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Hi Bold Bakers!
As you have seen on Bigger Bolder Baking before, pizza comes in all different shapes and sizes around here. This recipe might actually blow your mind because these are Pizza Cupcakes! Yes, you read that right. It’s a pizza masquerading as a cupcake but it’s still a pizza.
It has all the components that you love about pizza: sauce, mozzarella, herbs and pepperoni. All of these ingredients are held together by a savory cupcake. It’s a very basic dough that is soft and almost spongy, which is perfect to soak up tomato sauce. Imagine what a biscuit would be like with all of those toppings and that’s pretty much what you are getting.
If pepperoni isn’t your jam then feel free to add in your favorite pizza toppings like olives, mushrooms, or pesto. Think of these cupcakes as a blank canvas on which you have creative license to go nuts!
Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips for Pizza Cupcakes
- This recipe uses pepperoni because we love that around here, but feel free to replace this with your favorite pizza topping, like diced sausage, olives, mushrooms or peppers.
- Instead of tomato sauce, you can use pesto, olive tapenade or any other sauce you normally like on your pizza.
- If you like pizza with a little kick of heat, add about a ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to either the sauce or the cupcake batter.
- Pay careful attention to the layering order for the cupcake filling. The cheese layered around the sauce helps keep it suspended in the center of the cupcake.
- You can replace some of the mozzarella with another cheese like goat or feta.
- If you like this recipe, check out my other pizza-inspired treats, like Pizza Scones, Pizza Savory Pop Tarts and Microwave Mug Pizza !
Watch The Recipe Video!
Pizza Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (7 ½ oz/213 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups (12 fl oz/360 ml) whole milk
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup (4 oz/120 g) store-bought pizza sauce or my homemade pizza sauce
- 2 cups (8 oz/225 g) shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup (2 oz/57 g) mini pepperonis
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and liberally grease a muffin tin with olive oil. Set aside.
- In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning and salt.
- Next whisk in the milk and eggs until combined.
- For the bottom layer of the cupcake, fill each muffin cup with about 2 tablespoons of batter.
- Make the cupcake filling by first adding a small layer of cheese to each cup followed by 2 teaspoons of sauce then a sprinkle of cheese again. Finally, layer on a few mini pepperonis.
- Top each cupcake with 2 tablespoons of the remaining batter, and then a final sprinkle of cheese and pepperonis.
- Bake until lightly browned and puffed, about 20-25 minutes. Enjoy while still hot!
Recipe Notes
- This recipe uses pepperoni because we love that around here, but feel free to replace this with your favorite pizza topping, like diced sausage, olives, mushrooms or peppers.
- Instead of tomato sauce, you can use pesto, olive tapenade or any other sauce you normally like on your pizza.
- If you like pizza with a little kick of heat, add about a ½ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes to either the sauce or the cupcake batter.
- Pay careful attention to the layering order for the cupcake filling. The cheese layered around the sauce helps keep it suspended in the center of the cupcake.
- You can replace some of the mozzarella with another cheese like goat or feta.
- If you like this recipe, check out my other pizza-inspired treats, like Pizza Scones, Pizza Savory Pop Tarts and Microwave Mug Pizza !
Do you love pizza as much as I do? If so you might also like my Pizza Pop Tarts, my Pizza Scones or of course just a regular but amazing Pizza Dough recipe.
Absolutely amazing these were soo yum but would u know the calories in each ?
Hi Gemma,
I made these today and felt that there was too much salt. I try to avoid salt and used local regular salt(my city sits on a salt mine). Since the recipe only needs 2 tsps can I leave it out. I did it in the 12 cup pan that i have at home but next time I’m going to use the 6 cup so I can add more toppings. I submitted pictures just hoping they get approved. I also posted to IG.
Definitely will make again!
Hi Gemma,
I’m wondering if I can leave out the salt. I felt they were a little too salty. I used regular coarse salt. I will try again probably with no salt and use my bigger pan so i can add more toppings.
Hi there
Can you freeze these?
Hi Gemma, I just made this recipe today and it is super delicious! My family and I absolutely love it! I couldn’t find those baby pepperonis, so I used the regular-sized ones and cut them into quarters. It worked great! My only note is that here in your recipe it says to bake 20-25 minutes and in your video, you say 25-30 minutes. Not a big deal. 27 minutes was perfect for my oven. Delicious and so easy! Thank you!
Made this and it was a hit with my picky eater autistic little one, can’t be more grateful. Can you freeze these for a quick lunchbox filler?
Gemma, how would I make a margherita version of this?
Hi. Gemma, can I use oregano powder instead of dried oregano? Thank you.
Hi Gemma,
Is there anything that we can substitute for Italian seasoning ? Also love your puppy. It is soooo cute. Love your recipes and thank you for sharing them with us.