Cheese Pizza Bites
These Cheese Pizza Bites are a healthy lunch or snack for kids. Serve them with pizza sauce for dipping! This easy cheese pizza bites recipe is made with a quick no rise whole wheat pizza dough and mozzarella cheese.
Figuring out what to feed kids for lunch is a constant struggle, isn’t it? It’s easy to get in a rut with sandwiches. Sandwiches can get boring quickly!
I’ve been working to create more fun and healthy lunch options for your little ones. So many of you have written to me to tell me that feeding picky eaters is a challenge in your home. I’m working on ideas and recipes to share with you to help! Be on the lookout for many more kid-friendly meal options here on the website.
These Cheese Pizza Bites can be made ahead for quick lunches, snacks or even dinner. This pizza bites recipe is made in a mini muffin pan, for the perfect finger food for kids. Serve these mini pizza bites with this easy no cook pizza sauce recipe for dipping!
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Can you pack these mini pizza bites in your kids’ lunch boxes? I’ve taste tested these Cheese Pizza Bites both warm and cold. I prefer them warm. The dough is softer when they are warmed and they just taste better. I serve these pizza bites for lunches and after-school snacks at home, so that I can warm them up a little for my kids. You can have your little taste testers decide if they like these cold in their school lunches or not. All kids are different, which is what makes feeding them such a challenge, right? 😉
I have lots of other (easy!) ideas for school lunches for kids:
- 10 healthy school lunch ideas for kids
- No fuss make ahead school lunch ideas
- 2 weeks of easy, healthy school lunches
How to make mini pizza bites:
You’ll start by making your pizza dough. This recipe uses an easy whole wheat pizza dough. This is a yeast dough, but it doesn’t require any rise time so it’s quick to make. Don’t be intimidated by the yeast dough – I walk you step by step through the process in the recipe below. It’s really simple!
You can knead the dough either by hand or with a stand mixer. I use a stand mixer because it’s hands off and I can clean up the rest of the kitchen while the mixer does the work. 🙂
Once the dough is smooth, gather it together in a ball. Use a large knife to cut the dough into 24 equal pieces. Do this by cutting it into quarters, then cut each quarter in half. Once you have 8 pieces cut each piece into 3 equal parts and roll each of the 24 pieces into a smooth ball. This dough is really easy to work with, so it’s easy to roll the balls.
Gently flatten each dough ball into a small disk and place in a mini muffin tin. Sprinkle on some shredded mozzarella cheese, bake and serve!
Tips for making these Cheese Pizza Bites:
- You can add chopped pepperoni or vegetables to your pizza bites. Put them on top of the dough in the muffin pan, and then add the cheese on top.
- A nonstick mini muffin pan makes pizza bites that are just the right size for kids.
- This recipe calls for white whole wheat flour. I use white whole wheat flour almost daily in my kitchen. I’ve found it at many grocery stores, including Safeway, Whole Foods and even Target. White whole wheat flour has a milder taste than regular whole wheat, but it still has all of the nutritious whole grains. If you don’t have white whole wheat available you can substitute all-purpose flour.
Cheese Pizza Bites
Ingredients
- ½ cup warm water, 105-115 degrees F
- 1 teaspoon rapid rise, instant dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ¼ cups white whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup 3 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Combine warm water, yeast and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer. Gently stir to mix. (Alternatively, the dough can be mixed and kneaded by hand.)
- Let stand 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a mini muffin pan with olive oil or spray with cooking spray.
- Add the olive oil, white whole wheat flour, Italian seasoning and salt to the mixing bowl. Use the paddle attachment to mix until well combined. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 5-8 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead it by hand a few times. Shape the dough into a ball and then cut the dough into 24 equal pieces. (You can do this by cutting the dough into eight equal pieces and then each of the eighths into thirds.)
- Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten it into a disk. Set each of the disks into the mini muffin cup wells, forming them into the muffin cup shape.
- Sprinkle each piece of dough with shredded mozzarella.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cheese is lightly browned.
- Serve warm pizza bites with pizza sauce, if desired.
Can you freeze this dough, especially if you make a double batch? If not, do you have any recommendations for preserving the rest of the yeast packet for future use?
Yes, this dough should freeze well. You should also be able to refrigerate extra yeast in a sealed container.
Yet another amazing recipe! My family loves these so much I always quadruple the recipe whenever I make them. I also make them in full size muffin tins instead of minis, just because it makes a little faster.