I was intrigued when I first heard about Pizza Cupcakes, so obviously I had to create my own version! These Pizza Cupcakes are like individual deep-dish pizzas, baked in a muffin tin. They are not only delicious but easy to make and the perfect snack for game day, movie night, and packing along in a lunch bag! And they can be made Weight Watchers friendly by using 2-ingredient WW pizza dough!

Pizza cupcake on a white plate with crushed red pepper and parmesan cheese sprinkles on plate

How can you go wrong with pizza in the form of a cupcake? You get to have your very own little handheld pizza that's not only delicious, but easy to make, a great snack for game day, movie night, and perfect for packing along in a lunch bag! You can fill them with your favorite pizza toppings and they can also be made Weight Watchers friendly with 2 ingredient WW dough and/or lactose-free!

Jump to:

🍕🧁What are Pizza Cupcakes?
🥘Ingredients
🔪Instructions
🍽 Equipment
📋More Muffin Tin Recipes
📖 Variations & Substitutions
🌶️Can I make them spicy?
✔️Make them Weight Watchers Friendly
🥗 Side dishes
🌡️Storage
💭 Can these pizza cupcakes be frozen and reheated?
👪 Serving size
⭐ COMMENTS & REVIEWS
🍕 Pizza Cupcakes Recipe
📋More Pizza Recipes

Since cupcakes are often associated with sweet, I'll admit it's not easy for me to get my head around savory cupcakes. If you feel the same, I can guarantee that when you try these Pizza Cupcakes, you'll have no problem making that mental shift!

🍕🧁What are Pizza Cupcakes?

They are made with pizza toppings, in the form of a filling (much like deep dish pizzas), encased in a quick and simple pizza dough (because homemade is always the best.) Although, you can use store-bought pizza dough if you prefer or are really pressed for time. Essentially, these guys are mini pizzas, in the form of a savory cupcake!

Pizza cupcake on a white plate with crushed red pepper and parmesan cheese sprinkles on plate and muffin tin in the background

But pizza cupcakes are different than pizza muffins because they are not a muffin! These are made with a rolled pizza crust that's molded into a muffin tin and filled with pizza toppings, then topped with cheese. Pizza muffins are made with a batter and have the texture of a muffin.

🥘Ingredients

Pizza dough recipe or refrigerated pizza dough from the grocery store * I use my 15 minute pizza dough recipe
pizza sauce * your favorite brand- I use Primo's traditional
bacon (or any meat) chopped * you can use ham, pepperoni, mini pepperonis, turkey bacon, sausage
shredded mozzarella cheese
red onion, chopped
sliced black olives

*See recipe card for quantities

🔪Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F/190 degrees C. Prepare pizza dough according to recipe you are using. I use my quick and easy, naturally dairy-free 15 minute pizza dough (see my other recommendations in notes).
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

dough on lightly floured surface with rolling pin in background

Roll out dough to about ⅛ inch thick.

Cut with a round cutter (a mug or anything round about 4 inches in diameter).

Press each circle into muffin tin.

In small bowl, mix toppings (sauce, onion, olives, meat and only ½ cup of the cheese, reserving the other ½ of the cheese for topping.) Spoon about 2 tablespoons mixture into each dough-lined cup, dividing evenly by all 12. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup mozzarella cheese on top, dividing evenly by all 12.

Bake in preheated oven for 14 to 16 minutes or until golden brown.

*See recipe for full instructions

🍽 Equipment

You'll need a rolling pin, a muffin pan and a cutting board/pastry board (affiliate links)for this easy pizza cupcakes recipe.

Because pizza cupcakes are made in muffin tins, they are also known as muffin tin pizza. I love to make stuff in muffin tins because they are portable, individual servings, not to mention quick and easy. It's also a really fun way to eat pizza!

one pizza cupcake sitting on muffin tin with other pizza cupcakes in the muffin tin

📋More Muffin Tin Recipes

I've always been a fan of individual servings, especially when it comes to party food. I've personally had some bad experiences with 'communal food, ' hence the reason I also created these Individual Cheesy Party Pull Aparts! Plus it's like having a mini pizza all to yourself!

individual pull-apart on a blue plate with a piece being pulled out

📖 Variations & Substitutions

🍕Which Pizza Dough to use?

You could also use any pizza dough you wish with this recipe, such as my Bread Machine Pizza Dough Recipe, or lighten it up and make it WW friendly with my 2 ingredient Weight Watchers Pizza Dough. If you're in a hurry, store-bought pizza dough will also work! But I love this pizza dough because it's so quick and easy!

Dairy-free: I love this pizza dough recipe and I've been using it for years! It's super quick and easy, and it's also dairy-free! We recently discovered that my daughter is lactose intolerant so I've been trying to make as many lactose and dairy-free recipes as possible. This pizza dough is dairy-free and I used a lactose-free cheese in this pizza cupcake, although you could use any type of cheese if you don't need the recipe to be lactose free.

And you can make these pizza cupcakes with your choice of toppings (fillings) you have on hand. I made them with red onion, bacon and sliced black olives (my kids LOVE it when they get REAL bacon!)

meat: bacon or turkey bacon, ham or pepperoni (or turkey pepperoni) NOTE: *If I'm using bacon, I use the Costco pre-cooked bacon because you can take it out of the freezer in individual pieces, microwave it and it's so much less messy and greasy!
make them vegetarian/meatless
onion (green, red or white onion)
cheese: mozzarella, cheddar, marble, feta
black olives
jalapenos
green peppers
mushrooms

🌶️Can I make them spicy?

Yes, you can make these spicier by adding crushed red pepper in the filling or sprinkle it on afterwards. You can also use jalapenos in the filling to spice it up!

✔️Make them Weight Watchers Friendly

2 ingredient Weight Watchers Pizza Dough
use turkey bacon, turkey sausage or turkey pepperoni
use low- fat cheese

* Using turkey bacon and low-fat mozzarella cheese they are instantly WW friendly!

Pizza cupcake split in half on a white plate with crushed red pepper and parmesan cheese sprinkles on plate

🥗 Side dishes

It's not that you need a side dish with pizza, but I think it's always good to get some veggies with any meal. I serve these with cucumber slices and/or baby carrots and maybe some fruit or a side salad, especially if they're going in the lunch box!

2 pizza cupcakes in a clear bento box with blue dividers, with baby carrots in one section and fruit cup in a small container in another

🌡️Storage

They are just as tasty cold, as they are warm. Just keep leftover pizza cupcakes refrigerated (but only for up to 4 days.)

💭 Can these pizza cupcakes be frozen and reheated?

Yes! They freeze really well and taste freshly baked when they are reheated. Remove them from the muffin tins after they are baked, allow them to cool 10 minutes, then place them in a freezable airtight container, or in a plastic freezer bag. They can be frozen for up to 3 months. When you go to reheat them, 30-40 seconds is about the right amount of time, but that will also depend on the wattage of your microwave.

👪 Serving size

You can also cut this recipe in ½ by adjusting the serving size on my recipe card. Just click on the serving size ( it's highlighted in blue.) But you'll probably end up wanting to double the recipe. My kids couldn't get enough so I made sure to make double the next time. As I noted, they freeze and reheat really well and are also great cold!

My kids LOVED these Pizza Cupcakes. Seriously, they even fought over them. Since they are picky teenagers, I always feel pretty flattered when they think my food is fight-worthy. And if there's one thing we know teenagers love, it's pizza! So if you love mini pizzas too, then give these a try!

⭐ COMMENTS & REVIEWS

Did you know that commenting and rating recipes is one of the best ways to support your favorite recipe creators? If you loved this recipe, please comment and rate it in the recipe card or share photos on social media using the hashtag #foodmeanderings or tagging @foodmeanderings !

Enjoy!