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)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour and divide the dough into three equal portions.
- Use your hands to roughly flatten each ball into a rectangle, and then use a large rolling pin to roll into a neater rectangle.
- Roll out as thinly as possible and try to get the edges reasonably straight.
Indenting the dough and brush with oil
- Use your fingertips to press indents into the dough.
- Brush the dough with olive oil.
- 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
- Spread the pizza sauce over the dough.
- Add your desired toppings. (We like salami, mushrooms and grated cheese.)
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Place the semolina into a shallow bowl with a wide, flat base, or something otherwise slightly larger than each pizza roll.
- Dip each pizza roll in, coating the base and sides.

Bake the Pizza Rolls
- 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.
- 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
- Cheap Tuna Melt Flat Bread Sandwich
- The Best Oven Baked Curry Puffs
- 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!

Air Fryer Pizza Rolls
Ingredients
Pizza dough
- 1 cup water at room temperature
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1/4 tsp caster sugar
- 2 tsp dried yeast
- 4 cups bread flour (600 gms), plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil (60 ml), plus extra for brushing
Pizza sauce (or 2/3 cup store-bought)
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 1.5 tsp caster sugar
- 1.5 tsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced (add more if you like it garlicky)
- 1.5 tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley or oregano, basil or similar herb
Pizza topping
- 1.5 cups grated cheese (tasty, mozzarella or similar)
- 40 gm salami slices or any other cured meat, cut into small pieces
- 3 mushrooms medium-sized, cut into small pieces
To finish
- 1/4 cup semolina
Instructions
Pizza dough
- Place the water, sugar and yeast in a measuring jug and leave to sit for five minutes to activate the yeast.
- Combine the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and then pour in the water. Add the olive oil, then use a spoon to roughly combine.
- Use your hands to bring the dough together into a ball. Knead for 10 minutes. This step can also be done using a mixer.
- Once done, roll the dough into a ball. Drizzle olive oil over the top and coat the dough ball all over. Cover the mixing bowl with cling wrap and leave in a warm place for 60 minutes or until it doubles in size.
- After the dough has proofed, divide it into three portions. Shape each portion into a ball then cover and set aside at room temperature for another 30 minutes.
Pizza sauce
- Combine ingredients in a small bowl and mix until combined.
Pizza rolls
- Pizza base – roll each ball of dough out onto a floured surface into a large rectangle, roughly 40 cm x 25 cm.Use your fingertips to press indents all over the dough, then brush with olive oil leaving a clean 1 cm edge along one of the long edges. Spread one third of the pizza sauce over the base, leaving the same edge clean.
- Topping – scatter one third of each pizza topping over each base, again leaving the same edge clean.
- Roll and chill – roll the rectangle into a long cylinder shape, rolling towards the clean edge. Dampen the clean edge with a bit of water, then roll over the clean edge and press down to seal. Chill seam-side down in the freezer for 30-60 minutes to firm up.
- Preheat – preheat the air fryer (or oven) to 180 C / 360 F.
- Shape – cut each log into 1.5 cm / 0.5 inch slices. Place the semolina in a shallow bowl, then dip each pizza roll into the bowl, coating the base and sides with semolina.
- Cook – place the pizza rolls on a baking tray and bake for 12 minutes in either the air fryer or oven.
- Cool and serve – once done remove from air fryer (or oven) and place on a cooling rack. Pizza rolls can be eaten warm or cold.