How to transform frozen pizza from blah to brilliant

The premise behind frozen pizza is hard to resist: a pie at your fingertips, ready whenever you want (or, let’s be honest, need) it. But that premise doesn’t always live up to its promise.

Part of that can be chalked up to ingredients and mass production, says Michael Friedman, chef-owner of the Washington, D.C.-area pizzeria chain All-Purpose. “You get out what you put in.”

That being said, Friedman recognizes not only the nostalgic appeal of frozen pizza, but also its convenience. And even if you can’t always control the quality of the pie (consult our rankings to pick the best!), there are ways to plus it up. Here are our top tips to nudge frozen pizza even closer to your favorite delivery and make the overall baking experience even better.

Use the right tools for the job

One of the best things about frozen pizza is the low bar for entry. All you need is an oven (or toaster oven). Over the course of testing many pies, though, I found that a few items were helpful to have on hand, and you probably already have them. Although you can certainly use your hands, or the included cardboard round, to transfer the pizza to the oven, I preferred setting the pies on a round metal pizza pan and using that to slide them onto the rack. A pizza peel, rimless cookie sheet or overturned sheet pan can serve the same purpose. When the pizzas were done, I employed a pair of tongs to grab and slide them back onto whatever equipment I used to put them in. And because many brands recommend baking directly on the rack, if you’re worried about cheese dripping and burning on the bottom of the oven (it happened to us), set a sheet pan on the rack below the pizza to contain the mess.

Give your oven time to preheat

I say it all the time, but it bears repeating here: Your oven is probably not heated to the proper temperature when the chime goes off. Not sure? Use an oven thermometer to verify. If you don’t wait long enough, in all likelihood, you will end up with pale, soggy and underbaked pizza, which, in our experience, frozen pies are already prone to, at least when following the package instructions. (More on that later.) I know this seems counterintuitive — after all, the idea of a frozen pizza is to get it on your table fast — but if you want the best results, give your oven a few extra minutes to get hot, or at least be prepared to add more time at the end.

Ignore (or modify) the package instructions

Although in a recent Washington Post frozen-pizza taste-test, there were plenty of duds, it was clear that some suffered from execution more than anything else. For the sake of fairness, we followed the instructions to the letter, baking directly on the center rack for the specified time (some had ranges, some didn’t), following any doneness cues when they were given. All could have used more time or more heat, so when I was ready to improve them (after the official taste test was done), I started taking advice from the experts, as well as leaning on my own extensive pizza-baking experience.

Friedman suggests using a pizza stone or baking steel to supercharge the heat under the crust. (I’ve also successfully used an overturned, preheated sheet pan.) I took that a step further by placing the stone on the lowest oven rack, closest to the heating element. I also bumped the oven temperature up to 450°F — 25 to 50 degrees hotter than all the boxes instructed. I thought I’d need to reduce the baking time to compensate, but to get the crust and cheese where I wanted them, I ended up within, or even beyond, the stated windows for the three different pizzas I played around with. These few changes made a world of a difference, transforming even our lowest-rated sample, the Trader Joe’s Organic 3 Cheese Pizza, from pale and doughy to golden and crispy with just the right amount of bready chew.

Another problem we encountered on some of the pies: Cheese that stubbornly refused to brown or appealingly melt. Food blogger and recipe developer Alexandra Stafford, author of “Pizza Night,” suggests briefly switching the broiler on to get that burnished, gooey top.

Ovens and personal tastes vary, so keep a close eye on the pizza, and have fun trying out different bakes.

Add your own toppings and finishes

Although there are plenty of frozen pizzas sold with toppings, using a plain cheese as a base lets you customize it just as you would your favorite delivery. Want to put on the good pepperoni that curls into those delightful little cups? Go for it. Friedman suggests throwing it on the pie about halfway through the bake, which is a good strategy for most of your standard quick-cooking toppings, including thinly sliced mushrooms, onions or peppers.

Don’t forget about those finishing touches as well. “Hot honey is good on any kind of meat pizza,” Stafford says. Use store-bought or make your own. For pies without that kind of grease baked in, Stafford recommends a drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil. Lemon zest is her secret subtle trick. “It’s that thing people can’t guess,” she says. “They’re like: ‘What is that? It’s so good.’” Arugula is another way to add brightness. “You just need a little to make it look better” — and, let’s face it, frozen pies can often use that kind of zhuzhing up.

Friedman says you can’t go wrong with a garnish of fresh basil, with or without a shower of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino Romano cheese.

But, as he says, you do you: Buy what you like and top it how you want, “as long as you’re enjoying pizza.”