This pull apart pizza balls with Sriracha ricotta dip is a remix of the perfect game day dishes. Pizza balls for the pizza fans and dip for those who loves their game day dips! 
While staring that the half tub of ricotta I had in my fridge, I was trying to figure out what in the world I was going to use it up with. I hate having half empty tubs of stuff in my fridge since that usually means I’m going to forget about it and it’ll go to waste. The first thing I thought about making was a spinach and ricotta dip but I had used up all my spinach on a smoothie the day before. So that idea was out. Staring at my opened fridge, I spotted the bottle of Sriracha. H loves Sriracha. And by love I mean he has at least two bottles right now and I considered getting him that mini Sriracha keychain at one point. Anyways, I was pretty much like “hmmmm, how does Sriracha taste as a dip?” and just rolled with it.
Little did I know that this little idea of mine would cause me so much work. Part of the tip was apparently clogged so when I aimed down into the measuring cup, the sauce somehow went UP and out. A stream of hot sauce flying out and landing on the floor. And my dog. My poor dog didn’t know why I was shrieking NOOO as I ran to grab napkins to wipe him down. Since he knows if I yell and there’s “food” on the floor, it means it is off limits so he ran off to the side before sniffing himself. Before he could get a lick in, I wiped him down. Not knowing whether or not dogs would ingest Sriracha (probably not…) I decided to give him a quick rinse mid cooking. He of course could sense a bath from a mile away so he made a mad dash to his crate and hid which meant I had to go drag him out and put the poor guy in the tub. Sriracha 1 – Carmy 0.
Anyways, after the little guy got his share of treats post-rinse, I went back to the dish. So I have a dip but I wasn’t sure what to use to dip into it. That’s when I spotted the leftover pepperoni and cheese from the Pizza Ball / Pizza Pull Apart Bread I made the other day. I had a can of Pillsbury crescent roll dough on hand so I pretty much made the same thing but with crescent dough instead of biscuit dough.
In the end, it worked out. The crescent rolls had 6 per tin and I cut them in half which gave me 12 pizza balls, just enough to surround the dip in the cast iron.
So mid cooking dog rinsing aside, this recipe is pretty easy! When it was done baking, the dough risen enough that when I ripped the little pizza balls open, there was enough space inside for me to scoop some of the dip instead.
Also, while typing up the recipe, I realized just how much cheese is involved in this recipe. As someone who loves cheese I’m not even sorry. Hahahaha. But for reals, you can subtract the shredded cheese topping or instead of using little cubes of mozzarella, put shredded cheese instead the pizza balls. This was just what I had in my fridge that needed to be used up.
Pull Apart Pizza Balls with Sriracha Ricotta Dip
Ingredients
- 1 can of Crescent Dough
- Pepperoni 12-20 pieces
- Shredded Cheese
- 12 Mini Cubes of Mozzarella
- 1.5 cups of Ricotta Cheese
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- Sriracha
- Lemon Zest
- Oregano
- Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Heat oven up to 375F
- To make the pizza balls, cut each piece of crescent dough in half so you end up with 12 pieces.
- Flatten it out and use it to wrap up 1-2 pepperoni pieces and a cube of mozzarella (or sub with the shredded cheese).
- Place in a circle in the skillet.
- To make the dip, in a cup and a half of ricotta, mix in a splash of olive oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic, lemon zest, oregano, Sriracha, salt, and pepper. If you can handle more of a kick, add more Sriracha. If your tolerance is lower, put in less.
- Mix well then pour into the center of the skillet.
- Top with shredded cheese.
- Pop it into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the little pizza balls are golden.
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QOTD: What is your favourite dip? What’s your go to game day dish?
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Jodi @ Create Kids Club
February 2, 2017 at 6:10 pmI love how this is a one pan appetizer :). Looks great!
Abbey Sharp
February 2, 2017 at 10:32 pmI love spinach and artichoke dip (healthified of course 😉
This look soooo good! I love sriracha.
Jessica @ Nutritioulicious
February 2, 2017 at 11:00 pmThis such a unique recipe! Great idea!
Allyson Brandt
February 3, 2017 at 9:57 pmI love everything about this recipe. Definitely putting it in my rotation! Maybe I’ll even share it with my husband ?
Geoffrey @ Spoonabilities
February 12, 2017 at 3:11 pmPull-Apart, Pizza, Sriracha, and Dip. How can you go wrong?
Liz @ I Heart Vegetables
February 12, 2017 at 4:31 pmPull apart pizza balls?! I need this in my life! And my brother is a huge sriracha fan so I might have to make this the next time he comes over for dinner!
Lizzie
February 12, 2017 at 5:07 pmWow, I love the idea of cooking the dip in the middle of the bread! I may have to try this idea. And pepperoni and cheese inside the dough – wow, yum!
Elizabeth DiBurro
February 12, 2017 at 6:37 pmOh man! Your poor pup! The recipe sounds amazing! Can’t wait to try it!
Carmy
February 12, 2017 at 8:50 pmLittle guy took his impromptu bath like a champion haha