The Air Fryer Makes the Perfect Pizza for One

Although I’m not a gadget person, I love my air fryer. It yields crispy yet tender vegetables that my toddler eats by the handful. It filled the void of an oven during our 6 month long kitchen renovation. Unlike an oven, there is no preheating time, and it’s stupidly simple to use.

My latest reason to love this appliance even more is that it’s perfect for making pizza for one, or in my case, a snack pizza to feed me and my 2 kids.

Now why an air fryer versus an oven? Like I mentioned before, there is no preheating time. Plus, because the air fryer is a much smaller space, the hot air is much more concentrated and really hits every piece of surface area, creating beautifully browned and crisp food, and in the case of pizza, super melty cheese too.

However because an air fryer is much smaller than an oven, you won’t be making large 16” pizzas in it. The basket in my Philips Air Fryer is just the right size to fit a personal-sized, one-sitting pizza, which is just fine by me. While leftover pizza is fine, biting into a freshly baked one where the cheese remains hot even until the last bite is one of the best things in life IMHO.

You can use any recipe you have – just bake it in the air fryer at 375F / 191C for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cheese is all melty. Then kick back and enjoy one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Tips for Air Fryer Pizza

Our recipe is below but here are a few more tips on how to create the perfect pizza with your air fryer:

• Air fryer basket sizes vary. Make sure you roll out your dough to fit into your basket.
• Most air fryer baskets are very non-stick but if you’re worried, just brush some oil onto the bottom of your dough.
• Transfer the rolled out pizza dough into the air fryer basket before putting on the toppings. Otherwise, it’ll be very difficult to do it without items falling off or your dough tearing.
• Don’t have fresh dough on hand? No worries. Try a substitute – a bagel, naan, pita, French bread will all work. You may want to reduce the cooking time by 2 to 3 minutes to prevent burning.
• While pre-shredded cheese is so convenient to use, I much prefer to shred my own cheese. It’s worth the extra few minutes because it’ll melt more evenly. Pre-shredded cheese usually has additional ingredients to keep it separated in the bag, which is why it’ll melt differently. Less ooze, more gak-like in my opinion.
• You could assemble these ahead of time, freeze, and then pop them into the air fryer at a moment’s notice. I would recommend air frying for an additional 3 to 5 minutes. Par-bake the pizza dough, meaning just bake them in the oven for 400F / 204C for about 3 minutes and then top with sauce, cheese, and toppings. The Kitchn also has some other tips here.

Equipment Smarts

• Air Fryer — this is all the equipment you need!

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If you love this recipe and want more ideas for your air fryer, check out our 13 Best Air-Fried Foods article and get our Air Fryer Cooking Cheat Sheet for dozens of different foods. Also, consider joining our meal plan members who love getting exciting, healthy, and smart menus delivered to their inbox every week!