Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

Who says pizza needs to be served by the slice?  These Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls are a tasty twist on a classic!

This post may contain paid links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Who says pizza needs to be served by the slice? These Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls are a tasty twist on a classic!Time for a flashback!  As much as I would like, this flashback isn’t back to the days of hammer pants and Nintendos (one of my favorite topics!).  Nope, this flashback is back to last year.  You see, it was about this time last year that my Mom and sister came up from Nashville to visit…with my niece.  She was almost 1 ½ years old at the time, so she was just learning to toddle.  But she most certainly knew how to cry!

These late summer trips to upstate New York have become a bit of a tradition now.  We take Blakely (my niece) to the apple orchard to pick apples.  And we take her up to see the horses at Saratoga.  And we eat delicious Italian food.  (Our area has some amazing Italian restaurants!)  One night we decided to drive up to a little town about 20 minutes north of here.  There’s an excellent homestyle Italian restaurant there, and the town has a quaint little main street filled with unique shops.  We loaded into the car and off we went.

Who says pizza needs to be served by the slice? These Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls are a tasty twist on a classic!Somewhere near the end of dinner, Blakely started getting mad, so Laura volunteered to take her out and walk her around outside while we finished up.  (Laura was pregnant at the time, so she was glad to get up and move a bit.)  So my Mom, sister and I finished up dinner and made our way outside about 10 minutes later.  I didn’t see Laura, so I called her to figure out where she was.  Here’s how it went:

Me: Hey, where are you?

Laura (in hushed tone): I’m across the street in the fire station parking lot watching a belly dancing show.

Me: {Long silence.}  Did you say belly dancing?

Laura (in hushed tone): Yes.

Who says pizza needs to be served by the slice? These Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls are a tasty twist on a classic!Sure enough, Laura had stumbled onto a local belly dancing troupe (is troupe the right word for a collection of belly dancers?).  I hung up, and told my sister what I had learned.  She immediately bolted over to see if this was true.  And it was!  The town was having a block party that night, and the belly dancers were performing at the bottom of a hill next to the fire station.

And the best part was that Blakely was sitting right there at the front completely enamored by the dancing.  (One of the dancers had a baton with fire on each end.)  We milked that one for all it was worth since Blakely was enjoying the show.  (In fact, we were a little worried that she might try to run up and join in at some point.  Fortunately, she was content just watching.)

Who says pizza needs to be served by the slice? These Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls are a tasty twist on a classic!Granted, the story about the belly dancers in the parking lot doesn’t have much in common with these Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls.  Sorry!  But I realized that I had never mentioned the belly dancing story here, and it’s honestly just too good to pass up.  I couldn’t have made that one up if I tried.  But let’s shift gears a bit and talk about pizza.  I’m always up for a good chat about pizza!

During college football season, Laura and I have a tradition where we make pizza and watch the LSU game on Saturday night.  (Actually, it’s more like she watches the first half and then wanders off to bed while I stay up way too late watching the game.)  In preparation for last week’s game, I decided to mix things up a bit.  I still made pizza like always, but I turned the pizza into little 2-bite stuffed rolls instead.  Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls and college football = my kinda Saturday night!

Who says pizza needs to be served by the slice? These Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls are a tasty twist on a classic!I used our favorite pizza toppings (pepperoni, onions and diced jalapenos), but feel free to mix things up with these Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls.  Turn ’em into Stuffed BBQ Chicken Pizza Rolls.  Or Stuffed Greek Pizza Rolls.  Or Stuffed Taco Pizza Rolls.  Can you tell we like our pizza around here?  Enjoy!

Who says pizza needs to be served by the slice? These Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls are a tasty twist on a classic!

Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

Who says pizza needs to be served by the slice?  These Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls are a tasty twist on a classic!
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Rising Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 16 servings
Calories: 195kcal

Ingredients

For the Dough

For the Pizza Rolls

For the Topping

Instructions

  • Add all Dough ingredients to the bowl of a countertop mixer. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, and then increase speed to medium. Mix for 3-4 more minutes, or until dough is smooth.
  • Transfer dough into a large oiled bowl; cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm (85°F) location for 60-75 minutes, or until dough has almost doubled in size.
  • Roll dough into a 16” x 16” square. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 16 (4”x4”) squares.
  • Spread pizza sauce among squares, leaving ½” border on all sides. Divide mozzarella, pepperoni, onions and jalapeno among squares.
  • Working with one square at a time, pull two opposite corners together and pinch to seal. Repeat with two remaining corners, pinching all seams to seal. Place roll seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining squares.
  • Cover baking sheet lightly with plastic wrap. Place in a warm location for 25-30 minutes, or until rolls have risen noticeably.
  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • Using a small bowl, whisk together Parmesan cheese, Italian seasonings and salt.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk together egg with 1 Tbsp of water.
  • Brush tops of rolls with egg wash and then sprinkle with the Parmesan mixture.
  • Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Spiced® is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associate Programs and other affiliate services. This means that spicedblog.com receives a small commission by linking to Amazon.com and other sites at no cost to the readers.

30 Comments

  1. I am so glad you shared that belly dancing story here – David, it sure is just too good to pass up! I could almost picture the whole scenario – if that block party became a yearly ritual, then, Blakely could grow up visiting and watching that – and maybe chomping on a picnic basket filled with these stuffed pepperoni rolls! 🙂 I am loving the dough part of these rolls – last week, I had Blue Apron’s “rustic pizza dough” and a good pizza dough sure goes a long way!
    Happy Monday my Upstate NYC friend!

    1. You are totally right, Shashi…that belly dancing story was WAY too good to pass up. And I can’t believe I didn’t tell that story back last summer. But year. Can you imagine the look on our faces when we stumbled into that one? 🙂 Oh man, a good pizza dough can be used for so many things! Laura and I spent many, many Saturday nights tweaking our dough recipe…and I think we’ve got that one down now. In fact, it’s one of my favorite all-time recipes! Hope you are having a great week so far, my ATL friend!

  2. I could only imagine your face when you heard Laura yell back ‘belly dancing’. You must have been so confused! So random, right? That gave me a little chuckle this morning, which definitely isn’t a bad thing on a Monday morning 😉 These pizza rolls sound delicious! I love food like this on the weekend and so perfect that you can pretty much customize them with what ya like! I bet they are fun to make too. I know my niece and nephew would love these as much as I do! Happy Monday, David 🙂

    1. Oh my gosh…I was SO confused, Dawn! Belly dancing? Huh?? We had a blast watching that show, and it was the perfect way to distract a slightly grumpy little girl, too!

  3. Hi David! These would be great to take to work for lunch or on a picnic! Of course, they would also be easy to grab in the middle of the night! If you were making them for a group, each person could customize their own with their favorite ingredients and put their initial on top using a small knife…yeah, I like to play with my food! I think you should take Robbie to see the belly dancers, I’ll bet he would enjoy it!

    1. Ohhh…you are right, Dorothy! The fact that these are little handheld bites means they are easy to take with you. Of course, we nom-nom’d these for dinner, but they would be great for lunch…or a midnite snack. And, yes, you’re right. Perhaps we’ll see if those belly dancers come back this summer…and we’ll take Robbie up to see them! So crazy!

  4. Agreed, who says? I love a good twist on things myself and these look mighty tasty friend. As for belly dancers, my first experience was in Egypt and they were incredible, although a man who was with us mentioned that all the good ones are from Lebanon and these were not Egyptian women. We didn’t didn’t care where they were from, it was so fun to watch… as were the Whirling Dervishes in Istanbul, but that’s another story…

    1. I’m going to take a guess and say that the belly dancers you say in Egypt were a little bit better than the ones in the small town in upstate New York. No offense to the local belly dancers…but yeah. 🙂 Thanks, Kevin!

  5. I’ve only enjoyed pizza by the slice, I’ve never indulged in Pizza rolls, or Calzones or anything like that. I’ve only seen a few random belly dancers I can only imagine a belly troupe I bet you it was pretty impressive. That was a good story, happy you shared it David. Pizza and football go hand and hand in my house. Stuffed Pepperoni Pizza Rolls would be a hit in my house.

    1. Oh my gosh. Stop what you are doing right now and go get a calzone! I made one last winter for fun, and it turned out quite well. You definitely need to give it a shot!! But those belly dancers. Talk about a crazy experience! But it was the perfect way to entertain a slightly grumpy little girl. 🙂 Thanks, Mary!!

  6. I have to say that while apple picking and eating Italian food, belly dancing has never come to mind – or to town! What a fun day! It sure seems like you had a fund day of football watching and pizza eating too! I want some of those pizza rolls!

    1. I know! How random is the belly dancing troupe, Rach? And can you imagine the looks on our faces when we walked around the corner and found a whole group of belly dancers performing in the parking lot of a fire station? I mean the entire thing was surreal! But it was a great way to entertain a grumpy little girl. 🙂

    1. I definitely support your love of all things pizza, Dannii/Dave! 🙂 Nothing beats pizza + belly dancing…oops, I mean pizza + football/soccer!

  7. While I was reading the story, I was trying to guess how it would be connected to these delicious pizza rolls. Thank you for accepting the fact there are no many connections. Like none. I don’t mind though – the story indeed a funny one. But these pizza rolls aren’t funny at all. Seriously delicious stuff. Pepperoni is my favorite pizza topping. I like it to pair with sweet peppers, but this version sounds great to me too, David!

    1. Haha…fortunately, the belly dancers are not at all connected to the pizza rolls, Ben! That could have gotten scary. Fast. 🙂 Do give diced jalapenos a try next time you make a pizza. A friend introduced us to them (as a pizza topping) a few years back, and now they are one of our go-to toppings!

    1. Yes, you definitely deserve a batch of pizza rolls tonight, Linda! I mean after that crazy flight that put you home at like 3am? Yeah, that just requires pizza! 🙂

  8. Dave, I distinctly remember you telling me you were part of this troupe. In fact, isn’t curling code word for it :p

    That was such perfect timing though, and I bet you relished those 10 minutes 😀 I hope you take Robbie there this year 😀 Now these pizza rolls look delicious- If you make them for me, I’ll take them BOTH for a walk…to get ice cream.

    1. Ah, busted!! You totally called my bluff, mate. I was actually the one in the back of the troupe. My outfit was sparkly and had all these little jingle bells on it. In fact, that same outfit could be used as my Santa costume. 🙂 Oh, and you wouldn’t dare take Robbie and Blakely for a walk together…you might not come back alive! Haha!

Leave a Reply

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

Recipe Rating