Although this is not your typical pizza, it’s a pleasant surprise for World Pizza Maker’s Day and National Pizza with the Works (except Anchovies) Day. With this air fryer pizza rolls recipe, you’ll be able to make great pizza pockets from scratch with crunchy crusts and creamy, savory centers. These little pockets are cooked with sealed edges, letting you lock any of your favorite fillings inside.
Whether you choose meat, cheese, or vegetarian filling, these pizza rolls can satisfy even the fussiest eaters. Plus, they’re a great way to reduce food waste — roll up your leftovers for a delicious, low-cost snack.
Are Air-Fried Pizza Rolls Healthy?
If this is your first time using an air fryer, it’s essential to learn some of this convenient kitchen tool’s notable features. Air fryers cook by circulating intensely hot air rather than cooking oil.
Using air fryers in this recipe allows us to eliminate a significant amount of calories and saturated fat from the food. Minimizing saturated fat intake is a great way to support your heart health and also decrease the risk of some conditions like obesity.
Additionally, our air fryer pizza rolls recipe is formulated to ensure its nutritional content complies with the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines. For specifics, let’s take a look at some of the main elements:
Calories: Each serving, with the sauce included, contains 249 calories. This amount is good enough to deliver a dose of energy if you serve the dish as a snack. And if the food is intended as an appetizer, it can be a mouthwatering starter while still leaving plenty of space for the main dish to shine.
Saturated Fat: Since we don’t need oil to cook the crust, most of the saturated fat comes from cheese in the filling. We use 2.5 oz of mozzarella so that the dish turns out creamy and irresistible once cooked.
Sodium: Our pizza rolls don’t require much salt. We use only 1/16 teaspoon of salt to compliment the fresh ingredients’ natural flavors and keep the sodium within the allowance.
In case you are looking for another healthy finger food, check out our air fryer empanadas. This Latin American pastry is best served with salad and juice for a healthy and tasty meal.
Homemade Pizza Rolls in an Air Fryer
Pizza rolls might sound challenging since you have to make the dough from scratch. Not to worry! The process is not that complicated, and it just takes a bit of time to knead and roll the dough. In less than 5 minutes, you’ll have a fantastic pizza pastry ready to be topped and placed in the basket.
Here is how we make this treat from scratch:
Activate the dry yeast.
Knead the dough and let it rest.
Prepare the filling.
Roll the dough into two equally-sized pastry sheets.
Put the filling on one pastry and cover it with the other.
Cut into small pieces and pinch the edges shut.
Cook in the air fryer until golden brown.
Serve hot with dipping sauce.
For the detailed instructions, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this article.
How Long to Cook Pizza Rolls in an Air Fryer
Our homemade pizza rolls will cook for a total of about 12 minutes at 360℉ when placed in an even, single layer.
We start by cooking the pastry for 10 minutes. This time will ensure the crust and filling are cooked evenly.
Next, flip all the pizza rolls over and spray them with cooking oil if needed and cook the rolls to golden-brown perfection. This step usually takes an additional 2 – 4 minutes.
The exact cooking time needed will depend on factors like the size and number of pizza rolls you are frying and, most importantly, your air-fryer model. Thus, we recommend checking them often during the cooking process. Once you know exactly how long your air fryer takes to cook pizza rolls, the future baking will be easy as pie!
How to Cook Frozen Pizza Rolls in the Air Fryer
If you happen to have frozen pizza rolls, you have the choice of cooking them from the frozen state or defrosting them at room temperature 30 minutes before cooking.
If you want to air-fry the pizza rolls straight out of the freezer, add an additional 5 – 10 minutes to the baking time to ensure they cook all the way though.
Tips for Making
Don’t overfill the pocket: Overfilling the pizza rolls can cause them to break while cooking or burst at the top. Also, we recommend using a fork to seal the edges so that the filling won’t leak into the basket.
Sauté Wet Ingredients: If there are any “wet ingredients” like mushrooms or spinach in your recipe, we suggest sautéing them first. Sautéing vegetables will release some of their excess juice and prevent your pizza rolls from turning out soggy.
For fresh fruits or veggies like tomatoes and pineapple, a simple tip is to press a towel paper on them to remove excess liquid.
Be Creative With the Filling: This air fryer pizza rolls recipe is easy to customize for personal taste. The rule of thumb is that anything you normally find on a pizza will work fine in the rolls too.
Combinations like pepperoni and cream cheese or mushroom and olive oil are all you need when you crave something classic and straightforward. Try out some bacon or roasted chicken if you want to involve a bit more protein, or make them vegetarian by leaving out the meat and adding your favorite veggies.
How Long Do Pizza Rolls Last?
Once cooked, these crispy pizza rolls should be consumed fresh out of the cooker for the best experience. Leaving your pizza rolls to sit at room temperature for longer than 2 hours will soften the bread and make them less tasty.
We recommend storing any leftover rolls in an airtight container or Ziplock bag and placing them in the refrigerator. The food can be kept for 3 – 5 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
Air Fryer Pizza Rolls Recipe
Ditch store-bought snacks and make your own healthy versions with our air-fryer pizza rolls recipe. These little pockets are filled with cheese, ham, and vegetables and baked to perfection.
- cook TIME 20 mins
- prep TIME 1 hr
- total TIME 1 hr 20 mins
- COURSE Side Dish
- CUISINE American
- SERVINGS servings
- CALORIES 249 kcal
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1/16 tsp salt
- 1/2 tbsp sugar (divided)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup homemade tomato sauce
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1 tbsp basil
- 2.5 oz mozzarella
- 2 oz ham
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 1/2 tbsp Heinz ketchup
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix instant yeast in a small bowl with warm water to activate the yeast.
Put the yeast mix, salt, ¼ teaspoon sugar, garlic powder, and flour in a large bowl and whisk until well-combined. Knead this dough for 2 -3 minutes, then form it into a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and set aside for 45 - 60 minutes.
While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. In a saucepan, stir-fry tomato sauce, oregano, ham, mozzarella cheese, basil, and the remaining sugar in olive oil over medium heat to bind them well. Set aside.
When the dough is ready, divide it into two equal portions. On a lightly-floured surface, roll each portion until it forms a circular shape about ⅕ inch thick.
On one rolled pastry, place 16 equal dollops of filling, leaving some space between them. Brush the egg yolk over the dough surface, then use the second rolled pastry to cover the whole thing.
Cut into 16 pieces and gently use a fork to pinch the edges to seal.
Set the pizza rolls in the air-fryer basket. Brush each parcel with egg. Cook at 360℉ for 10 minutes. Then flip and bake for another 2 minutes.
Serve hot with ketchup for dipping.
NUTRITION
Tuyet Pham
Chef, Culinary Consultant
Luna Regina
Writer, Author
Lizzie Streit, MS, RDN, LD
Nutrition Reviewer
- Laurie J
March 16, 2023 at 5:00 AM
These pizza rolls turned out amazing in my air fryer- they were crunchy on the outside and warm and cheesy on the inside, definitely worth making again!