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.
Christy, I use ground turkey cause it’s more budget friendly, but this is a great recipe. Don’t know why I never thought about cooking it up all at once and freezing it for spaghetti, lasagna, chili, ziti, etc. I, too, like to add onions, garlic, peppers, and herbs. My son, who has a blended family, will absolutely love this recipe.
This will be a very big hit with the kids!! Thanks so much for sharing.
Christy, I love these. I like you always have pre browned hamburger (next time will follow your pre cooked way) and pre sauted veggies (onion pepper and mushrooms added to the sandwich.) in the freezer. So I made these today. Talk about a hit. There were none to put away. Next time I will double it so there are extras put away.
Hope you and your family had a great 4th.
Thanks again for your site, and for taking the time to do the step by step. I’m coping these to a word document with all your woinderful comments. I love them all. They are definalty a great read and pick me up after a long busy day. Plus a great way to get my (21 yr old, who has been taught to cook.) to cook. He has no questions, or can’t do with the step by step instructions.
Oh yea, the Easy Peasy Cherry Cheese Cobbler was a hit at our church picnic last week. Thanks Christy and Bill………..
Anonymous, I think you may have stumbled onto the wrong site, are not familiar with Southern manners or are just plain rude. I’ve never understood the motives of people who go to sites to “police” them or to “set other people straight”, according to their lofty opinions. If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. I would think your time would be better spent cooking pine needles, munching on roasted flax seed or hugging a tree. I will continue to make these wonderful recipes, eat in moderation and exercise. It works for me and I’m barely over 100 pounds. Keep posting these great dishes, Christy, and don’t let a rotten tomato spoil the whole bushel. I appreciate how you kill the trolls with kindness.
Ok, so I was looking at the recipe for the Butterfinger cake (which is in the oven now)to see what was next, when I “stumbled upon” this awesome recipe. Gonna try this week. As for that “Anonymous” person goes, I think I have it figured out ya’ll. See if this cranks your tractor.
2 lbs ground beef, browned and drained***having to kill the cow, process, package and distribute. (remember the word process here)
2 C Mozzarella *** she/he left this one out..
1 Dozen sub rolls***there are such things as wheat sub rolls.
2 – 15 oz jars of pizza sauce***glass/plastic jars are used here, bet they thought we don’t recycle.. well I DO !
1. Used wheat rolls ***see note above
2. Made your own 15 minute sauce with tomatoes, garlic, and herbs
***We do this, and we buy store bought also. Oh, and we recycle those jars.
3. Used ground turkey*** now here’s the kicker. One shell will get the bird, no processing like beef, draining of fluids, cleaning. etc, you get my idea, and then you pretty much use the whole bird at once if you live around my parts, but if you purchase the turkey from the store, then you are still getting the processed product. Guess this could be the 1 shell vs. the whole killing process of the beef.
You could:
1. Provide your family with some nutrition***beef and turkey both provide nutrition, along with bread and sauces.
2. Have about 1/3 of the sodium***depends on if I purchase the low sodium (which was not listed either way by Christy)or when I make my sauce, I cut back on that salt that I love so much.
3. Use less processed ingredients***processed.. there’s that word again.. umm beef or sauce
4. Have less cholesterol and more protein***beef has protein, or at least the beef we eat does
and possibly
5. Have less of an environmentally negative impact***beef/bird..glass/plastic (recycled)..
what the heck was this person thinking?? Maybe they were switching between this site and a “green” site.. who knows.
Now, I’m jumping off my soap box cause I gotta get that caramel and milk mixed before the cake is done.
Thanks Christy for getting me back in my kitchen after an extended “vacation” from it.
Lol. Thank YOU for the big grin this beautiful Sunday evening!!!!
I LOVE THIS WEBSITE I AM SO GLAD I FOUND IT
I was just wondering do these get soggy? I think someone else ask but didnt see an answer.
THANKS
KIm
OH girl these are awesome. Thanks so much for sharing. I think I’ll go devour one now 😉 I’d love to hear some more ideas for food on the go or food thats easily ready in the fridge for on the go families!!
Jillian
Oh…and P.S. veggies (onions, green peppers, anything) can be shredded and added to the tomato sauce, not to the meat, making them even harder to find…you can add them to store bought or your own and nobody will be the wiser… simmer a bit and they will blend right in!
Ground turkey and wheat bread is more expensive than ground beef but you have to figure in the cost of cholesterol medication or the cost of losing someone to heart attack etc. to see if the extra cost is worth it! (and no, I’m not anonymous!)
Most shrink wrap stuff is microwave friendly…
and you should be able to freeze this, provided the meat wasn’t frozen after cooking and the bread wasn’t either.
If you use raw meet, cook it up, then make this and freeze it in bread that hasn’t been frozen before, you’re good..
In any case, this is yummy stuff!