Pizza Rolls: Oven and Air Fryer Times, a Homemade Recipe, and Party Math

Pizza rolls are bite-size pockets of thin dough wrapped around tomato sauce, cheese and usually pepperoni, cooked from frozen until the filling is molten. The bag directions are 425°F for 10 to 12 minutes in the oven or 9 minutes at 390°F in an air fryer, and a homemade batch using egg roll wrappers takes about 40 minutes start to finish.

Where pizza rolls came from

The pizza roll is an egg roll with Italian filling, and that is not an accident. Jeno Paulucci, a wholesale grocer from Hibbing, Minnesota, made his first fortune canning chow mein under the Chun King name, sold that company to R.J. Reynolds for $63 million in 1966, and in 1968 founded Jeno's Inc. to sell frozen pizza and snacks. His family credits him with inventing the pizza roll, which his New York Times obituary, carried by the Boston Globe, called a hybrid of Italian and Chinese fast food. He sold Jeno's to Pillsbury for $135 million in 1985, and Jeno's Pizza Rolls became Totino's Pizza Rolls, the name on the bag today.

pizza.guide is independent and not affiliated with Totino's.

A current bag of Totino's pepperoni rolls lists enriched flour, tomato puree, pork, mechanically separated chicken and imitation mozzarella among its ingredients, and the maker's product page puts a serving at 6 rolls and 200 calories. Nobody eats 6; the 50-count bag is "about 8 servings" on paper and two in most houses.

How to cook frozen pizza rolls: oven, air fryer, microwave

The directions below are the ones printed on the back of the Totino's bag, as reproduced on Publix's product listing. Every method ends with the same instruction: let the rolls stand 2 minutes. That is not a suggestion. The filling is hotter than the shell and it stays that way for a while.

The bag also says to cook to an internal temperature of at least 160°F. In the oven, a dark sheet pan beats a shiny one, and a preheated pan beats both: the bottoms start crisping immediately instead of steaming in their own thaw water.

Pizza rolls in the air fryer

The air fryer is the right tool for this food. Hot air hits all six sides of each roll, the shell blisters the way the oven never quite manages, and the whole thing is done in 9 minutes with no preheat worth mentioning. Single layer, which in a 4-quart basket means about 20 rolls. Shake at the halfway point. Pull them a minute early if several have split, because leaked filling burns onto the basket fast.

Our air fryer pizza page lists a slightly gentler 380°F setting that suits smaller baskets. The bag's 390°F number assumes a 4-quart machine and 20 rolls, so a 2-quart basket with a dozen rolls finishes a minute or two sooner.

Homemade pizza rolls recipe

Makes 24 rolls. Egg roll wrappers make this a weeknight project; they are in the produce section of most supermarkets next to the tofu. A pizza dough version follows the recipe.

• 24 egg roll wrappers (about 6 inches square), or 48 wonton wrappers for smaller rolls
• 150g (about 2/3 cup) thick pizza sauce, simmered down until a spoon dragged through it leaves a trail
• 200g (2 cups) low-moisture mozzarella, shredded fine
• 100g pepperoni, diced small, or the same weight of fully cooked, crumbled Italian sausage
• 20g (1/4 cup) grated Parmesan
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano and a pinch of garlic powder
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for sealing
• Oil spray or 2 tablespoons olive oil for brushing

1. Heat the oven to 425°F with a sheet pan inside, or set an air fryer to 380°F.
2. Stir the cooled sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, Parmesan, oregano and garlic powder together. The mix should hold a shape on a spoon. If it slumps, add more cheese.
3. Lay a wrapper with a corner toward you. Put a level tablespoon of filling (about 20g) a third of the way up. Fold the bottom corner over it, fold in the sides, brush the top corner with egg wash and roll tight.
4. Brush or spray the rolls all over with oil. Dry wrapper does not brown; it just hardens.
5. Oven: 12 to 14 minutes on the hot pan, turning once at 7 minutes, until deep golden with a few dark blisters. Air fryer: 7 to 8 minutes, turned at 4.
6. Rest 3 minutes before serving. The filling is still at a boil when they come out.

With pizza dough instead of wrappers, roll a 250g ball from our pizza dough recipes to about 12 by 16 inches, cut into 3-inch squares, fill with a teaspoon each, pinch into pillows and bake at 450°F for 10 to 12 minutes. They come out puffier, closer to a mini calzone than to the frozen product.

Why pizza rolls burst, and the other mistakes

Wet filling. Sauce straight from the jar is mostly water, and water turns to steam at 212°F inside a sealed wrapper with nowhere to go. Reducing the sauce by a third before mixing fixes most blowouts on its own. Shredding the cheese fine helps too, since big shreds leave air pockets that collect steam.

Overfilling is the second cause. A tablespoon looks stingy on a 6-inch wrapper and is correct. Two tablespoons gives a roll that cannot seal and a pan to scrub.

Crowding the pan steams the shells instead of crisping them. Leave a finger's width between rolls.

And the burn. A pizza roll out of a 425°F oven has a filling near the boil and a thin shell that cools fast, so the outside lies to you. Two minutes of standing time brings the inside down to merely hot. Our best cheese for pizza guide covers the low-moisture versus fresh question in detail; inside a sealed roll, fresh mozzarella is a puddle.

Dipping sauces for pizza rolls

Warm marinara is the default. After that the order of popularity at any party is ranch, then garlic butter, then something hot.

Pizza rolls for a Halloween party

Halloween is the busiest night of the year for these, so a word on volume. Plan on 10 to 12 rolls per adult and 6 to 8 per child, which means a 50-count bag covers five or six people and a 130-count bag covers a dozen. Cook in rounds of 40 on full sheet pans and hold the finished rolls on a wire rack in a 200°F oven for up to 30 minutes. On a plate the bottoms go soft in ten minutes.

For a costume, make mummy rolls. Cut thin strips from a sheet of pizza or crescent dough, wind two or three loosely around each frozen roll leaving a gap near one end, brush with egg and bake at 425°F for 14 to 16 minutes. Two dots of ranch in the gap are the eyes.

The rest of the spread is on our easy pizza snacks page; bagel, tortilla and French bread pizzas all bake at the same 425°F, so the oven schedule holds.

Storing and reheating pizza rolls

Cooked rolls keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge, the same window as a slice (see how long pizza is good for). Reheat them in the air fryer at 350°F for 3 to 4 minutes or in a 400°F oven for 6 to 8; the microwave turns the shell to leather. More on that at how to reheat pizza.

Homemade rolls freeze well uncooked. Freeze them solid on a parchment-lined tray, then bag them. Cook straight from frozen and add 3 minutes to the oven time or 2 to the air fryer.

Frequently asked questions

How long do you cook pizza rolls in the oven?

The Totino's bag says 425°F for 10 to 12 minutes for 20 rolls and 13 to 15 minutes for 40, in a single layer on a baking sheet, followed by a 2-minute stand. A preheated dark sheet pan gives crisper bottoms in the same time.

How long do pizza rolls take in an air fryer?

The package directions are 390°F for 4 minutes, a shake of the basket, then 5 more minutes, for up to 20 rolls in a 4-quart basket. Smaller baskets and smaller batches finish a minute or two sooner. Let them stand 2 minutes before eating.

Can you microwave pizza rolls?

Yes. On high in a 1000-watt microwave, 6 rolls take 1 minute to 1 minute 15 seconds and 12 rolls take 2 minutes to 2 minutes 40 seconds. The shell comes out soft rather than crisp and toughens as it cools, so eat them within a few minutes.

Why do my pizza rolls explode?

Steam. Watery sauce and air pockets inside the wrapper turn to steam with nowhere to go. For homemade rolls, reduce the sauce until thick, shred the cheese fine, use a level tablespoon of filling and seal with egg wash. For frozen rolls, pull them a minute early if several have split.

Who invented pizza rolls?

Jeno Paulucci, the Minnesota food entrepreneur behind Chun King canned Chinese food, is credited with inventing them. He founded Jeno's Inc. in 1968 to sell frozen pizza and snacks, and sold the company to Pillsbury for $135 million in 1985, after which Jeno's Pizza Rolls became Totino's Pizza Rolls.

What do you dip pizza rolls in?

Warm marinara is the standard. Ranch, garlic butter, hot honey and a buffalo sauce with blue cheese on the side are the other crowd favorites. For a party, put out marinara plus one creamy and one hot option and most people are covered.