Air Fryer Pizza Rolls. A Match Made In Heaven.

When I was in high school, I would rush home to preheat the oven. Pizza rolls were calling my name. I never thought anything could be done to make pizza rolls taste better than they already did. Boy, was I wrong. Air Fryer Pizza Rolls are the way of the future and you, my friend, need to come along for the ride!

I decided to test the various ways to prepare pizza rolls: microwave, oven, and air fryer. Y'all, there was no contest. Pizza rolls in the air fryer came out just as crispy as from the oven, but in a fraction of the time!

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Pizza Rolls Will Always Have a Place In My Heart

I flash back to a simpler time whenever I bite into a hot, gooey pizza roll. A time when after school hours were spent participating in extracurricular activities and doing homework. Saturdays were for college football (some things never change!). Sundays were spent procrastinating on projects and homework until the last possible moment. The common denominator: pizza rolls were always in the freezer.

Nowadays, pizza rolls don't make their way into my freezer quite as often. They are more of a splurge food when I really feel a hankering for comfort and nostalgia. I also love to serve pizza rolls as football snacks if I am looking for an easy addition to my football snack menu (to go with my 4-ingredient guacamole, air fried ravioli, or slow cooker buffalo chicken dip). To make them more homemade, I like to whip up a batch of ranch dressing to serve with air fried pizza rolls.

Microwave, Oven, Or Air Fryer Pizza Rolls? The Experiment

This post is a little different than the ones that I normally write, because I'm not writing a recipe. However, just as with any recipe I do write, I needed to be sure that pizza rolls in the air fryer come out better than any other method. So naturally, I tapped into my memories from seventh grade science class and performed my experiment using the scientific method.

First, I asked a question...

What method of cooking pizza rolls reigns supreme?

Next, I did some research...

What are the primary ways one might cook pizza rolls?

• Microwave
• Oven
• Air Fryer

After I identified the cooking methods I would be testing, I established my hypothesis.

Air fryer pizza rolls are the best way to cook pizza rolls.

Then, I conducted an experiment.

Group A: 15 Microwave Pizza Rolls

• I placed 15 pizza rolls on a microwave-safe plate and microwaved them for 2 minutes and 40 seconds, according to package instructions. Then, I allowed pizza rolls to cool for 2 minutes. Total time for Group A: 4 minutes, 40 seconds

Group B: 15 Oven Pizza Rolls

• First, I preheated the conventional oven to 425°F, which took 20 minutes to preheat. I placed 15 pizza rolls on an aluminum lined baking sheet and baked for 13 minutes. Then, I removed the pizza rolls from the oven and allowed them to cool for 2 minutes. Total time for Group B: 35 minutes

Group C: 15 Air Fryer Pizza Rolls

• Sometimes, I don't preheat my air fryer, but this time I did. I preheated my air fryer for 3 minutes to 390°F. In my air fryer basket, I placed 15 pizza rolls in one layer. I air fried the pizza rolls at 390°F for 4 minutes, paused to shake the pizza rolls, and then air fried them for another 4 minutes. Then, I removed them from the air fryer and allowed them to cool for 2 minutes. Total time for Group C: 13 minutes

Next, I Examined The Results:

I decided to break down the pros and cons of each cooking method.

Group A (Microwave):

Pros: Clocking in at 4 minutes and 40 seconds, cooking the pizza rolls in the microwave was the quickest method. It was also very easy and the filling did not burst out from the pizza rolls as much as with Groups B and C.

Cons: My biggest complaint with microwaved pizza rolls was the fact that they did not crisp in the microwave. The pizza rolls were a little soggy, flat, and chewy.

Group B (Oven):

Pros: When I removed the pizza rolls from the oven, I could tell that they were much crispier than the microwaved pizza rolls. I was right - oven baked pizza rolls were crispy and delightful. Another awesome thing about cooking pizza rolls in the oven is that you can cook more at one time. The microwave and air fryer require you to cook large amounts of pizza rolls in batches.

Cons: Cooking pizza rolls in the oven took a LONG time. From preheating my oven to cooling the pizza rolls, this method took a whopping 35 minutes! This seems like an exorbitant amount of time to make a snack. Also, the pizza rolls came out messier and the overall process was just not as easy as the methods described in Groups A and C.

Group C (Air Fryer):

Pros: Air fried pizza rolls were crispy on the outside and the filling was gooey on the inside. The pizza rolls had a great crunch to them, much like the ones baked in the oven. My favorite thing about cooking pizza rolls in the air fryer was that they could be done in less than half of the time it took to bake them in the oven! Air fryer pizza rolls took only 13 minutes! I was very impressed.

Cons: The only real con with cooking pizza rolls in an air fryer is that you have to cook them in batches if you are serving a large crowd.

Conclusion

My conclusion is simple: if you are looking for a quick and easy way to cook pizza rolls without sacrificing texture and flavor, air frying pizza rolls is the way to go. Air fryer pizza rolls are much better than microwaved pizza rolls. They take much less time to cook than oven pizza rolls.

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