Mozzarella and Pepperoni Pinwheels are my new best friend. I love how easy and versatile the recipe is! There are so many fun and different combinations you can try to fit the needs of your family. If a recipe is complicated, has a lot of different ingredients, or takes more than 45 minutes, I typically don’t make it. With my busy life and ever-hungry kids, I need something that isn’t time consuming but fills them up and is delicious. Not only do my kids love these pepperoni pinwheels, but they double as a great appetizer or finger-food. Look how easy these are:
Start will a 9 inch round cake pan that is well coated in cooking spray. You’ll see here that I am making two batches of these pepperoni pinwheels because one is never enough. If you are going to serve these at a party, you may even want to make three!
You’ll need one container of prepared crescent roll dough. Can I just say that I HATE opening these things? I am always scared to death to pop one of these open. I usually give it to my husband, plug my ears, and turn my back. They’re like a bad jack-in-the-box. If I’m alone, I tear a small bit of the paper off and then bang it on the counter with all my might. At least then I know when it’ll pop! Do you have a special way of opening these things?
Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface and then use a rolling pin to roll out the creases in the dough. It is important to do this step because it ensures that each pepperoni pinwheel has a good amount of dough wrapped around it. If you don’t do it, the perforated edges may cause the dough to sluff off and all the filling to fall out.
Place the pepperoni on the dough so that it covers the entire surface. You’ll need about 40-50 pieces.
Sprinkle on a bag of frozen broccoli chunks that have been thawed and patted dry with a paper towel. Then layer the broccoli with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, and a sprinkle of garlic salt.
Carefully roll the dough into a tight log shape. Start from the left and roll it to the right so that the log is short and thick. In other words, don’t roll it the long way or you won’t have as many layers in the pepperoni pinwheels.
*In this picture, I rolled it width direction and then turned it to cut the slices.*
Cut 8 1-inch pieces and place them into the greased cake pan.
Bake the pepperoni pinwheels at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until they are golden brown.
You’ll know they’re done when your kids start coming in the kitchen asking what smells so good. Their little hands are always grabbing for the pinwheels before they have even cooled! This is why I always make at least 2 batches: one for pre-dinner and one for dinner! (Why can they never wait the last 5 minutes it takes to get dinner on the table?!)
Pepperoni pinwheels also make a wonderful appetizer or finger food for a party. I took them to a Christmas party a couple of weeks ago and several people asked for the recipe. I’m thinking of making them again for New Year’s Eve.
As fun as they are to serve at a party, pepperoni pinwheels are one of my kid’s favorite dinners. Since I can make them in less than 30 minutes I don’t mind making them often. They also make great leftovers for the kids’ lunches the next day. Shhhhhh, don’t tell them there’s broccoli in there!
For more easy and quick dinners the family will love, check out my 30 Minute Dinners and my Crockpot Meals on my Recipe Index. Happy cooking y’all!
Easy Mozzarella and Pepperoni Pinwheels
Ingredients
- 1 tube crescent dough
- 40-50 pieces pepperoni
- 12 oz 1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli, thawed and pressed between paper towels to dry
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 tsp garlic salt
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees.
- Thaw, drain, and press broccoli between paper towels to dry completely.
- Grease a cake pan with cooking spray.
- Roll out the crescent dough on a floured surface and roll out the creases with a rolling pin.
- Layer the pepperoni on top of the dough.
- Sprinkle the broccoli, cheeses, and garlic salt on top.
- Roll the dough from left to right to shape a short, tight log.
- Cut into 8 1-inch pieces and place into the greased cake pan.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
This is a lovely dish that can be individualized to satisfy other tastes, address food allergies, and sometimes just what you have on hand. I no longer can eat spicy foods, so I substituted the pepperoni with some chicken, and the broccoli was in a fresh deli salad that also had some raisins. Follow the instructions as to baking temperature and time — and yours will look as great as the one in the image. It was delicious and had different flavors for the palate. Be bold!
That is so creative of you! Thanks for trying it Marty!
My family loved this meal! This was a great way to sneak in a veggie that isn’t most of their favorites, but they were willing to eat it in this meal! We even customized an end of a roll to cater to some the allergies/ sensitivities in our family. How would sausage or shredded chicken do as a substitute for the pepperoni? These pinwheels probably allow for lots of combinations to mix and match veggies based on what is available in the freezer. Though we loved as is is and probably will not deviate too much. Thanks!
I think chicken would be fine!
Yummy!! Very easy and delicious. I used the Dough Sheet and I think I overworked the dough and rolled it out too much since they didn’t puff up as much as I would have liked. But we enjoyed them for a quick and easy dinner.
Thanks for trying it Trish! And yes, I think overworking the dough tends to make it go flat.
Thanks for the share! The crescent rolls are vegan and you can use vegan mozzarella and vegan pepperoni. I love how many of your recipes are easily vegan adaptable! Thanks for sharing.
This is great to know! I didn’t realize there was such a thing of vegan pepperoni!