Make-Ahead Pizza Subs with Ground Beef
Picture opening the fridge on a busy weeknight and finding a dozen pizza subs already wrapped and waiting. This make-ahead recipe simmers ground beef in pizza sauce, spoons it into soft sub rolls under a heap of mozzarella and wraps each one up, so anybody in the house can grab one and heat it in about a minute. Some folks call them beef pizza rolls, and they eat like a pizza-flavored Sloppy Joe that actually stays in the bun. Four ingredients and about 25 minutes fill your fridge for days.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Homemade Pizza Rolls
- Serves: 12
- Main Ingredients: ground beef, shredded mozzarella cheese, dozen sub rolls, 15-oz jars pizza sauce
- Why You'll Love It: These homemade pizza rolls are like Sloppy Joes with a pizza twist! In our soft sub rolls, we add ground beef cooked in pizza sauce and lots of melted mozzarella cheese.
My mama used to make these when she and Daddy went out of town. With a batch of these in the fridge and a little extra money for anything unexpected, she could leave for the weekend confident we wouldn’t starve. I still make them on Fridays and when the Super Bowl is coming up, because a fridge full of pizza subs means I get the weekend off from cooking.
Why These Pizza Subs Work for Make-Ahead Meals
Cooking the beef right in the pizza sauce until it’s bubbly gives you a thick, meaty filling that stays put in the bun instead of soaking through. I like a sturdy sub roll here for the same reason. Thinner bread gets soggy after a day in the fridge, but a good hoagie-style roll holds up for days.
Buying rolls that aren’t sliced lets you cut them like a hot dog bun, not quite all the way through, so the filling stays tucked inside when you wrap them.
Ingredients for Pizza Subs
- Sub rolls: Unsliced hoagie or sub rolls are best. Save the bag they come in for storing the wrapped subs.
- Pizza sauce: Jarred pizza or marinara sauce works, or use my quick pizza sauce from scratch.
- Ground beef: Italian sausage or ground turkey work too, and you can stir in chopped pepperoni once the beef is browned.
- Mozzarella: Mix in a little parmesan if you like.
You’ll find the exact amounts in the recipe card below. Halve everything for six subs.
Helpful Tips Before You Start
- Drain the beef well before the sauce goes in so the filling isn’t greasy.
- Sautéed onions and bell peppers are a good addition to the skillet along with the beef.
- Set up an assembly line: slice all the rolls, fill them all, top them all with cheese, then wrap.
- For a crisp bun, unwrap the sub, open it up and run it under the broiler or in the air fryer for a few minutes.
How to Make Pizza Subs
1Cook the Beef in Pizza Sauce
Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up as it cooks, and drain off the grease. Stir in both jars of pizza sauce and cook on medium until bubbly.
2Slice the Rolls
Slice each roll like a hot dog bun, stopping before you cut all the way through.
3Fill with Beef
Spoon the beef mixture into each roll.
4Top with Mozzarella
Pile shredded mozzarella over the filling.
5Wrap Each Sub
Wrap each sub tightly in plastic wrap and tuck the ends underneath.
6Store and Reheat
Slide the wrapped subs back into the bag the rolls came in and refrigerate. When you want one, unwrap it and microwave for about a minute.
What to Serve with Pizza Subs
A basket of parmesan oven fries turns these into a full supper, and something crunchy and cool on the side balances all that cheese. My go-tos are 3-ingredient vinegar slaw or a scoop of sweet and tangy burger slaw. Warm marinara or ranch for dipping never hurts either.
For a game day spread, set them out with a tray of pepperoni and bacon pizza pinwheels and a few more picks from my 40+ game day recipes.
Pizza Subs FAQs
How long do pizza subs keep in the fridge?
Wrapped tight and stored in the roll bag, they keep for up to 4 days, which covers a long weekend or most of a school week of lunches.
Can I freeze pizza subs?
They freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw them overnight in the fridge, then reheat in the microwave, oven or air fryer. A little garlic butter brushed on before reheating gives them a garlic bread finish.
Can I use crescent rolls instead of sub rolls?
Crescent dough works for a smaller, thinner version if you’ll eat them right away. For make-ahead subs, I stick with thick rolls because the sauce doesn’t seep through in the fridge.
Make-Ahead Pizza Subs with Ground Beef
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 dozen sub rolls
- 2 15-oz jars pizza sauce
Instructions
- In a large skillet, brown the beef over medium-high heat, breaking it into small pieces, until no longer pink. Drain off any grease.2 lbs ground beef
- Add both jars of pizza sauce to the beef. Stir and cook on medium until bubbly.2 15-oz jars pizza sauce
- Slice each roll almost all the way through, like a hot dog bun. Spoon in the beef mixture, top with cheese and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 dozen sub rolls
- Slide the wrapped subs back into the bag the rolls came in and refrigerate.
- When ready to eat, unwrap a sub and microwave for about 1 minute.
Frantic Home Cook (Francie): Thank you! BTW, I love your name AND your site!!
Those lime mint cakes….~drools~
~Christy
Mommy’s Kitchen (Tina) – I have had to give up mushrooms also! Sometimes, I buy a whole container of them and just eat them in one sitting ~looks around in embarassment~. You know what I have done before? I have sauteed whole mushrooms in butter, then cooked in our spaghetti sauce. Before everyone gets home or at the table, I fish all the little fellers out of there and put them in a bowl for me and no one is the wiser!
~sighs~
Oh the things we do…
This looks so good, I love the idea of using pizza sauce. I am going to have to make these for our families get together this week.
Perfect! I love recipes like this where I can cook and store it in the fridge so the kids can grab when they’re hungry. And this looks like something they’ll love. Thanks!!
Francie
To funny on your daughter she sounds the same as my youngest Carson. As you could tell on my comment on the Pepperoni Lasagna Roll ups. Her diet and his diet sound exactly the same to the “T” LOL oh no Christy I think Carson has found his Bride. LOL They would get along like two peas in a pod. I am going to the store later today so i will pick up the ingredients to make the pizza rolls. Our Walmart sells those exact rolls over by the Deli. I am so excited. Ü
I think my kids and my husband have been dropped on their heads as well. They dislike peppers, onions and mushrooms its sad because I so love them. + my husband dislikes tomatoes it makes it hard at times, but i tell him you can just pick it out. He loves the flavors of them but not the pepper or onion themselves i guess he is just weird. LOL.
My cousin just whizzes them in the blender before adding to the meat. She does this with her turkey dressing too. All flavor no icky bits.
My son and husband LOVE them. My husband ate one for supper last night, one for a “snack” before bedtime, and took two to work today – that’s why I make so many!
My son gobbles them up but usually eats half at a time, they are kind of filling.
My daughter is three. She likes Macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grilled cheese, yogurt, apples, and chicken nuggets. Literally, that’s her diet. She does like most other fruits like grapes and cantaloupe though but she’s not real big on things that don’t look familiar at this point. Very picky eating phase. We just exclude her opinion on whether or not anything is good :).
Son loves them, husband loves them, nephews love them, okay so basically every single member of my immediate and extended family love these – except for three year old Katy, who has never tried them. 😀
You know, I haven’t froze them yet but have been thinking of that myself. I think they would freeze very well, but need to be thawed in the fridge before you heated them up. I want to freeze some and if I have any left am going to try it.
These sound really good, I wonder if you froze them wrapped in a couple layers of foil and then heated them in the Crockpot??? I bet that would taste great.. Thanks again for your blog..
Thanks! I’m going to try these when I have a camping trip. They would be great after a long travel day!
Great idea!!!
Those look good and so so easy. My husband loves meatball subs I bet he would love these. How do you kids like them Christy???? oh and do they freeze well? another great fast and easy meal. Enjoy your weekend.