If you enjoy eating pizza rolls, you probably know that they can easily explode while cooking. It’s annoying; your rolls won’t look as neat, and your oven or microwave will be an absolute mess.
Sometimes, accidents in the kitchen just happen. There is no way around that! But with a few simple tricks, you can drastically reduce the risk of your rolls popping!
The best ways of keeping pizza rolls from exploding are to cook them at a lower heat and flip them over while in the oven or microwave. This will prevent overheating and allows your rolls to cook evenly.
If you want to learn more about how to prepare your pizza rolls and stop them from bursting in the oven, microwave, or air fryer, all you have to do is keep reading!
Why Do Pizza Rolls Burst Open When Cooking?
Picture this: you’re starving and throw some pizza rolls in the oven. The timer dings, and you go to get your pizza rolls, but they have turned into a saucy explosion. It’s so frustrating, but why does it happen?
What causes the big blowout is a couple of things.
For one thing, delicious store-bought pizza rolls are fully stuffed. That makes them delicious, but it also can contribute to exploding. The filling of the rolls bubbles and expands when heated.
Over time, the pressure builds up, and the roll’s outer layer will often burst.
Another contributing factor to pizza roll blowouts is steam.
When the saucy filling heats up, it lets off steam. Pizza rolls commonly don’t have a vent to release this steam.
This means, just like a geyser, the pressure builds until it must release through an explosion.
Fortunately, exploding pizza rolls are not inevitable. You can adjust your cooking style to make pizza roll explosions less likely!
How to Prevent Pizza Rolls from Exploding?
It’sIt’s a total bummer to see your snack explode before you ever get to eat it, but it’s not all hopeless!
You can protect your pizza rolls from bursting while cooking with a few smart tricks and tweaks. Here’s how to prevent pizza rolls from exploding:
In the Oven
- Lower the heat. Use a lower oven temperature than advised on the bag.
- Line it up. Using a silicone mat or parchment paper to line the baking sheet protects the rolls from heat.
- Flip them over. Pausing to flip the pizza rolls hallways through the cook allows you to check their temperature and helps them cook evenly.
In the Microwave
- Keep it cool. Pizza rolls overheat quickly in the microwave. Pause the microwave regularly to check its temperature.
- Flip out. Halfway through heating, flip the rolls over to keep things even from top to bottom.
- Know your devices. Some microwaves have hot spots, and some plates absorb a lot of heat in the microwave. The more familiar you are with your devices, the easier it will be to gauge your cook time.
Overall, keep an eye on your pizza rolls, no matter how you cook them. Being on the spot allows you to make cooking adjustments as needed.
RELATED READING: How to Best Cook Pizza Rolls in the Microwave?
Why Do Pizza Rolls Explode in the Air Fryer?
The air fryer is such a great appliance. It gives delicious snacks like pizza rolls the perfect fried texture without any extra oil. Yet sometimes, even the fantastic air fryer can lead to pizza roll explosions.
Pizza rolls explode in the air fryer for the same reasons they will burst in the microwave or oven. Their tasty pizza filling makes them explode easily because they’re so stuffed! All that filling gets hot and needs somewhere to go to cool off!
The interior of the pizza roll heats quickly in the air fryer and releases steam. This can cause pressure inside the pizza rolls to build and cause an explosion!
To avoid pizza roll explosion in the air fryer, try these tips:
- Cool things down. Cook the pizza rolls at a slightly lower temperature than advised. They might take longer, but they are less likely to burst.
- Pull it out. Pull the air fryer basket out at least once during the cooking time and flip the pizza rolls over.
- Avoid the stack. Do not stack pizza rolls in the air fryer. Keep the pizza rolls in a flat and even layer to keep the cooking even.
Is it Better to Fry Pizza Rolls?
Deep frying is when you cook food in a pot of hot oil. Professional chefs have long used this technique to cook things in a flash. This method does work for pizza rolls, but is it better than other methods?
Deep frying can be great for quick cooking. Dropping a few pizza rolls into the fryer will have them ready in just a few minutes. It makes them crispy and does it so quickly!
However, deep frying is messier than other methods and more dangerous. If you drop frozen pizza rolls into hot oil, the oil can bubble over and cause accidents or burns. Plus, even when frying goes well, there is an oily mess to clean up.
Overall, deep frying is probably not the best choice for pizza rolls. An air fryer is a much better alternative that delivers a very similar texture in a short amount of time.
Is it Better to Cook Pizza Rolls Frozen or Thawed?
One of the advantages of eating pizza rolls is how low-maintenance this food is. You don’t need special equipment, a lot of time, or extra know-how, but do you need to defrost the pizza rolls before you cook them?
In general, pizza rolls do not need to be thawed before cooking. They are made to go straight from the freezer to the microwave, oven, or air fryer. It’s that easy!
The one notable exception would be deep frying. If you are deep frying your pizza rolls, place them in the fridge before cooking. Take them out of the freezer and put them on a plate in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before frying.
Doing so will remove some of the water trapped in the frozen snack. This lowers the risk of the oil bubbling over when you drop the rolls into the hot deep fryer.