Quick, Kinda-Homemade pizza made with your air fryer or the oven.

I used to hate pizza because the only options were frozen, fast food or kinda DIY with crappy jar sauce. It was just gross and merely edible. BUT NOW...now that I've made my own sauce and use the ingredients I like, the world of pizza has completely changed for me. Uh, but there is also that "ain't nobody got time for that" factor, so don't think I'm a chef all of a sudden.

This utilizes decent pre-made ingredients that you can gather at the store or make from scratch. It comes down to your preference. Don't limit yourself to doing this my way, if you have a sauce that you love, use it! Or if you like a certain crust, use it, etc. No fresh herbs available, just used dried.

I use my air fryer that my dad got me, he swears by it because he uses it for everything he makes. I didn't care to have one HAHA, I don't need more gadgets and machines. Nor did I know WHAT it was, to begin with. As it turns out, an Air Fryer is basically a tiny oven that bakes quicker. It sits on your counter and heats/bakes/warms/toasts/makes crispy - everything you do. Without having to pre-heat the oven or heat up your house in the summer, or waiting for all that spacious oven to do it's job on your item in there. An air fryer is like a tiny, laser focused oven/broiler. Now, I honestly don't know if I am using it wrong, calling it what I do...but that's just how I see it hahaha. I don't "fry" in it. All I can say is that he's convinced me, by getting this thingy for us and that I haven't used my oven since.

You can use your oven to melt and crisp everything to your liking because that's how I originally did "my pizza". And secondly, if you have an air fryer, I am SURE you are much more knowledgeable than I am, so you can just write the cooking part of this instructable for me. HAHA. Mine will say "keep it in there until you like the way it looks." hahahahah

I just use this air fryer because it's smaller, quicker, crispier and doesn't heat up the kitchen. Mine isn't available on amazon (in solid black), cuz he got it for me on OfferUp, old but brand new lol. But they have the silver version on there. And just looking on there for a good machine that is well-reviewed and good price, there is also this one, but I have no experience with it. :) (That is a GoWise, brand and that's what my dad swears by. But I like the one he got me because it looks sleek.) And then there is the Ninja , I've heard of that brand. But what it comes down to -- in choosing, is that you just want to make sure you get the size you need. They make them super small, or low capacity. But if you want to have a "summer oven" out of it, just make sure you get a good capacity 5/6 quart size.

Supplies

Shredded Cheese
Tomato Paste
Naan Bread or Mini Naan (aldi)
Toppings of your choice
Seasoning of your choice (salt, pepper, garlic, basil, arugula, etc.)
Olive Oil
Air Fryer or Oven

Step 1: Materials and Crust

Get all your stuff ready!

I chose to have cheese, chicken and basil. :D

Fresh basil photo, I turned a display case into a planter lol, and I got the small basil plant at home depot. I worry about how much I love basil and how small that plant is. So I put many many many basil seeds in there and they are JUST popping up.

First thing, you can choose to prepare the crust/mini naan bread if you wish, or leave it as is. If you want it to be crispy, then you will need to prepare it first. You can do this by turning your air fryer on to 400 degrees and putting it in there for a minute or 2, SAUCE side UP. Then, once you've "stabilized the top", you can flip it and keep the air fryer going for 2 minutes or so, checking it along the way to get it to your desired toastiness for the bottom of your pizza. (Just remember that the heating element is above the tray, so the top of your stuff will get the most of the action. That's why you gotta flippy floppy.

Step 2: The Sauce

Okay, so the sauce is what makes it, for me. lol.

If you're making a lot of pizzas, you can use a can of tomato paste and a can of tomato sauce to thin it out. For my purpose, I used one can of paste and added water to thin it to my desired consistency. This made four mini naan pizzas.

Most important for me is GARLIC. I LAV GARLIC. But I hate onions and the texture they create. I discovered this garlic grater/paster thing and now I have to have fresh garlic on-hand at all times. Garlic used to be super annoying for me because I suck at chopping and cutting and I didn't want to bite into bits of garlic, but I could never get it small enough. So this grater gadget is the most-used thing in my kitchen, more so than plates hahaha. Secondly, getting garlic naked out of its skin is also terrible, so I just buy the peeled, fresh garlic at Aldi.

So, grate/paste-ify your garlic (or use powder), add it to your sauce until you like the flavor. I found that when it didn't have enough garlic, it tasted tangy. But once it had enough garlic, it would kinda sting my mouth gently with the spice of flavor. Get your salt, pepper and maybe other spices to tweak it to your taste. By the time you "LOVE IT", it is ready.

Step 3: Build the Beast, Bake & Eat

Once you have your sauce made, crust crisped, you're ready to give the pizza some life...

If your sauce is too liquefied, it could make the crust soggy, so be aware of that. Pasty is good. Spread it on there, then add your meats if you like. I then press basil into the sauce so that it's impregnated with the favor in random spots that I won't know about, until its time to eat it. Muahahah.

Put them into the air fryer or oven tray, then top with cheese, salt & pepper. On my machine, I had it at 400 degrees and just checked on it every minute or 2. I liked it when the cheese had brown charred areas . At that point, I sprayed some good quality olive oil over the top of it and garnished with more basil.

(To spray good olive oil or a favorite olive oil, I have one of these. I've had mine for a few years, with the intent to cook, but never did. So it was buried in the back of the cabinet in it's box still. My dad, on his air fryer adventures, told me of a pump-spray to use with your own oil. Then I laughed and said "okay, I guess I'll dig that out of the cupboard, now that you've gotten me an air fryer." hahaha. And now, I have my olive oil spray. Looking at amazon now, those mister/sprayer things have come a long way and I would rather have the frosted clear one, so you can see how much oil is in there. Mine is houndstooth pattern .)

Remove pizza from the air fryer, carefully, if you care about presentation. I've messed mine up every time. lol. Enjoy the pizza that was minimal effort, maximum taste and quick in timing !!