The Easy 2-Ingredient Flavor Upgrade For Frozen Pizza

Often reserved for an easy meal or a lazy late-night snack, frozen pizza is sometimes only kept stocked in the freezer to fill the void of hunger, and not considered particularly epicurean. It's quick, hot, filling — period. But when you're ready to kick it up a notch, try upgrading your frozen pizza with just two ingredients: olive oil and fresh garlic.

Start with your canvas. Food Republic's ranking of frozen pizzas from worst to best is proof that not every frozen pizza brand has to be cardboard-boring. Simple, tasty pies without too many ingredients (like Trader Joe's Imported Pizza Margherita) often make the best frozen pizzas for this preparation because they allow the new ingredients to truly shine. Thinly sliced garlic and olive oil will add freshness and expand the flavors, rather than muddying them up.

Add the shaved garlic before you cook the pizza and drizzle it with olive oil once it comes out. A mandolin works great to shave garlic super thin, or you can slice it carefully over a cutting board. For optimal light and nutty flavor, use extra virgin olive oil. The garlic will come out browned with a beautiful, deep caramelized flavor, and the olive oil will combine nicely for a grassy, umami kick that will take your frozen pizza to the next level.

Beyond garlic and olive oil, there's a whole palate of flavors and accouterments you can add to your frozen pizza. If you want to upgrade the flavor without taking another trip to the store, take a look in the pantry or fridge. Add more cheese because — why not — it's arguably the best part of the pizza. A bit of grated parmesan will brown nicely, but if you're using mozzarella, be sure to use a low-moisture variety, and just a thin layer, so it won't boil up and spill over the edge.

Sliced black or green olives will add more salty goodness and easily complement any veggie or meat topping. Plus, they hold up well to heat and won't sweat much as they cook, so you don't have to worry about them making your cheese soupy. Chopped or sliced peppers and onions make nice additions, but they definitely will sweat when cooked, so use them sparingly and slice them thin.

And when it comes time to put it in the oven, remember: Your frozen pizza should be thawed before baking. Letting it defrost on the counter for 30 minutes or so will allow for better heat distribution while cooking, resulting in an enhanced, crispy texture. Make slicing your pizza a breeze by rearranging the frozen ingredients into a sort of blueprint for uniform slices. Essentially, you're making pizza cutter runways of just cheese, so the toppings won't fall off when cutting. Using the right add-ons and simple preparations will upgrade your frozen pizza from not-great to, dare we say it, gourmet.