Is it just me, or does traveling really wear you down too? I just got back from a cross country jaunt to Seattle, and while I had a great time, I came home with a killer cold. I’m not sure if it’s being in a confined space with hundreds of people on a cross country flight, or just being run down from 5 days of nonstop adventures. But either way, I’ve been sniffling my way through life for the last few days, and it’s a total bummer! This cold is even keeping me away from more fun activities, like a day at the pumpkin patch and an evening spent at a country line dancing bar. But I won’t lie, it feels pretty nice to have nothing to do all day except watch TV and eat some homemade chicken tortilla soup (thanks, dad!).
I figured while I was relaxing, I might as well get caught up on some blog posts I’ve had in the works. Thankfully, I’ve had this easy pizza bites recipe up my sleeve for a while. With only 4 ingredients, this is about as simple as an appetizer can get!
These easy pizza bites pack a lot of flavor in a small package!
All you need is two tubes of crescent roll dough (or, if you can find them at your grocery store, crescent dough sheets), a green bell pepper, some pepperoni, and lots of mozzarella cheese! Also, make sure you have some flour and cooking spray around to help things go smoothly!
This recipe from Cooking for Keeps originally made 24 bites, but I doubled the amount because I’ve found that these go fast at parties!
First, pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Dice up the bell pepper finely – 1/8” or smaller pieces are best. Set the pepper bits aside and prep your work surface by sprinkling flour generously over it. Open the crescent rolls or dough sheet and spread out on the work surface. If using crescent rolls, pinch together the seams.
Pinch together the seams of the crescent roll dough.
Note: if you have a large work surface, feel free to make both batches of rolls at one time. My counter is fairly small, so I only work with one dough sheet at a time. I prep the second batch while the first set is in the oven!
Cut the sheet in half lengthwise. Sprinkle 1 cup of the cheese over the entire sheet. Then spread half of the green pepper over the cheese. Cover the entire dough sheet with pepperoni – don’t be afraid to use the entire package!
Step 1: Cheese
Step 2: Green Pepper
Step 3: Pepperoni
Carefully roll half the sheet up on itself in a jelly roll style. It could get a bit messy! Roll the other half up, then use a knife to dice each jelly roll into approximately 12 bite sized roll-ups .
Roll the dough up like a jelly roll
Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray, and place one pizza bite in each cavity. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the bites are golden brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes, then turn the baking tray upside down and allow bites to fall out. Place on a serving platter and serve immediately. Don’t forget a side of pizza sauce, if you want it!
Place in muffin tins and bake for 10-12 minutes
These pizza bites won’t last long!
- 2 crescent roll dough sheets, or 2 packages of crescent rolls
- 1 large green bell pepper
- 1 (oz) bag mozzarella cheese
- 2 packages pepperoni
- 1 small jar pizza sauce (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray one large or two small mini muffin tins with nonstick spray.
- Finely dice green onion then set aside
- Sprinkle work surface liberally with flour, then roll out crescent sheets or crescent rolls. If using crescent rolls, be sure to pinch all seams together. If you have a large work surface, feel free to prepare both sheets at once. If your work surface is small like mine, prep the second batch while the first bakes.
- Cut dough in half lengthwise
- Sprinkle half the mozzarella on top of the dough sheet, followed by half the green pepper
- Spread one package of pepperoni over top the dough sheet
- Roll each half lengthwise like a jelly roll, then cut into 12 bites each. Place pizza bites into muffin tins and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown
- If needed, while first batch is baking, prepare second batch by repeating steps 3-7.
- Remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes then remove from pans by turning pans upside down. Place pizza bites on a serving tray and serve immediately, with pizza sauce for dipping, if you prefer.
