Can You Really Put A Pizza Box In The Oven? Here's What You Need To Know

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Food technology has evolved so rapidly. It seems like most microwavable snacks and veggies now come in plastic wrapping that's intended to be microwaved along with the food. This convenience makes one wonder: what about pizza boxes? It would save so much time to pop the pie you got from your local slice shop — or the top-rated frozen pizza from the grocery store — right into the oven in its provided packaging. However, you shouldn't ever do that.

Pizza boxes are intended for transporting pizza from point A to point B — not for cooking. For one, the chemicals used to print logos or the wax coating some boxes might have are not meant to be ingested. Food packaging often contains PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), and people with extremely high levels of PFAS can suffer from thyroid disease, decreased fertility, and even cancer. The heat from the oven can cause these harmful chemicals to leach into your food, leading to higher PFAS exposure. Furthermore, the cardboard itself could even catch fire.

Cardboard becomes flammable at around 425 degrees Fahrenheit — however, many pizza recipes call for baking at 500 to 525 degrees Fahrenheit, which would absolutely cause a fire. Even if you could technically get away with putting the oven on low and letting the pizza sit inside the box to warm up, it's not recommended for safety or taste.

The truth is, even if you ignored all the warnings about baking your pizza in its cardboard packaging, you'd likely just end up with a soggy crust, since the box would absorb most of the heat. For a crispier, tastier crust, you're better off placing the pizza directly on the top rack of the oven, with a baking sheet on the lower rack to catch any melted cheese or stray toppings. If that still sounds too risky, you can invest in a pizza stone (we like the one by Hans Grill).

As for what to do with the leftover pizza box, you can recycle it, compost it, or even repurpose it as a plate in a hack that makes serving slices easy and mess-free. Of course, the most amusing way to use a pizza box is as a prop in a drinking game.