Pizza rolls are a savory, cheese-filled take on cinnamon rolls! My version is ready in under an hour and can be customized with your favorite dough, sauce, and toppings. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy to make! If you’ve made cinnamon rolls before, pizza rolls are very similar in concept. We’ll simply roll out our dough, add our filling, and roll the dough into a log before slicing and baking.
- Ready in under an hour, so you can have this homemade version in just a bit more time than it takes to heat up that not-as-tasty store-bought kind.
- Customizable! Make them with your favorite crust, pizza sauce (I’ve been meaning to try an Alfredo sauce version!), cheese, and toppings. You can get creative here–just be mindful that the more toppings you add, the more likely your rolls will start to unroll in the oven.
- Makes a fun appetizer or after school snack. Or serve them as a side dish with your favorite soup, like my new vegetable soup recipe!
Continuing with my brief hiatus from sweets (I promise, I have a sweet recipe coming for you next week!), these pizza rolls have been a simple staple in my kitchen for quite some time now. We do our best to avoid processed foods in my house, and my kids absolutely devour this homemade version (not that they’ve tried the other kind to compare, but I have 😉).
Filled with cheese, pizza sauce, and just a bit of pepperoni, these may look like cinnamon rolls, but they taste just like your favorite slice of pizza. We love to keep things simple with ours, but you can absolutely get creative with the filling. Let’s get started!
Ingredients
- Pizza dough. I recommend using homemade pizza dough (or my sourdough pizza crust) over a store-bought dough, but you can always take that shortcut if you are pressed for time. Just know that store-bought dough may not yield the same amount of rolls as my homemade version.
- Pizza sauce. You likely guessed I’d be recommending my homemade pizza sauce over store-bought. It’s quick and easy to make! But I completely understand if you want to skip that extra step and just use the jarred version. You’ll need between ¼-⅓ cup, depending on how saucy you want your rolls. You can also save some for dipping after the rolls come out of the oven.
- Cheese. Mozzarella is a must, but you can also add in some parmesan, asiago, or whatever cheese you like on your pizza. Unlike the beer cheese dip recipe I just shared, you do NOT have to shred your own cheese here–pre-shredded will work just fine.
- Pepperoni. This is optional, but for pepperoni lovers it does add extra flavor to these pizza rolls. Mini pepperonis work especially well here, but really any kind can be used.
- Olive oil. We’ll brush the dough with olive oil before adding our sauce. Use a good kind for best results, like an extra virgin olive oil.
SAM’S TIP: The amount of ingredients that you need are somewhat estimates; I always always use somewhere in the range listed, but really you can alter it a bit by making things more saucy or more cheesy.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Pizza Rolls
Make the dough
Full instructions for this are in my pizza dough recipe, this is just a quick overview. If you are using pre-made pizza dough, you can skip over this section and move onto the next.
- Whisk together 1 cup of flour, instant yeast, sugar, and salt until combined, then stir in the olive oil and warm water.
- Gradually add more flour as needed until the dough starts to form into an elastic ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. You may not need all of the flour. When it’s ready, the dough may be a little sticky–that’s totally normal!
- Let rise in a covered and oiled bowl for about 30 minutes or until doubled in size. During the winter I often need closer to an hour for my dough to double, so keep in mind that the actual rise time may vary.
- Deflate and knead the dough very briefly (about 3-5 times) until smooth.
Assemble the rolls
- Roll the dough into a 15×9″ rectangle. Brush with olive oil, then spread pizza sauce overtop, leaving a ¼” border (just like when you make cinnamon rolls!).
- Sprinkle the cheese over the sauce, then add a layer of pepperoni or your favorite topping. Be careful not to overfill the rolls, or they will come apart in the oven.
- Roll the dough into a log, starting at the long end of the rectangle. Make sure you roll the log tightly and pinch the seam together, as this helps keep the rolls together. Transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 15 minutes (wrap in plastic if chilling longer). Chilling the dough will make it easier to cut and keep the rolls and nice round shape; if you skip it, your rolls will just be messier, but they’ll still taste fine.
- Cut the dough into 1″ slices with a serrated knife and arrange on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake
Brush each roll with melted butter, then bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes or so. I like to garnish my rolls with fresh basil and parmesan when they come out of the oven. Be careful when digging into these–the centers will be very hot!
SAM’S TIP: If you’d like, you can brush your rolls with the garlic butter I use in my garlic knots. Do this after the rolls come out of the oven so you don’t burn the garlic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! If you’d like to swap the pepperoni for some cooked and crumbled Italian sausage, finely diced onions or peppers, olives, etc. feel free. Just make sure to go fairly light with whatever you add, as overstuffing the rolls can cause them to unroll in the oven.
Sometimes the rolls separate a bit in the oven if they’re not rolled tightly enough or if they are overstuffed. This really isn’t a big deal–they’ll still be delicious–but they’re just a bit more pretty if they stick together.
Sealing the roll when you roll it by pinching the seam can help the dough stay together. Refrigerating the dough also helps with this, so don’t skip that step unless absolutely necessary!
I can’t wait to hear how you customize these! Please let me know what combinations you try in the comments (I’ve been meaning to try variations of my buffalo chicken pizza and bbq chicken pizza as rolls!).
Enjoy!
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Pizza Rolls
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Servings: 14 servings
Calories: 121kcal
Instructions
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Prepare pizza dough as per instructions. Once dough is finished rising, turn out onto a lightly floured surface, knead briefly to create a smooth and cohesive dough (about 3-5 times) and roll dough into a 15×9” (38 x 23cm) rectangle.
1 homemade pizza dough
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Brush surface of the dough lightly with olive oil. Spread pizza sauce evenly over the dough, leaving a ¼” (0.6cm) perimeter around the edges. Sprinkle cheese evenly over the sauce. Layer pepperoni evenly on top of the cheese, if using.
Olive oil, ¼-⅓ cup (65-90 g) pizza sauce, 6 oz (170 g) shredded mozzarella cheese, Pepperoni
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Starting with the longer end of the rectangle, roll tightly into a log. Place on a parchment paper lined baking tray or plate and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 15 minutes (if chilling longer than 15 minutes, cover with plastic wrap). This will make the roll easier to cut and less likely to spring apart in the oven. While pizza roll is chilling, preheat oven to 400F (205C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Once oven is preheated, remove log from the refrigerator and use a serrated knife to cut pizza roll into 1” (2.5cm) segments. Lay these flat on prepared baking sheet, spacing rolls at least 1” (2.5cm) apart.
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Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the surface of each roll with melted butter.
2 Tablespoons (28 g) salted butter
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Transfer to center rack of 400F (205C) preheated oven and bake for 15-18 minutes until edges are golden brown.
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After removing from the oven sprinkle tops with parmesan cheese and fresh basil, if desired. Allow to cool slightly before enjoying.
Grated parmesan cheese, Fresh shredded basil or dried basil for sprinkling
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 14serving | Calories: 121kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 312mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 151IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.