Pizza donuts are a savory deep-fried donut hole stuffed with cheese and pepperoni. Using premade dough makes these super easy!
Yup, that’s right.
I made pizza donuts. Last year I made pizza cupcakes and now I bring you pizza donuts.
I wasn’t really trying to invent another pizza recipe to top the cupcake one, but these just sort of happened. It started off when I made the deep fried pizza balls, which used pizza dough. But of course when one thinks of fried dough, my mind immediately turns to donuts.
And then I thought, why not make donut holes stuffed with pepperoni and cheese? A lot of donut dough recipes aren’t actually sweet. The sweetness comes from the glaze, sugar, etc that comes after. So it definitely makes sense to make a savory donut.
But when I thought about the donut holes, I realized they would look exactly like my fried pizza balls except with a different type of dough. And really, they don’t look so pretty. Plain brown balls do not represent how good these taste. So after thinking hard on how to decorate them, I realized what I needed was a bigger surface.
And then I came up with these. Just like sweet donuts with filling are shaped as large rounds, I shaped my savory filled donuts the same way. And this gave me enough surface area to work with to sprinkle more cheese and pepperonis on top. I made mine a little on the small side so that the dough would cook. As a result, I still didn’t have as much surface area as I would have liked and the cheese kept falling off, but I think it still works.
As an easy shortcut, rather than going though a yeast doughnut dough recipe, I used Pillsbury biscuit dough. These fried up so pretty. And the taste. OMG. These are so good right after they leave the fryer. The dough is so fluffy and the cheese is so soft and melty. I was having a hard time not eating them all before photographing them.
This is my last Game Day idea for this year though, really, these are good year-round.
Pizza Donuts
Ingredients
- 1 can of Pillsbury biscuit dough
- mini pepperonis (see note)
- shredded mozzarella cheese
- marinara sauce for dipping
Instructions
- Fill pot or pan being used for frying with oil, about 1 1/2 inches. Turn stove to medium-high heat.
- Take one of the divided biscuit dough chunks and flatten with hands or with a rolling pin, spreading out dough to about 4 inches in diameter. Make sure the edges get flattened too so that too much dough doesn't get bunched together at the end, making it hard to thoroughly cook the dough before it burns.
- Sprinkle about 1 heaping tbsp of shredded mozzarella cheese. Spread about 8-10 pieces of mini pepperoni or pepperoni chunks. Sprinkle a few more pieces of mozzarella cheese on top of the pepperoni. Carefully close up the dough, to form a round doughnut shape. Make sure the bottom is pinched closed so that no cheese or pepperoni escapes. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Carefully drop about 3 doughnuts into the fryer. When dough turns a golden brown, flip to other side to cook. When dough is evenly brown on both sides, lower heat to medium and continue to fry on both sides. The dough will need a few minutes on both sides to thoroughly cook inside, even though the outside may appear ready within 1 minute. You may want to start out with just a single doughnut to test how many minutes you need to fry on each side, cutting open the test one to check to see if the dough has cooked all the way. When donuts are finished, remove and place on a plate lined with paper towel. Immediately top with additional cheese, pressing gently down on the cheese so that it melts and sticks to the dough. The cheese will not melt all the way because the donut surface cools fast. Don't worry, there is another step to get it melted and pretty. Top with 4-5 pieces of pepperoni. Repeat with remaining donuts.
- Arrange donuts on toaster oven pan and toast them for about 3 minutes on "toast" setting until cheese is bubbling and melted. Toasting them right after the frying will keep the nice, fried texture. If you don't have a toaster oven you can use your oven to heat up the cheese. Just don't let them bake too long or you will change the texture of the donuts. Serve immediately with some marinara sauce.
Notes
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Kirby! Just saw your pizza donuts on Buzzfeed. Congrats!
Truly brilliant-licious.
Thank you!
These look great! Your tiny pepperoni has inspired me to try to make a junk-food pizza using only toppings bought at 7-11. Sliced Slim-Jim instead of pepperoni and String Cheese, maybe one with peppered beef jerky! Ha ha. I’d love to see your take on the Pizza Cups on instructables.
Oh how interesting on your 7-11 take. I’m not sure what you mean about the pizza cups instructables..
OMG, I want to make this too!!!! I just hate frying things though. 🙂
I used to be so scared of frying. But now I’ve gotten used to it.
This looks yummy and I’d love to try this !
I was thinking you can perforate holes in the doughnut and flatten more before spreading the cheese.
I hope you give it a try!