Cold pizza is a well-liked breakfast in my family: My husband and I typically munch on leftover slices as we brew our morning espresso. I’ve no drawback consuming leftover pizza as-is. Still, I’m at all times in search of enjoyable, inventive methods to enliven leftovers—and once I noticed my good friend June Kim, the top of video at Enjoy your mealsflip pizza into croutons for her salad, I made a decision I needed to strive it, too.
Kim, whose favourite strategy to get pleasure from her pizza croutons is in a salad with ranch dressing, tells me this trick works with any sort of pizza. “However, I do really feel {that a} grandma pie or Detroit-style pizza is greatest for this,” she says, as its thick base is focaccia-like and makes for significantly scrumptious croutons. She does not toss the cut-up pizza in oil, since most pizzas have already got sufficient oil to assist them crisp up within the oven; as an alternative, she toasts pizza items in a 350°F (175°C) oven till they’re good and crisp, about seven minutes.
Serious Eats / Genevieve Yam
With Kim’s directions in thoughts, I took two slices of leftover thin-crust margherita pizza, minimize them into 1/2-inch items, unfold them on a sheet pan, and popped them into the oven at 350°F (175°C), stirring each jiffy. I did not have any Detroit-style pizza available, however my thin-crust pizza items crisped up properly, with a texture just like pita chips. Out of curiosity, I tossed some pizza items in olive oil to see if it might make them even crispier. I additionally tried air-frying a batch to check whether or not the strategy was efficient.
While the oiled pizza croutons had been ever so barely crispier, the common ones had been splendidly crunchy, and there is actually no want for further oil if all you need is a little bit of texture to your salad. The air-fried croutons had been simply as crunchy because the oven-baked ones, they usually had been carried out in about half the time (three to 4 minutes, versus 5 to seven minutes within the oven).
I used to be thrilled to seek out that making pizza croutons is as straightforward—if not simpler—than making common ones. As lengthy as you test and stir them often to stop burning, they’re remarkably laborious to mess up.
Tossed into my do-it-yourself Caesar salad, the pizza croutons provided a satisfying crunch with brilliant hits of salty-sweet tomato sauce. I additionally cherished them on their very own as a snack—consider them as mini pizza crackers.
Serious Eats / Genevieve Yam
How to Make Pizza Croutons
- Adjust oven rack to center place and preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). If utilizing air fryer, preheat air fryer to 350°F.
- Using a pair of kitchen scissors or a pointy knife, minimize your pizza into 1/2-inch items. Place on a 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet and bake till crisp and calmly golden, 5 to seven minutes within the oven or three to 5 minutes within the air fryer.
- Let cool barely, about 3 minutes. Toss into your salad or get pleasure from as a snack.
