Vegan Pepperoni Pizza Rolls with Cream Cheese Drizzle

I have a friend named Aurora who used to food blog, but now days is focusing her energy on her newest project, MurderMuder News! The only place you need to go for your True Crime news fix!

I am a true crime fanatic and if you adore a good true crime website/podcast/ documentary as much as I do, then you must, MUST go right now and follow Aurora and Angelina over at MurderMurder News and on their youtube channel for all things true crime related! Also she is just great and I promise you will love her!

That said, she messaged me the other day telling me I really need to veganize this recipe she found over at Thrillist.com. So naturally I knew she was right and decided to give it a go.

After poking around the interwebs I saw this is actually a thing people do…make pizza into a kind of cinnamon roll hybrid. How am I just now seeing this?!?!?

Rolling up pizza toppings into pizza dough and cutting and baking them like a cinnamon roll!! FLIPPING GENIUS, Y’ALL!

Had I known this was a thing years ago, I might weigh a lot more than I currently do, and I would have been making these weekly…I guess I am gonna have to step up my gym game.

Veganizing these was actually pretty easy. After looking around at what is standard pizza roll protocol, I decided I liked that the folks over at Thrillist added a cream cheese drizzle (not the norm elsewhere from what I saw) to mimic an icing if you will. Also I will add cream cheese or sour cream to just about anything so it seemed only right! I also added extra marinara because I LOVE sauce and want to dip alllll the things.

For the filling I used a store bought marinara, some shredded vegan mozzarella, and homemade vegan pepperoni. I guess if you are feeling too lazy to whip up some pepperoni you could add olives, mushrooms, peppers, or whatever you want. Just be careful to keep the stuffing sliced thinly and don’t over stuff!!

If you are into making your own pepperoni, its easy. Our recipe is super easy and will give you 2 “sticks” of pepperoni. You only need half of one for this recipe so you will have plenty leftover to snack on with cheese and crackers, add to a salad, or freeze for later.

So if you want a little something different on pizza night, try rolling that mess up like a cinnamon roll, don’t skip that cream cheese drizzle, and make sure you have extra sauce for dunking. And if you love true crime you can eat these rolls while watching the ladies over at Murdermurder News on youtube. Sounds like the perfect Friday night to me.

INGREDIENTS:

• 16 oz pizza dough ( homemade or store bought)

• 4-6 oz of vegan shredded mozzarella (homemade or store bought)

• 1/2 cup marinara sauce, plus more for dipping

• 1 tablespoon vegan butter

• 2 teaspoon garlic powder, divided

• 1/4 of a batch of homemade vegan pepperoni, thinly sliced (half of one stick)

• 1/3 cup vegan cream cheese ( homemade or store bought )

• A few splashes plant milk

• Dried basil or parsley

• 1/4 cup or so of corn meal

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. If you are using pre-made pizza dough, remove it from the fridge and let it rest for about 10 minutes. It will stretch better if you do. Once it has sat, flour your hands to stretch it out to a large 16x12 inch (give to take) rectangle. You can also roll the dough out using a rolling pin, I just have always preferred to stretch it! It will be sticky so adding flour to your hands and work surface will help.

2. Melt a tablespoon of butter and mix in 1 teaspoon of garlic powder in a small bowl. Brush the dough leaving a 1 inch border around the edge that you don’t brush.

3. Spread the sauce evenly over the dough, remembering to keep the 1 inch border. Lay out the thin pepperoni slices in a single layer, and sprinkle the top with the cheese.

4. Starting at the 16 inch side facing you, roll the dough into a log as tightly as you can. If you don’t roll it tightly enough, the filling will fall out when you cut it ( I may have lived this exact scenario the first batch I made, just trust me.)

5. Using a very sharp knife, carefully cut 10 evenly sized rolls from the dough.

6. Dip the bottoms of the the rolls in some corn meal and place them on a baking sheet or in a 9x13 casserole dish about an inch or so apart. Place the rolls in the oven with the rack positioned in the middle. Bake for 25 or 30 minutes, or unit the dough seems to be browning and done, and the cheese is bubbling and melted. Remove and let cool just a bit.

7. Place the cream cheese along with 1 teaspoons of garlic salt in a small bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds to soften. Mix in about a tablespoon of plant milk or as much as it takes to thin the cream cheese out enough to drizzle over the tops of the pizza rolls. Not too thin, not too thick, about the consistency of icing. It really will depend on the brand of cream cheese you are using as to how much milk you will need to thin it out.

8. You can serve as is, or I like to also drizzle some extra sauce on top and sprinkle with some dried basil or parsley.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Cheese Stuffed Pretzels

Vegan Pizza Nachos

Vegan Stuffed Crust Pizza

Vegan Pepperoni Pizza Nachos

Pizza night just got at lot more fun with these vegan pepperoni pizza nachos.

Sure, you could just go ahead and make a regular pizza but eating pizza that is also a nacho is sorta just better sometimes.

It’s as easy as cutting up your pizza dough into bite size pieces before baking it up, then loading the pizza “chips” with all your favorite pizza toppings.

We topped ours with the best All Purpose Vegan Cheese Sauce. It is easy to make and works so well for pizza and even better for these nachos. Just drizzle, pour, drowned these nachos in this vegan cheese sauce and pop them back in the oven until the sauce gets gooey, bubbly, perfectly melty mozzarella like….its magic really.

Next top the pizza with whatever toppings you like. We love vegan pepperoni in this house and it is more than easy to make yourself. If you have never made your own vegan pepperoni or other vital wheat gluten based vegan meats, trust me when I tell you, it’s easy. It mixes up fast, bakes rather quickly as well, but it does need time to rest. So if you want pepperoni for dinner, you better get started at breakfast, or just get in the habit of keeping some in the fridge for pizza, cheese and crackers, or even as a salad topper.

We also added some green and black olives, became I love ALL olives, but you can add any veggie you like. Or if you are a family, or friends divided, just sprinkle the toppings you like on your half or quarter of the pan.

These vegan pizza nachos work well for a snack, lunch, dinner, or even party appetizer. They also reheat just as well as pizza, right in the oven, so don’t fret over any leftovers you may have. Just pop them back in the oven for 10 minutes or so and you are good to go.

So cheers to the marriage of two of the best foods ever made. Pizza and nachos are a match made in snacking heaven!

INGREDIENTS:

This recipe will make enough pizza nachos for 4-6 people as a meal. If you want just a snack or are feeding less people, half the recipe.

• 1/2 batch Easy All Purpose Vegan Cheese Sauce

• 1/2 jar vegan marinara sauce

• 1 Vegan Peperoni thinly sliced

• 2 batches vegan pizza dough. Store bought or homemade

• Black and green olives, onions, peppers, mushrooms, or whatever pizza topping you may like

• Fresh basil and vegan parm for garnish

INGREDIENTS:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Roll the pizza dough out at thinly as you can and cut it into chip sized triangles. Spread the triangles out in a single layer on several cookies sheets. Pop the cookie sheets into the oven and bake for about 10 minutes or until the pizza dough is cooked though and begging to brown. Remove from oven and set aside.

3. Prepare cheese sauce according to instructions. You can either make full batch of cheese sauce and save half for another recipe (it keeps for a week or can be frozen) or just prepare half a batch.

4. Arrange the pizza “chips” in a pile on one baking sheet. Drizzle with desired amount of marinara and cheese sauce. Top with pepperoni slices, olives, and whatever other veggies or toppings you may like. Place the cookie sheet back in the oven and bake at 425 degrees for 5-10 minutes, or unit the cheese sauce is bubbling and browning.

5. Remove from oven and garnish with fresh basil and vegan parmesan cheese to serve.

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Caesar salad Nachos with Fried Soy Curls

Vegan Stuffed Crust Pizza

Vegan Matzah Nachos

Vegan Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Pizza

Recently, my kids asked if I could veganize a breakfast their Grammy used to make them before we went vegan.

Honestly, I had never eaten my mother in law’s breakfast pizza, so I had no idea what was on it. The kids claim it was sausage, egg, and cheese. I decided I wanted to add sausage gravy, veggie filled scramble, and cheese.

We are going to give this recipe all of its points for taste, certainly not looks. It’s what’s inside that matters right…or how it taste more than how it looks? I mean I am all about drooling over beautiful food pics, don’t get me wrong. But with this one, I just want to cram this whole pizza in my mouth as fast as I can, so there is really no time to gaze upon it anyway.

Feel free to add any veggies you like, add no veggies at all, double the fun with some vegan bacon crumbled on top, or use whatever vegan cheese you have on hand, or prefer.

Its that easy! And thanks again Grammy for the inspiration! The kids are super fans of your breakfast pizza!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cans crescent roll dough (make sure the ingredients are vegan)

• 1 package vegan sausage (we used Lightlife brand)

• 1/3 bottle Just Egg or 1/2 batch tofu scramble

• 1/3 cups flour

• 3 cups unsweetened plant based milk (we used almond)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon black pepper

• Optional add ins: diced onion, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes

• 1-2 cups vegan cheddar shreds (we prefer Follow Your Heart)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Carefully roll out both tubes of crescent dough flat onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Use your hands to press the seams together so that you have one giant rectangle of dough. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the dough begins to brown and seems mostly cooked through. Remove from over and set aside.

2. In a large skillet over medium heat, crumble and cook the sausage until cooked through. Lower the heat to med/low. Sprinkle the flour over the sausage and let it cook for about a minute. Whisk in the milk, salt, and pepper. Cook until the gravy has thickened, making sure to stir several times as it thickens. Remove from the heat.

3. If you want veggies on your pizza, finely dice them, and add them to a large skillet over medium heat with a few teaspoons of vegan butter. Cook the veggies until they have softened. If using Just Egg, add 2/3 of a bottle over the veggies and allow the eggs to cook until done. If using tofu scramble, prepare the tofu according to the recipe, and add it to the veggies. Cook according recipe instructions.

4. To prepare the pizza, evenly spread the sausage gravy over the baked crescent dough. Add the “egg” mixture over the gravy, and top with cheese. Place the pizza back into the hot oven and cook until the cheese has melted. ( I am not sure what brand of cheese I used with this recipe but it was not Follow Your Heart. It did not melt as well as some other brands we have tired, but still tasted good. My preference for store bought cheese that melts well is still Follow Your Heart)

5. Slice to serve

If you like this recipe, try these:

Vegan Deluxe Biscuits and Gravy

Easy Tofu Quiche Cups

Tempeh Summer Grit Bowl

vegan sausage breakfast pizza

Vegan Stuffed Crust Pizza

What’s better than homemade vegan pizza? Well how about homemade STUFFED CRUST vegan pizza!

That’s right, we stuffed our easy vegan all purpose cheese sauce right into the crust! I make a ton of vegan cheeses, even vegan mozzarella that shreds and slices, but honestly this cheese sauce is always my preference for pizza. This cheese is gooey, stretchy, cheesy perfection! No need to ever try another vegan pizza cheese recipes, I promise.

We love pizza night in our house. It’s way cheaper than delivery, plus homemade dough is super simple to make, and everyone gets exactly what they want on top! Win, Win, Win.

If you are feeling too lazy to make your own dough ( I do not judge, really I don’t ) most grocery stores sell a pre-made pizza dough these days.It’s normally vegan but just check the ingredients to make sure!

Plus when you make pizza at home get to add whatever toppings you like, all the cheese you want, and it won’t cost you an arm and leg, because we all know everyone loves to overcharge for vegan food. ( I should write a whole blog post just about how badly that annoys me)

So ditch the pizza delivery, and make pizza night an event at your house with this perfectly gooey, cheesy stuffed crust vegan pizza. I promise its totally worth the effort!!

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 batch Vegan All Purpose Cheese Sauce

• Marinara sauce

• Any toppings you like

The Dough:

• 3/4 cups warm water ( around 110 degrees)

• 2 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 3 tablespoons oil.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Start by adding warm water, yeast, and sugar to a large bowl. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. The yeast should have created a bubbly foam on top. If the yeast did not bubble and foam it is likely that the water was too hot, and it killed the yeast. I typically just use hot tap water to get the right temp.

2. Add the yeast mixture and remaining dough ingredients to a stand mixer and mix on medium for serval minutes to allow the dough to knead. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, add a few extra tablespoons of flour. Your goal is a soft dough, but one not sticky. If you do not have a stand mixer, you can mix the ingredients in a bowl and turn the dough out onto a clean, floured surface to knead for 3-5 minutes.

3. Clean out the bowl you used for the water and yeast. Dry it well. and coat the bowl with a little oil. Place the dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let the dough rise for about an hour or until it had doubled in size. I place my dough in my oven on the bread proof setting, If you do not have a proof setting, you can just place it in oven (turned off) and allow to rise.

4. Prepare cheese sauce according to directions while dough is rising. You want the sauce a little on the thicker side for this recipe.

5. Preheat oven to 450 degrees

6. Once dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a clean floured surface and punch the dough down. Stretch the dough into a circle using you hands. The dough will need to be and inch or 2 bigger than your pizza pan. Let gravity work for you when stretching the dough. Sprinkle the pizza pan with a little corn meal if you have it, to help keep the dough from sticking.

7. Make a ring of cheese sauce about once inch away from the edge of the dough, then fold the excess dough over the cheese and press down well to seal. Make sure you have a nice seal with the dough, or it will pop open and cheese will ooze everywhere while baking. You may have to pinch the dough a bit to make sure it seals.

8. Spread sauce over dough, and top with cheese sauce and whatever toppings you like. Bake on the top rack of your oven for 15-25 minutes, or until the crust has browned and the cheese is nice and bubbly and browning. Cook time vill vary depending on thickness of the crust.

9. Allow to cool some before cutting and serving

If you like this recipe, try these:

Muffin Cup Vegan Lasagna

Vegan Italian Noodle Bake

Vegan Italian Potato Roll Up

Vegan stuffed crust pizza with the perrect easy all purpose vegan cheese sacue and homemade vegan dough