Pizza Cupcakes – Mini Deep Dish Pizzas

Pizza cupcakes are savory biscuit cups filled with pizza sauce, pepperoni, and bacon and topped with mozzarella cheese. Pizza in a cup is a fun new way to serve pizza night! This muffin cup deep-dish pizza is a kid-friendly dinner that is a hit! While these are a hit for a busy weeknight plate, they are also tasty for game-day snacking.

Canned biscuit pizza crust is so simple and a bit heartier than a classic crust. Cheese and pepperoni were our favorite pizza muffin toppings. This easy pizza cupcakes recipe is one you can change up to fit your preference. Mini pepperonis, BBQ sauce and plain chicken for a BBQ chicken pizza, load up on veggies, the list goes on. Head to the grocery store and buy all your usual pizza toppers.

Muffin tin pizza cups make a great dinner or appetizer. Load up your mini deep-dish pizzas with your usual toppings and bake until golden brown! Also, check out our air fryer ham and cheese for another easy air fryer recipe.

Why You Will Love These Pizza Cupcakes…

• Kid-friendly dinner or snack. This pizza cupcake recipe is also great and serves as an after-school snack.
• Bakes in just 12 minutes for a house favorite that mixes up in no time.
• Pile in your usual pizza toppings, or keep it simple. These pizza bites are totally customizable.
• Uses canned biscuits for easy prep, or change it up and reach for crescent roll dough.
• It takes minutes to prep – just 5 minutes!
• Cheesy goodness in each bite is like mini deep dish pizzas.
• Affordable and budget-friendly ingredients.

Ingredients Needed

Here are the basic ingredients you need for this pizza muffin recipe, with a twist of variations.

• Canned biscuits – we used Pillsbury Grand biscuits. The crescent dough can be used for a fluffy, lighter crust option on these pepperoni pizza cups.
• Pizza Sauce – Do homemade sauce or jarred sauce, or opt for a marinara sauce. Any red pizza sauce works great for this savory cupcake recipe.
• Mozzarella – You can reach for any cheese you would like. Mozzarella is just the traditional cheese.
• Pepperoni and Bacon – you can use meats or go meatless.
• Everything Bagel Seasoning—This adds flavor to the crust, but feel free to skip it or swap it with a different blend of spices. If you like spices, try red pepper flakes.
• Pizza Toppings (optional): You can add any of your usual pizza toppings and favorite veggies, such as red onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, Canadian bacon, or black olives.

How to Make

Pizza lovers will enjoy this pizza muffin recipe. Here are the easy steps to make them. The complete directions are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. Serve as party food for the Bowl or game day watching or a dinner the whole family can get onboard with.

Step 1: Grease your muffin tin well with cooking spray. Then, open the biscuits and split the dough in half.

Step 2: Next, stretch out the dough and press it into the muffin tin, making a hollow nest of dough.

Step 3: Sprinkle the edge of the biscuit dough with the Bagel seasoning. Then add in some pizza sauce, pepperoni, crumbled bacon, and mozzarella cheese.

Step 4: Bake as directed, then serve up these muffin tin pizza cups!

Variations to Recipe

• Add some diced peppers, mushrooms, and onions for a supreme pizza cup.
• We did a meat lovers pizza cup. Consider adding some ground beef, Italian sausage, Canadian bacon, etc
• Make meatless if you would like
• Any style of canned biscuit will work
• Make homemade pizza dough instead of biscuits

Can we Make These Pizza Cups in Air Fryer

Go right ahead and reach for your air fryer. If you have an air fryer oven, you can fit a smaller-sized muffin pan in there.

Otherwise, you can use ramekins or silicone muffin cups to place in the air fryer. Cook at 350 degrees for 6-10 minutes, or until the biscuits are fully cooked.

Expert Tips and Variations

• Spread out the biscuit to make a thinner crust. If you prefer a thin crust, you can cut the biscuits into 3 to stretch them.
• Watch your biscuits so they don’t overcook.
• These muffin pan pizzas are best served warm.
• These pepperoni cups make a great appetizer or dinner option.
• Swap bagel seasoning with Italian seasoning if you would like.
• Sprinkle crushed red peppers on top for a bit of spice or Parmesan cheese.
• Any brand of refrigerated biscuits works, or try crescent rolls for a lighter, fluffy crust.
• Mini pepperoni works great if you don’t want large pepperoni.

Storage

Fridge—These mini pizzas can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. They will soften a bit as they cool down.

Reheat in the microwave or even in the oven.

Freezing – If you like to meal prep and create freezer meals you can freeze these muffin pizzas. Just allow them to cool and then freeze for 3-4 months.

Then, heat the biscuit dough pizza in the microwave or use the oven to reheat. You can reheat straight from frozen. Or place the frozen pizzas in a lunchbox the night before so they are thawed by morning.

Feel free to double the recipe, make a bunch of mini pizzas from biscuits, and stock that freezer.

Practical notes

How to know pizza cupcakes are done?

You will know when the cupcakes are done by the biscuit dough being golden brown in color. Stick a toothpick to ensure it is not a wet dough batter.

Is biscuit dough the same as pizza dough?

Biscuit dough is not the same as classic pizza dough. Although they can be interchanged, your crust will taste like a biscuit and have a lighter texture.

Do cans of biscuits go bad?

Cans of biscuits expire just like any other food. Make sure to read the expiration date before you open and use them for pizzas.

Have you tried the recipe? If so, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below or drop a comment. Also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Facebook Pinterest or our Facebook Group

Ingredients

Makes 16 servings

Supplies

• Muffin Tin

Ingredients For Pizza Cupcakes

• 1 16 ounce. can refrigerated biscuit dough
• 2 teaspoons Everything Bagel Seasoning
• 1 Cup Pizza Sauce
• 1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella
• 1/2 cup bacon crumbles
• 32 pepperoni slices, 2 for each pizza

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then you will want to cut your biscuits in half to make 16 pieces.
2. Then grease your muffin pan well, and then with your hands gently stretch the biscuit dough a bit.
3. Next, place the biscuit dough in each muffin tin spot. You want it to create a hollow area in the center.
4. Sprinkle the edges of the biscuits with the Everything Bagel seasoning, or Swap with Italian seasoning.
5. Now, spoon in some of the pizza sauce, shredded cheese, bacon, and pepperoni slices.
6. Bake the biscuit pizzas in the oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.
7. Remove the pizza cupcakes, allow to cool a little then serve.

Kitchen notes

You can use crescent rolls to replace the biscuit dough. Any of your favorite biscuit dough will work for this recipe. Feel free to change up with the fillings – small diced peppers, onions, mushrooms, etc. Or do just cheese and sauce for a meatless pizza cup. You can make as many or as few of these as you would like. Store the leftover pizza cups in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Then you can freeze them as well for up to 3 months. Just place in an airtight freezer container or freezer bag. If gluten-free you can do this with gluten-free biscuits as well. To air-fry: Use silicone mold or a smaller muffin tin and batch cook your mini pizzas. 350 degrees for 6-10 minutes or until the pizza cups are fully cooked.