My super easy pepperoni stromboli recipe is homemade in less than an hour. It’s made with pizza dough, mozzarella cheese, and Italian herbs for a tasty family meal. Let’s make and bake it!
Why this pepperoni stromboli is the best…
- Super flavorful stromboli pizza crust – I’ll show you how to add fresh herbs and parmesan to infuse all the flavor in the crispy crust.
- Everyone loves them! They’re similar to a stromboli recipe from Digiorno, sbarro, Fortes, and Leonetti’s.
- Lasts a few days in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap.
- Great the next day as leftovers for lunch.
- Easy to make ahead and serve for game day food.
Ingredients
What you need to make a classic Italian stromboli with pepperoni and cheese.
For the inside of the stromboli
- Pizza dough (either store bought pizza crust or homemade pizza dough and a little bit of flour for stretching it)
- Cheese: mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese
- Pepperoni (about 1 cup, or 4 oz)
- Red pepper (the marinaded, roasted in jar red peppers)
- Seasonings: red pepper flakes and dried Italian seasonings
- Pizza sauce (use any marinara sauce or try my homemade pizza sauce for dipping)
- You can add in any other stromboli fillings like sweet italian sausage, ham, or diced red onion.
For the golden brown stromboli pizza crust (garlic butter)
Make this tasty garlic herb compound butter style spread to add flavor to the stromboli crust, or substitute 1 tbsp olive oil in its place.
- Butter
- Garlic, minced
- Parsley, fresh chopped
- Salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese
How to make homemade pepperoni stromboli
Once you make pepperoni stromboli the first time, you’ll be blown away by how easy — and fun — it is to whip up.
Quick look at recipe steps
- Stretch the pizza dough.
- Add stromboli filling ingredients.
- Roll stromboli and brush it with garlic butter.
- Bake it.
- Slice and serve stromboli with tomato dipping sauce.
Detailed instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F and add parchment paper to a large rimmed baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, mix together ingredients for the flavorful stromboli crust (butter, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, parmesan) and set it aside. Alternatively, you can use 1 tbsp olive oil to brush the outside of the stromboli when you’re done making it.
- Add flour to a large flat surface like a cutting board to stretch pizza dough – spread half the flour all over the work surface, and add the other half of the flour to the side to use when stretching the dough.
- Add raw pizza dough on top of the lightly floured surface. See my tips on how to stretch pizza dough by hand in the printable recipe at the bottom of this post.
- Once the dough has been stretched pretty far by hand, I recommend using a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to get it as close to a rectangle shape as possible. The dough should be pretty thin – about 1/2” thick.
- Add the stromboli filling ingredients, leaving 2” of space around the outside edge of the pizza dough. First add the cheese, then pepperoni, roasted red pepper, red pepper flakes, and a sprinkle of Italian seasonings.
- Roll the stromboli by folding in 1/3 of the bottom to the center, then roll the other 1/3 edge towards the center, so the seam faces up. Pinch together the dough to bind the seam that runs down the center of the stromboli. Then fold towards the inside and pinch together the edge seems (see video).
- Brush half the flavorful butter sauce on the bottom of the stromboli, then flip it over and place it (seam side down) on the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the top of the stromboli with the remaining butter.
- Use a fork to poke holes along the top of the stromboli for the steam to escape as it cooks. Bake pepperoni stromboli for about 20 minutes, until top and bottom is hard and browned.
- Remove it from the oven and let the pepperoni stromboli sit for 5-10 minutes to cool before slicing it and serving with warm pizza sauce.
FAQs
Calzones and strombolis are both savory baked pastries, and the main difference between them actually is in the way they’re folded and sealed. Think of a calzone as a taco, and a stromboli as a burrito. While calzones are folded into half-circles, the pepperoni and cheese stromboli recipe in this cooking demonstration is rolled. You’re going for a jelly roll or cinnamon roll style look with a stromboli.
While any pepperoni works, here’s one tip– rather than use mini pepperoni slices like those marketed as pizza toppings, try the largest, thickest slices you can buy from the deli counter. Meat you can sink your teeth in is the order of the day here.
Your stromboli might be undercooked, or you might have gotten a bit too excited when putting in the filling and sauce. While a generously filled stromboli is delicious, it may be best to stick with moderation!
Serve your pepperoni stromboli with a make-ahead Mexican salad or Caprese cucumber tomato salad — yum! This is also delicious with a simple tomato cucumber salad — the fresh simplicity of the salad sets off the richer flavors of the pepperoni stromboli.
The Perfect Pizza Setup
Want to make restaurant style pizza at home? I’ve got you covered! Here are some of my top tips, tricks, secret ingredients and tools for a pizza night everyone will look forward to, again and again.
- NEVER do this… Contrary to what most people believe, when baking pizza on a sheet pan, never add toppings to raw pizza dough. Instead, follow my recipe for making homemade pizza with ready made dough, which will teach you how to par bake pizza dough first.
- Get help from secret ingredients…
– This dough seasoning is the secret to real Italian-tasting homemade pizza dough.
– Add pizza seasoning to store bought pizza sauce. This makes the pizza taste really fresh! - Herbs are for after… In my weekly pizza making practice, I’ve found that fresh herbs, like basil, need to be added to pizza after the pizza is done baking (so the herbs don’t wilt).
- Buy fresh dough and get amazing results. Yup, fresh dough from grocery stores is one of my favorite short-cuts. Learn how to use fresh Trader Joe’s pizza dough and Whole Foods pizza dough with my tutorials.
- Frozen pizza can taste amazing, too!! Learn how to spruce it up with this recipe for pizza using frozen crust.
- Slice pizza pies like a chef with just a few swipes, using big ol’ pizza cutters.
- Want to grill pizza? Here are some pizza grilling tools to check out.
- Do you really need to cook pizza on the rack? Nope! I basically never do. Here are tools you see me using in my tutorials on cooking pizza in the oven…
– Bake pizza on a rimmed baking pan set to get a beautiful golden brown crust.
– Love crispy crust? Let the air flow with this dishwasher safe pizza pan.
– Get personal – let your fam / friends top their own pies with this set of personal pizza pans.
More pizza recipes from Sip Bite Go
- Chicken spinach pizza with bacon
- Ravioli pizza on flatbread
- Pear and goat cheese pizza
- See tips for stretching pizza dough by hand
- Learn how to make frozen premade pizza crust taste better
- Homemade Pizza Dough
Are you a foodie, too?
Hey home chefs, know what other recipe I think you’ll love? Check out my Philly cheesesteak pizza. It’s loaded up with a white pizza sauce, and sauteed onions and peppers. You can top it with any leftover steak recipe or make coulotte steak or skirt steak to slice thin for a pizza topping.
Before you go, connect with me on Instagram @sipbitego to see my new tasty recipes – I always share previews before the recipes go live on the site. For more deliciousness, subscribe to the Sip Bite Go channel on YouTube.
To find more delicious recipes to try on your culinary journey, scroll through the Sip Bite Go recipe collection.
Pepperoni Stromboli Recipe | Sip Bite Go
Ingredients
Pepperoni stromboli ingredients
- 1 package pizza dough leave out for hours at room temperature in advance
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1.5 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 cup pepperoni 4 oz
- 1/3 cup red pepper roasted in jar, diced
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasonings dried
- 1 cup pizza sauce
For a flavorful stromboli pizza crust (substitute 1 tbsp olive oil)
- 2 tbsp butter unsalted, melted
- 2 tsp garlic minced
- 1 tbsp parsley fresh chopped
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp parmesan cheese freshly grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F and add parchment paper to a large rimmed baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, mix together ingredients for the flavorful stromboli crust (butter, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, parmesan) and set it aside. Alternatively, in place of this herb butter, you can use 1 tbsp olive oil to brush the outside of the stromboli when you’re done making it.
- Add flour to a large flat surface like a cutting board to stretch pizza dough – spread half the flour all over the work surface, and add the other half of the flour to the side to use when stretching the dough.
- Add raw pizza dough on top of the lightly floured surface. Begin stretching the pizza dough by pushing it against the flour, lightly picking some up, as you stretch the dough by hand. Pinch the outside 1” of the pizza dough in a circular motion to spread it out. Then take your knuckles under the dough, and use them to stretch out the pizza in a circular motion. You can also push and pull the dough against the cutting board, picking up the extra flour as you go (as needed) to help stretch the dough (adding a light dusting of the flour where the dough is sticky helps it keep a larger shape and prevents it from shrinking back up).
- Once the dough has been stretched pretty far by hand, I recommend using a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to get it as close to a rectangle shape as possible. The dough should be pretty thin – about 1/2” thick.
- Add the toppings, leaving 2” of space around the outside edge of the pizza dough. First add the cheese, then pepperoni, roasted red pepper, red pepper flakes, and a sprinkle of Italian seasonings.
- Roll the stromboli by folding in 1/3 of the bottom to the center, then roll the other 1/3 edge towards the center, so the seam faces up. Pinch together the dough to bind the seam that runs down the center of the stromboli. Then fold towards the inside and pinch together the edge seems (see video).
- Brush half the flavorful butter sauce on the bottom of the stromboli, then flip it over and place it (seam side down) on the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the top of the stromboli with the remaining butter.
- Use a fork to poke holes along the top of the stromboli for the steam to escape as it cooks. Bake pepperoni stromboli for about 20 minutes, until top and bottom is hard and browned.
- Remove from the oven and let the pepperoni stromboli sit for 5-10 minutes to cool before slicing it and serving with warm pizza sauce.
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