Kirbie's Cravings

Stuffed Pizza Bites

Stuffed pizza bites are a fun snack or appetizer. You can use pre-made pizza dough or make your own from scratch and each bite is stuffed with cheese and pepperoni and served with a marinara sauce for dipping. These pizza bites are just like a pizza except in a fun pull-apart bread roll form.

photo of a pan of stuffed pizza bites

I’ve been pretty obsessed with pizza lately. The other day I had a craving for pizza bites. While I love the easy pepperoni pizza puffs I made, I was craving something with actual pizza dough. So, I set about making some homemade pizza dough balls and decided to stuff them with pepperoni and mozzarella.

photo of one pizza bite

Fluffy pizza dough, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and marinara sauce. All the ingredients for a pizza but in a cute bite-sized pull-apart ball form. The whole pie plate full of these stuffed pizza bites were gone within minutes. Yikes.

close-up photo of a pan of Stuffed pizza bites

Can I use pre-made pizza dough for pizza bites?

What I like about pizza bites is that you can use homemade pizza dough or you can use pre-made pizza dough. They both work great. I’ve made these with premade dough before, but for this version, I used a pizza dough recipe I found on Simply Recipes.

photo showing how the pizza bites are made

Do you have to let the pizza dough rise before baking pizza bites?

If you are using pre-made pizza dough, once you stuff and seal the pizza dough balls you don’t have to let them rise. Just pop them in the oven to bake.

If you are making pizza dough from scratch, you will need to let it rise once before stuffing the pizza bites. Keep in mind, you can make the pizza dough ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to make stuffed pizza bites.

Can I use my favorite pizza toppings?

It depends on the toppings. The best (and easiest to work with) toppings are ones that are already cooked. Some vegetables won’t cook in the time it takes to bake the pizza bites, so you will end up with rolls stuffed with mostly raw ingredients. The same goes for different meat toppings. Meat fillings for pizza bites definitely need to be cooked first.

With that in mind, here are some ideas if you want to switch up the filling;

  • Any good melting cheese will work well, so you can switch out the mozzarella cheese for cheddar cheese, provolone cheese, Monterey jack cheese, Swiss cheese, and gruyere cheese. Or, use a combination of your favorites.
  • Grated or shredded Parmesan cheese is great for adding flavor, but it’s not a great melting cheese so use it in combination with another type of cheese. You could also sprinkle some on top of the rolls before you bake them.
  • Bell peppers, spinach, and mushrooms are some vegetable choices that would need to be cooked before you stuff them in the pizza bites. I would also finely chop them, too.
  • Shredded chicken, crumbled Italian sausage, bacon, and ground beef are good choices, just be sure to cook them first before stuffing the pizza bites.
  • You can switch out the pepperoni for Genoa salami, prosciutto, and ham and you don’t have to worry about cooking them first.

photo of a pizza bite dipped in sauce

Stuffed Pizza Bites

Servings: 6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pizza dough enough for one pizza I used this recipe or you can use premade dough
  • 15 pieces pepperoni chopped into small pieces
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • Italian seasoning
  • marinara sauce for dipping

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 9-inch pie pan. Make round balls with pizza dough, about 1 inch in diameter. Flatten dough balls and stuff with cheese and pepperoni before sealing dough balls back up.
  • Place finished dough balls into pie pan, lining them next to each other and covering plate.
  • Sprinkle Italian seasoning on top of the balls. Bake for about 20 minutes until tops are golden brown.
  • Serve warm with a side of marinara sauce.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats

Nutrition

Serving: 0.17of recipe, Calories: 148kcal, Carbohydrates: 15g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Sodium: 396mg, Sugar: 2g, NET CARBS: 15

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.

Did you make this recipe?I'd love to see it! Mention @KirbieCravings and tag #kirbiecravings!

Subscribe to receive new post updates via email

don’t miss a thing!

Get new post updates via email:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




4 comments on “Stuffed Pizza Bites”

  1. Nice- I was looking for a snack when the kids come in late tonight. This works!

  2. These sound just delicious! I havnt had pizza for a while and you certainly have me craving the comforting cheesy-meaty combo now indeed, gorgeous recipe 🙂