Pizza (Muffin) Cupcakes
These Pizza Cupcakes are savory pizza muffins made with pepperoni, cheese, and Italian seasoning. It’s a fun recipe to make for parties or game day – they’re like little pizzas in muffin form.
I like coming up with different kinds of pizza-inspired recipes. I love pizza, and it’s fun to use the same flavors to make other things like these pizza cupcakes. They’re actually savory muffins, but Mr. K called them pizza cupcakes the first time I made them, and the name stuck.
I made these with my favorite pizza toppings: pepperoni and cheese. They’re as easy as making muffins or cupcakes, and they look so cute on a serving platter. They’re the perfect appetizer or snack for parties.
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Vegetable oil
- Large egg
- Fat-free milk
- Mini pepperoni
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- Italian seasoning
Pepperoni: I buy 5-ounce packages of mini pepperoni for this recipe. You can also use regular sliced pepperoni, but you will want to cut the slices into quarters.
Variations: If you don’t like pepperoni, you can substitute the same amount of cooked crumbled sausage. Or try chopped crispy bacon. If you like heat, you can add some red pepper flakes to the batter.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. I love parchment cupcake liners* by Paper Chef. They don’t stick to muffins and cupcakes like other liners.
*Some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Sift the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix in the oil, egg, and milk.
Stir until the batter is combined. It will be thick and sticky, which is what you want.
Mix in the cheese, Italian seasoning, and pepperoni. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin filling each liner 2/3 full.
Bake them for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Adjust the oven temperature to 350°F. Top each muffin with shredded cheese and mini pepperoni (about six). Bake them until the cheese has melted, about four to five minutes.
Sprinkle extra seasoning over the top for serving. They are best served warm. We like them with some warm marinara or pizza sauce on the side for dipping.
Storage Tips
If you have leftover pizza cupcakes, they will keep in the refrigerator for a few days. Store them in an airtight container. I recommend warming them up in the microwave before eating them. I don’t like cold pizza, but if you do, you might like them cold from the fridge.
You can also freeze them. Allow them to cool to room temperature, and then store them in a freezer container. They will keep in the freezer for a month or so.
More Pizza Recipes
- Pizza Stuffed Mushrooms
- 2 Ingredient Pizza Dough
- Mini Cauliflower Deep Dish Pizzas
- Crazy Crust Pizza with Veggies and Meat
- Pizza Bites
Here’s a video I made recently while remaking these for an event!
Pizza (Muffin) Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 large or extra large egg
- 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp fat free milk, note, if you use whole milk these come out a little dry
- 1/2 cup mini pepperonis
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- Additional 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and 1/3 cup of mini pepperonis for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a cupcake pan with 8 cupcake liners.
- Sift together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Add in vegetable oil, egg and milk into flour mixture and stir until batter is smooth. It will be quite sticky and thick. Stir in cheese, Italian seasoning and pepperoni. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full.
- Bake for about 15-18 minutes until muffins turn out golden and a knife inserted comes out clean. Lower oven to 350°F. Cover tops of muffins with more cheese and about 6 slices of mini pepperoni and bake for 4-5 minutes at 350°F until cheese is melted. Sprinkle some additional Italian seasoning on top if desired. Serve while warm. You can serve with a side of marinara sauce for dipping.
Was looking for something different to make for a work function. Found this and decided to test them today. they were fantastic! Guess my muffin pan was smaller because I go 12 out of the recipe. Before baking them the second time I added pasta sauce before putting the mozzerella and pepperoni top. Turn out nicely. Now I don’t have to bring the sauce on the side.
Thank you so much for posting.
I’m so glad they worked out well for you!
I know you recommend serving these “warm”, but if I had to transport these to an event and plate them in advance before guests arrive, will they still be good at room temperature, up to a couple of hours, like regular muffins would?
Also, what about tweaking the recipe by making pizza-cornbread muffins? What do you think?
I don’t recommend serving them at room temp. It would be similar to eating pizza at room temp– the cheese will no longer be melty and the grease from the pepperoni may congeal.
Must have to try
when I looked at the recipe it said it makes/serves 12 , but when I made the “cupcakes” the recipe only made 8 cupcakes. But the recipe is still delicious I wanted to eat them all.
Sorry about that. The recipe does make 8, not 12.
Can they be frozen before baking or frozen half baked or frozen baked for later use?
I think you can do either freeze and bake later or bake and then freeze and reheat later.
can I just use a box of baking mix instead of the
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
and just follow the rest of the recipe?
do you mean like a boxed cake mix? because that won’t work. cake mix is quite sweet and these muffins are not meant to be sweet
I think anymonus means something like Bisquick or Jiffy Mix. That might work, but I think you’d still need to add sugar and probably adjust the amount of oil since these mixes do not have any sugar but do have some sort of fat.
Hi! Those look delicious and I can’t wait to make a batch. Could you please let me know the actual ingredients in “Italian seasoning”? I can find nothing of the sort but fresh oreganos and other herbs and spices are easy enough to find, so it would be easier to know what the actual seasoning is. Thank you!
Hi Rita- In the US, Italian seasoning is usually located with other dry herbs at the grocery store. There are recipes online for you to make your own blend, like this one: https://www.food.com/recipe/italian-seasoning-82770