How to Remove a Pizza from the Oven

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In home ovens, pizzas must typically cook at temperatures between 450 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit. It can be both tricky and dangerous to take the hot pie out of the blazing oven when it's ready to eat. Remove the pizza the right way to protect yourself from burns and also keep your pizza in one piece.

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Things You'll Need

  • Oven mitt

  • Heatproof spatula or spoon

  • Pizza peel, cutting board or flat baking pan

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Beat the Heat

It's easy to accidentally brush part of your hand or arm against the inside of a hot oven when attempting to remove a pizza. Always turn the oven off when you're sure the pizza is finished, and allow it a few seconds to start cooling down before you open it and reach inside. Even then, it will still be hot.

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When you remove the pizza, use potholders or wear oven mitts. Make sure the potholders or mitts are free of holes and completely dry. If they are wet, you're not protected from the oven heat and may suffer steam burns.

Tip

If you do burn yourself while removing a pizza from the oven, act quickly. Run cool water over the burned area for several minutes until the pain subsides; cover the burn with a clean cloth and seek additional treatment if it is serious.

Removing Your Pizza

After opening the oven, grip the oven rack with your oven mitt or potholder, and pull the rack toward you to make it easier to reach the pizza. If you used a pan to bake your pizza, you can simply grab the pan and remove it from the oven along with the pizza.

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A pizza peel makes it easy to slide your pizza right out of the oven, but you can also use a baking sheet or cutting board as a substitute.

With a Peel

If your pizza is baking on a stone or directly on the oven rack, it's easy to remove it with a pizza peel or pizza paddle. The front edge of the peel is flat and narrower than the rest of the peel, so you can wedge it underneath a corner of the pizza.

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When you have part of the peel under the pizza, use a heatproof spatula or spoon in your other hand to reach for the back of the pizza and push it until it slides completely onto the peel. Then take it out of the oven.

Tip

Let your pizza cool for several minutes before cutting and serving it. In that time, the cheese will set; the crust can get crispy, and the surface of the pie will cool off enough so that it doesn't burn your mouth.

Without a Peel

If you don't have a pizza peel, you can use a similar technique with a baking sheet or cutting board. First, push the back of the pizza with your spatula or spoon until the pizza is at the edge of the oven rack.

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Place the baking sheet or cutting board in front of the oven rack and continue pushing the pizza with the spatula until it slides onto the baking sheet or cutting board.

Warning

When you're done eating, wrap any leftover pizza tightly with foil or place it in an airtight container and then transfer it to the refrigerator. The risk of food-borne illness rises when you eat food that has been left at room temperature for more than two hours.

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