Pizza Pinwheels are made from a soft, homemade dough with delicious toppings inside and melted cheese on top, they are an amazing weeknight meal or favorite appetizer!
Pizza Pinwheels are my favorite quick weeknight dinner to whip up. They are so easy to make, they are much better than cheap frozen pizzas and I get absolutely no complaints from the kids about what is for dinner! They are always a win!
My kids adore pizza and we eat it often at our house. I had the idea to turn pizza dough into pizza rolls- think cinnamon rolls, pizza style. I am thrilled with how well they turned out! Not only did they taste great but my kids went crazy. Not only are these a fantastic weeknight meal but they’d be perfect for an appetizer tray at a holiday party too. Making pizza is a family affair at our house. My kids love helping mix and knead the dough.
Pizza Pinwheels recipe ingredients
Here’s what you need to make our pizza pinwheels. Note, this recipe makes 13-15 pinwheels, which is about 4-6 servings as a meal. It serves more as an appetizer.
–warm water
–yeast
–sugar
–oil
–salt
— all-purpose or bread flour
— pizza sauce or any variety of traditional marinara sauce
–shredded mozzarella cheese
–pizza toppings- mini pepperoni, diced ham, sliced olives, and pineapple tidbits, etc.
How to make Pizza Pinwheels Appetizer
Making these pizza pinwheels is easy!
Proof the dough
Combine warm water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl and let sit for abou
t 3-4 minutes, until yeast is bubbling up.
Mix the dough
Add in oil, salt and flour. Start with 2 1/2 cups of flour, then add more until the dough cleans the sides of the mixing bowl. (I use a mixer for this part as it makes it just so much easier!) Continue mixing for an additional 3-4 minutes.
Let the dough rise
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 15 minutes. In cold weather, I like to turn my oven on for about 3 or 4 minutes, then turn it off and let my dough rest in the oven.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Roll the Pinwheels
Spray counter top with non-stick cooking spray and roll dough out into a large rectangle about 1/4″ thick. Top with Ragu® Pasta Sauce and spread to coat dough. sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese. Add pizza toppings- I did a section of dough for pepperoni pinwheels, another section with just cheese and a third with ham and pineapple. Top with another 1 cup of cheese.
Starting with one of the long sides of the rectangle, roll dough up tightly, pinching the seams to close at the end. Use a sharp, thin knife to cut 1 1/2″ sections of dough from the large roll. This will result in about 15 pinwheels.
Bake for 12-14 minutes
Set pinwheels on a large greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven and top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Return to oven for an additional 1-2 minutes, until cheese is melted and rolls are just beginning to turn golden brown.
Serve hot with additional pizza sauce on the side, for dipping!
Need more appetizer recipes? You’ve got to try these:
-
- The Best Chicken Tenders appetizer
- Bacon Avocado Deviled Eggs appetizer
- Cheesy Meatball Bites appetizer
- Pizza Pinwheels appetizer
- Ranch Chicken Bacon Kabob appetizer
- Best Meatball and Lil Smokies appetizer
- Quick & Easy Chicken Salad appetizer recipe
- Baked Bacon Meatball appetizer
- Best cheese Fondue appetizer
- Ranch Sausage Rolls appetizer
- Homemade Nacho Cheese recipe
- Best Texas Caviar appetizer recipe
PIZZA PINWHEELS
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 TBSP yeast
- 1 TBSP sugar
- 1 TBSP oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 1/2- 3 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce or traditional marinara sauce
- 2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 cups total pizza toppings- mini pepperoni diced ham, sliced olives, and pineapple tidbits, etc.
Instructions
- Combine warm water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl and let sit for about 3-4 minutes, until yeast is bubbling up.
- Add in oil, salt and flour. Start with 2 1/2 cups of flour, then add more until the dough cleans the sides of the mixing bowl. (I use a mixer for this part as it makes it just so much easier!) Continue mixing for an additional 3-4 minutes.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 15 minutes. In cold weather, I like to turn my oven on for about 3 or 4 minutes, then turn it off and let my dough rest in the oven.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray counter top with non-stick cooking spray and roll dough out into a large rectangle about 1/4" thick.
- Top with pizza sauce and spread to coat dough. Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese. Add pizza toppings- I did a section of dough for pepperoni pinwheels, another section with just cheese and a third with ham and pineapple. Top with another 1 cup of cheese.
- Starting with one of the long sides of the rectangle, roll dough up tightly, pinching the seams to close at the end. Use a sharp, thin knife to cut 1 1/2" sections of dough from the large roll. This will result in about 15 pinwheels.
- Set pinwheels on a large greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven and top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Return to oven for an additional 1-2 minutes, until cheese is melted and rolls are just beginning to turn golden brown.
- Serve hot with warmed pizza sauce to dip on the side.
Video
Nutrition
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Pizza Pinwheels are made from a soft, homemade dough with delicious toppings inside and melted cheese on top, they are an amazing weeknight meal or favorite appetizer!
Sandra blankenship says
You could also use puff pastry instead of yeast dough.
Jessica says
That sounds SO GOOD! Isn’t puff pastry wonderful?!
Donna says
How do you keep the cheese from coming out the bottom? When we made these cheese run out bad. Thanks
Malissia Napier says
Super cheesy and delicious, definitely making this !again
Elze says
I forgot to rate the recipe
Alison says
Thanks so much Elze!
Soph says
You’re using dry yeast?
Jessica says
Yes!
Rene says
I want to make these for Easter tomorrow. I want to prepare them today and cook them when we get to our destination tomorrow. Do you think that’s possible? Also, do you use quick (active) yeast or the slow rising yeast?
Julie Evink says
My kids LOVE pizza and I’m always looking for new ways to “invent” it. These pinwheels were a hit with them and I loved how easy they were.
Jillian says
My family LOVED these pinwheels. I will be making them again soon!
Noelle says
I’ve made these for my family a few times now & they’re always delicious. The hardest part is rolling it up. I strongly recommend this recipe.
Kelsey says
Can these be frozen and baked later?
Jessica says
They can Kelsey! Just thaw them before baking.
Karen says
Made these yesterday and was pleased with the results. I used a combination of turkey pepperoni, mushrooms and green pepper for the pizza fixings. With minor modifications to slightly reduce the amount of cheese and pepperoni I used, this is an absolute make again. Thanks for the recipe
Alison says
We love making different types of pizza pinwheels as well! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Sara says
really liked them, but in my opinion it needs a bit more flour because my dough stuck to the kitchen counter when I tried to roll it
Nellie says
I usually sprinkle a bit of flour on the counter before rolling to avoid anything sticking – non-stick cooking spray works well too!
Elze says
This dough is very easy to work with an absolutely delicious. my daughter refuses to eat snything my mother bakes with yeast, but loves this recipe.
Unfortunately my yeast comes in 20 ml packets so I got stuck with a little bit left over everytime I baked this.
I adjusted the recipe quantities so I dnt sit with a little bit of yeast left over when I bake these pinwheeldays.
1 and 1/ 3 water, 20 ml sugar and 20 ml yeast , 20 ml oil, 6 ml salt and exactly 3 and half cups of flour.
I make proofing the yeast easier, by warming the sugar and water in the microwave until the sugar has disolved. Then I just wait for the water to cooldown enough for me to add the yeast. I do the proofing in a small glass Pyrex dish and put the lid on once the yeast is added.i t seems to work very effectively.
Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.
maria says
Can you please tell me if you use instant dry yeast? Quick rise? I bought the individual packets and the package says “instant’ I believe . Not sure what the difference is
Jessica says
Instant yeast works well in this recipe!