Pizza night has a way of bringing everybody to the table, and if your family is anything like most suburban households, you’ve probably stared at that half-eaten pepperoni pie on a Saturday morning and wondered what to do with it.

Here’s the answer: croutons.

Not the kind from a dusty bag in your pantry. We’re talking about crispy, golden, flavor-packed croutons made from whatever slices are left in the box, and they’re good enough to make you happy you over-ordered in the first place. Taste of Home recently spotlighted this trick, and once you try it, plain old store-bought croutons are going to feel like a real downgrade.

The idea is almost absurdly simple. You cut your leftover pizza into roughly half-inch, bite-sized pieces, pop them into your air fryer at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for three to five minutes, and watch them turn into something crunchy and completely irresistible. The crust crisps up, the cheese gets a little toasty, and all those herbs and toppings you paid for on Friday night suddenly concentrate into something new. It’s a two-ingredient upgrade that takes less time than reheating the slice the regular way, and the result is genuinely better.

No air fryer? That’s fine. An oven does the job just as well. Preheat it to 350 degrees, spread your cut pizza pieces in a single layer on a baking sheet, and bake them for five to seven minutes until they’re golden. Kitchen scissors make cutting the pizza surprisingly easy if you don’t want to wrestle with a knife, though either tool works perfectly well.

The best part is what you do with them after. Toss the pizza croutons onto a Caesar salad and you’ve got something that feels like an actual restaurant move. The salty, herby crunch on top of crisp romaine, creamy dressing, and shaved parmesan is genuinely satisfying, the kind of lunch that makes you feel clever for eating it. You can pair the croutons with a classic homemade Caesar dressing and romaine for a complete weekday lunch that uses up your leftovers without feeling like a compromise.

Kids tend to love this one, too.

Honestly, the pizza crouton idea works because it stops treating leftovers like a consolation prize. Leftover pizza is already pretty well-seasoned, already has fat from the cheese, and already has structure from the crust. All three of those things are exactly what makes a great crouton. You’re not fighting the food’s nature; you’re just redirecting it into something that fits the next meal better.

There’s also something worth saying about food waste here. The USDA estimates that American families throw out somewhere between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply, and a lot of that happens at the household level with leftovers that don’t get used before they turn. Turning Friday’s pizza into Sunday’s salad topper isn’t just a clever trick; it’s one of those small habits that adds up. You spent money on that pizza. You might as well enjoy every piece of it.

The croutons also work as a snack on their own. A handful of crispy pizza croutons while you’re packing school lunches or tidying up the kitchen on a Sunday afternoon is a perfectly reasonable thing to eat, and nobody in your house is going to argue with you about it.

From a practical standpoint, this hack asks almost nothing of you. You don’t need a recipe. You don’t need special ingredients. You need leftover pizza, something to cut it with, and either an oven or an air fryer you probably already own. The three-to-five-minute cook time in the air fryer means you can have them ready before your salad is even fully assembled.

If you want to get a little more deliberate about it, think about which pizza flavors work best for which salads. A veggie pizza with mushrooms and peppers makes a surprisingly great crouton for an Italian-style salad with olives and pepperoncini. A classic margherita pizza crisped up in the air fryer sits beautifully on top of a simple arugula salad with lemon and olive oil. A meat lover’s slice turned into croutons adds enough heft to make a salad feel like a real dinner rather than a side dish.

Pizza night’s leftovers just became the best part of the weekend.