Easy Pull-Apart Mini Pizza Boats Recipe

Cheesy, spicy Pull-Apart Mini Pizza Boats are beautiful and tasty mini bites, perfect for parties or get togethers. With layers of cheese, pizza flavors and crunchy vegetables in a cute pizza shaped like a mini boat, it is sure to please and wow anyone who is a pizza lover!

Our house has always been filled with the flavors and aroma of homemade pizza every week! Sometimes, when I do feel the need to rest up or feel extremely lazy to cook anything, then we do order takeout.

Be it Pizza Pav Buns, my Homemade Vegetarian Pizza or easy and tasty No-yeast Pizza, we can never get enough of this Italian gift to the world! You must try another variation of pizza; easy Homemade Calzones; they taste amazing too!

Recently, I came across a video by chefclub on Facebook and going through his amazing cooking videos, I was inspired to make these fun pull-apart pizza mini boats!  Pull apart dishes have become the rage in cooking; they are perfect to bake and dish out at parties; be it as an appetizer, main dish or even a dessert!

With pizza being my first choice while eating anything, I had to try these out and boy, am I glad I did. They were fun to make and tasted amazing! I served them with my Homemade Pizza Sauce; you can dip them in tomato ketchup or even mayonnaise dip too.

For the pizza filling, I made my go-to pizza filling of mushroom, bell peppers and onions with lots of cheese tinged with oregano and Italian seasoning for the Italian pizza flavor. My homemade pizza dough has never failed me, and I used whole wheat in the dough for a healthier option!

Just shape them into mini boats, fill and arrange these mini pizza boats in a loose-bottomed pan in an angled fashion and bake in a hot oven until crisp and golden brown.

Brush with melted butter and serve hot with any dip you like. I served them with mayonnaise and homemade pizza sauce!

Served hot from the oven, they are sure to disappear in seconds!

No pizza cutter or knife needed for this easy and fun pizza treat!

Step-by-step method to make Pull-Apart Mini Pizza Boats:

• In a glass cup or bowl, add yeast and sugar; pour warm water over it and keep aside to prove.
• After 5 to 10 minutes, it should have started to prove and bubble up if the yeast is active. If not, discard this mixture and try again.

• Take 2 cups of whole wheat flour in a large bowl. Add salt to taste, Italian seasoning and oil.
• Pour the proved yeast mixture over this and mix well to form a soft dough.

• Keep adding flour until the dough becomes soft, pliable and smooth.
• Knead for about 5 to 8 minutes.
• Transfer to another greased bowl and turn the dough ball to coat with oil evenly.
• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled; about 2 to 3 hours, depending upon the temperature in the room.

To make pizza sauce:

• Blend tomatoes, onions, garlic and green chilies in a blender jar until smooth and finely pureed.

• Transfer this to a large saucepan along with tomato puree, salt, sugar and Italian seasoning. Adjust seasoning, salt and sugar according to taste.

• Mix well and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thick, about 20 to 30 minutes.

• Keep aside.

To make the pizza boat filling:

• In a saucepan, heat oil. Add finely chopped onions, garlic and green chilies.

• Sauté on medium high heat until the onions are soft.
• Stir in finely chopped mushrooms and sauté again for a few seconds on high.

•  Then add finely chopped bell pepper and tomatoes, salt to taste and dried oregano along withcrushed red chili pepper.

• Give it a good mix and cook for a few seconds on high and remove from heat; once cool, stir in mozzarella cheese.

• Filling is ready.

Now, to make the pull-apart pizza boats:

• Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C.
• Grease a 6 to 8 inch loose-bottomed pan with oil on the bottom and on the sides. Keep ready.

• Divide pizza dough into 2.
• Roll one into a large round shape and cut into smaller rounds using a round cookie cutter about 3 inches in diameter.

• Roll each round from 2 opposite ends until they are a little distance apart from each other.
• Join the other 2 opposite ends to form a boat shape. Pinch well. Fill with pizza filling.

• Make similar dough boats with the other rounds.
• Now, fill each dough boat with the filling until almost to the top.

• Arrange these filled pizza boats into the prepared loose-bottomed pan starting from the outer edge in an angled fashion, ending up in the center.

• Once the pan is filled with the pizza boats, place in preheated oven.

• Bake for 18 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.

• Remove from oven and brush the tops with melted butter.
• Serve cheesy, pull-apart mini pizza boats with mayonnaise/marinara sauce/pizza sauce/ketchup etc. as a dip.

• Enjoy these as an evening snack or serve them as show stopper appetizers at parties!!
• Enjoy!!

An update:  This yummy bake recently won the second prize in an International baking contest on Instructables.com 

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