PEPPERONI PIZZA BITES
Pepperoni Pizza Bites are like those frozen mini bagel pizzas, only made from scratch in a muffin tin using my Greek yogurt bagel dough.
My daughter loves those mini frozen bagel pizzas, so I wanted to make an easy Pepperoni Pizza Bite recipe from scratch. I figured making bagels and then topping them with pizza ingredients would take too long, so I streamlined them and made them in muffin tins instead. These mini pizza bites would be great for an afternoon snack or even a party appetizer. If your kids like these pizza bites, you should also try my Pizza Sausage Rolls and Stuffed Bagel Balls.
Make the pizza dough: Combine the dry ingredients and then add the yogurt. Knead the dough until it is tacky but not sticky. You can also use premade pizza dough to make this faster.
Divide the dough into 16 balls and press each into the greased muffin tin.
Bake the dough for 15 minutes at 375 degrees and remove it from the oven.
Top your pizza bites: Gently press the dough down in the middle of each cup to create a small well. Top each with sauce, mozzarella cheese, and chopped pepperoni.
Bake the bites for three more minutes until the cheese is melted. Carefully remove the mini pizzas from the oven and let them cool before eating.
INGREDIENTS
Olive oil spray
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour, whole wheat or gluten-free mix*, (5 oz in weight)
2 teaspoons baking powder, make sure it’s not expired, or it won’t rise
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, diamond crystal, use less if using table salt or Mortons
1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt, not regular yogurt, it will be too sticky (I recommend Stonyfield)
2/3 cup marinara or pizza sauce
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 ounce turkey pepperoni, chopped
Crushed red pepper flakes, for serving (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 375˚F and spray two 12-cup stand size muffin tins with oil.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk well.
Add the yogurt and mix with a fork or spatula until well combined, it will look like small crumbles.
how to make greek yogurt dough
Lightly dust flour on a work surface and remove dough from the bowl, knead the dough a few times until dough is tacky, but not sticky, about 15 turns (it should not leave dough on your hand when you pull away).
Divide the dough into 16 equal-size small balls (about 25 grams each).
Press each ball into the bottom of the muffin cups, allowing it to go up the side slightly.
muffin tin with dough
Bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven and carefully press balls down in the middle to create a small well.
Top each ball with 2 teaspoons sauce, 1 tablespoon cheese and a sprinkle of pepperoni.
Pepperoni Pizza muffins
Return to the oven and bake 3 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Remove from oven and allow to cool 2 minutes. With a paring knife or metal offset spatula, carefully remove the bites, cutting around the top to remove any cheese that may have stuck to the pan.
Spray the pan again and repeat with remaining dough and toppings.
