A fun pizza night recipe, these Pizza Donuts are simple enough for kids to make and a fun party recipe everyone will love! (Plus, it’s way less messy than pizza when it comes to messy kids!)

Pizza Donut Recipe

Every Friday is family night in our house.

Whether we’re doing a night of crafts, or board games – or a fun themed movie night – no matter what, that time is special and reserved just for family. (I’m sure the day will change as Ella gets older – but that commitment to have a fun family night every week won’t. Spending special time together is an important family value for us.)

I tend to either theme our food around the movie or activity that we’re doing (it could be something as simple as spaghetti and meatballs for Lady and the Tramp), or use that night as opportunity to indulge and make something fun (like these spaghetti and meatball cookies for that same Lady and the Tramp movie night, ha!).

Fun twists on pizza recipes tend to be my go-to – from pull-apart pizza bread, to hot pizza dip, or even pizza pot pies. I had come up with these pizza donuts originally as a dessert recipe (coming soon) but Ella insisted that they would work as a savoury dish, too! (And my girl somehow prefers savoury treats to sweet ones – I don’t know how that happened! She definitely doesn’t get that from me…)

More Unique Pizza Recipes

• Pizza Pasta Salad
• Heart-shaped Naan Pizzas
• Pizza Pot Pies
• Deluxe Pizza Sliders
• Hot Deluxe Pizza Dip
• Pull-apart Pizza Bread
• Pizza Dipping Sauces
• Pepperoni and Cheese Pizza Sliders
• Apple Pie Dessert Pizza
• New York Pizza Burger
• Pizza Egg Rolls
• Pizza Roses

We finally whipped them up last Friday in between making unicorn crafts and watching Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

They were simple enough for Ella to make without help while being really fun and delicious. While they were baking, she called all of her uncles and told them about our pizza donuts invention and made false promises to save one for each of them. (I should probably be more embarrassed about the fact that I ate 5 of these in one night, but I’m not!) Luckily, these are simple enough that we could whip up a batch for her uncles in just a few minutes.

You could use pizza dough or even bagel halves to make this recipe, but I love the way that our biscuit dough puffed up and really took on the appearance of real donuts. (And if you wanted something really indulgent – like something you’d find at a country fair – you could use simple cake donuts for the base instead.) I’ve included a recipe for super quick biscuit dough below, but feel free to use pre-made biscuit dough (or pre-made pizza dough).

While we kept things simple with just sauce, cheese and pepperoni, feel free to use your own personal preferences for pizza toppings – or set out a variety of options so that everyone can customize their pizza donuts to their liking! This would be a great idea to set out for a pizza party or an appetizer to keep kids happy for a longer party or family get-together.

(Update: we made these the following week with a three year old friend and it was super simple for him to make, too! You just may want to help them portion out the sauce because that can get a bit messy. The kids were so proud of their pizza donuts and just kept giggling over the name.)

Check out Ella’s quick recipe video for how to make your own pizza donuts and then scroll down below for your free recipe printable so that you can make these pizza donuts yourself:

Ingredients for Pizza Donuts

• Canned biscuit dough
• Tomato sauce
• Italian seasoning <– grab our recipe for homemade Italian seasoning
• Shredded cheese
• Mini pepperonis
• Pizza Toppings of choice

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

For the biscuit dough:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup butter, cold, cut into Tablespoons
• ¾ cup buttermilk or milk, cold

Tip: you can use pizza dough instead of the biscuit dough, if you prefer (or already have it on hand). Pre-made biscuit dough is a bit easier with kids and involves less clean-up.

Tip #2: I always have buttermilk in the fridge, but plain milk works perfectly as well. The real star is the pizza toppings so that simple swap doesn’t make a huge impact on the final recipe.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Measuring cups and spoons
• Large bowl
• Mixing spoon <– I like these spatulas because they are one solid piece and don’t have removable heads for bacteria to get trapped underneath. Plus they are heat-resistant and have a lifetime warranty.
• Rolling pin
• Cheese Grater
• Cutting board
• Donut cookie cutter
• Baking tray

How to Make Pizza Donuts

Preheat your oven to 375F.

If making your biscuit dough from scratch, in a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder & salt.

The butter is supposed to be cold, but I’ve always used room temperature butter and my biscuits turn out great. If you do use cold butter, use a fork or pastry cutter to cut in the butter until it forms pea-size pieces.

Add the cold milk all at once and mix until dough forms a ball.

Lightly flour a surface for rolling out the dough and roll into a large rectangle, about 1″ thick.

Use a donut cookie cutter to cut out your donuts – or two circle cookie cutters to form the donut.

Mix the Italian seasoning into the pizza sauce and then spread 1 Tablespoon of sauce on the top of each donut.

Sprinkle cheese on each donut, as desired, then top with your preferred toppings.

Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, until lightly golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Pin this Pizza Donut recipe for your next pizza night:

Grab your free printable recipe card for our pizza donut recipe:

These Pizza Donuts are a fun recipe for a family night – or an easy party recipe that will get your guests talking! It’s easy enough for kids to make themselves, and they are delicious enough that guests will be asking for the recipe.

For more fun pizza-inspired recipes, check out our pull-apart pizza bread recipe or our hot deluxe pizza dip recipe.