For those nights when you just can’t be bothered throwing together a meal, this French bread pizza in the air fryer will save the day. Now, I’m not going to tell you this is ‘real Italian pizza,’ because… please. But I will tell you that it is fast, delicious, crispy and is bound to be a hit with the whole family: adults and kids alike.
What Bread to Use
While creating your own dough (or buying premade from the store) makes delicious pizza, on those lazy nights sometimes even premade dough can still feel like too much. Enter: french bread. Also sometimes called Italian bread. It’s neither French nor Italian (and I’m quite sure both of those countries roll their eyes at our poor bread choices), but it is delicious made into a pizza.
Basically, you just want a bread that’s soft, fluffy and wide. With that advice, just choose whatever bread tickles your fancy.
Prepping the French Bread for Air Fryer Pizza
The French bread is rather tall and fluffy so you’ll first want to compress it. Making it flatter not only makes it easier to eat, but it’ll also make it easier to add your toppings. If it’s wobbly, your toppings will fall off pretty easily which can make it difficult to put in the air fryer when you’re ready to cook.
I like to just use a sheet tray and put my weight on it for a minute or two, which is usually more than enough to flatten the bread for our needs.
Toppings in the Air Fryer
One thing I realized when I first made this french bread pizza in the air fryer was any lightweight toppings (like pepperoni) would likely come off with the forceful air. You can always just stick them back on, but if you want to avoid that then I suggest putting other toppings on top of it such as more cheese, peppers or onions.
You could add literally any toppings you’d like to this pizza! I opted for just cheese and pepperoni, as that’s my preferred pizza order, but you could add bell peppers, onion, prosciutto, sausage, mushrooms or even pineapple if you’re so inclined. I won’t judge. I mean, I will a little, but silently. (Kidding, I don’t even like pineapple off pizza.)
How to Make French Bread Pizza in Air Fryer
This recipe will be done in under 10 minutes, making it the ultimate weeknight meal. If you wanted to make it a little healthier you could make a side salad to go with it.
1. First, you’ll want to press your bread to make it a little flatter to make it easier to add your toppings.
2. Since we don’t want the pizza sauce to make the bread soggy, you’ll need to pop just the bread into the air fryer without any toppings. Just a couple of minutes will be enough to crisp it up to avoid soggy bread.
3. Add your sauce, cheese and toppings! Anything you like. Then carefully place the bread with toppings back into the air fryer basket. My basket fits one quarter of a French bread loaf at a time, but larger ones may be able to fit two. If you have a smaller air fryer, you can just cut your bread pieces as small as you need to fit and just eat more of them. It’s a very flexible recipe.
4. Your French bread pizza will only need minutes in the air fryer. If you’re using any meats make sure they’re pre-cooked as they won’t be in the air fryer long enough to cook them through.
Storage and Reheating
This pizza can be stored in foil for up to four days. To reheat you can either pop it in the air fryer for a few minutes or the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until warmed through (usually 5-10 minutes).
This pizza would be great to eat in one piece or you could cut it into slices and it would make an excellent appetizer for a party.
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to post it to Instagram and tag me! 
French Bread Pizza in the Air Fryer
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread
- 4 cup mozarella cheese
- 2 cups pizza sauce
- toppings of your choice
Instructions
- Cut your loaf in half and then half each of those for four pieces of bread.
- Cook the bread in the air fryer at 370 degrees Fahrenheit for 2-3 minutes with no toppings on it to avoid it getting soggy.
- Top your pizza with pizza sauce, cheese and the toppings of your choice. These amounts are estimates, as it depends on how saucy or cheesy you like your pizza.
- Bake in the air fryer at 370 degrees Fahrenheit for 2-4 minutes. At 2 minutes the cheese will be melted but not browned, so the length will depend on how many brown spots you like on your cheese. I like my pizza quite brown so I went for 4 minutes.