Fill this homemade stromboli with your favorite meats and/or cheeses like pepperoni, ham, prosciutto, provolone, mozzarella, and so much more. I make it from my homemade pizza dough, a simple 6-ingredient dough that stays soft on the inside and develops a wonderfully crisp crust. There’s only 1 rise needed, which gives you enough time to prep any fillings. Stromboli makes a wonderful meal, but also works as an appetizer or game day snack.
Tell Me About This Homemade Stromboli
- Flavor: This recipe is more like a guideline because you can customize it with your favorite various fillings. Stromboli is a pizzeria menu staple where I grew up in Philly and I usually make it with Genoa salami, deli pepperoni, provolone, and mozzarella cheese. I love brushing the dough with melted butter, garlic, and fresh parsley for added flavor. Garlic powder, dried herbs, or even an Italian seasoning work wonderfully on the dough too. Or spread your favorite pizza sauce on top—see recipe note below. Flavoring/filling options are endless.
- Ease: Looking at the recipe below, you may be intimidated by its length. Don’t be nervous—I wrote the recipe in extreme detail in case you have questions along the way. I work well with visuals, so I include step-by-step photos and a video tutorial too. Overall, I’d say this is an intermediate recipe. The dough is pretty straightforward. Shaping/filling/rolling is easy, but take the time to review this post and directions before you start. No matter how your baked stromboli looks, you’re eating crust/cheese/meats/garlic/and maybe some sauce. It’ll be delicious, I promise.
- Time: There’s no arguing that homemade dough takes time, but the results are always worth the effort. Luckily this dough only requires 1 rise and you can prep your fillings as you wait. It will take you a little less than 3 hours to complete the full recipe.
Stromboli from Pizza Dough
You can make 1 stromboli with 1 pound of store-bought or homemade pizza dough. Even though store-bought dough is convenient, I encourage you to try this homemade dough. It requires just 6 basic ingredients and about 60-90 minutes of rise time.
2 Important Notes on my Pizza Dough:
- My pizza dough yields about 2 lbs of dough, which is enough for 2 strombolis or 1 stromboli + a batch of cheesy breadsticks, 1 pizza, or even 8 garlic knots.
- I don’t recommend halving this dough recipe. You can try, but for absolute best results, make the full recipe. If you only need 1 stromboli, freeze the other half of dough for another time. I promise you’ll want to make stromboli again.
It’s really handy to have 1 all-purpose dough that works in many different ways; you’ll appreciate its ease and versatility. I use this exact dough for ham & cheese pockets and pepperoni pizza rolls, too.
Stromboli Fillings
Options are endless. If it works as a pizza topping, it will probably work as a stromboli filling. You can’t really go wrong because if you’ve used too much filling, you won’t be able to roll the dough up.
- Base: Butter + garlic + parsley is a great spread for the dough before adding other fillings. Feel free to use more garlic and parsley or swap parsley for another herb or Italian seasoning. You can also use pizza sauce. See below.
- Meats & Cheeses: Make sure any meat you use is cooked. You can use 1/2 pound of various sliced meats per stromboli, this could be about 20 slices per stromboli but that depends on the thickness of the meat. Some meat suggestions are capicola, salami, soppressata, prosciutto, deli ham/turkey/roast beef, and/or pepperoni. Avoid using small pizza pepperoni slices. For best results (and flavor), use large pepperoni slices from the deli counter. You want about 1/2 pound of cheese per stromboli as well. If using shredded cheese, I recommend 1 and 1/2 cups per stromboli. If using sliced deli cheese, I recommend 10-12 slices per stromboli. You can also mix—I usually use 6-8 large slices provolone and 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
- Only Cheese: If you want a meat-free stromboli, still use the recommended amount of cheese. If you add more, it may spill out the sides or be difficult to roll and slice. Feel free to add vegetables. See next.
- Veggies/Herbs: Other filling ideas, instead of or in addition to meats/cheeses, are a layer of cooked mushrooms, cooked chopped broccoli, or cooked sliced peppers (blot excess moisture if you can), spinach, or basil leaves (chopped or whole). For a meatless stromboli, 2 cups of vegetables per stromboli (plus your cheese) works well.
Want to add pizza sauce? You can add pizza/marinara/tomato sauce to the filling. Feel free to skip the melted butter and garlic (or leave it on, doesn’t matter) and spread 1/2 cup of sauce onto each rolled out dough before layering on the meats and cheeses in step 6.
Step-by-Step Photos
Make and knead the dough, referencing my How to Knead Dough tutorial as needed. After you punch down the dough, divide it in half to make 2 strombolis. You can freeze half for another time if desired.
Roll each out into a (roughly) 10×16-inch rectangle and spread with garlic butter.
Sprinkle with fresh parsley or desired herbs, then layer on meats and cheeses, leaving a 3-inch gap on top and 1-inch gap around the edges. Brush edges with egg wash, which helps keep everything sealed.
Roll up, tucking in the ends. Do this slowly and make sure the roll is tight.
Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with coarse salt, pepper, more herbs, or a little cheese. (Toppings are optional.) Cut 3-4 slits on top for air to escape.
Bake until golden brown, then cool for 5 minutes before slicing. It’s flaky and crisp when it’s warm—totally irresistible. Pizza or marinara sauce is great for dipping! If you ever need a homemade sauce to try, we really like Beth’s homemade pizza sauce.
Stromboli Vs. Calzone
And, finally, here’s a quick explanation if you’re interested. Stromboli and calzone are not the same, though they can be prepped with the same ingredients. The difference is their shape. Stromboli originated in Philadelphia by restaurant owner Nazzereno Romano and is rolled like a cinnamon roll, baked as 1 long log, then sliced. Italian calzones originated in Naples, are folded in half like a semi-circle or half moon, then baked and served individually. Both can be filled with the same ingredients, though a calzone usually includes ricotta (something a little too wet for stromboli) and both are usually brushed with an egg wash to help seal the edges and provide a golden crisp crust. Lots of love for both!
See Your Homemade Stromboli
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge!
PrintHomemade Stromboli (Yields 2)
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: two 16 inch strombolis (about 10-12 slices each)
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Use this dough recipe and the filling/toppings below to create 2 Homemade Strombolis. See all recipe notes before beginning because you can save half of the dough for another time or make other dishes with it (such as pizza or breadsticks). More filling suggestions, helpful step-by-step photos, and a video tutorial are included in the post.
Ingredients
Homemade Dough for 2
- 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons (7g) instant or active-dry yeast (1 standard packet)
- 1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 and 1/2 cups (about 450g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
Fillings for 2
- 3 Tablespoons (43g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried)
- 1 pound thinly sliced meats such as Italian cold cuts, deli ham, or large pepperoni slices*
- 3/4 – 1 pound cheese (about 3 cups shredded or about 16-20 slices deli cheese)*
Egg Wash & Topping for 2
- egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
- optional: sprinkle of chopped fresh or dried parsley, sea salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and/or parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Whisk the warm water, yeast, and granulated sugar together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes. *If you don’t have a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in the next step.
- Add the olive oil, salt, and flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer (and switch to the dough hook if using the paddle) and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray—just use the same bowl you used for the dough. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size. If using instant yeast, this takes about 1 hour. (Tip: For the warm environment on a particularly cold day, heat your oven to 150°F (66°C). Turn the oven off, place the dough inside, and keep the door slightly ajar. This will be a warm environment for your dough to rise. After about 30 minutes, close the oven door to trap the air inside with the rising dough. When it’s doubled in size, remove from the oven.)
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Shape the dough: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Divide in half. (If you aren’t making 2 strombolis, freeze the other half of dough. See freezing instructions below.) On a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each half of dough into a 10×16-inch rectangle. I like to use my hands to square off the edges, as shown in the video below. If the dough keeps shrinking as you try to shape it, cover it lightly and let the dough rest for 10 minutes before trying again. (The gluten just needs to settle.)
- Add fillings: Mix melted butter and garlic together. Spread all over each rectangle. Sprinkle each with parsley. When you start layering on meats and cheeses, leave a 1 inch border on the bottom and sides and a 3 inch border on top. (Basically you’ll have an empty 3×16-inch gap on top that only has butter/garlic on it. This is because when rolling, the fillings will be pushed forward. See photos and video below if you need a visual.) Arrange a layer sliced meats onto each dough, usually about 8-10 slices on each depending on size and thickness of slices. Add a layer of cheese. Repeat with more meat and cheese until all is used—about 1/2 pound meat and 1/2 pound cheese per stromboli. Brush all edges with egg wash, including 3 inch gap at the top. This helps the stromboli hold its rolled shape. Slowly roll each into a tight 16 inch log, folding in the two ends as you roll. See me do this in the video below. Dust your hands or the dough with flour if things become too sticky. Carefully transfer each to lined baking sheets. Pinch or tuck in ends to seal if they became unfolded.
- Brush each stromboli with egg wash and, if desired, optional toppings. Using a very sharp knife, cut 3-4 slits into the tops of each, which helps steam escape. At this point, you can cover shaped stromboli tightly and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.
- Bake for about 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown—if you have an instant read thermometer, the center of the stromboli should be at least 200ºF (93ºC). If meats are particularly greasy (like pepperoni), some grease will spill out the sides. Cheese may bubble out the sides or top slits, too. If baking both at the same time, rotate pans halfway through baking and extend bake time (if needed) by 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a cutting board and slicing.
- Serve plain or with pizza/marinara sauce for dipping.
- Cover and store leftover stromboli (slices or whole) in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Dough: This dough recipe is the same as my pizza dough recipe. It yields 2 strombolis. After the dough rises and you divide the dough in half (step 5), you can freeze half of the dough. (If you want to freeze all of this dough, I recommend you still divide it in half and freeze separately.) Shape half or halves into a ball(s). Lightly coat all sides of the dough ball(s) with nonstick spray or olive oil. Place the dough ball(s) in a zipped-top bag and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight. When ready to make stromboli, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 30 minutes on the counter. Continue with step 5, punching down the dough to release air if needed.
- Overnight Dough Instructions: To prevent these notes from getting too crowded, see pizza dough post for overnight dough instructions.
- Refrigerate Shaped Stromboli Ahead of Time: See end of step 7.
- Freezing Shaped Stromboli Before Baking: Instead of freezing the dough as a whole, you can freeze the shaped stromboli before baking. Fill and roll stromboli as directed in step 6. Do not cut slits or add egg wash (step 7). Carefully place filled/rolled stromboli on a piece of plastic wrap. Sprinkle with flour to help prevent sticking. Wrap up tightly. To preserve freshness, I recommend a layer of aluminum foil over the plastic wrap as well. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw, still wrapped, in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Brush with egg wash, add optional toppings, and cut steam slits. Place stromboli on a lined baking sheet and bake as directed. Since stromboli is pretty cold going into the oven, it will take a couple extra minutes to bake.
- Freezing Baked Stromboli: Allow baked stromboli to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap or aluminum foil (or a layer of both), and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw, still wrapped, for just 1 hour at room temperature. Bake, lightly covered with aluminum foil, in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 30 minutes.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Large Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Dough Scraper | Rolling Pin | Pastry Brush | Instant Read Thermometer
- Amount of Dough/1 Stromboli: My homemade pizza dough, written in this recipe above, yields about 2 lbs of dough, which is enough for 2 strombolis. If you only want 1 stromboli, freeze half of the dough as noted in step 5 or make a pizza such as extra cheese pizza, margherita pizza, or BBQ chicken pizza or a batch of cheesy breadsticks. If you’re only making 1 stromboli, make sure you halve the filling ingredients. For the egg wash/topping ingredients, it’s difficult to halve the egg, so whisk 1 egg with 1 Tbsp water, use as directed, then discard any leftover. (You’ll have leftover egg wash even if you’re making 2 strombolis.)
- Fillings & Vegetable Stromboli: Butter + garlic + parsley is a great spread for the dough before adding the meats/cheeses. Feel free to use more garlic and parsley or swap parsley for another herb or Italian seasoning. You can also use pizza sauce. See next note. Use 1/2 pound of various sliced deli meats per stromboli, this could be about 20 slices per stromboli but that depends on the thickness of your meat. Avoid using small pizza pepperoni slices. For best results (and flavor), use large pepperoni slices from the deli counter. You want about 1/2 pound of cheese per stromboli as well. If using shredded cheese, I recommend 1 and 1/2 cups per stromboli. If using sliced deli cheese, I recommend 10-12 slices per stromboli. You can also mix—I usually use 6-8 large slices provolone and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. For a meatless option, you can add cooked mushrooms, cooked chopped broccoli, or cooked sliced peppers (blot excess moisture if you can), spinach, or basil leaves (chopped or whole)—2 cups of vegetables per stromboli (plus your cheese) works well. Options are endless here. You can’t really go wrong because if you’ve used too much filling, you won’t be able to roll it up.
- Want to add pizza sauce? You can add pizza/marinara/tomato sauce to the filling. Feel free to skip the melted butter and garlic (or leave it on, doesn’t matter) and spread 1/2 cup of sauce onto each rolled out dough before layering on the meats and cheeses in step 6. If you ever need a homemade sauce to try, we really like this homemade pizza sauce.
- Egg Free: Skip the egg wash if needed. You can brush each shaped stromboli with 1 Tablespoon melted butter instead.
So good! We added pepperoni, ham, and salami with two different cheeses. Going to try a breakfast version next of scrabled eggs, bacon, and cheese.
This was amazing!! My family looooved it and they were fighting for more pieces lol. This was a fantastic challenge.
I didn’t realize we needed a new dinner item in our lives until we made this! So delicious, and a snap to put together this will be making an appearance on party platters at our house in the future!
My whole family loved this recipe! We used Salami and gruyere cheese. My seven year old says to tell Sally ‘Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.’ Something that i’m really loving about this is that we picnic and bike ride a lot, and with children this is a wonderful food to pack along for our adventures. My kids observed – it’s like pizza but less messy 🙂
The dough was fluffy and I could youse it very well and at the end it tasted very well and I could follow the direction easy because it wasn’t a hard dish but it wasn’t a easy one either
I have always had a difficult time working with yeast dough. Well, not any more! This recipe has given me back my yeast dough confidence! Thank you Sally. A new door in the baking world has opened for me.
The directions are well explained and easy to follow. The tutorial is great. Stromboli has been added to our dinner rotation and our picnic lunch menus.
Easy, delicious…will repeat!!!
It’s gotten to a point in our house where as soon as a new Sally’s Baking Addiction recipe appears in my Inbox, presto, we make it ASAP. Or rather I make it & kids and hubby dutifully gobble it up. This was so delicious, the word doesn’t do it justice. Scrumptious? Mouth-watering? Oozing with a hundred different flavours? That description begins to approach the experience we had at our dinner table. My oldest son kept saying: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh… We more than loved it. ‘nough said. Now we’re waiting to show off our cooking prowess to guests.
So so easy and yummy! My family and friends liked it! Will definitely make it again and use different toppings!
This was a fun recipe to try! It had some challenging moments in getting my dough to cooperate during rolling. I loved how versatile the dough is and that the it offered a fun opportunity to get creative and try out some new ingredient combinations. We made fig & mushroom and steak, onion, cheese Strombolis. Both were delish!
Delicious and easy dough. I didn’t roll my dough out large enough so my stromboli wasn’t stuffed but the kids and husband loved it. I didn’t realize we did not have eggs so no egg wash but I did brush the outside with the butter and garlic powder. Will definitely make again.
Delicious! This was the first time I’ve made Stromboli and it was so easy and came out so well. I followed the dough recipe exactly, except I made it in the bread maker on the dough setting. I didn’t put sauce inside the Stromboli itself, but served it on the side for dipping. Next time I’ll have the deli slice the meat extra thin, as that was the one criticism I have, but that has nothing to do with the recipe. I’ll definitely be making this again! Thanks for another great recipe!
It was tasty, but I thought the dough was a little dry and more crusty than I expected. I used Beth’s pizza sauce recipe as linked in the Stromboli recipe, and after an hour of simmering, it had no flavor, so I simmered it for another couple of hours, and then the herbs started coming through. I froze half of the dough, and will try making a pizza with that half.
This was perfect to make on a cold winter day here in WNY. I’m transitioning back to vegetarianism and am excited to add your Stromboli recipe to my repertoire!! I love how the outside is nice and crisp while the inside perfectly houses the filling and makes it all melty and delicious!!
WOW so good!! Such an easy dough, and makes PLENTY. I for sure underestimated how big 16 inches is. I made chicken parm Stromboli (layer sauce, provolone, sliced chicken strips, a little more sauce, mozzarella) and it came out exactly how I’d hoped. I highly recommend!!
I’ve used the all-purpose pizza dough countless times, and it’s always fantastic. This was no different. I can’t believe a dish that LOOKS so complicated can be so easy. I’m looking forward to trying several variations in the future. (The pizza sauce is also tasty!)
Loved making this! I never thought I would be a “make dough from scratch” type of person, but this was super easy to follow. I didn’t add melted butter/garlic because I had marinara sauce on hand, but I think next time I won’t skip that step! Excited to use up the second half of the dough as well 🙂 Thanks Sally, as always, for making the impossible seem so possible!
The Stromboli was a breeze to make, because of Sally’s detailed instructions and video! I made one with salami, pepperoni, and cheese. The other Stromboli was a veggie version with spinach, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, baby Bella mushrooms, and cheese. Both came out so delicious! I’ll be making these, again! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe!
We absolutely loved this! I made one meat lover for the guys and one vegetarian for me and my sisters. I also paired this with your cheesy breadsticks which per usual, fantastic! I know people might say “too much dough” for a dinner but we loved it! Thank you Sally for this wonderful recipe as well as very detailed instructions!
Hands down the best stromboli recipe I’ve ever tried! It’s become a new family favorite!
So easy to make (but then, I like making dough), and my family loved these! Having a side of marinara for dipping made the Stromboli all the better. A keeper, for sure.
the dough recipe provided worked great, I made this stromboli with half the dough and made some great garlic knots with the other half.
For the stromboli, I had some ingredients that needed using so I altered the filling a bit:
* more garlic (just because I love garlic!)
* I had some homemade spicy sausage, tastes very similar to pepperoni which I used in place of pepperoni
* after egg washing the top, I sprinkled it with some tuscan seasoning (lots of ingredients to make, I just googled a few and made my own take on it)
* made some sauces to dip it in, a buttermilk ranch and also a pizza sauce that went well with it
this was very tasty and didn’t last long. I did have a few hiccups while rolling it up, but now that I’ve done it once, I think if you just treat it like when you’re rolling up cinnamon rolls, it’s extremely similar. The only real difference in the technique that I could find was that you want to tuck in the ends. Hope that helps someone.
We love pizza, and this recipe is a great way to liven up pizza night! All the same great flavors, with an exciting presentation
Same here, Veronica! We usually have Pizza Fridays every other week or so, but there will be another Stromboli Friday soon.
Great recipe, the dough was great to work with. We made breadsticks with the second half and made Beth’s sauce to go with it. This will be going into our dinner rotation.
This recipe was delicious and so easy to make! I love the versatility, you can add so many different ingredients. We kept it simple. The dough was so soft, and had a delicious flavor.
I loved how simply and quickly this dough came together. My dough actually didn’t require a long rise time, even though I was expecting it too. I made a Vegetarian Stromboli for myself. My son decided he didn’t want a Stromboli and actually made his half into a pizza and it turned out just as good as my Stromboli. I added the recipe to our collection. Thanks Sally!
I made this recipe twice in 2 weeks because it was so delicious! Not to mention, it is also very easy to make. My toddlers even “helped.” I love the versatility; you can stuff it with literally anything you want.
I found the dough a little hard to work with, so my roll wasn’t beautiful, but it was absolutely delicious in the end!!
I had a lot of fun with this! I made both with the same filling (ham, cheese, and fresh tomato). The one was baked and eaten on the same day, while the other one was frozen to be baked later. When I baked the second one a week or two later, after having it defrosted in the fridge for 24 hours, there was some liquid in the pan that was not there with the first one. It was only then that it dawned on me that perhaps it was not such a great idea to use fresh tomato in the stromboli if I was going to freeze it before baking!
Very flavorful! I used mozzarella, provolone, hard salami and sauteed mushrooms and spinach. The filling was falling apart a bit, I’m sure likely due to the sauteed veggies being a little wet. Overall, great recipe!