A stromboli is a delicious, cheesy dish that your family is sure to love. It has a lot of the same appealing factors of pizza: ooey gooey cheese and tasty meat on a bread crust. But the main ways in which stromboli differs from pizza is that it doesn’t include sauce and it’s rolled up instead.
But if your family is like mine, there’s probably at least one person who’s not crazy about the sauce on pizza. And there’s probably at least one person who already rolls up their slices of pizza, anyway. When you make stromboli, everybody gets what they want.
However, even though it still has similarities to pizza, stromboli is a dish all its own. It’s named after Stromboli island in Italy near Sicily, which is the home of an active volcano. Not surprisingly, there’s a distinctly Italian-inspired flair to this dish.
You can do it the official way, which requires making bread dough for the outer layer. But who has time for that? Not any busy moms that I know. This recipe takes the shortcut of using the refrigerated dough to save you a lot of time. That way, you can still get a delicious and satisfying meal on the table for your family in just a few minutes.
Because this recipe only uses a few ingredients, it’s inexpensive and easy to make. As a busy mom, those are two of my most important criteria in deciding what to make for dinner.
Ham and Cheese Stromboli
I admit that I love having ham and cheese stromboli for dinner just as much as my family loves eating it. Ham and cheese stromboli has one of my favorite combinations: cheese and carbs! You will probably never see me go on a low-carb diet because carbs are both comforting and filling. Nothing else is quite as satisfying.

I like to cook with the kids when I can since I want them to know how to do it themselves. Sometimes, it can seem harder to cook with young kids, since they often make a bit of a mess. But it pays off big time when they’re teenagers and happily takes over making dinner! It’s worth a bit of a hassle now.
This is a recipe that’s easy for the kids to get involved with preparing it. Since you’re rolling out the refrigerated dough, you can let them help with adding the toppings. And their favorite part is likely to be rolling it back up when it’s all done! When the kids are involved in making dinner, they’re even more likely to be excited about eating it.
Of course, they would be likely to enjoy eating this anyway, even if they didn’t help make it. That’s because the finished recipe is a lot like a pizza pocket, filled with ham, bacon, and cheese. The recipe calls for onion, but you can leave that out if your kids don’t like it.
Stromboli Fillings
Stromboli is a great dish because it’s so versatile. We strive to have recipes with five ingredients or less on this site, to make them simpler and cheaper. But by no means do you have to limit yourself to only five ingredients, especially with a dish like a stromboli! When it comes to stromboli fillings, the sky’s the limit.
Because stromboli is so similar to pizza, you can use many of the same ingredients as you would on a pizza. You might want to add a layer of pizza or pasta sauce on top of the bread dough before adding other toppings. If you’re feeling more creative and your family is more adventurous, you could even try using jarred alfredo sauce or pesto instead of pizza sauce.
Stromboli fillings include anything you might put on pizza, so use your imagination. Pepperoni is always a popular choice. Ground beef or scrambled sausage is also delicious. Want to try making a meat lover’s version of stromboli? Use ham, bacon, ground beef, and sausage! The meat lovers in your family are sure to go crazy for it.
You can also put all kinds of vegetables and other toppings on stromboli, too. Diced green peppers, sliced mushrooms, and black olives are great choices. Something I sometimes do is make a stromboli that has alfredo sauce, cubed chicken, and broccoli (and of course, lots of cheese, too.)
Stromboli definitely deserves a place in your regular rotation of meals. With how easy it is to make and how much everybody loves to eat it, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it!
If you enjoyed this recipe, make sure to check out our Maple-Pecan Pork Chops and our Sausage, Potato, and Cabbage Stir-Fry.
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Ham and Cheese Stromboli Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 30 Minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
Description
A stromboli is a delicious, cheesy dish that your family is sure to love. It has a lot of the same appealing factors of pizza: ooey gooey cheese and tasty meat on a bread crust.
Ingredients
- 11 ounce tube refrigerated French bread
- ¼– to ½-pound of cooked ham, thinly sliced
- Small onion, diced
- 8 bacon strips
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Cook bacon until crisp; crumble. Reserve 2 tablespoons bacon fat.
- Saute diced onion until translucent.
- Unroll dough on a greased baking sheet.
- Place ham over dough to within ½-inch of edges.
- Sprinkle evenly with onions, bacon and cheese.
- Roll up, Jelly-roll style, starting with the long side.
- Pinch seams to seal and tuck ends under.
- Place seam-side down on baking sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Allow to stand 10 minutes before slicing.
- Serve warm.
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: ham and cheese stromboli, stromboli fillings