Meatball Sub Cupcakes – Great for lunch, dinner or a party! All the flavors of a meatball sub in individual servings. Cream cheese, frozen meatballs, marinara, and mozzarella stuffed in crescent rolls and baked in a muffin pan – SO good!! Ready to eat in under 30 minutes! Can freeze leftovers for a quick meal later.
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Pin This RecipeMeatball Sliders with Crescent Rolls
These Meatball Sub Cupcakes were inspired by the Chicken Parmesan Cupcakes I posted a few weeks ago. I took all the flavors of my favorite Meatball Sub Casserole and put them in these individual “cupcakes”. We loved these! SO good. We ate these for dinner, but they would also be great for tailgating and parties! Just whip up some pasta or throw together a salad and you are set!
How to Make Meatball Sub Cupcakes
These savory cupcakes are super easy to make. Start with cutting crescent roll dough into 12 squares. Press the dough into a muffin pan. Spread cream cheese and Italian seasoning into the bottom of each muffin cup. Top with meatballs, spaghetti sauce, and cheese. Pop them in the oven and bake.
- I used 1-oz frozen Italian meatballs and they were the perfect size.
- There is no need to precook or thaw the frozen meatballs before baking. They will cook along with the crescent rolls.
- Can substitute a can of refrigerated pizza dough for the crescent rolls.
- My favorite jarred spaghetti sauces are Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Marinara (green label), Rao’s, and La Famiglia DelGrosso.
- Can freeze leftover cupcakes for a quick snack later.
What to Serve with Muffin Pan Meatball Subs
These Meatball Sub Cupcakes are a favorite at our house. They are super quick and easy to make and they taste great. We usually serve these with some pasta and a salad. Here are few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with these meatballs:
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Meatball Sub Cupcakes
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 1 (8-oz) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
- 4- oz cream cheese, softened
- ¾ tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 12 (1-oz) frozen meatballs
- 1¼ cup spaghetti sauce
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Spray 12 regular size muffin cups with cooking spray. Set aside.
- Remove dough from can; press seams to seal and press into an 8×18 inch rectangle. Cut dough into 12 squares. Press squares into muffin pan cups.
- Combine cream cheese, Italian seasoning and ½ cup mozzarella cheese.
- Divide the cream cheese mixture in the bottom of each muffin cup. Place meatballs on top of cheese; top each meatball with 2 tablespoons spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown.
Notes:
- I used 1-oz frozen Italian meatballs and they were the perfect size.
- There is no need to precook or thaw the frozen meatballs before baking. They will cook along with the crescent rolls.
- Can substitute a can of refrigerated pizza dough for the crescent rolls.
- My favorite jarred spaghetti sauces are Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Marinara (green label), Rao’s, and La Famiglia DelGrosso.
- Can freeze leftover cupcakes for a quick snack later.
Steph
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Do you think that I could put everything together and put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours until I’m ready to bake it? I’m traveling for Christmas Eve and I really don’t want to have to put everything together at the party. It would be nice to get everything in the muffin tin the night before, stick it in the refrigerator, and then just bring it to the party to bake.
I think that would be fine
Just made this and it came out delicious! I didn’t have any regular cream cheese so I used the whipped buffalo cream cheese that I had instead. My oven gets really hot so I baked mine at 350F for 12 minutes. Came out perfect!!
I made these today and they are absolutely delish! I used turkey meatballs. Thank you for this delectable delight.🥰
How do I keep warm for a take along to a party?
I like this Pyrex set: https://www.target.com/p/pyrex-4pc-portables-easy-grab-baking-dish-set/-/A-13796563#lnk=sametab
These were delicious! Thank you!
Made these for tailgating and they were a big hit! I used grands flaky biscuits and split them in half instead of using crescent rolls. Easy and delicious!
Can you use the grands crescent rolls and pull them apart as I’ve done for other recipes?
Any changes and substitutions to the recipe are up to you.
Did you put them in paper muffin cups before putting them in muffin tin ?
I don’t use paper liners but you can
How do you heat them up after they are frozen?
Covered in the oven or in the microwave
Cream cheese required? Can do without??
Make it however you want
Not sure what I did wrong but meatballs where still raw. Had to double the cooking time. When finally done they where soggy from the grease from the meatballs. I will try again but will cook the meatballs first next time.
Frozen meatballs are fully cooked when you buy them. You are just reheating them. Did you make your own meatballs?
Can I make ahead without cooking first.
Do you have to use cream cheese? I’m lactose intolerant and I have found a mozzarella I can use but not a cream cheese alternative. Worried if I omit it might burn. Thank you!
Can I make my own meatballs and put them in the crescents raw? Not frozen?
Any changes to the recipe would be up to you. As always, please use your best judgment regarding substitutions and modifications.
FYI – the frozen meatballs are already cooked. You are just heating them up.
I find frozen meatballs not soo great.. What brand do you use?
I have used Celentano, Cooked Perfect & Armour brand.
The Italian style beef meatballs from Costco are really good.
These are so delicious! The kids enjoyed ghem so much we made them twice this week (they helped!) Made them with reduced far crescent rolls and turkey meatballs and they were great. Do you think you could freeze these?
Awesome appetizer!! We made these for New Year's Eve and they were a hit!!! We eat them for football games, dinner, etc!!! Does anyone know the nutrition numbers for this?
Pillsbury now makes crescent roll dough sheets
Made these last night for game night and everyone loved them!! Easy to make which I also loved.
I made this tonight as a "trial run" for an appetizer that I plan to make at an upcoming party. Since I want it to be appetizer sized, I made it in a mini muffin tin. One can of crescent rolls made 24 mini muffins. It was very good…the only change I will make for the party is to top them with Parmesan cheese instead of mozzarella. The mozzarella stuck to the pan and made the muffins stick together, making them messy. Also, I served it with warm spaghetti sauce on the side. Very good.
Love the idea of mini cupcakes! SO fun! Glad you enjoyed them.
How long and at what temperature did you cook them using the mini muffin pans?
how long and at what temperature did you cook them using the mini muffin pans?
Not 8 x 10, recipe says 8×8 … Reread the recipe.
actually the recipe says 8×18 which is way wrong
You’re cutting into 4″ x 3″ rectangles which will give you 12. The 8″ side divided in 2 and the 18″ side divided into 6.
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Actually, the recipe says "8×18". Now who needs to "reread the recipe"??
I had a terrible time putting the crescent roll into the pans. After stretching it to an 8×10 size, it seemed the dough was too thin, and had to open another tube just to patch. See some other recipes use one triangle per cup. Will try that, because they were delicious!
Do you thaw your frozen meatballs before baking?
I did not thaw them.
Loved this recipe, but 2 Tbsp. of spaghetti sauce on top was way too much. They were drowning in it. In your picture it looks like you used maybe 1/2-1 tsp. on top. My regular sized muffin tins also seemed way bigger than yours, maybe I'll try mini ones next time. Going to try them again tonight!
Made these for a party this weekend and they were great. I made my own meatballs on Wednesday cooked them for 15 min and then froze them. On Thursday I made my sauce. Friday morning I put everything together and cooked them. I let them cool completely and then put them in an air tight container and into the fridge. Got to the party early and put them in the oven on 170 to warm them back up. It only took 15 minutes to get them warm not Hot. There were about 40 people at the party, I made 8 dozen mini cupcakes which were perfect size, they were all gone. These were only an appetizer a full dinner was being served. I had more request for the recipe. The adults loved them, but the teens could not stop eating them. I think next time I may try and make them and freeze them before baking them off. Then take them out of the freezer and bake them. This is a go to recipe for sure. We did spend the night and the next morning I was asked if I could make more. Crazy Good.
Have you tried freezing them before baking? I am trying to make 'make ahead freezer meals' for my sister.
have you tried freezing these?
Eli – I'd bake them and then freeze them. I'm not sure how the refrigerated dough will bake after being frozen.
Thanks! I'll Try it!
Do u thaw the meatballs first?
Hi Joyce,
Did anyone ever answer about using the meatballs frozen? I want to make them for a party in an hour, don't want to serve cold meatballs.
You can use them frozen
These look perfect for football watching! Pinning!
These are so fun! I can't wait to try them!