Meatball Sub Bites
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Make the best 4 ingredient Meatball Sub Bites for your next party, game day, or Friday night dinner! They’re a great appetizer, party snack, or side dish to pair with your favorite Italian meal. This recipe is easy to make with pizza dough, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese in just 25 minutes, and it’s always a crowd pleaser!
These little bites of goodness could be called meatball sub bites or meatball pizza cups, but I know one thing for sure, you’ll definitely be calling them delicious!
You only need 4 ingredients to make this popular appetizer, that’s always a hit at parties. It couldn’t be easier to make, and the taste is so amazing, everyone will be coming back for seconds!
Ingredients
- Pizza dough – feel free to use a can of Pillsbury pizza crust, like I used in this recipe, or your favorite store-bought pizza dough. If you want to make pizza dough from scratch, you can get my recipe in this post for pan pizza. In a pinch, you can also use crescent roll dough, but I prefer the taste and texture of pizza dough in this recipe.
- Meatballs – for this recipe, you’ll want to use fully-cooked meatballs. I highly recommend making my homemade meatballs. They only take 27 minutes to prep and cook, and they’re so delicious, made with a combination of Italian pork sausage, fresh ground beef, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, and Italian herbs. You can cook them in the oven, or in an air fryer, and you can make them up to 5 days in advance and store them in the fridge. To save on time, you can also use fully-cooked Italian meatballs from the freezer section at the grocery store. No need to thaw or heat them up before starting this recipe, as they’ll heat up as they cook in the pizza dough.
- Marinara sauce – I recommend using either homemade marinara sauce or Rao’s marinara sauce (my favorite store brand sauce in a jar). You can also use a jar of pizza sauce.
- Mozzarella cheese – I always recommend grating the cheese at home yourself. The bags of pre-shredded cheese at the grocery store contain anti-caking additives that prevent them from melting as well.
Instructions
I’ve included step by step photos below to make this recipe super easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Roll out the pizza dough into a large rectangle. Cut the dough into 12 equal squares.
- Press the dough in a greased standard size muffin tin with 12 cups.
- Top each piece of dough with a small spoonful of sauce, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.
- Place meatballs on top of the sauce and cheese in the middle of the pizza dough. Top with more sauce and cheese.
- Place in a 375°F preheated oven and cook for 15-18 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and optionally garnish the meatball sub bites with chopped fresh basil or flat-leaf parsley, and a little parmesan cheese, if you’d like!
Recipe notes
- You can assemble the meatball sub bites ahead of time in the muffin tin. Cover them tightly with a piece of foil, and place them in the fridge for up to 8 hours before baking them. This is perfect if you’re serving them at a party.
- I recommend serving the meatball sub bites as soon as they come out of the oven. They’re best served hot, so be sure to bake them right before serving.
- Plan for 2 bites per person if serving these as a party snack with other recipes, or as an appetizer before a meal. You can also serve these as the main course, paired with an Italian salad on the side. If serving them as the main meal, I’d plan for 3-4 per person.
- This recipe can easily be doubled for a large gathering. Simply click the 2X button in the recipe card below to change the ingredient amounts to make 24 meatball sub bites, instead of 12.
What to serve them with
This meatball sub bites recipe is delicious paired with any Italian meal. It’s also great served as a party appetizer, or an afternoon snack.
If you want to make them for dinner, simply boil some pasta and make extra marinara sauce to toss with the pasta. You can make this meal in under 30 minutes!
You can also pair these meatball pizza cups with any of these delicious Italian meals.
More party appetizers
Try these other popular appetizer recipes for your next party!
Meatball Sub Bites
Ingredients
- 13.8 ounce can pizza dough, or 2 (8 ounce cans) crescent roll dough
- 12 cooked meatballs, one ounce each, about the size of a golf ball
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Spray a standard 12 count muffin pan with cooking spray.
- Cut the pizza dough into 12 equal squares and press each square into the muffin tin.
- Top each piece of dough with a spoonful of sauce and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, then a meatball and another spoonful of sauce and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes.
Notes
- If you want to use my homemade meatballs in this recipe, visit the link provided. You can prepare them up to 5 days before making this recipe. To save on time, you can also use fully-cooked Italian meatballs from the freezer section at the grocery store. No need to thaw or heat them up before starting this recipe, as they’ll heat up as they cook in the pizza dough.
- You can assemble the meatball sub bites ahead of time in the muffin tin, cover them tightly with a piece of foil, and place them in the fridge for up to 8 hours before baking them. This is perfect if you’re serving them at a party.
Nutrition Facts
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