Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza is an easy-to-make homemade pizza crust stuffed with mozzarella cheese. The chewy and crisp crust is ready for your favorite toppings in about 30 minutes and might remind you of the pizza crust from your favorite pizzeria!
Top the pizza crust with your (affiliate link) favorite red sauce or better yet, make your own from scratch. Garlic Parmesan Pizza Sauce is a delicious white pizza sauce that goes great with this cheesy homemade crust!
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⭐ Why Melinda Loves Stuffed Crust Pizza
The ingredients are tossed together while the yeast does all the hard work. Serve this with Crunchy Cole Slaw, Mixed Bean Salad or Easy Edamame Salad instead of a tossed salad.
At a mere 20 seconds of "kneading time," the homemade dough is easy on the arms.
It's a versatile pizza crust recipe. Stuff the crust or leave the crust plain, either way, this is a wonderful, chewy pizza crust that bakes to perfection.
🍕Ingredients to Have on Hand
Flour: I've made this recipe for years and used all-purpose flour. The results were great. (Affiliate link.) But then on a fluke one day I bought Neopolitan Style Pizza Flour and couldn't believe the difference in the crust's texture. I highly recommend making your cheese stuffed crust using this type of flour. (Photo above.) It creates a crispy, puffy crust that's perfect with pizza toppings and melted cheese!
⭐ Pro Tip
Looking for Neopolitan Style Pizza Flour? I found it in my grocery store next to the pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce. But in some stores, I've also seen it on the shelves near the baking supplies and all-purpose flour. Or, just use my affiliate link and get it here. (I make a small commission, but your price is the same.)
It really couldn't be much easier to make homemade cheese-stuffed pizza crust. For a wonderful family-style menu, especially if you have a crowd, serve pizza with Cheesy Baked Ziti or spaghetti topped with Sunday Gravy or Spicy Alfredo Pasta Sauce.
Yeast: Use any variety or brand. I prefer the quick-rise type of yeast but any yeast will work great, just be sure to check the expiration date.
Mozzarella Cheese Sticks: Also known as string cheese, is just the right shape to create a cheese "rope" around the edge of the pizza crust. As an option, you could also use shredded cheese, but the best cheesy and melty results come from using string cheese.
Garlic, Olive Oil, Sugar and Salt: These pantry staples are easy to keep on hand and together create the flavor and texture for the pizza crust.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
📋 How to Make Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza
It's easy to take a regular homemade pizza crust from ordinary to extra-special with the simple addition of 9 sticks of mozzarella cheese. Here's how to create and stuff the pizza crust, step-by-step.
Step 1: Place the yeast along with the warm water, olive oil, garlic, sugar and salt in the bottom of your mixing bowl. Let the ingredients sit for about 10 minutes or until the yeast starts to foam and bubble. (Photo above.)
Step 2: Add 3 cups of flour to the same mixing bowl and blend using a dough hook until a soft dough is formed. (Photo above.)
Step 3: Place the remaining ½ cup of flour on a cutting board and add the mound of dough. (Photo above.)
Step 4: Knead the dough for about 20 seconds then spray the inside of the mixing bowl with Pam, or grease with shortening, and return the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let rise for 20 minutes. (Photo above.)
Step 5: Spray a pizza pan with Pam or grease with a thin film of shortening and use your fingers to spread the dough across the pizza pan, covering it thoroughly. Arrange the mozzarella cheese sticks along the edges of the dough, leaving about 1 inch of space from the edge of the dough. Wrap each cheese stick with the extra dough. (Photo above.)
Step 6: Continue covering each cheese stick until you've created a cheese-stuffed edge all the way around. (Photo above.) Top with your favorite pizza sauce and toppings, bake and enjoy!
Pro Tip: Be sure to seal the edge of the crust to keep the cheese from spreading once it melts during baking.
🍽 Homemade Cheese Stuffed Crust of Any Size
The recipe is the perfect amount of pizza dough for a standard 16-inch pizza pan, but you can easily adapt and spread the pizza crust in nearly any size pan.
Round pizzas anywhere from 14 inches to 16 inches are classic but as an option, you could create several round mini pizzas using this recipe.
Or shape the dough on a baking pan and create a square or rectangle, cheese-stuffed crust pizza.
💭 Recipe FAQs
I'm a big fan of using Neopolitan-style pizza flour (scroll up to the "Ingredients to Have on Hand" section for those details), such as the King Arther Baking Company brand. It's ground more finely than all-purpose flour and will create a puffy and crispy pizza crust. But all-purpose or even bread flour can also create delicious results.
The microwave does a good job of reheating leftover pizza from the refrigerator. But to successfully recreate that pizzeria-style pizza with a cheese-stuffed crust, I recommend placing the leftover slices on a baking sheet and reheating them in a 325° F oven for 10-15 minutes.
Sure. That's a great time saver too.
You can leave the cheese sticks off the crust and enjoy a delicious un-stuffed pizza crust! I made this recipe for years without stuffing the crust.
🥘 More Dinner Recipes
Homemade Cheese Stuffed Crust is a delicious weeknight dinner with the family, but also fun for gatherings. Here are a few more recipes to feed your hungry crowd.
If you tried Homemade Stuffed Crust Pizza or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below. I look forward to hearing from you!
Recipe
Claudia says
I’ve tried this recipe before, and it's incredible! The stuffed crust really takes the pizza to the next level. Great choice!
JC says
This was ridiculously delicious. My entire family went nuts over it!
Bernice says
What a treat! I won a pizza oven just after Christmas and have been looking for a great pizza dough recipe for a while. We tried yours and it worked perfectly!
Melinda O'Malley Keckler says
That's great to hear and enjoy that pizza oven!
Sonja says
Finally I know how to make stuffed crust pizza, so I can have it anytime when the craving strikes. I had tried it before with grated cheese, with limited success, so your idea with the mozzarella sticks was just the tip I needed for the perfect stuffed crust.
Melinda O'Malley Keckler says
Thank you Sonja! Enjoy. 🙂
Adriana says
My favorite pizza is with stuffed crust. This one was so good!
Melinda O'Malley Keckler says
Thank you for the five star rating Adriana!