Friday is ‘Pizza Night’ in our house. Whether homemade, from-frozen-store-bought or ordered from our local shop – there’s pizza on our plates and in our bellies.

A few months ago I stumbled across a recipe for pizza muffins and decided to give it a try! With a few tweaks we made it our own and it’s now a favorite in our trove of pizza options.

These are really easy to make since they call for store bought pizza dough – which I usually buy frozen and defrost the night before. But they DO require some time to rise so be sure to leave yourself a little extra time before the dinner crunch. I’ve made them without a rise before and they were good, but the rise really helps give them a better texture. It’s ideal to let it rise for 1 hour, but 30 minutes will also work in a pinch!

So if you’ve got pizza on the menu give these pizza muffins a try! It’s a fun play on a family favorite. You can’t go wrong with pizza….or muffins!

Pizza Muffins
Yields 10-12 muffins

1 ball fresh, store-bought pizza dough
16oz shredded mozzarella cheese
2 8oz package mozzarella balls (I use BelGiosio)
3/4c pizza sauce
1/3c grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Lightly grease a cupcake tin with olive oil spray.

Using a bench scraper or knife divide the pizza dough into 2 inch balls. Flatten with your fingers to form a rough disc – but be sure not to overwork the dough. Place the disc in one muffin cup and repeat until all muffin cups have a pizza crust.

Cover with plastic wrap or a dish cloth and leave in a warm place to rise. (It’s ideal to let it rise for 1 hour, but 30 minutes will also work in a pinch!)

Once the dough has risen – it will roughly double in size – press the center down and push the sides up against the muffin tin. Place 1-2 mozzarella balls in each crust, then top with 1 tablespoon of pizza sauce.

Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top of the pizza sauce.

Place into the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes until browned.

Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes to cool (the insides will be HOT!). Serve and enjoy!