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AirfryerHQ

Whole frozen pizza in an air fryer

From frozen — the short answer

180°C (356°F) for 20 min

For
From frozen
In
Basket air fryer, single layer, pieces not touching
Preheat
Not needed
Check
The cheese has melted and browned in patches
Safety
Food cooked from frozen must reach the same core temperature as the same food cooked fresh — the frozen centre is the last thing to get there. Full rule below.
Moderate confidenceWell supported, but from a narrower base of sources than we would like.

A fit problem before it is a cooking problem, and the answer depends on your appliance.

From frozen

Before anything else

From national food-safety authorities, not from us. These take precedence over any cooking time below.

RequirementFood safety (microbiological)

Food cooked from frozen must reach the same core temperature as the same food cooked fresh — the frozen centre is the last thing to get there.

Target: 70°C in the thickest part.

How to tell, without a thermometer

  • No ice or cold spot at the centre when the thickest piece is cut open
  • Steaming hot throughout, tested in the middle rather than the edge

If it has not got there: Reduce the temperature by 10–20°C and give it longer. A lower set point lets the centre catch up before the surface passes the point of no return, and it is the single most useful adjustment for cooking from frozen.

Important: If the packaging says the product must be thawed before cooking, follow it. That instruction exists because the manufacturer has tested cooking it from frozen and it did not reach temperature reliably.

The quick answer

180°C (356°F) for 20 min

A single published preset default of twenty minutes at 180°C. No size is stated, and pizza size is the variable that decides whether this is possible at all in a 5-litre drawer.

Assuming
From frozen
In
Basket air fryer
Loaded
Single layer, pieces not touching
Preheat
Not needed
Result
Crisp outside, moist inside
Moderate confidenceWell supported, but from a narrower base of sources than we would like.

Preparation

Straight from the freezer, on the crisper tray, cut down if it will not fit flat. No oil is added.

No oil needed.

How to load the basket

Single layer, pieces not touching. The reference condition. Air reaches every surface, and times are the shortest the food will achieve.

How to tell it is done

  • The cheese has melted and browned in patches
  • The base is firm enough to hold a slice out flat

Where these figures came fromfrom frozen

Moderate confidenceWell supported, but from a narrower base of sources than we would like.
Applies to
Specific to this model
Why this rating
A preset the manufacturer programmed into the appliance and published with both its default temperature and its default time. It is the manufacturer's own starting point for that food in that machine, which is real published guidance and is weaker than a chart row because no quantity comes with it.
Last reviewed
2026-08-13

What this does not cover

  • Published by the manufacturer for this model. It is evidence about this appliance and is not general advice.
  • NO QUANTITY IS PUBLISHED. A preset is a starting point the manufacturer chose, not a validated time for a stated weight, and it cannot be checked against the food in front of you the way a chart row can.
  • Most whole frozen pizzas do not fit a 5-litre drawer. A pizza folded up the sides of a basket cooks in a curve and this figure does not describe that.
Sources (1)

Leftover (reheating)

Before anything else

From national food-safety authorities, not from us. These take precedence over any cooking time below.

RequirementFood safety (microbiological)

Cool cooked food and get it into the fridge within one to two hours, keep the fridge between 0 and 5°C, and eat leftovers within 48 hours.

How to tell, without a thermometer

  • There is no sensory test for this rule, and that is the point: food held too long at the wrong temperature does not necessarily look, smell or taste different

If it has not got there: Throw it away. This is the one rule in this catalogue where the remedy is not 'cook it longer', because cooking does not reverse it.

Important: Cooked rice is the sharpest case: Bacillus cereus toxins form at room temperature and survive reheating. Rice left out for more than an hour goes in the bin.

RequirementFood safety (microbiological)

Reheat leftovers until steaming hot all the way through, and only reheat them once.

Target: 70°C in the thickest part, or an equivalent from the table below.

How to tell, without a thermometer

  • Steam rising from the centre, not just the edges
  • The middle is hot to the touch, tested after removing it from the appliance

If it has not got there: Keep going, and break dense food up or spread it out so the heat can reach the middle. If it will not heat through evenly, a microwave to get the centre hot followed by the air fryer to crisp the surface is a better tool for the job than the air fryer alone.

Important: Cooked rice and pasta left at room temperature can develop Bacillus cereus toxins that reheating does not destroy. If cooked rice has been out of the fridge for more than an hour, discard it rather than reheating it.

Published combinations delivering equivalent lethality. AirfryerHQ does not calculate values between these — only the pairs the authority published are shown.
TemperatureHeld forMeasured at
70°C2 minthe centre of the food
75°C30 secthe centre of the food

The quick answer

160°C (320°F) for 3–6 min

Thickness of the base and how much topping is on it. A thin base is through in three minutes; a deep pan base is not.

Assuming
200g in total, about 15mm at the thickest point, From the fridge
In
Basket air fryer
Loaded
Single layer, pieces not touching
Preheat
Not needed
Result
Heated through
PreliminaryA starting point rather than a settled answer. Treat the numbers as a first attempt and check the food itself.

Preparation

Cut into pieces that lie flat rather than curling up the sides of the basket. Nothing added.

How to load the basket

Single layer, pieces not touching. The reference condition. Air reaches every surface, and times are the shortest the food will achieve.

How to tell it is done

  • The base is firm enough to hold a slice out flat without drooping
  • The cheese has melted again and the centre is hot

Change the result

Each of these moves the outcome in a known direction, and most cost you something. The trade is stated so you can decide whether you want it.

To be sure it is safe rather than just warm
Go by the food and not the clock. It has to be steaming hot the whole way through, and the middle of a dense portion lags a long way behind its surface in an air fryer.

Where these figures came fromleftover (reheating)

PreliminaryA starting point rather than a settled answer. Treat the numbers as a first attempt and check the food itself.
Applies to
Specific to this type of appliance
Why this rating
Low in the published band because cheese browns and then burns quickly on a second heating. The time is AirfryerHQ's estimate.
Last reviewed
2026-08-13

What this does not cover

  • THE TIME ON THIS RECORD IS NOT SOURCED. Four manufacturers publish a reheating temperature and not one of them names a food, a quantity or a time for a named dish. The temperature here is theirs; the time is AirfryerHQ's estimate and has not been measured.
  • Reheating is governed by the food-safety rule above rather than by this figure. Steaming hot throughout is the requirement; the time is a guide to getting there.
Sources (4)
  • Tower T17023 2.2 Litre Air Fryer — Safety and Instruction Manual (PDF)

    RKW Ltd (Tower Housewares)Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)

    Relied on for: That this manufacturer's published reheating instruction is 150°C for up to ten minutes, with no food named.

    States this directly

    Passage read and verified

    Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk

    Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 745/2194.

  • Cookworks 5L Digital Air Fryer KDF-596D — Care & Instruction Manual (PDF)

    Argos Limited (Cookworks)Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)

    Relied on for: That this manufacturer's published reheating instruction is 180°C for up to ten minutes, with no food named.

    States this directly

    Passage read and verified

    Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk

    Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 148/6623.

  • Cosori Dual Blaze 6.4L Smart Air Fryer CAF-P583S-KUK — User Manual (PDF)

    Arovast Corporation (Cosori)Manufacturer manual (United Kingdom)

    Relied on for: That this manufacturer's Reheat function defaults to 175°C for five minutes.

    States this directly

    Passage read and verified

    Retrieved 2026-08-13 from argos-support.co.uk

    Retrieved from Argos's manual library for Argos product 818/0159.

  • AirfryerHQ Sprint 4 analysis of published cooking guidance across fifteen manuals

    AirfryerHQCalculated or inferred by AirfryerHQ (United Kingdom)

    Relied on for: The reading that no manufacturer publishes a reheat time for a named food, and that the time on this record is therefore AirfryerHQ's own estimate.

    AirfryerHQ's interpretation of what it says

    Citation checked — the document exists and is described correctly

Chilled

The quick answer

190°C (374°F) for 7 min

A single published figure of seven minutes for a 400g pizza, not a range. Size is the constraint before time is: a 400g pizza has to fit a 4.2-litre bowl, which usually means cutting it.

Assuming
400g in total, 1 pieces, From the fridge
In
Basket air fryer
Loaded
Single layer, pieces not touching
Preheat
Not needed
Result
Crisp outside, moist inside
Moderate confidenceWell supported, but from a narrower base of sources than we would like.

Preparation

Cut down if it will not lie flat rather than curling up the sides of the bowl. No oil is added.

No oil needed.

How to load the basket

Single layer, pieces not touching. The reference condition. Air reaches every surface, and times are the shortest the food will achieve.

How to tell it is done

  • The cheese has melted and browned in patches
  • The base holds a slice out flat without drooping

Where these figures came fromchilled

Moderate confidenceWell supported, but from a narrower base of sources than we would like.
Applies to
Specific to this model
Why this rating
A published row with a min-max quantity band from the manufacturer's own cooking guide. No preheat appears anywhere in this appliance's air-fry table, which is notable because the same document requires fifteen minutes for its grill mode.
Last reviewed
2026-08-13

What this does not cover

  • Published by the manufacturer for this model. It is evidence about this appliance and is not general advice.
  • THE MANUAL DOES NOT SAY WHETHER THE PIZZA IS FROZEN OR CHILLED. Seven minutes at 190°C is far too short for a frozen start — another manufacturer publishes twenty minutes for a frozen pizza — so this is recorded against the chilled state, and that inference is AirfryerHQ's rather than the manufacturer's.
Sources (1)

What usually goes wrong

A browned, blistered top over a base that is still doughy — or, in a drawer machine, a pizza folded up the sides of the basket that cooks in a curve. The base needs heat from below and most air fryers deliver it from above.

Running the appliance safely

These apply to every food and every air fryer, so they are here once rather than repeated under each state above. They come from Electrical Safety First, from UK product-safety notices and from the manufacturers’ own manuals.

Each links to its own page, with what it means in practice, what to do if it has already happened, and the source it comes from. Every safety rule AirfryerHQ holds.

Why pizza behaves this way

A cooked base has already lost its surface moisture once and reabsorbed some from the topping in the fridge. Dry moving air drives that moisture back out and re-crisps the base, while the topping needs only to reach serving temperature. The failure mode is the cheese browning before the base has dried, which is a temperature problem rather than a time one.

More on pizza

Where to go from here

The pages that answer the questions this one tends to raise.

  • Using a thermometer, and where to put itThe times above are for a piece that is not the one you are holding. This measures yours — and it is the single change that fixes most dry whole frozen pizza.
  • How food actually gets crispyWhy patting it dry, spacing it out and a little oil are all the same instruction — so you can apply it when a page runs out.
  • Cooking from frozenUsually cooler and longer than the same food fresh, and never worked out from the fresh figure.
  • Reheating leftoversA different question governed by a different rule — steaming hot throughout, and only once.
  • Why published timings differIf another chart says something else, this is usually why — and which one to believe.

Easily confused with