This Easy Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza recipe makes it simple to have delicious, piping hot pizza in less time than it would take for the delivery guy. It’s got a chewy garlic bread crust on the outside, ooey-gooey mozzarella cheese on the inside, and couldn’t be easier to put together!
If you love all thing pizza and want to try something new, try our Pizza Monkey Bread, French Bread Pizza, and of course, our Classic Homemade Pizza. They’re all delicious and can be made for a fraction of the cost of take-out.
Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza Video Tutorial
The Best Stuffed Crust Pizza Recipe
Pizza Hut is the king of takeout stuffed crust pizza and this copycat recipe will bring you right back to the original. We’ll show you how to make simple pizza dough, add your favorite pizza sauce and toppings, and use a secret ingredient (string cheese) to make things super easy.
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Making your own stuffed crust is so simple you will absolutely wonder why you haven’t been doing this all along. Check out our step-by-step video with instructions and tips, including how to toss your dough like a pro!
Ingredients You Will Need
- Pizza Dough – you can make your own homemade pizza dough per our instructions or store-bought dough. You can usualy find deli-made pizza dough by the pepperoni at the supermarket. Frozen Rhodes rolls or bread dough also work great and is so easy to have on hand.
- Mozzarella Cheese Sticks – string cheese sticks are such a great trick to have up your sleeve because they are already the perfect shape and size. All you need to do is unwrap them! If you don’t have any on hand, the next best option would be a block of cheese that you can just cut down into sticks.
- Butter – you’ll want to melt your butter so that you can brush it around the edges of the crust. Either salted or unsalted will work. Olive oil makes a great substitute.
- Garlic Salt – this is for sprinkling around the edges of the crust. You can either purchase garlic salt or make a mixture by combining half salt and half garlic powder.
Toppings for Pizza
Our family is a pepperoni and cheese family all the way. But it’s also our humble opinion that there are no bad pizza toppings. Yes, we even support pineapple on pizza – whatever floats your boat! Here are a few other ideas:
- Meat Lovers with cooked sausage, diced ham, pepperoni, cooked ground hamburger, or grilled chicken
- Margherita style fresh basil, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella
- Spinach and Artichoke with artichoke hearts, cooked spinach, and mozzarella cheese, add some bacon on there too.
- Veggie pizza loaded with your favorite fresh veggies, peppers, mushrooms, red onions, and mozzarella cheese
- Mexican pizza with refried beans, corn, cilantro, sliced jalapeños, cooked taco meat, and a Mexican cheese blend
Best Pizza Sauces
When I’m making dinner and need to get in on in a hurry, I just use a canned or jarred marinara sauce but if you’re wanting to level up your pizza sauce game, try our Homemade Pizza Sauce, or our Homemade Marinara Sauce and make a double batch because it’s a great recipe and pasta night won’t be the same again. Uou can also spread a thing layer of Garlic Spread or White Pizza Sauce over your crust before adding cheese and any toppings.
Sundried Tomato Alfredo Sauce to great when making a white pizza and homemade Pesto is a great addition too.
How to Make Homemade Stuffed Cheese Crust Pizza
Once you’ve got your dough, it’s time to get cooking:
- Form the dough into a round. Lightly flour the countertop and remove pizza dough from the large bowl. Form into a nice, round ball. Using your fingertips, press about 1″ from the edges of the dough ball all the way around. Then lift the dough and use your knuckles to carefully spread it out into a thin and even round. Keep using your knuckles to spread out any areas that are a little thick.
- Toss or roll the dough. Using both hands, toss the dough making 90″ turns (see video for more on this – you can also use a rolling pin if you are more comfortable).
- Add dough to pan. Place your dough onto your 15″ pizza pan (or 18” x 13” baking sheet) and press the edges of your dough out past the edges of the pan by about 1″.
- Stuff crust with cheese. Take your mozzarella string cheese sticks and line them up about ½”-¾” from the edge of your pizza, and roll the dough over the top. Take the dough over the cheese, pinching it to cover the cheese to secure them in place. Continue all around the edge of the pizza dough. Patch any holes that may have formed by pressing the dough together, and gently press to spread out any thicker areas that you still see.
- Add sauce and cheese. Using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter over the stuffed edges of your dough, then sprinkle with garlic salt. Spoon the marinara sauce evenly over the dough, then sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top of the sauce. If you are using pepperoni, place the slices evenly over the cheese.
- Bake. In an oven preheated to 400 degrees, bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the crust is lightly browned around the edges. You can also use a spatula or fork to carefully lift up the pizza to check if your crust’s bottom is golden brown.
- Serve. Let cool for about 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you want round pizzas, we recommend investing in a pizza wire and an aluminum wide rim pizza pan. Pizza wires help distribute heat evenly and can be found at restaurant supply stores, or on Amazon.
Another great option is to use a large cast-iron skillet or a pizza stone. They both bake very evenly and hold heat well, making for a crispy and chewy crust.
In a pinch, it is also perfectly fine to bake pizza in an 18” x 13” rectangular baking sheet.
We recommend baking your Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza at400 degrees F. This is slightly lower than you might cook a regular pizza but this will help make sure it bakes nice and evenly and that the string cheese inside your crust all has a chance to melt.
Every oven is different, so make sure and keep an eye on your pizza the first time you try this recipe and adjust as you wish!
Pizza is always best hot out of the oven. But, you can definitely make the pizza dough the night before. Make sure it’s wrap up nice and tight and store in the fridge overnight. The next day, pull it out to room temperature for 20-30 minutes before using.
You can use any type of string cheese or shredded mozzarella for stuffed crust pizza. Some people also like to use cheddar or pepper jack for a different flavor. As long as you cut it up into long pieces, about 1/2″ in diameter, you’re good to go.
Make sure to seal the edges of the dough tightly around the cheese to prevent any leakage during baking. You can also try freezing the cheese sticks before wrapping them in the dough to help them hold their shape better.
It’s not necessary to pre-bake the crust before adding the toppings for stuffed crust pizza. The pizza will bake evenly in the oven, and the crust will become golden and crispy as it cooks.
Yes, you can use store-bought pizza dough for stuffed crust pizza if you’re short on time. Just follow the same process of wrapping the cheese in the dough and adding your favorite toppings.
Recipe Tips
- You can make the dough a day ahead of time and keep it wrapped tightly in the fridge overnight.
- If you don’t have a round pizza pan, substitute a baking sheet instead.
- Using mozzarella cheese sticks makes stuffing your crust a cinch. You can also use slices of mozzarella if that’s all that you have on hand. You can also wrap your pieces of string cheese in pepperoni for a fun pepperoni cheese-filled pizza crust recipe.
- Make this even easier by using store-bought pizza dough. You can usually find deli-made pizza dough by the pepperoni at the supermarket. Frozen Rhodes rolls or bread dough also works great and is so easy to have on hand.
Storing and Reheating Instructions
- Refrigerator: store leftovers either wrapped in foil or inside an airtight container. A ziplock bag works great too.
- To reheat: you can either microwave leftover Stuffed Crust Pizza for about 30 seconds on high, reheat it in a 350-degree oven, on a baking sheet until warm, or place it in the air fryer for about 8 minutes or until the cheese is melted again.
More Pizza Recipes You’ll Love
Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup water, warm (95-110 degrees F)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 10 1-ounce mozzarella cheese sticks
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon garlic salt
Pizza Toppings
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 12 ounces shredded mozzarella
- 7 ounces sliced pepperoni
Instructions
To Make the Pizza Dough
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the warm water, sugar, and yeast and mix well. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, or until it becomes frothy and bubbly.
- Once your yeast has proofed, add the olive oil, salt and about 1½ cups of flour. Using the dough hook, mix until all of the ingredients are completely combined.
- Add in the rest of the flour, about a 1/4 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl. You may need up to 1/2 cup of additional flour.
- Mix on low speed for another 1-2 minutes, then cover and let the dough rest in a warm place for 15 minutes, or until about doubled in size (or wrap and store in the fridge overnight).
Make the Stuffed Crust
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Grease a 15" pizza pan with cooking oil. Use your fingertips to press the dough evenly out past the edges of the pan by about 1".
- Line up the mozzarella cheese sticks and about ½" from the edge of your pizza and roll the dough over the top. Pinch down to secure them in place. Fold the dough over the cheese sticks all the way around the entire crust.
- Patch any holes that may have formed by pressing the dough together, and gently press to spread out any thicker areas. (try to get the crust to a uniform thickness)
- Using a pastry brush, brush the melted butter over the stuffed edges of your dough and sprinkle with garlic salt.
Baking
- Spoon the marinara sauce evenly over the dough and sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top of the sauce. If you are using pepperoni, place the slices evenly over the cheese.
- Bake for about 15-17 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Use a spatula or fork to carefully lift up the pizza to check and see if the bottom of your crust is golden brown. Once cooked, remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this?
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This Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza recipe makes it simple to have delicious, piping hot pizza in no time. It’s got a chewy garlic bread crust on the outside, ooey-gooey mozzarella cheese on the inside, and can be topped with any of your favorite pizza toppings.
It was awesome. My family and I loved your pizza video. We made our dough from your video and it is the best. Thanks!
This recipe is amazing. Came out perfect. I let it cook for 20mins, added different types of seasoning and cheeses, highly recommend.
This was amazing! We made this on a whim because we had almost all the ingredients and we wanted some stuffed crust pizza. We ran out of mozzarella and used other cheeses. It still turned out great. Will definitely make again. It took around 35 minutes for the dough to double but that is not a complaint at all. Way cheaper to make this at home instead of buying delivery and tastes just as good as those places if not better.
This was easy to follow. Came out good. But I used the pizza pan I had, it was only 12” wide, so we had thick crust. I had to bake it at 400 for 26 minutes on a shinny metal pan. I put a cup of jarred sauce on it, and the sauce disappeared into the crust. I added a teaspoon of garlic powder to the dough. I sprinkled grated parm over the sauce, then mozzarella cheese til it “looked” like enough. Added ham and mushrooms. Sprinkled salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano and some basil over it before baking. ????.
I made the recipe as written, and the dough was SO sticky and impossible to work with. I believe I ended up adding about 1.5 cups MORE of flour. Other than that, it turned out well!
I’m having a slice now, and I probably would have used a little bit less extra flour….maybe 1 cup total instead of 1.5 cups. Also reduced the cooking time, but that part is not the fault of the recipe!
Looks good I will add mushrooms and sauted onions. Can’t wait try make it for my husband. Thank you.
I made this as written with 1 cup water, 1 1/2 cup flour, adding the 1/2 cup flour and I had soup. I probably ended up adding at least another cup of flour. It turned out.
I am making this for my cousin’s b-day! so yummy!
This crust turned out amazing!! It was light and airy but crispy and chewy. So good! I made pizza and breadsticks and everyone loved them! This will for sure be my go-to homemade pizza recipe. Thanks Jill!
I’ve been eyeing this on social media! It’s so on my list and the video makes it look so easy! Yum!
Thanks Tara! Yes, it’s so easy to make and everyone loves it! Hope your family loves it too!
Pat