Bubble Up Pizza

Bubble up pizza is the kind of dinner that ends up requested every Friday night by kids who think they invented a casserole. The trick is in the name: refrigerated biscuits cut into quarters get tossed with marinara and mozzarella, then baked until the dough puffs up around the edges into golden bubbles while the center stays gooey with melted cheese.

Think of it as a deconstructed deep-dish pizza where every cubed piece of biscuit dough is its own little crust, each one coated in sauce and cheese before going into the pan. The result is part casserole, part pull-apart bread, part pizza. Forks required.

The layering matters more than it looks. Mixing the biscuit pieces with one cup of sauce and two cups of cheese first ensures every nugget of dough gets coated rather than baking up dry. The remaining sauce and cheese pour on top to form the upper crust that bubbles and browns in the oven.

A single pressed garlic clove stirred into the mix is the small detail that lifts this above plain biscuit-and-marinara. Optional toppings (sliced mushrooms, chopped onions, olives, pepperoni, sausage) all bake in nicely. Pile on whatever you’d put on a regular pizza.

Pro Tips

• Use the smaller refrigerated biscuits (not the big flaky kind). Larger biscuits hold their cube shape and bake unevenly; smaller ones puff and merge into the bubble effect you want.
• Quarter the biscuits with kitchen scissors. Faster than a knife and the cuts go right through the soft dough cleanly.
• Cover with foil for the first 20 minutes if the cheese on top browns too fast. The dough underneath needs time to bake through.
• Let the casserole rest 5 minutes after pulling from the oven. Hot, just-out-of-oven slices fall apart; rested ones hold together.

Variations

• Add a half pound of cooked Italian sausage or ground beef to the mixed-in layer for a meat-lover’s version.
• Sprinkle pepperoni slices on top for the last 10 minutes for crispy edges and the classic pizza look.
• Use Alfredo sauce instead of marinara and top with cooked chicken and bacon for a white pizza twist.