal pizzas (6-7 inches) Totino’s, Red Baron Singles, store brands, all good
• Mini pizzas and bagel bites usually 4-6 at once
• French bread pizzas laid flat or with slight overlap

These need a game plan:

• Standard 10-12 inch pizzas quarter them before cooking, or use an air fryer oven if you have one
• Rising crust and deep dish they fit fine, they just need different temps (more on that in a sec)

These are actually better in an air fryer:

• Cauliflower and gluten free crusts honestly, the air fryer saves these from their usual soggy fate. It’s like giving them a second chance at life.

“Will it fit?” is a question best answered before the cheese starts melting. Trust me.

The Five Rules That Actually Matter

I’m going to give you five rules. They’re simple. They’re the difference between “holy crap, this is good” and “why is my pizza… damp?”

1. Preheat for 2-3 minutes at 380°F.

Some air fryers claim you don’t need to preheat. They’re lying. A hot basket = immediate crust crisping instead of sad steaming. Nobody ordered steamed pizza.

2. Cook it frozen. Do not thaw.

I know thawing it beforehand sounds helpful. It’s not. It just adds moisture and makes everything floppy before you even start. Leave it frozen. This is one of those counterintuitive things that actually works.

3. Skip the oil spray.

The pizza has enough fat already. If you’re using parchment for easy cleanup, definitely don’t spray you’ll just make things weird.

4. Single layer only.

Overlapping blocks airflow. Your air fryer is basically a tiny, very aggressive wind tunnel. Let it do its thing.

5. Watch it, don’t just time it.

Go by what you see: bubbling cheese, browning edges. Air fryers run hot or cool depending on the model (ask me how I learned this the hard way with a charcoal crusted Totino’s).

The Temperature Cheat Sheet

This is where frozen pizza goes from “fine” to “wait, this is actually really good.”

• Mini and personal pizzas: 380°F, 6-8 minutes. Check at 5.
• Thin crust: 375-380°F, 5-7 minutes. These cook FAST, so hover a little.
• Standard crust: 380°F, 8-10 minutes. If you quartered a bigger pizza, treat each piece like this.
• Thick crust and deep dish: 350°F, 10-14 minutes. Lower temp = the middle actually cooks before the edges burn. Poke the center with a knife to check.
• French bread pizzas: 375°F, 7-9 minutes.
• Rising crust: 340-350°F, 12-15 minutes. These just take longer. Accept it.

Quick conversion for Costco pizza bake times: Drop the temp by 25°F, cut the time by about 30-40%. So 400°F for 18 minutes becomes roughly 375°F for 10-12 minutes. Express lane, baby.

One more thing: basket air fryers cook faster and crispier than oven style ones. If you have an oven style, stay closer to the box times and just shave off 10-15%.

Dial it in once, and you’re set for pizza night forever.

When Things Go Sideways

Even with perfect settings, air fryers can be… opinionated. Here’s how to fix the most common disasters:

Soggy or doughy center:

Your temp was too high and the outside raced ahead. Drop it 15-20°F, add 2-3 minutes, and check the middle.

Burnt edges or toppings:

Most air fryers have a hot spot toward the back (mine sure does). Rotate the pizza 180° halfway through. If toppings keep flying around like they’re trying to escape, press them into the cheese before cooking or add a pinch of shredded cheese on top to pin everything down.

One side pale, one side perfect:

The pizza was too close to one edge. Center it better and rotate once during cooking.

Small tweaks. Big crunch.

The Glow-Up Moves (Optional But Worth It)

If you want to take things up a notch without turning dinner into a science project:

Use perforated parchment paper. It’s made for air fryers, keeps cheese from dripping through the basket holes, and makes cleanup basically nothing.

Add your own toppings. Anything that needs heat (veggies, cooked meat) goes on before cooking. Fresh stuff like arugula or basil goes on after. Extra cheese? Add it in the last 2-3 minutes so it melts without scorching.

Leftover Pizza, Reborn

Leftover pizza deserves better than the microwave’s sad, rubbery embrace. (Though honestly, no judgment if you eat it cold for breakfast—I’ve been there.)

Here’s the move: 350°F for 3-4 minutes. The crust crisps back up, the cheese gets melty again, and suddenly you’re not just eating leftovers—you’re eating good leftovers. Check thin slices at 2 minutes. You want the cheese just starting to bubble.

Go Make Pizza

That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

Match your pizza to the right temperature, watch it instead of just timing it, and rotate if your air fryer has that annoying hot spot in the back (they all do, don’t they?).

Your first attempt is a test run. Note what works, adjust from there, and by pizza night #3, you’ll have it completely dialed.

Now go make that crust earn its keep.