And suddenly, school seems well underway and we’re still in August. What the?! My kiddos started a couple of weeks ago, we’ve already had back-to-school night for the parents and homework officially starts today. There have been about a million emails (probably made worse because I’m a room mom for both my kids’ classrooms) and all the flurry of the start of the year. My head is spinning! Thankfully, after a full week this week, they’ll have a long weekend break for Labor Day and Rosh Hashanah. I think we’ll all be glad for a little down time! For now, let’s move along to the food. So, we love some sliders in my house. Previously I’ve shared baked BBQ chicken sliders and baked pesto chicken sliders. We even have them in the morning with these cheesy baked breakfast sliders. Today, it’s a kid favorite: pepperoni pizza sliders.
These make a great back-to-school dinner - or afternoon snack if you’ve got hungry teenagers. They’re so easy and so devourable. (Yup, making up words to talk about how great these are.) We’re slathering slider rolls with marinara sauce, sprinkling them with plenty of melty mozzarella cheese, adding some pepperoni slices and then brushing the tops with a buttery, herby, Parmesan mixture for extra flavor. These baked sliders come out soft and super cheesy with all the great pizza flavors. What’s not to love about that? (If you’ve got pizza lovers like I do, check out this pizza grilled cheese for another fun recipe.)
They make a fast and easy lunch or dinner but also work really well as an appetizer or as game day eats. For kids and adults. Football season is coming up, after all. And everyone goes crazy for these! OK, let’s get cooking so you can enjoy these yummy sliders, too. Now, I’ve got some notes and tips coming up below on how to make pizza sliders. Just tryin’ to be helpful. If you want to jump on down to the recipe, simply scroll right on through the rest of the text. The recipe card is near the bottom of the page, above the comments section.
Notes on making pepperoni pizza sliders:
Rolls: I always use a package of sweet Hawaiian rolls. However, you could also substitute regular or whole wheat slider rolls. Mozzarella: A bag of shredded mozzarella is a great time saver here, but you could shred your own from a block. Or substitute fresh mozzarella if you prefer. Just slice it thin so it gets nice and melty. You could also sub an Italian blend cheese mix. Pepperoni: We love pepperoni on ours, and you’ll need 1 pepperoni per slider. Or you could skip this if you’d rather. Toppings: We eat these as is and they are plenty flavorful. But you could add any other favorite pizza toppings to these sliders if you’d like.
Also, make sure you don’t pull the rolls apart before you bake them. You’ll want to cut the rolls in half horizontally — I use a bread knife — and keep the bottoms and tops all attached. It’s easier to assemble them this way and then you just pull them apart one by one when you’re ready to eat.
(That’s a fun way to serve them to a crowd too. Everyone gets to pull their cheesy pizza slider off the dish and see that stretchy mozzarella. It’s definitely my son’s favorite part!) If I’m making this a meal (aka, a lazy dinner for all of us), I will add a bagged Caesar salad from the grocery store as a side dish and call it a day. Done and done!
Last thing, let’s talk about what to do with any leftovers. Leftover pizza sliders can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Even just a plastic ziptop storage bag will work. Reheat them in the microwave, toaster oven or regular oven until warmed through. Whether for kids, adults, game day or just a Friday night, I hope you give these fun pepperoni pizza sliders a try soon. (If you do, I’d love for you to leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram. I love hearing from you and seeing your creations!) Enjoy! XO, Kathryn P.S. If you love easy dinners like I do, you can sign up for my free e-newsletter to get all of my new recipes delivered straight to your inbox so you never miss a thing. I’ll even send you my free e-cookbook, Healthy Weeknight Dinners, as a thank you!
Rolls: I always use a package of sweet Hawaiian rolls. However, you could also substitute regular or whole wheat slider rolls. Mozzarella: A bag of shredded mozzarella is a great time saver here, but you could shred your own from a block. Or substitute fresh mozzarella if you prefer. Just slice it thin so it gets nice and melty. You could also try this with an Italian blend shredded cheese. Pepperoni: We love pepperoni on ours, and you’ll need 1 pepperoni per slider. Or you could skip this if you’d rather. Leftovers: Leftovers can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat in the microwave, toaster oven or regular oven until warmed through.
