Make your own customizable pizza pockets using homemade or store-bought pizza dough and stuffed with your favorite pizza toppings. A kid-approved recipe that’s ready in just 20 minutes! Freezer and meal-prep -friendly too!
If there’s any recipe I feel qualified to be sharing it’s this homemade pizza pocket recipe! My childhood ran on pizza pockets…and gatorade but that’s another story.
I was a competitive figure skater growing up so I spent a lot of time at the ice rink. Most meals following practice prominently featured a microwaveable pizza pocket (pepperoni was my preference). It may not have been the healthiest but it definitely sustained me when I was in a post-practice calorie deficit.
Now that I have a kid, I’ve definitely been reliving a lot of my childhood favorites. We were recently in Toronto and I picked up some pizza pockets for her. It made me realize how easy they are to make! I personally like to use my homemade pizza dough but store-bought works just fine. Better yet, you can customize the ingredients to make them a little healthier. I’d highly recommend trying these out!
Why Make This Recipe?
- Kid-Friendly – just ask my toddler who LOVES these.
- Customizable – want a simple cheesy pizza pocket? No problem. What about pepperoni? Add it in! You could even try something fancier like this homemade sun dried tomato pesto or your favorite veggies.
- Freezer-friendly – just like store-bought pizza pockets, this pizza pocket recipe is freezer-friendly. Make a bunch in advance and store them in the freezer. Then just heat them up in the microwave or oven like you would a regular pizza pocket!
Ingredients Needed
- Pizza dough – you can use homemade or store-bought.
- Pizza sauce – again you can use homemade tomato sauce or store-bought marinara sauce.
- Mozzarella cheese – you could also sub in a different cheese, if preferred
- Egg yolk – this is for the “egg wash” to help give your pockets a golden color.
- All-Purpose Flour – for rolling out pizza dough
- Salt + Pepper – add to taste.
My Favorite Pizza Pocket “Toppings”
I guess these technically aren’t toppings since you’re stuffing them inside your pizza pockets, but here are some of my favorite combinations:
- Meat Lovers – 2-3 Pepperoni slices and/or a small crumble of cooked sausage
- Veggie Lovers – Sprinkle chopped onion, green peppers, red peppers and mushrooms onto tomato sauce
- Mediterranean – Sundried tomato pesto (in place of pizza sauce), cooked spinach + olives
- Hawaiian – 1 slice cooked ham and 1 tbsp fresh pineapple
How to Make Homemade Pizza Pockets
STEP 1: ROLL OUT DOUGH
Place pizza dough on a lightly floured surface and using a rolling pin roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.
STEP 2: CUT DOUGH
Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice your pizza dough into 8 evenly sized rectangles. Roll out rectangles again until they are about 8 inches long. Place onto parchment-lined baking sheet with half of each rectangle hanging over the side.
STEP 3: STUFF PIZZA POCKETS
Using a spoon spread 1 tbsp of pizza sauce to the inside end of your rectangle. Top with 2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese and any desired toppings. Fold the empty half of the rectangle over the stuffed half and seal with a fork. Brush each pizza pocket with egg wash (just whisk an egg yolk and 1 tbsp of water in a small bowl).
STEP 4: BAKE
Place pizza pockets on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 12-17 minutes at 425 degrees F or until golden brown. Let rest for a few minutes as they will be hot right out of the oven.
Pizza Pocket FAQs
You definitely can. These will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, however I do recommend baking right before eating since they’ll taste best that way.
Yes! I’m sharing more details below for freezer-friendly pizza pockets but yes, you can definitely freeze this recipe and I highly encourage it.
No! Absolutely not. While I might prefer to use my homemade pizza dough, you can just as easily use a store-bought or premade dough. Just made sure it can be rolled out and isn’t pre-baked.
Yes! In fact I highly encourage it. I like making 2 or 3 batches of these homemade hot pockets at once so I can freeze leftovers. My toddler loves to help me stuff them!
No you definitely don’t. This gives the pizza pockets that shiny golden color but if you omit they’ll still taste great!
Storage Instructions
Store your homemade pizza pockets in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in microwave or in oven (350 degrees F. for 5-10 minutes).
Freezer Tips
You can store any leftover pizza pockets in the freezer. Just wrap each one individually in tinfoil and place in a Ziploc or freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months.
Remove pocket from foil and heat in microwave for about 3 minutes. You can also reheat in the oven (350 degrees for roughly 20 minutes).
More Pizza Recipes:
Homemade Pizza Pockets
Make your own customizable pizza pockets using homemade or store-bought pizza dough and stuffed with your favorite pizza toppings. A kid-approved recipe that’s ready in just 20 minutes! Freezer and meal-prep -friendly too!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 pizza pockets 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place pizza dough on a lightly floured surface and using a rolling pin roll out dough to a 1/4 inch thick rectangle.
- Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, slice your pizza dough into 8 evenly sized rectangles.
- Roll out rectangles again until they are about 8 inches long. Place onto parchment-lined baking sheet with half of each rectangle hanging over the side.
- Using a spoon spread 1 tbsp of pizza sauce to one end of your rectangle.
- Top with 2 tbsp shredded mozzarella cheese and any desired toppings.
- Fold the empty half of the rectangle over the stuffed half and seal with a fork.
- Brush each pizza pocket with egg wash (just whisk an egg yolk with 1 tbsp of water in a small bowl).
- Place pizza pockets on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 12-17 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let rest for a few minutes as they will be hot right out of the oven.
- See storage instructions above.
