Our air fryer pizza rolls are made with an easy pizza dough which is then rolled together with pizza sauce and toppings! These amazing little pinwheels are baked in the air fryer until puffy and delicious. They can be made ahead, with both the cooked and uncooked rolls freezing well, and are very lunch box friendly.

Ingredients Used For Air Fryer Pizza Rolls

• Pizza dough – This recipe includes instructions to make your own but you can use store-bought.

• Pizza sauce – This is incredibly easy to make and is included in the recipe. You can also substitute with store bought.

• Pizza toppings – we use grated cheese, salami and mushrooms. You can use whatever you want though – try your favourite pizza toppings, or use up what you have in the fridge. There’s no need to be too exact with the quantities, though less is generally better – if you pack in too many toppings they tend to fall out while cooking.

• Semolina – The secret ingredient! Semolina has a coarse texture that adds extra crunch to the pizza dough. This ingredient can be skipped but we highly recommend it!

How to Make Air Fryer Pizza Rolls

Making the dough (if not using pre-made)

1. Place 1 cup of room temperature water into a measuring jug, then top with 1/2 cup boiling water. Add 2 tsp of dried yeast and a 1/4 tsp caster sugar. Give it a quick stir then let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place 4 cups strong bread flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a well, add 1/4 cup olive oil, then pour in the yeast mixture. Use a spoon to roughly combine, then your hands to bring everything together properly. Knead for 10 minutes or until elastic and smooth.
3. Cover and let it rise for one hour in a warm sunny spot. Once risen, punch down and divide into three (total dough should weigh approx. 960 gm, or 320 gm per portion). Knead and shape each portion into a ball, then cover and set aside at room temperature for half an hour.

Divide and roll out the dough

1. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and divide the dough into three equal portions.
2. Use your hands to roughly flatten each ball into a rectangle, and then use a large rolling pin to roll into a neater rectangle.
3. Roll out as thinly as possible and try to get the edges reasonably straight.

Indenting the dough and brush with oil

1. Use your fingertips to press indents into the dough.
2. Brush the dough with olive oil.
3. Leave a clean edge along one of the long edges, about 1 cm. This will be used as a seam later.

Add pizza sauce and toppings

1. Spread the pizza sauce over the dough.
2. Add your desired toppings. (We like salami, mushrooms and grated cheese.)
3. Continue to leave a clean edge with this step.

Note: Don’t pack on too many toppings, if you use too much they tend to fall out when baking.

Roll, Chill and Cut

1. Roll the dough into a log by picking up the long edge that is not clean, then rolling it towards the long edge that is clean. Use your finger to dampen the clean edge with a bit of water, then roll over to seal. The water will help the dough to stick.
2. Chill the pizza roll log until its firm enough to cut through and hold its shape. 30 minutes to an hour in the freezer should be sufficient. Don’t use cling wrap (plastic wrap) for this step since the dough can sweat when wrapped.
3. Dust your work surface with flour, then place a log onto the work surface. Use a large knife (like a chefs knife) to cut the log into 1.5 cm / 0.5 in sections so you end up with 25 or so pieces.

Coat in Semolina

1. Place the semolina into a shallow bowl with a wide, flat base, or something otherwise slightly larger than each pizza roll.
2. Dip each pizza roll in, coating the base and sides.

Bake the Pizza Rolls

1. Place the pizza rolls onto a baking tray/oven-safe tray, and bake in a preheated air fryer or oven on 180 C / 360 F for 12 minutes. When the pizza rolls are ready the dough should have puffed up, the cheese melted and the pizza rolls should be starting to golden.
2. Remove from baking tray and leave them to cool on an oven rack. You can enjoy these warm or let them cool completely.

Making Air Fryer Pizza Rolls in Advance

The pizza rolls can be frozen either once they’re fully cooked, or once they’ve been prepared.

Freezing cooked pizza rolls

• Allow pizza rolls to completely cool.
• Place on an oven tray/plate, leaving space between each roll, then freeze until nearly frozen (this will take a few hours).
• Transfer to a zip lock bag and seal.
• To reheat: pizza rolls can be placed completely frozen in the microwave and reheated at 70% power for 30 seconds. Cooked pizza rolls can also be left in the fridge to defrost.

Freezing uncooked pizza rolls

• Follow the recipe as far as cutting into slices and dipping into semolina.
• Place on an oven tray/plate, leaving space between each roll, then freeze until nearly frozen (this will take a few hours).
• Transfer to a zip lock bag and seal.
• To cook: place completely frozen pizza rolls in the air fryer/oven and follow same temperature and cooking times per recipe (180 C / 360 F for 12 minutes).

Storing Air Fryer Pizza Rolls

Store pizza rolls in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the fridge for up to 3 days. They can also be frozen (see Making Air Fryer Pizza Rolls in Advance section above).

Reheating Air Fryer Pizza Rolls

Pizza rolls can be reheated in the microwave (10 seconds from room temperature, 20 seconds from the fridge). Cooked, frozen pizza rolls should microwaved for 30 seconds on high.

Making Air Fryer Pizza Rolls Look Good!

To keep the pizza rolls in a nice circular shape:

• Seal the pizza rolls properly – once you’ve rolled the dough into a rectangle leave a clean long edge (so no oil, pizza sauce or any other toppings). Roll the dough towards the clean edge, then dampen the clean edge with a bit of water and use your fingers to press down and seal. Store the roll seam-side down in the freezer until ready to cut.
• Cut smaller slices – in the earlier days of developing this recipe we were making rolls up to 1.5 inches thick, and about half of these would unravel during baking. When we switched to smaller slices (1.5 cm / 0.5 inches) we had virtually no rolls unravel – so smaller pieces definitely seem to do the trick!
• Roll the dough out thinly. This will give you a few more layers of dough so you get a better spiral effect.
• Nice clean edges – When you’re shaping the dough into a rectangle use a pizza cutter or icing spatula to get straight edges.
• Chilling – chilling the dough firms it up so that it holds its shape while cutting. We recommend 30-60 minutes in the freezer.

Other Recipes You’ll Love

• Cheese and Bacon Rolls – Super Soft
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• Crispy Roast Pork Belly in Air Fryer
• Sticky Fish Sauce Wings in Air Fryer

If you guys do make this recipe, please tag us at #scruffandsteph on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. We would love to see your creations!