Easy Pizza Muffins
These pizza muffins are so cheesy! Load them with your favorite pizza toppings! They are great for kids and grownups alike and made in muffin pans with a really easy (no-rise) pizza dough.
My pizza muffins are made like you would make monkey bread – the muffins are made up of lots of small balls of dough, each filled with toppings, cheese, and sauce. Share one for an after-school snack or bake them as a quick and easy dinner for the whole family.
How to Make Pizza Muffins
You can use store-bought pizza dough to make this recipe, but you’ll find that this dough recipe is simple and fast to make from scratch.
First, whisk together flour, salt, yeast, sugar, and herbs and spices.
I like to use basil, onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano. But, you can use any herbs and spices that you like. Rosemary is another herb that I add from time-to-time.
Use a dough whisk or your hands to mix in oil and warm water until a dough forms. A dough whisk [paid link] is different from a regular whisk in that it is designed specifically for mixing dough. It doesn’t have lots of wires for the dough to get stuck to. I never knew how badly I needed one until I got one as a gift.
Once your dough is formed, take a minute to get all of the remaining ingredients ready to go. It’s time for the assembly process!
You’ll want to have sauce, cheese, and lots of toppings handy. We like to use mushrooms, spinach, and broccoli. But, pepperoni, sausage, hamburger, or any other pizza toppings that your family loves will work as long as you chop them up.
Use your hands to flatten a circle of dough to about 1/8″ thick and about 2.5 inches in diameter. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the dough and top with a few pieces of any combination of vegetables.
Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of cheese over the toppings and press the dough closed around around the toppings to form a ball. This can get a little messy if you let the kids help, but that makes it all the more fun!
Repeat with the remaining dough and toppings. (You will have sauce and cheese left over.)
Fill each cavity of a jumbo muffin pan with dough balls up to almost the top. You should be able to fit about six dough balls per cavity. (The balls will fuse together during the bake to create pizza muffins.)
Spoon about two tablespoons of sauce over each unbaked pizza muffin.
Top with a tablespoon of cheese (or more if you like your pizza really cheesy!).
Bake for 30 minutes and eat them while they are hot!! Optionally, garnish with finely chopped parsley.
Best Tips for Making Pizza Muffins
- Let the kids get involved with making them. When they pick out the vegetables they like, they are more likely to eat them.
- Because of variations in humidity, you may need more or less flour than listed. If your dough isn’t coming together, don’t hesitate to add more flour a little bit at a time until it does.
- Eat the pizza muffins hot out of the oven. If you have leftovers, they are best reheated in an oven. The microwave can make them a little soggy.
- If you like smaller muffins, you can use a standard-sized muffin pan. This recipe will make 9 jumbo pizza muffins or 12 regular-sized ones. The cook time should be reduced to twenty minutes instead of the thirty listed in the recipe.
Pizza Muffin Variations
Any flavor of pizza that you love can be made into a pizza muffin! Try experimenting with some of these pizza ideas:
- goat cheese and caramelized onion from Minimalist Baker
- BBQ chicken pizza from Sweat Pea Chef
- arugula fig pizza from What’s Gaby Cooking
Pizza Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/4 ounce instant yeast 1 package
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
- 1/3 cup sliced mushrooms
- 1/3 cup loosely chopped fresh spinach
- 1/3 cup finely chopped broccoli florets
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- fresh parsley optional, finely chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F and use cooking spray to grease the cavities of a jumbo muffin pan.
- Whisk together flour, salt, basil, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.
- Use a dough whisk or your hands to mix in oil and warm water until a dough forms.
- Flatten a circle of dough to about 1/8" thick and about 2.5 inches in diameter. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the dough and top with a few pieces of any combination of mushrooms, spinach, and/or broccoli. Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of cheese over the toppings and press the dough closed around the toppings to form a ball.
- Repeat with the remaining dough and toppings. (You will have sauce and cheese left over.)
- Fill each cavity of the muffin pan with dough balls up to almost the top. You should be able to fit about six dough balls per cavity. (The balls will fuse together during the bake to create pizza muffins.)
- Spoon about two tablespoons of sauce over each unbaked pizza muffin.
- Top with a tablespoon of cheese (or more if you like your pizza really cheesy!).
- Bake for 30 minutes and eat them while they are hot!! Optionally, garnish with chopped parsley.
Video
Notes
- Let the kids get involved with making them. When they pick out the vegetables they like, they are more likely to eat them.
- Because of variations in humidity, you may need more or less flour than listed. If your dough isn't coming together, don't hesitate to add more flour a little bit at a time until it does.
- Eat the pizza muffins hot out of the oven. If you have leftovers, they are best reheated in an oven. The microwave can make them a little soggy.
- If you like smaller muffins, you can use a standard-sized muffin pan. This recipe will make 9 jumbo pizza muffins or 12 regular-sized ones. The cook time should be reduced to twenty minutes instead of the thirty listed in the recipe.
Loading comments...