Want something even easier than homemade pizza and just as fun? Make pizzawiches!
My mom fed five kids on a limited budget while working and going to school part time. Meals needed to be quick, easy, and above all, kid-friendly.
Often her recipes came from family or church functions. Some, like my aunt’s Cheesy Eggs, didn’t go over well. Others, like Cheesewiches, passed with flying colors. Sandwiches, stuffed with a cheese and tomato filling, reminiscent of pizza, were one of my favorite things.
I’ve rebooted mom’s Cheesewiches to please my boys’ carnivorous tendencies and dubbed them Pizzawiches. (You can find a real food version of the original in my cookbook, Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook.)
These are like pizza in a sandwich, so good, and so easy to make.
One holdover from Mom’s recipe is that these hot sandwiches are freezer-friendly. Well, before they become hot. Make a big batch and freeze for quick and easy lunches and suppers throughout the coming month.
(I haven’t tried it, but I really want to see how these reheat in the slow cooker. I think it should work. Stay tuned for the update!)
Pizzawiches
Ingredients
- 9 Italian sub rolls or 18 small sandwich or club rolls
- 16 oz mozzarella cheese (shredded) can also use cheddar, jack, or a mix
- 2 cup marinara sauce
- ½ 5-ounce package pepperoni (sliced)
- ½ lb bulk Italian sausage cooked and crumbed
Instructions
- Slice the rolls in half, leaving a hinge. Scoop out insides, leaving a shell. Crumble the removed bits into a large bowl
- Add the cheese, pasta sauce, pepperoni, and sausage to the bowl. Mix to combine.
- Fill the rolls with the mixture. Wrap the closed rolls in foil and bake as directed below or place the wrapped rolls in freezer bags and freeze.
- To serve: bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes or until the filling is hot. ALternatively, you can place the wrapped sandwiches in a slow cooker on LOW for 2 to 3 hours, turning once.
gloria glass
love your site, just happened to come across it today Have been trying to figure out what to do for lunches now that the kiddos are home or summer. With 7 of my own at home and the 3 I babysit for…HELP and I need to be as frugal as possible and meet healthy guidelines. can’t wait to try the pizza sandwiches and burritos. I think they’ll love them and my freezer can be full for a little while
Penny Kennedy
Greetings from Canada. I have two hungry teenagers to feed and stumbled across your website 2 days ago. Ordered your cookbook and made a huge batch of burritos yesterday. My boys and husband loved them. Thanks for the inspiration and great info on freezing.
Quick question. When heating these rolls in the slow cooker, can you layer a bunch of them. My boys will go through 3 or 4 each per serving I’m sure.
Jessica Fisher
My crockpot was big enough to reheat eight of them. Keep it at about 4 hours on low. We had some that got a little soft on the inside edge, what wasn’t touching the outside of the crock.
shawna
Did you ever try reheating in the crock pot? I’m looking for freezer lunches for the summer break that won’t overheat the house. Would LOVE if we could do these in the slow cooker!
Jessica Fisher
I reheated a different kind of sandwich in the crockpot, and another reader did these. Between us we found that the outside edge gets crispy and the inner side (not touching the crock) gets a little soft. She moved hers around halfway through and said they were perfect. 🙂 It’s a win!
shawna
Great! Just the answer I was hoping for! 🙂 how long should I pop them in?
Jessica Fisher
Four hours was long enough for me.
shawna
Thanks! You’re the best! Thanks for keeping my family’s tummies happy! 🙂
Stephanie @ Stephanie's az kitchen
Love this idea! Making it for the freezer to pull out for busy nights 🙂
Lee
We like to toast these open faced. Yum!
Jessica Fisher
Do you do the same thing with the inside bread? Or do you make a pizza on a roll?
Lee
I obviously didn’t read the directions very well. ? basically pizza on a roll 🙂
sarah k @ the pajama chef
i definitely want to try these!
Tammy
Here in West Virginia, we these are called pizza breads. A local pizza place is famous for them. WV is also the home of the pepperoni roll. 🙂
Jessica Fisher
I had no idea! What’s a pepperoni roll?
MarshaJ
Native West Virginian checking in. Pepperoni rolls were created to give coal miners an easy hand-held lunch that required no refrigeration on long work shifts. Strips of pepperoni were wrapped up in dough and baked. I guess you could call them the original hot pockets!
I have a recipe on my blog that explains how to make WV pepperoni rolls. http://www.tasteandseegodsgoodness.blogspot.com/2011/02/west-virginia-pepperoni-rolls.html
Jessica Fisher
Thanks!
Arthur LeVesque | Rub It On Your Meat
Wow those look delicious! I have had the urge to make pizza croissant’s for the last couple weeks but keep putting it off. I usually make my sauce from scratch so it becomes a bit of an endeavor for me and I always end up with a ton of leftover sauce. However, I never thought of using it in sandwich rolls like this! How awesome, can’t wait to try it out and thanks for the post!
Jessica Fisher
Freeze that leftover sauce. It will do just fine after thawing.