Mozzarella Stuffed Sausage Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

    Who doesn’t like a meatball slide with cheese and a good tomato sauce. Well this one is even better since it has all the great flavors of a sausage pepperoni pizza! 

    Mozzarella Stuffed Sausage Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs

    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Cook Time: 22 minutes
    Servings: 22 meatballs
    Who doesn't love pizza!?! It's a staple in our house and I've definitely gone through my phases of trying to figure out the best frozen pizza for those days you need something quick to eat, or which pizza place that delivers here is the best - we live in the middle of nowhere so we don't have a lot of options. I've also gone through my phases of making my own dough and making pizzas at home with a wide variety of toppings, like lemon ricotta cheese and asparagus. My husband isn't as adventurous as I am when it comes to pizza.
    When I was trying to come up with some different and interesting meatball recipes this one was front and center since one of my husband's favorite foods is pizza and like I said he's not terribly adventurous. So for my first meatball that reminds you of pizza here it is! A pretty standard pizza order for meat lovers. There is a mix of sausage and pepperoni as the meatball base stuffed with fresh mozzarella. Who could ask for a better meatball for a pizza lover?
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    Ingredients

    • 1 lb ground sausage
    • 1 cup Italian Style breadcrumbs
    • 2 eggs
    • 22 fresh mozzarella pearls
    • salt & pepper to taste
    • 4 oz shredded mozzarealla cheese
    • 15 oz pizza sauce

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
    • In a bowl combine ground meat, breadcrumbs, eggs, diced pepperoni, and season to taste salt and pepper.
    • Take the meat mixture and flatten it in your hand. Take one of the mozzarella pearls and place it in the middle of the meat mixture. Gently wrap the meat around the cheese and roll it into the shape of a ball. 
    • Top each one of the meatballs with some shredded cheese. Pour the Pizza Sauce in a small pan while the meatballs cook to warm up on low.
    • Place your meatballs on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 22 mins.
    • Once the meatballs are done cooking let them drain on some paper towels. You can serve these as appetizers and then add them to the Pizza Sauce. You can also serve them on as a meatball slide and top with the warm Pizza Sauce.
    Bowl of unmixed ingredients for the Mozzarella Stuffed Pepperoni Sausage Pizza Meatballs.

    Who wouldn’t love this meatball?! It’s a great alternative to pizza night during the week if you’re looking for something to make and feed the family with that isn’t a traditional pizza. The nice thing about this recipe is that it has all of the great flavors of what you’re craving on pizza night in a bite sized meatball. I think that meatballs are a great dish to serve your family or kids – especially if you have picky eaters. Meatballs are always a fun food and this recipe has all of the great flavors of that meat lovers take out pizza.

    If you are watching your carbs or just trying to eat less bread these are a great alternative to pizza night. If you are watching your carbs you can always substitute the breadcrumbs in this recipe for almond flour. It’s always been my go to substitution for the binding agent that breadcrumbs typically are in a meatball recipe. I use a cup of almond flour to replace the cup of breadcrumbs and it works out every time. Another nice thing is that it’s a subtle substitution. I’ve used it many times and my husband is none the wiser.

    Raw Mozzarella Stuffed Sausage Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs on a greased tinfoil lined baking sheet.

    If you do choose to substitute the almond flour for breadcrumbs this recipe calls for just keep in mind that this recipe uses Italian Style breadcrumbs so you’ll want to add some spices and garlic and onion powder to make up for the almond flour being unseasoned.

    The diced pepperoni in this recipe just adds to that traditional pizza flavor we’ve all come to love. If my husband could order the pizza he wants every time it would be a sausage pepperoni pizza. That’s part of the inspiration for this meatball. Pretty soon I’ll have to come up with my favorite pizza in meatball form which would include mushrooms and green olives. If you haven’t noticed with a lot of my recipes I love mushrooms!!

    Bowl of Pizza Sauce next to a bowl of Mozzarella Pearls along with a plate with shredded mozzarella cheese.

    I use mozzarella pearls for this recipe for a couple of reasons. They hold up really well during the cooking process. They are also the perfect size to stuff a meatball with and not have your meatball get too big. I have a couple of recipes where my meatballs become a fork and knife meatball since the stuffing is rather large – like my Pork Poutine Meatballs or my Ricotta Spinach Stuffed Meatballs. I like the size of the mozzarella pearls and it keeps these meatballs the perfect size to make a meatball sub out of or even to throw in a crock pot for folks to fish out with a toothpick at a party. You can generally find these mozzarella pearls at any grocery store in their specialty cheese section. They are great for snacking too if you are a fan of cheese like I am.

    I also top these meatballs with shredded cheese before I put them in the over. One thing that I love about pizza is that it’s cheesy and you get the awesome flavor of baked cheese in spots as you’re eating a slice. By stuffing the meatballs with cheese and then topping them with some extra cheese you get the best of both worlds. I think simmering them in the Pizza Sauce or just topping your slide with sauce finishes these meatballs off perfectly. 

    Mozzarella Cheese Stuffed Sausage Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs served as a meatball sub with meatballs on toothpicks in the background.

    If you are watching your carbs and you decide to use the almond flour instead of breadcrumbs you could always top each one of the meatballs with a little sauce and eat them with a nice side salad. If you have a favorite low carb bread substitute you can make either meatball slides or subs out of that as well.

    We’ve had a lot of guests over and this meatball was on my menu because it’s a great recipe to please the masses. There aren’t a lot of weird of difficult ingredients in this recipe. We have some picky friends that have some interesting likes and dislikes and this recipe is a pretty safe one to bring anywhere or serve if you are entertaining. It has pretty mild ingredients including the mozzarella pearls and they are a fun ingredient to stuff a meatball with because of their chewy texture.

    Mozzarella Stuffed Sausage Pepperoni Pizza Meatballs served as a meatball sub with the same meatballs on toothpicks in the background served with iced tea.

    You could always add your favorite pizza toppings to this recipe. That’s the great thing about meatballs – the basic meat mixture is pretty flexible to what you can add to it to add your favorite flavors. If you love red pepper flakes on your pizza, throw some in the meat mixture before you cook the meatballs. I love green olives and mushrooms so you will see a variation of this recipe soon incorporating those ingredients into the meat so this is more like the pizza I would order.

    If you’re a fan of a white pizza instead of the traditional red sauce you can always top these meatballs with your favorite garlic cream sauce of your favorite alfredo sauce. The ideas are endless with this recipe so you can make your favorite pizza in the form of a meatball.

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