Deep Dish Chicago Style Pizza Muffins

I had a lot of fun developing this recipe. Of course, I had a few failures along the way, but I think the result is pretty darn good.

When I was young and in middle school, it became mandatory for boys to take two semesters of Home Economics class and for the girls to take two semesters of woodshop class.

I think it was during this time that I developed a love for cooking and baking.
Our instructor was an elderly German woman who was very tired and not accepting of having boys roughhousing in her classroom.

After the first year, I believe she retired after having us as part of her class.

My Favorite days were when we were in the kitchen lab cooking. The lab was a large open room with several kitchen stalls, and we worked in groups of four students per kitchenette.

The recipes were simple. Maybe not even recipes, just putting simple ingredients together and having something junior high kids would like to make.

I particularly remember English muffin pizzas. I had never had them or even heard of them, but after an hour in the lab, we had Pizza Muffins that were mostly burnt, dried out, and the mozzarella cheese was lava hot. Even with their failures,
at that moment, I found one of my favorite recipes.

My pizza muffins are an elevated version of the classic English muffin pizza. Made with homemade dough, they are buttery, saucy, and perfect as a portable snack or lunch.

I hope you give this recipe a try. The result will be delicious, I assure you. The good news is, you will not have an old German woman yelling at you as you make them, well, I assume you won’t. Enjoy!

5 from 1 vote

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Deep Dish Chicago Style Pizza Muffins

Delicious Chicago deep style pizza in a handheld muffin. How bad can that be?

Course dinner

Cuisine American

Keyword Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Muffins, dougbakes.com

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 12 muffins

Author Doug Bakes Staff

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons Olive oil 
• 16 ounces Prepared pizza dough 
• 4 ounces Mozzarella cheese, diced into cubes
• 3/4 cup Italian sausage, cooked, crumbled 
• 1/2 cup Red peppers, cooked, finely chopped  
• 1 medium Onion, cooked, finely diced
• 4 ounces Whole milk mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup Pizza sauce 
• 3/4 cup Freshly grated Parmigiano cheese 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F 

2. Well-oil a 12-cup regular muffin pan.

3. Roll dough out on a lightly floured counter.

4. Roll to a thickness of around 1/8 inch. Remember to pick up the dough from time to time to ensure it's not stuck to the counter.

5. Cut out twelve 4-inch circles. Reroll the dough scrapes to get a total of 12 circles. 

6. Place each circle into an oiled muffin cup to ensure the dough is centered in the cup.  

7. Press the dough up the sides of the muffin cups, leaving a space at the top. 

8. Next, place one tablespoon mozzarella cheese cubes into the bottom of each cup, followed by one tablespoon precooked sausage, two teaspoons of cooked onion, and two teaspoons of cooked peppers. 

9. Using the back of a spoon, press on the fillings to compress, then top with one tablespoon shredded whole milk mozzarella cheese and two tablespoons pizza sauce, pushing the sauce down with the back of a spoon. 

10. Sprinkle Parmigiano cheese over the top.

11. Bake in the upper center of the preheated oven until the tops are browned for 30 minutes.

12. Remove the pizza muffins from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. 

13. Loosen, each muffin with a knife, then use a fork to remove from the pan.

14. Let cool on a rack for a few minutes, then serve.