Party Food! Pizza in a Bite
Getting together to watch a game? Or maybe watching a different sort of game? Pizza bites are awesome party food. This recipe makes three trays which means you can pop them in the freezer and always have a quick appetizer on hand. Although, they are usually so popular that you’ll wind up baking all three trays in one night! When you are planning to make these grab a package of three disposable pie tins from the bakery aisle at the store, they are cheap and they will keep you from having to waste all of your good pie plates in the freezer.
Pizza Bites
makes 48 bites divided into 3 trays, prep 20 min, cook time 20 min, adapted from Recipezaar- 2 recipes pizza dough (or 2 cans refrigerated pizza dough)
- 8 oz block mozzarella cheese
- 4 oz thin sliced pepperoni
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning (combine oregano, basil, parsley, and garlic)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- pizza or marinara sauce
- Prepare pizza dough and roughly chop pepperoni. Cut block of mozzarella into 48 cubes.
- If you are going to bake some (or all!) right away preheat oven to 400°F. Grease 3 pie pans.
- If using refrigerated pizza dough: roll one dough out into a large rectangle and cut into 24 pieces. Repeat with 2nd pizza dough. If using homemade dough just pinch off walnut sized pieces as you go.
- In each dough piece place a couple pieces of chopped pepperoni and a cube of cheese. Seal dough around meat and cheese and place seam side down in pie pan.
- Repeat, placing approximately 16 dough balls in each pie plate.
- Once assembled, combine oil and spices and brush over the dough. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
- Now you can cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze or you can bake right away.
- When ready to bake: bake at 400°F for 16-20 min. Serve with warm pizza or marinara sauce.
I discovered this dough from Carmen Cooks when I tried her calzone recipe. I have used it over and over since then! I absolutely love it because it is so forgiving and easy to work with. Doubled, it makes the perfect amount of dough for this recipe. I used to use the refrigerated pizza doughs for this recipe, but I actually find the homemade dough far easier to work with.
Basic Pizza Dough
makes 1 recipe pizza dough, prep 10 min, rise time 1 hour- 1 pkg active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp loose yeast)
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 3/4 cup flour
- Combine yeast and warm water, stir to dissolve.
- Add oil, salt, and flour. Stir to combine.
- Once dough starts to come together, turn out onto a floured counter and knead to thoroughly combine-until dough is smooth and elastic. If it is uncooperative let it rest for a few minutes and come back to it.
- Place dough ball in a greased bowl and cover loosely. Allow dough to rise until doubled, approximately an hour.
Don’t miss my other pizza creations: Pizza Bagels and Pizza Egg Rolls!
Posted in Easy, Snacks/Appetizers
October 20th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
These look so delicious! I never made homemade pizza dough, but I will try the recipe you listed.
October 20th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
What an adorable idea! I can see how these would be gobbled up in a minute! Cute idea.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:44 am
YUM these look good! What an adorable appetizer, great for football season! Yes, isn’t the dough great? It’s one of the first yeast doughs I ever worked with and helped me overcome my fear of yeast!
October 26th, 2008 at 9:10 am
My girlfriend just saw that picture and went, “what is that?!” So these are on the docket for this week.
October 26th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Oh boy, this looks so good. Will definitely try them!
November 5th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
When you freeze them, how long do you usually have to thaw them before baking?
You can put them straight in the oven. The bake time will be a little longer so keep an eye on them. -Katie
November 10th, 2008 at 1:52 am
Have you ever tried putting marinara inside the roll, as well?
I think that that could be pretty tasty.
I have not tried but a little probably wouldn’t be too difficult. Good Luck! -Katie
November 10th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
This is SUCH a great idea. I’m totally making these the next time I have one or all three nieces to spend the night. They will LOVE these (and their aunt and uncle will, too!).
Thanks for the recipes!
November 10th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
What a great idea! I’m definitely making these next time we have a crowd – perfect finger food!
November 10th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Oh my word am I in love.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
This recipe looks yummy – and a fun project for grandparents and grandkids!
November 17th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
that looks great!
November 17th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
what does 2 1/4 tsp loose yeast mean? is it 2 tsp plus 1/4 tsp?
Yes, that’s right. The packets of yeast have 2 tsp plus 1/4 tsp in them so you could sub that much loose yeast from a jar. -katie
November 17th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
asha- Use your brain already.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Custy Child, hopefully you know asha, if not, be nicer. Baking relies on exact measurements, and sometimes folks just aren’t sure…
November 18th, 2008 at 4:51 am
in the first pic it looks as tho the little pizzettes were baked on top of marinara… is this so? and if not, have you ever tried this?
No I haven’t tried that, I think the bottoms might get soggy, but you could try it with one plate and make the other two normally, Good Luck! -katie
November 18th, 2008 at 7:58 am
My hubby will love these…perfect for Friday night snackers
November 18th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Those look so delicious and cute too!
November 18th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Wow, this is so yummy… I have got to try and make this at home.Thanks for the recipe…
November 19th, 2008 at 8:01 am
What a great appetizer idea! I’m sure guests will absolutely gobble them up.
November 19th, 2008 at 11:13 am
These look great! I’d love to try them. Any recommendations for a particular pizza sauce?
November 19th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
sassybrat, i don’t think it’s marinara on the plate but a reddish coaster or a pot holder on which the dish is resting.
November 19th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
My mom makes this but uses some form of Pilsbury bisquits or something for the dough. Which is really good and flaky. It is effortless but probably not as good as the homemade dough.
November 19th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Wow.. I love this idea, and its not great for only parties, but for those.. poor.. college age kids like myself. The ingredients are rather cheap, better then buying those pizza rolls, and instead of having them as the cook suggests, you can make smaller amounts and when your in the mood for pizza. BAM! Just pop in the oven, wait for a little bit, dip them.. which is one thing I really enjoy. Thanks for this idea ^.^; It was really great experimenting with it, for proper proportion size for just a single person like me.
November 19th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Tried it tonight. It was yummy. I wish I had thought to keep the dough a little more on the thin side or add more ‘insides’ to the mini-calzones. Mine ended up more as breadballs with a piece of pepperoni. Contadina sauce is great, as is your favorite alfredo for a second dipping sauce.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:23 am
These pizza bites are making my mouth water! Doesn’t help that I am hungry!
November 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Oh now THAT is fantastic.
I’m on my way out the door for ingredients already…
November 21st, 2008 at 4:44 pm
How cute! I’ve made long pizza rolls, but never little bites! What a great idea!!!
November 21st, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Mmm, very cool idea!
November 22nd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
They were great- used
fresh pizza dough made a tWhole Foods.
Another idea would be to include in the center a little pesto and sun dried tomatoes with the mozzarella and omit pepperoni.WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I think that would be great. The problem with including “wet” ingredients such as pesto or marinara sauce inside the bite is it might make it difficult to seal the dough balls. I would leave it out and then brush the finished tray with pesto before baking. But I am not that adventurous! If you try it let me know. -katie
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Outstanding!!! Made them last night and wow!!! Kids loved them. Made too many, and guess what? Seperate and stick in fridge and reheat. Just as good. Thanks for the great idea!!
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Wow, looks delicious! I’ll have to try.
November 24th, 2008 at 9:49 am
This looks so good and it sounds really easy to make. I have bookmarked this tab and I will definitely be making this recipe.
November 24th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Those would be so good still warm from the oven!
November 25th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
These look so delicious, I am making these ASAP!!!!
November 25th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I’ve discovered my love of homemade pizza and here is my suggestion..Just slice string cheese for the inside? That’s how I make homemade stuffed crust!so easy!
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
I bet they are like molten lava when they are done. I never have the patience to wait. I always burn the roof of my mouth. Probably worth it though. They look great.
December 8th, 2008 at 8:33 am
A great idea! I make pizza rolls with egg roll wrappers or won ton skins, but this is a good one to know as well. Thanks!
December 8th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Now wouldn’t these be great for movie night?
December 14th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I finally found time to try out that receipe!!! it turned out great!!! I actualy put ham, mozarella and capcicum.
I followed the receipe for the dough too it’s really nice, but maybe next time I would put one more tsp of salt.
maybe peperoni make it taste salty but with what I put it wasn’t salty enough….
December 14th, 2008 at 10:28 am
My bad lol,
I actually put 1/2 tsp of salt by mistake…oups..
December 16th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Made these last night… delicious! Did some ham and pineapple as well and it worked great! This is the best pizza dough recipe I’ve ever used.
December 17th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
This recipe looks awesome, the perfect quick meal in this hectic time leading up to the holidays!!
December 19th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
these look great!
i tried making them
they look much better than these,
but fantastic job with the photographs
December 29th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Oh this looks great! Stumbling right away to add to my list of to-dos!
December 30th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
These look great and would be very popular in my household. I will put these on my to try list. Thanks!
January 1st, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Ok, I made these things 6 times for various holiday events. Everyone LOVED them. The ration of LOVE to ACTUAL WORK INVOLVED was very high. I recommend these to all. As another tip, for the non-meat eaters, I made some without the pepperoni and used a coil of dough to mark the pan so people would know.
January 10th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
That really was superb…looks very tempting..
January 13th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Wow pizza in a ball great for having friend over are for on the run.
January 18th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
These look great! I’m going to try them! I have a Tasty Tuesday blog party…come on by one day! Thanks for the recipe!
-Kim
January 25th, 2009 at 5:29 am
Looks so yummy! I love it! I will definitely try this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:58 pm
These were really easy to make with only a few handy ingredients (I used bags of pizza dough from my local bakery) – they look and taste FANTASTIC – just in time for Superbowl snacking
Thanks for such a wonderful recipe!
February 9th, 2009 at 10:44 am
[...] – Pizza Bites from Chaos in the [...]
February 20th, 2009 at 6:40 am
Hi Katie- Just made these and posted about them today with a link to your site. Loved them! This recipe is a keeper and I was so glad to find it. Thanks!
March 20th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Oh yum!!! These look amazing! They would be perfect for a party.
May 1st, 2009 at 6:17 am
A brilliant recipe. Thanks you.
Peter
May 8th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
delicious! this is another why-didnt-i-think-of-that recipe, but im so glad you shared this!Hope you wont mind but I’d love to guide Foodista readers to your site, just add this little widget here to this post and it’s all set to go, Thanks!
May 18th, 2009 at 11:23 am
These look fantastic, will be trying out the recipe for definate.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:59 am
I can’t wait to make these!
May 25th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
My girlfriend and I made a pan of pizza bites and two mini pizzas with the extra dough. Both were absolutely delicious. We’re vegetarians, so we made bites with sharp cheddar cheese and vegetarian bacon, and a few with mushroom, and some jalapeno/cheese. They were a complete hit. Thank you for the recipe! Also, the dough is delicious, both soft and crispy.
May 26th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Pizza bites look great, will have to try them.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I bet these would also work well with ham and swiss or spinach and cream cheese. I can’t wait to try some different combos of these.
May 30th, 2009 at 1:30 am
Those look TASTY! I think I’d try them with marinara sauce.
July 8th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I’ve made these a few times (even once with the major failure of using baking powder instead of yeast…don’t ask) and they were great every single time! Yes, even that baking powder time, I dunno pizza is magic I guess xD
July 12th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Made these tonight! Loved them, very very addictive! Mine didn’t look anything like the awesome example but my next batch should be better!
Thanks for the awesome idea!
July 27th, 2009 at 9:59 am
these look so good – I have to make them soon. I really like everything on your blog (and just added it mine (EasyandTastyFood.com and Chicago Easy Meals Examiner).
July 31st, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I loved this post and it inspired me to make them for a party a while ago. For those who wanted to try it with sauce, try the following technique; if you put the sliced meat into the dough and put it into your hand, forming a cup, you can put a bit of cheese and sauce into it then seal. Imortant thing to remember is not to overfill.
I poshed mine up a bit and added a spicy Capicola instead of pepparoni and I ground Italian seasoning and added it to the dough.
Veggie version I used a potato peeler to slice zucchini and then gave thema quick pan fry. Used this to form the previously mentioned cup and added cheese, sauce and a mushroom. Feel free to play with the basic recipe and have fun with it.
August 11th, 2009 at 8:09 am
I have never seen anything like this before and this sure looks yummy !
September 13th, 2009 at 8:55 am
Did the pizza hut guys get the idea for the cheezy bites pizza from your blog? I was just curious?
September 19th, 2009 at 4:32 am
Tried these the other night and they were delicious! Trying another batch tonight but with garlic butter instead of pepperoni, hope it goes well!
January 9th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I don’t have a glass pie plate like the one shown in the picture…do you think it would be ok to put them in a regular metal pie tin? Or should I go buy a glass one? Thanks!
The metal pie tin will work fine. You can buy the packs of three disposable tins at the store which works perfectly for this recipe. -Katie
January 27th, 2010 at 6:19 am
That is a good recipe for pizza dough. It is definitely worth trying.
February 8th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
These were so good! Made a batch intending to freeze most of them but ended up cooking them all. The family loved them. Thanks!!