Give Frozen Pizza A Restaurant-Quality Upgrade With One Appliance

As much as we love the convenience of frozen pizza, let's be real — no matter what it claims, it never tastes the same as a steaming-hot pie from one of your favorite pizza chains. The good news is that there's a cheat code for making your frozen pizzas taste as close to delivery as possible. Enter: the pizza oven. With the recent proliferation of at-home pizza ovens — which range from sleek counter-top models to large outdoor apparatuses – you don't have to buy a Domino's franchise or even leave your house to add that "just delivered" taste to your frozen pizza.

Where frozen pizza wins in price and convenience, it fails in texture. It's either kind of mushy or burnt to smithereens (I'm convinced there's no in between). The reason restaurant-prepared pizza tastes so much better is because it's cooked in a pizza oven that reaches a much higher heat than what you have in your kitchen (think: 900°F degrees compared to 450 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit of a conventional oven). This fast and high cooking method is what gives restaurant pizza the perfect combination of crisp edges and melted cheese while still having a soft, chewy crust.

At home pizza ovens come in all shapes and sizes. Whether you choose an indoor electric pizza oven, an outdoor gas-powered device, a wood-powered oven or one that combines elements of each, the way the oven works is similar: it cooks restaurant-worthy pizza at a heat that simply isn't possible with a regular oven. And yes, it works on frozen pizza, provided you use the correct cooking settings.

Now that you understand the basic ins and outs of a pizza oven, it's time to cook your first one. Before you put anything inside, check to see if your frozen pizza is raw or pre-cooked. According to the website of pizza oven manufacturer, Pizzello, you're going to have completely different cooking times and temperatures depending on what kind of frozen pizza you're working with.

If it's a raw frozen pizza, the toppings and crust are uncooked, which means the dough rises when it heats in the oven. A raw frozen pizza requires a shorter baking time at a higher temperature. A cooking time of 10 minutes at 700 degrees Fahrenheit is more than enough to ensure all the ingredients are cooked through and you get those desirable crispy edges.

On the other hand, a frozen pizza that is pre-cooked (or has mostly pre-cooked crust) is going to require longer in the oven on a lower heat. Pizzello suggests cooking a pre-cooked frozen pizza for 15 to 25 minutes at 400 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. This gives your frozen pie time to defrost without burning or overcooking it.

If you don't have a pizza oven at home, you can still level up a basic frozen pizza by using a pizza stone in a conventional oven. As Chris Ancona, the head pizzaiolo and director of pizza operations for the upscale pizza chain Roberta's, told EatingWell, in addition to high temperatures, restaurant pizza ovens cook their pies directly on a heated tile surface on the floor of the pizza oven. This ensures that the heat is transferred evenly throughout the pizza. When used in a conventional oven, a pizza stone can help replicate this process by retaining heat and creating an even, perfectly crispy crust.

Lastly, if you want to play it fast and loose when it comes to cooking times and temperatures — don't. As the Pizzello website notes, "Carefully controlling the oven heat is crucial for achieving the desired crust and topping doneness for each type of frozen pizza."

While quite beats the feeling of opening up a steaming pizza box and inhaling that delicious mix of cheese, dough and warm cardboard, if you follow these instructions you'll transform frozen pizza into a restaurant-quality meal without ever having to answer your door.