Shoutout to anyone who decided to play Host this holiday weekend! Hosting a party or cookout or any event can be pretty exhausting. My husband and I threw a small Fourth of July get-together with friends last night, which was tons of fun! The next day? Not so much. Cleaning up campfire debris and a post-potluck kitchen can drain a person’s will to cook for the rest of the week faster than it takes to blow $100 at a fireworks stand.
I’ll be honest--I struggled with deciding what to post this week. Most of my classics are catered more to fall and winter ingredients and preferences. I have a few grilled options coming soon, but if you’re anything like me, eating burgers and brats and hot dogs all weekend in the heat took away my desire to grill out for a while. My husband who insists that we grill “at least once a week” might say the opposite.
This week’s Easy Pizza Bites are a winner and crowd pleaser! They are easy, versatile, and a perfect option that tastes homemade but is simple enough to plan into your weekly menu if you had a busy weekend like us. They also make a great appetizer for entertaining! As I mentioned last week, I may sometimes drop a few links to products that may help you transition your beginner kitchen into something more intermediate. For that reason, this post includes affiliate links for which I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you, should you make a purchase. These products are not necessary to make my recipes but have helped me over the years step up my cooking game just a little.
And now, Average Chefs, let’s get cooking!
Easy Pizza Bites
Serves about 3
Estimated time, start to serve: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
1 tube of regular biscuits, not the “Grands” size but the smaller, skinnier tube that contains 10 biscuits
4 cheese sticks, cut into 5 pieces each; or half a block of mozzarella cheese, cut into 20 dice-sized cubes
The flexible part: Your favorite pizza toppings! I usually use pepperoni (approx. 12 slices for this recipe). Other great options would be Canadian bacon slices, ground and browned Italian sausage, bacon bits, sautéed bell peppers, onions, or mushrooms*, or olives. If you’ve had it on pizza, it’s free game. My personal favorite is plain cheese!
1 Tbsp. of melted butter or olive oil
1-2 Tbsp. of grated parmesan cheese
Your favorite pizza seasoning: I am obsessed with this “hot and sweet” pizza and pasta seasoning, but Italian seasoning or a little garlic salt work well too
Half a jar of marinara sauce for dipping
*Bell peppers, onions, or mushrooms should be cooked before preparing the bites. The easiest method is to chop them up into relatively small pieces and cook in a pan over medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes with a tablespoon or so of butter or olive oil until they’re tender and fragrant.
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (or whatever temperature your biscuit can says).
2. Spray a pie pan/round cake pan (preferred) or 9x9” square baking dish with nonstick spray.
3. Peel each biscuit into two equal layers so that you have 20 total thin biscuits.
4. Use your fingers to press each biscuit into a flatter, larger piece of dough.
5. In the center of each flattened, halved biscuit, place your pizza ingredients. I did one piece of cheese and one piece of pepperoni, cut into fourths. Do your best not to overfill. Pull the edges into the center and pinch together. Place bites pinched-side down into the baking dish.
6. Repeat with all 20 pieces of dough. Try to separate the bites as much as possible for even baking. If doubling this recipe, I would recommend using two pie pans/round cake pans or two 9x9” square baking dishes versus a 9x13” pan, or the middle-most bites may be doughy while the outside bites are close to burning.
7. Brush the tops of the bites with the melted butter/olive oil. Sprinkle pizza seasoning and parmesan cheese on top.
8. Bake for 11-13 minutes (or whatever your biscuit container recommends) or until the tops of the bites are golden and the inner-most pieces are not doughy when slightly pulled apart. If using two baking dishes, switch their positions halfway through baking.
9. Serve with a side of marinara sauce for dipping. I cannot emphasize enough how having a set of ramekins like these has helped with recipes like this one that have a side of dipping sauce. If you hate having sauce run into your food, ramekins are a must! We use them at least weekly for salsa with our quesadillas or ranch with our Sunday night chicken strips, for example. They also make great baking dishes for mini desserts or containers for side dishes like applesauce.
10. Enjoy! These pizza bites would pair well with a caesar salad and a cup of applesauce.
Love this recipe? Snap a picture of your finished product and tag @the.brass.spoon on Instagram to show off your work. Bragging about your cooking skills is half the fun!
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