It didn’t happen on purpose, but I was excited about the savings. Making some mini bagel pizza’s for the freezer was on my list. How excited do you think I was to find everything I was going to purchase on sale! So the $13.29 is without planning and without coupons. I could have saved even more if I’d done that.
This time I bought a pack of whole wheat and a pack of the regular mini bagels. I don’t think I’ll use the whole wheat again. They didn’t crisp up as well and who likes soggy pizza?! Bonus, the regular package of mini bagels actually had 14 instead of the 12 it was labeled to be holding. So I actually got 52 mini bagel pizza’s from the two packs.
If your family is like mine, you can go through one of those large packs of bagel bites in no time and not even curb their hunger. My son and nephew easily go through one of the big boxes. On average that large box holds 40 bagel bites and looks to be running around $9.89. Not a good deal if this appetizer doesn’t curb their appetite. The mini bagels you can buy in the bread aisle are much larger than the bagel bites. So these are much more filling and you can’t just pop one bagel in your mouth. I guarantee my son and nephew can’t eat 40 of these and then eat a full meal on top of it. At least not while still only 13 and 12, maybe in another couple of years 
Not to mention I can use turkey pepperoni and it’s much healthier. These take me less than an hour to put together and cook, even doing such a large batch that needs to be cooked one sheet at a time. I could probably do it all at once, but I prefer to use the one big flat cookie sheet I have because I can scrape the cheese off. I can fit half the recipe on my cookie sheet at one time.
I also don’t make all the mini bagels pepperoni. My oldest likes cheese only, so a little less than half are only cheese. It won’t take two packages to make the full batch pepperoni.
Mini Bagel Pizza Appetizers
2 bags mini bagels (approximately 24 bagels) $5.00
1 lb. shredded mozzarella (buy it whole and shred yourself) $3.00
1 jar spaghetti sauce (sweeter sauces work better) $2.00
1 pack turkey pepperoni, pack I bought was 6oz $3.29
1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
2. Split bagels and place on cookie sheet.
3. On the bagels that will have pepperoni (I do half and half) place a slice of pepperoni in the whole of the bagel.
4. Use a small spoon and lightly spread spaghetti sauce onto bagels. You don’t have to spread it out too much as it will spread on cooking.
5. Place another 2-3 slices of pepperoni on the bagel and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
6. Bake in oven for approximately 13 minutes. You don’t want to over bake them since you will rebake them later to eat.
7. Let cool and place in layers in a deep aluminum baking pan. Separate layers with wax or parchment paper.
To reheat bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes straight from the freezer.
Extras: There are times I add sliced olives or maybe some other veggies or ham to the mix. Since they are small I prefer to add no more than 3 ingredients, it just gets difficult to store if the cheese can’t bond with the bagel.
I think I will try making my own. When my hubby did the shopping he got the prepackaged ones and they were just not very good, but this recipe looks easy and is something that my 5 year old and I can do together! THANKS!!
Tonya, you’ll have fun making them with you younin’. I can’t taste any meat on the store bought one’s. Plus you can put whatever your family loves on them and still not break the bank. Every time I go to the store now I look to see if the mini bagels are on sale. My son loves these so much that I can’t keep up with his teenage stomach.
Great idea! We found pizza dough on sale for $1 – stocked up on those! Much easier than making our own dough if you’re on a time constraint. Made our own sauce – used it for pizza and spaghetti dinner, plenty of sauce left to freeze for more pizzas – macaroni and meatballs – chicken parm!
Good suggestion Jenn. There have been many times I’ll use the leftover spaghetti sauce for the pizza’s. Especially if I made it extra meaty. I don’t have to add anything else except cheese.
With the economy as low as it is right now, I’ve really been looking to cut back where ever I can. I love to save money on grocery bills and this is a great idea to help save even more!
Keep an eye out for pizza toppings, especially the cheese when it’s on sale and you can save even more money.