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These Mini Heart Shaped Pepperoni Air Fryer Pizzas are a homemade treat that’s both adorable and delicious and are sure to steal your heart and satisfy your cravings.

Looking for a cute, fun, easy Valentine’s Day Lunch or Dinner for the Kids? Mini Heart Shaped Pepperoni Air Fryer Pizzas are sure to steal their hearts and satisfy those pizza cravings. (The big kids at this nest love them too! Good food has no age limit!)

With a crispy crust, gooey cheese, tangy sauce, and savory mini-pepperoni, they’re the perfect bite-sized indulgence.

I love how quickly these little pizzas come together. Refrigerator pizza crust and pre-made sauce make this an easy-peasy lunch! Plus, they bake in minutes, thanks to the magic of the air fryer.

Let’s dive into the recipe and spread some love through the irresistible aroma of freshly baked pizza!

Ingredients for Mini Pizzas

• 1 (13.8 ounce) package Pillsbury Refrigerator Pizza Crust – you can use homemade pizza dough.
• 1 cup mini pepperoni slices – you can use any of your favorite toppings. The mini pepperoni is quick and easy.
• 1 (15.0) Contadina Pizza Sauce – I love this sauce, it’s really good, and comes in a squeeze bottle. You can make your own homemade pizza sauce. Just be sure to have at least 3 Tablespoons for each pizza.
• 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese – Shredded
• Heart shape cookie cutters – I recommend a 3 or 4 inch cutter.

How To Make Mini-Heart Pizzas

Preheat your air fryer to 375°F (190°C) to ensure it’s nice and hot when you’re ready to cook your pizzas.

TIP: Please note this recipe can be made in your oven using the same temperature. Your cook times may need to be adjusted slightly longer, unless you have a convection oven and then they would be similar.

This recipe starts with the pizza crust! I used Pillsbury Pizza Crust to keep it simple. Any refrigerator pizza crust dough will work.

Roll the crust out on a lightly floured surface. If you prefer a thin crust pizza, roll the dough thin. It’s about personal preference. I rolled my crust to ¼ inch thick. Just enough to get the wrinkles out. (I’m now rolling my skin on a nightly basis to see if it works…so far it’s not looking good!)

Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out mini heart shapes from the dough. Depending on the size of your cutter, you should be able to get around 9-12 mini hearts.

I place mine on a small baking sheet until they are ready to bake. Just helps to keep things organized.

Baking the Pizza Crust in the Air Fryer

One of the best tips I’ve found when making pizza is, especially when using refrigerated pizza dough, is to slightly “pre-bake” the crust. I popped these, four or five at a time, into my air fryer basket, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

TIP: You can also brush the pizza crusts with Olive Oil.

Bake for 2 minutes at 375° in the air fryer until lightly golden brown. Pre-baking prevents the crust from being soggy and under-cooked! It works wonderfully and is worth the extra 2 minutes.

Remove the baked crusts and place on a cookie sheet.

Topping the Heart-Shaped Pizza Crust

Begin with sauce! I love the Contadina marinara sauce. It has the perfect amount of Italian seasoning and is easy to apply to these heart pizzas. The best part is, you can apply as much sauce, or as little sauce as you like. Just give that bottle a little squeeze.

Using the back of a teaspoon, or a pastry brush, spread a thin layer of pizza sauce over each heart-shaped crust, leaving a small border around the edges.

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese over the sauce, making sure to cover the crust evenly. It can get a little messy, which is why I recommend placing them on a baking sheet. Makes clean-up a breeze!

Top each mini pizza with mini pepperoni slices, arranging them as desired. I have fat old fingers so my little pepperoni’s look like a drunk put them on top of each pizza!

TIP: If you can’t find the mini pepperoni slices made by Hormel, you can use regular pepperoni slices and cut them into pepperoni hearts! Place one or two hearts in the center of each pizza.

Using a spatula, carefully transfer the prepared mini pizzas to the preheated air fryer basket, ensuring they are not overcrowded. I found the spatula made it safer to transfer the cute heart pizzas into the HOT air fryer basket.

You may need to cook them in batches depending on the size of your air fryer. However, they cook very quickly! 2 minutes at 375°. Keep an eye on them to prevent burning, as cooking times may vary slightly depending on your model of air fryer. I found my air fryer cooked them in just under 2 minutes.

Once cooked, using a spatula, carefully remove the mini pizzas from the air fryer and transfer them to a serving plate. You can sprinkle them with Parmesan cheese. If any of the mini pepperoni slid off during baking, just plop them back on top of each pizza!

Serve your Mini Heart Shaped Pepperoni Air Fryer Pizzas immediately and watch as they disappear in no time!

I had so much fun making these individual personal Valentine’s day pizzas that I’m making them again! They’d be an awesome after-school snack!

Other Mini-Pizza Ideas

In closing, I just wanted to share some fun ideas for creating your own pizzas.

First, you do not have to limit your mini pizzas to just pepperoni! You can use cooked sausage, diced ham, even bacon! Get creative! Add veggies, like diced red onion, olives, or green peppers! You could even make a BBQ Chicken Pizza!

Secondly, you could also pre-bake the crusts and turn them into “pizza lunchables”! Just place all the ingredients in snack bags in their lunch boxes with a small container of pizza sauce. “Ta-da”!!! You have your own, healthier, lunchables! A tasty treat the kiddos are sure to love and a fun Valentine’s Day school lunch!

Lastly, for a really fun “romantic” dinner with the kids, do a pizza night bar! Pre-bake all the heart crusts ahead of time, place all the toppings in bowls, and let them each make their very own pizzas! So much fun and the kids will love that they got to help make their very own dinner!

Other Favorite Valentine’s Day Recipes

• Cookies and Cream Valentine’s Popcorn
• Strawberry and Brownie Valentine’s Kabobs
• Easy Homemade Cream Puff Recipe
• White Chocolate Raspberry Milkshake
• Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Allrecipes.com

You can serve these little gems with a side salad to complete the meal…it also adds a little bit of healthiness to this dinner.

So fire up your air fryer, gather your ingredients, and get ready to fall in love with the irresistible combination of crispy crust, gooey cheese, and savory pepperoni.

Cheers to love, laughter, and delicious homemade pizza!

Happy Nesting and Happy Valentine’s Day Friends!

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