Pizza is one of the best comfort foods. It’s cheap and easy to make or buy, easily portable, and tastes great cold for breakfast. But the real question is, can you freeze pizza?
Yes! You can freeze leftover pizza as well as pizza dough and homemade ready-to-bake pizzas. Learning all the methods of freezing pizza ensures you have a great lunch, snack, dinner — or breakfast! — whenever you want it!
It’s hard to imagine a time of “too much pizza” but it does happen on occasion. Perhaps your party guests don’t eat as much as you expected or you simply ordered or prepped too much.
Thankfully, you can freeze delivery pizza as well as homemade pizza and dough so that you can make your pizza last as long as your appetite does.
Why Do This
You avoid food waste. In some instances, freezing pizza is about preventing food waste. By stashing extra in the freezer you can save it for when you really want it. I did this recently after a party, packing away lunch-size portions for my college kids to take to campus.
You save time. Other times, stashing away pizza allows you to benefit from bulk cooking, making a large batch of Mini Pizzas so that you have quick and easy meals for the future.
You make pizza more convenient. Any time we can enjoy more pizza is a good thing in my book. When you freeze pizza you make it easier to enjoy whenever the mood strikes. In this way, you can officially count pizza on your list of last-minute dinner ideas without having to get take-out!
Methods
There are at least three ways to freeze pizza: as dough balls, as premade pies, and as cooked pizzas. Each has its benefits.
Whichever method you choose, be sure to label the contents and date!
How to Freeze Pizza Dough
Freezing dough balls allows you to save time making a homemade dough as well as freedom to top it however you like come serving time. While there’s still cooking to do, you’ve cut your work in half.
Here’s how to freeze pizza dough: Prepare the dough according to the recipe directions, however, you don’t want to let it completely rise. Instead, after a 20 minute rest, wrap each dough ball in a greased ziptop bag or greased food container, seal it up, and place it in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
Level up with full-blown Freezer Meal Pizza Kits by adding bags of sauce, cheese, and pepperoni to your pizza dough stash.
To serve: Thaw the dough ball in a greased bowl and allow it to rise until doubled in bulk. This will take several hours and as long as overnight, depending on how cold it is in the room. Once thawed and risen, you can form the dough into a round, top it according to your preferences, and bake.
How to Freeze Pizza Unbaked
Freezing an unbaked pizza, just like making a frozen pizza at home, takes most of the work out of serving day, leaving you just the task of freshly baking the pizza. Depending on the size of pizza, it can be a little awkward to store in the freezer, so keep this in mind when you form your pizza rounds.
Here’s how to freeze a premade pizza: Prepare the pizza on a baking sheet as you would to bake, but instead of baking it, slide the pan into the freezer. Once it’s frozen, wrap it well in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store in the freezer until ready to bake.
To serve: Preheat the oven, remove the pizza from its wrapping, and place it on a pizza screen or baking sheet. Bake according to your recipe, adding a couple minutes to allot for a frozen pizza.
How to Freeze Leftover Pizza
You can store leftover pizza in the fridge for up to 4 days, but it might get a little boring if you have a lot to eat up. When you freeze cooked pizza for later you avoid food waste and get an easy meal in a few weeks’ time!
Here’s how to freeze leftover pizza: Freezing leftover pizza is the easiest by far since the cooking is all done for you.
- Wrap the cooked pizza slices in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and then slip the packages into a ziptop freezer bag.
- If you baked the pizza yourself, you can also leave it uncut. Wrap the whole pizza in heavy-duty aluminum foil and store it in the freezer.
To serve: Reheat pizza that has been frozen in the oven, in the air fryer, or even in a covered skillet on the stove until the crust is crisp and the cheese is melted.
FAQs
Provided you have cooled and stored the pizza properly since its baking, you can easily wrap, chill, and freeze the pizza to reheat later.
Pizza dough can be frozen, just be sure not to let it rise too much prior to storing it in the freezer. An initial 20-minute rise should be sufficient.
Food is good in the freezer indefinitely if the temp is below zero. However, it can lose taste and texture over time. Consume pizza you’ve store in the freezer within 6 weeks.
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How to Freeze Pizza
Ingredients
To freeze pizza dough
- ingredients for your favorite pizza dough
To freeze an unbaked pizza
- ingredients for your favorite pizza
To freeze leftover baked pizza
- leftover pizza
Instructions
To freeze pizza dough
- Prepare the dough according to the recipe directions, however, you don't want to let it completely rise.
- Instead, after a 20 minute rest, wrap each dough ball in a greased ziptop bag or greased food container, seal it up, and place it in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
- To serve: Thaw the dough ball in a greased bowl and allow it to rise until doubled in bulk. This will take several hours and as long as overnight, depending on how cold it is in the room. Once thawed and risen, you can form the dough into a round, top it according to your preferences, and bake.
To freeze an unbaked pizza
- Prepare the pizza on a baking sheet as you would to bake, but instead of baking it, slide the pan into the freezer.
- Once it's frozen, wrap it well in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and store in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
- To serve: Preheat the oven, remove the pizza from its wrapping, and place it on a pizza screen or baking sheet. Bake according to your recipe, adding a couple minutes to allot for a frozen pizza.
To freeze leftover baked pizza
- Wrap the cooked pizza slices in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and then slip the packages into a ziptop freezer bag.
- If you baked the pizza yourself, you can also leave it uncut. Wrap the whole pizza in heavy-duty aluminum foil and store it in the freezer.
- Label the package well with the date and the name of the recipe. Store in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
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sue
A lot of website say to par-bake the crust first …is this necessary before freezing? Will it be soggy as some claim?
Thanks
Jessica Fisher
I’ve not had a problem as long as the oven is very hot and you don’t let the pizza thaw before baking.
Lara
What is this leftover pizza of which you speak? (hahaha)
Actually, when we were young newlyweds, my husband and I would often get the 2-1 pizza deal at our local restaurant and freeze one for later. Works beautifully!