14 Ways To Repurpose Leftover Pizza Dough

It's way easier to end up with leftover pizza dough than you might think. More often than not, the quantities we end up with when making basic pizza dough don't quite match what we need for our pies, and we're stuck with a blob of doughy goodness at the end of things. Although it can be tempting to just throw it in the trash — let's be real, how many Tupperware containers half-full of last week's leftovers do you have in your fridge? — this is a fairly wasteful approach. Crucially, though, you shouldn't think you have to make another round of pizzas. That dough can be used for loads of different things.

At its core, pizza dough is incredibly simple. Most doughs are made from a basic combination of flour, yeast, salt, water, and potentially a pinch of sugar. The neutrality of the dough makes it a perfect base for countless different recipes, from cinnamon rolls to baguettes. You can also use it in fairly unexpected ways. Leftover pizza dough can be popped on top of a pot pie, or even used as a pie crust for your quiche. Save that dough ball, and wield its power in all of these fun, funky ways.

You may not know it, but you don't need to buy anything special to make irresistible cinnamon rolls — you just need pizza dough. Homemade cinnamon rolls are delicious, but your desire to have them first thing in the morning can be hampered by the fact that they need to rise before they're ready to bake. If your homemade pizza dough has already been through the resting and rising process and is just sitting in your fridge, then using it to make cinnamon rolls is the work of mere minutes. Just roll it out, scatter in your cinnamon sugar, roll it up into a sausage shape, slice, and bake. Top with icing sugar, and enjoy the breakfast of champions.

It's worth bearing in mind that regular pizza dough has a more neutral flavor than most store-bought cinnamon roll doughs probably will. As such, you might find that you need to add some more cinnamon sugar to compensate for this (we're sure you're not complaining about that, though). Whether you use homemade or store-bought pizza dough for this is up to you; both will work just as well. Don't forget about that icing at the end, either.

If you've never made homemade crackers before, we wouldn't blame you. These things feel a little bit too complicated to create in your kitchen, despite the fact that at their core, they're relatively simple. Well, we're here to tell you that if you have leftover pizza dough, homemade crackers are easier than you think. You just roll out your dough onto a sheet pan, and then cut it into small squares (or whatever shape you like). Cover it with your seasoning of choice, or leave it unseasoned if you prefer your crackers plain, brush or spray the dough with some oil, and then bake until golden brown and crispy.

The key here is to get the dough as flat as possible. If your pizza dough is too thick, your crackers will never get truly crunchy, as they can't dry out properly in the center. You'll also want to leave your crackers to dry out slightly when they've come out of the oven, as they can be a little soft when they're still warm. Allow all of their excess moisture to evaporate before you take a bite.

Pigs in blankets seem like a little bit of a chore, huh? Well, folks, you'd be amazed how easy they are to make when you've got some leftover pizza dough. All pigs in blankets really require are some cocktail wieners, dough, and some fat to coat them with. Although a lot of pigs in blankets use crescent roll dough, which puffs up and gives your teeth gorgeously buttery layers to chew through, pizza dough provides them with a density and sturdiness that make them more transportable for picnics and pot lunches. Yeast-based pizza dough also has an airiness that stops the pigs in blankets from getting too chewy.

When making pigs in blankets with pizza dough, it's all in the shape. You shouldn't cut them into strips (as so many people do), but into triangles. This gives them that lovely layered effect and a stronger visual appearance than if you just toss them into a block of dough, which may be delicious but won't look especially good. Ensure that your dough isn't too thick, either, because otherwise, it'll just be like eating bread with a tiny sausage inside.

No dinner rolls? That's not an issue when you have leftover pizza dough. If you think about it, dinner rolls are made with pretty much exactly the same ingredients that pizza dough is: Both are a combination of flour, yeast, water, salt, and sugar. Forming pizza dough into rolls and baking them as you would a dinner roll will leave you with a very similar fluffy, doughy result.

Naturally, though, you're going to want to add a little bit of extra flavor to your dinner rolls. Sure, you can go without, but where's the fun in that? We like to dab our pizza dough dinner rolls with garlic butter spiked with some fresh herbs, which adds plenty of fragrance and smoothness (and also lightens them up considerably, so that they don't feel too dense). Make sure you top them with a touch of extra flaky sea salt, as this will give them a different kind of crunch. Importantly, too, your dinner roll dough balls will need to prove once you've shaped them out of your pizza dough, so allow for some extra time for them to rise before baking.

Few things are as comforting as a warm, fluffy pita bread, straight from the oven. You don't have to go to a restaurant to enjoy this sensation, though. You can get it at home by using leftover pizza dough. Both pita bread and pizza dough are made from simple ingredients, and there really isn't a lot of difference between the two of them, beyond the shape you're going for. While pizza bases are round and covered in toppings, you'll want more of an oval shape for your pita breads, rolled as thin as possible (although you can make rounder, fatter pita breads too, if you prefer). In a screamingly hot oven, they'll only take a couple of minutes on each side.

The best thing about making pita breads out of leftover pizza dough is that they can keep for a while. At room temperature, pita bread will keep for a good couple of days, but you can also freeze them to thaw at a later date. As a bonus, they're super easy to warm back up in the air fryer, and they'll become just as pillowy again when you do.

It's no secret that we love breadsticks in all their forms: The dry, crunchy kind and the squashier, fluffier, thicker kind, topped with cheese or a delicious garlic butter. If you're looking to make the latter in your own kitchen, you're in luck — you can do it with leftover pizza dough. Making cheesy breadsticks is a bit like making a regular pizza and slicing it slightly differently. You just have to roll out your dough into a rectangular shape, before topping it generously with mozzarella and any dried herbs of your choosing. Bake the whole thing at 425 F for about 12 to 15 minutes, take it out of the oven, and slice it into sticks. Hey presto, you've got an appetizer that everyone will be talking about.

If you're more keen on grissini, the thinner, crunchier Italian breadsticks, then we've got some good news for you: You can use leftover pizza dough to make those too. The key here is to slice them beforehand, and make your breadsticks as thin and long as possible. Grissini gain their crunchiness from being baked lower and slower, so aim for 375 F for 30 minutes, turning them over halfway through.

Fluffy, pillowy, chewy naan bread is, in our opinion, the best part of an Indian meal. Because it's so delicious, though, it can often feel like it's out of the reach of home chefs. After all, how could you reproduce something that has such gorgeous textural contrast and rich flavors in the comfort of your kitchen? Well, people, you can — and all you need is leftover pizza dough and a few additional ingredients.

The trick to making naan bread at home out of pizza dough (which uses the same base ingredients) is to cook it in a pan or under a broiler instead of in an oven. Naan bread is typically cooked in a tandoor, a clay oven where the dough is stuck to the side and allowed to cook exposed to a searing flame. This fire-cooking and surface heat gives it its charred texture and blistered appearance, which you just won't get with a lower and slower cooking method. Pan-frying your naan will create that texture and flavor, while broiling it will expose it to ultra-high direct heat that can have the same result. Oh, and don't forget to brush it generously with some ghee or clarified butter once it's cooked.

Okay, so here's the deal. We're not about to tell you that pizza dough will produce perfect croissants. That would be an affront to the hard work it takes to make these wonderful little pastries, and the years of training that pastry chefs go through to learn how to create them. However, if you're craving a croissant and have nothing else in your refrigerator but pizza dough and some butter, you can have some on the table in no time at all, with a little bit of elbow grease and a quick blast in the oven.

The main thing you want to do here is introduce lamination to your pizza dough. This involves creating additional layers with butter in between each one, so that the fat can evaporate and puff up the dough when it cooks. To do this, take some squares of butter and fold them inside your dough to create a layer of fat, before folding it over on itself, rolling it out, and repeating the process. Once you've created several layers of dough and butter, you can then pop them in the oven and cook them, watching them puff up as they do. Trust us, it's pretty satisfying.

The only thing better than a pizza is, in our opinion, a pizza-like snack that takes all of its components and shrinks them. We're talking, of course, about garlic knots. This easy appetizer is made even simpler by using leftover pizza dough to make it. Whether you're using store-bought or leftover homemade dough, it really is as simple as cutting out strips of dough and tying them into a knot shape, before allowing them to rise and baking them. Then, just brush them with rich, aromatic garlic butter, and serve them to the hungry masses.

Pretty simple, right? From there, you can adapt them even more to your liking. If you want to create some extra umami, try sprinkling over some bacon bits. Alternatively, if you like your garlic knots to have a more herby flavor, hit them with some chopped rosemary and thyme. Don't forget to whip up a marinara sauce to dip them in, either, which will really give them that extra pizza flavor.

We bet you never thought you could make baguettes at home, but it's kinda easier than you think. The main thing you'll need is time, and a few ingredients — including leftover pizza dough. Unlike some other pizza dough uses, making baguettes isn't as simple as just shaping it into a cylinder and putting it in the oven. Instead, you'll need to go through a few extra steps, with the pizza dough acting as the base for a starter upon which you build the rest of the bread.

Start by taking a small bit of leftover pizza dough, and mixing it with some water and flour, before allowing it to rest overnight or until sticky and bubbly. You then make a "sponge" out of more flour and water, again resting it until risen, before creating a final-stage dough with flour, water, salt, and yeast. After a few rises, you form the dough into baguette loaves, and bake. This process takes a couple of days and has a few steps in it, but it's necessary to gain the super-fluffy texture and deeply crispy crust that all good baguettes are famous for.

Scallion pancakes are one of those foods that you probably don't make often enough. Although this dish is a simple affair that relies on a few fresh ingredients to create maximum flavor, the fact that you have to make dough to create them often puts people off, or drives them to buy store-bought versions instead. Well, if you have some leftover pizza dough hanging around, then you can have a portion of scallion pancakes in minutes. All you need is your dough, some sliced scallions, some sesame oil, and a few extra seasonings and condiments for your dipping sauces.

The trick to getting scallion pancakes out of pizza dough is to coil them up. After adding your scallions to the dough and rolling it together, you coil it into a spiral shape and leave it to rest, before flattening it down. This coiling gives your pancakes a flakiness that you wouldn't get if you were just pushing the scallions onto a circle of dough, pizza-style. To cook the pancakes, you just need to fry them in a hot pan for a couple of minutes on each side.

Homemade donuts can feel like a real chore. Sure, they may be satisfying, but when there are so many different coffee shops and fast food restaurants selling them for barely a buck a pop, what's the point of trying it at home and messing it up? Well, because doing so is a great way to use leftover ingredients, especially your pizza dough. Like pizza dough, donuts are made using a leavening agent, which gives them their light, fluffy interior. The yeast in your pizza dough helps to puff your donuts up in the hot oil, so they don't get too dense.

When making pizza dough donuts, it's best to keep them pretty small and compact. This is both because this makes them easier to handle, and also stops you from having to worry about dropping a huge piece of dough into your oil and being splashed with searing-hot fat. Ensure that you're using a high-sided pot to fry your donuts, too. Most donuts will take about two to three minutes to cook through, and turn brown on the outside while remaining pillowy in the middle.

Chicken pot pie is usually made with a puff pastry lid, but that's not the only dough you can use to crown your creations. If you're a fan of a slightly more solid pastry, you can easily use leftover pizza dough instead. Pizza dough doesn't have the same layers that puff pastry does, so you won't get that delicious flakiness — but you will get a nice, fluffy top that holds its own well with your pie gravy and other fillings.

The best part is that you don't need to do anything special with your pizza dough for this to work. Like with your puff pastry, you just have to roll it out to the dimensions of your pie dish, place it over your ingredients, and pop it in the oven. Make sure you daub it with an egg wash so that it gets golden and gains a little extra flavor. Additionally, ensure that you score your pastry lid to allow steam to escape; otherwise, the dough will inflate too much.

Making quiche can feel like a real chore, right? Look, we get it: We also used to leave this dish to the professionals. The difficulty with quiche is that it seems like there are not one, but two temperamental parts to it, with the egg filling and the pastry base seeming just too challenging for some. The truth, though, is that making quiche filling is as easy as beating together some eggs and your chosen ingredients, and the base can be easily made with pizza dough.

Quiche is generally made with shortcrust pastry, which has a tenderness to it that pizza dough doesn't. However, it's also pretty rich, and when it's combined with the egg filling, the whole affair can just be way too heavy. Pizza dough is much lighter than shortcrust pastry, but still has a sturdiness to it that allows it to keep the quiche filling contained (it's built to have tomato sauce and cheese on it, after all, so it shouldn't struggle with a couple of eggs). Plus, if you build your pizza dough crust a little higher than usual, you'll have loads of delicious little edges to pull off and chew on after your quiche is done.