A Well-Placed Pepperoni Slice Ensures Mess-Free Pizza Bagels

If you grew up in the 1990s, then chances are you're familiar with pizza bagels (also referred to as bagel pizzas), or at least Bagel Bites, the frozen mini pizza bagel snack that was popular at the time (although pizza bagels had actually been invented a few decades earlier). It's little wonder as you could throw them in the microwave and have a tasty and kid-friendly snack in just a few minutes, although making pizza bagels from scratch using pre-made bagels doesn't take that much more effort — perhaps 20 minutes total, and that includes the baking time in the oven.

Crispy on the outside while chewy on the inside, bagels make for a great pizza crust. They also come in a variety of different flavors so you can really customize your pizza bagel to your taste. The one downside to making pizza bagels from scratch is the hole in the middle of the bagel. If you place cheese or certain toppings over it, you risk making a mess, as the cheese and toppings melt and fall through the opening once heated. Well, one Redditor came up with a genius solution to this problem, which was posted to the /foodhacks subreddit: "Place pepperoni over bagel holes when making homemade pizza bagels. Cheese won't melt and stick to the pan, gives toppings more surface area."

Using a slice of pepperoni to cover the bagel hole is frankly a genius food hack as many of the commenters on the Reddit post noted. You can use a regular slice of pepperoni as is or cut it into smaller pieces, as long as the piece you use to cover the hole is bigger than the hole itself. You can also use mini pepperoni or cup and char pepperoni, especially if you're using mini bagels to make your pizza bagels.

Pepperoni is easily the most popular pizza topping out there, but if you're not a fan, you can use another topping to cover the hole, such as a slice of mushroom or a piece of spinach instead. Before assembling, it's best to lightly toast your bagel halves so they don't get soggy once the pizza sauce is added. Just remember to cover the hole with a slice of pepperoni before adding pizza sauce and a mix of your favorite toppings and mozzarella to both maximize your pizza bagel toppings and avoid making a mess.