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Pizza Appetizer

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posted: 08/01/14

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy

This Pizza Appetizer is terrific for last minute company, game day, or even as an after school snack. Simple ingredients come together in minutes for perfectly poppable pizza bites!

white plate with golden pizza appetizer on top

This Pizza Appetizer recipe was born when I was trying to find creative snacks for my ravenous bunch of kiddos. I swear they could eat ’round the clock! So rather than letting them rummage through the pantry until there’s nothing left, I came up with this super easy snack. These bite size pizzas not only fill them up, but taste delicious! Perfect for after school or a lazy summer afternoon.

white plate with golden pizza appetizer on top

Simple Ingredients, Simple Snack

All of these ingredients are easy to find at your regular grocery store and are perfect to have on hand next time hunger strikes or when you have unexpected company pop by.

  • A tube of crescent roll dough (I prefer the Pillsbury seamless kind)
  • Your favorite pizza sauce (I love Ragu)
  • Pepperoni (I usually dice up a stick of Hormel, but you can use the bite size pepperoni too!)
  • Shredded mozzarella cheese
  • Cream cheese (make sure it’s softened up a bit)

How to Make this Pizza Appetizer Recipe

These cute little pizza bites come together in five minutes, and only take ten minutes to bake!

  1. First, grease a mini-muffin tin pan.
  2. Next, roll out your crescent roll dough and cut it into 24 equal squares. This is why I like the seamless dough, so it’s easier to cut.
  3. Gently push a square of dough into each muffin tin.
  4. Then, combine the pizza sauce, pepperoni, shredded cheese and softened cream cheese. Mix it all together with a spoon or a hand mixer.
  5. After that, you’ll scoop a small spoon of mixture into each muffin tin on top of the dough.
  6. Sprinkle a little bit more mozzarella cheese on top.
  7. Then, bake until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is a nice golden brown.

Variations on this Pizza Appetizer

  • You can make these mini pizzas larger by cutting the crescent dough into 12 squares and using a regular size muffin tin. Scoop more filling inside and then adjust your baking time until the cheese is bubbly and crust is golden.
  • Use ground sausage, ham, bacon or any other meat you like.
  • Add diced onions, peppers, mushrooms, pineapple or olives for more pizza options. (and if you love olives try my Olive Pizza Appetizer!)
  • Kick up the spice with red pepper flakes, pepper jack cheese or diced jalapenos.
  • If you don’t have any jarred pizza sauce on hand, make your own! My homemade pizza sauce is really easy to make and is so yummy!
white plate with golden pizza appetizer on top

More Tasty Appetizers

Looking for more delicious and easy appetizers? These bite size recipes are so fun to make and always a hit at any party!

I’ll admit, I ate about half the batch the first time I made these, so feel free to double or triple the recipe, depending on how many mouths you’re trying to feed. If you try this pizza appetizer, please leave me a comment down below and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you. Hope you enjoy every bite!

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Pizza Appetizer

Serves: 6
(tap # to scale)
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 15 minutes
This Pizza Appetizer is terrific for last minute company, game day, or even as an after school snack. Simple ingredients come together in minutes for perfectly poppable pizza bites!

Ingredients

  • 1 package seamless crescent roll dough I used Pillsbury
  • 1/2 cup store bought pizza sauce I used Ragu
  • 2.5 oz stick pepperoni diced (I used Hormel)
  • 1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese
  • 2 oz cream cheese softened (I used Philadelphia)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  • Grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin with cooking spray
  • Unroll the seamless crescent roll and cut into 24 equal squares. Place the squares into the mini muffin tins.
  • Mix together the pizza sauce, the pepperoni, 1/2 cup of mozzarella, and the cream cheese until fully combined.
  • Put a small spoonful of the mixture into each cup.
  • Sprinkle the tops of the cups with the remainder of the cheese.
  • Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is well melted and the dough is golden brown.
Serving: 4cups Calories: 268kcal (13%) Carbohydrates: 19g (6%) Protein: 10g (20%) Fat: 17g (26%) Saturated Fat: 8g (50%) Monounsaturated Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 37mg (12%) Sodium: 729mg (32%) Potassium: 316mg (9%) Sugar: 4g (4%) Vitamin A: 35IU (1%) Vitamin C: 2mg (2%) Calcium: 19mg (2%) Iron: 7mg (39%)
Author: Lisa Longley
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Italian

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Pizza Appetizer

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Hi! I'm Lisa Longley, and I am committed to giving you simple dinner ideas and recipes that are easy to make; recipes that will fill your home with joy. I am the owner and author of SimpleJoy.com and I'm so glad that you are here.

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