Ham and Cheese Roll-Ups

Ham, cheese and ranch rolled up like pinwheels in crescent roll or pizza dough and glazed with brown sugar and poppy seeds makes the best party food or easy family meal!

This post is sponsored by Wisconsin Pork, but all opinions are my own!

Ham and Cheese Crescent Rolls Recipe

Warm Ham and Cheese Roll-Ups with creamy ranch is a new family favorite recipe. A sweet glaze makes this crescent roll melt or sandwich so delicious!  This recipe is full of flavor and so craveable! Our family typically makes these roll-ups or pinwheel melts for a quick lunch or dinner.  

Unrolling the refrigerated dough in a rectangle, layering ranch, meat and cheese and then rolling everything up is pretty simple. Slice the roll into 12 pieces, place in a 9×13 pan, glaze with the brown sugar, butter, poppyseed, mustard, and Worcestershire topping and bake until golden brown.

Making a protein packed meal that is fun to eat for my kids makes me feel good as a mom. And it’s always nice to have another meal idea that we can sit down together to eat and know that we can enjoy it and don’t have to keep pushing the kids to take another bite. These Ham and Cheese Crescent Rolls fit into our busy schedules.

As a farming family we know that pork is getting leaner, that’s because the pigs we raise are much leaner now than when I was a kid. Pork has 16% less fat and 27% less saturated fat compared to 30 years ago. Pork is also a source of key nutrients that are essential in healthy diets. For more info on pork nutrition here is a great resource.

Whether it’s Oven Baked Pork Chops, Instant Pot Sausage & Sauerkraut, or Sausage Stuffed Bell Peppers I’m proud to feed my family pork! I know when we eat the pork we raise OR buy pork at the grocery store we’re supporting farm families from Wisconsin and all over the United States that work hard to grow us wholesome food. Check out PorkCares.org to learn more about farming in the USA!

Glazed Ham Pinwheels

This recipe was inspired by our Hawaiian Roll Ham Sliders that have been very popular on Pinterest.   The Hawaiian rolls make the sliders more special than a typical sandwich, so we knew putting a spin on the recipe with refrigerator dough would taste great too!

Glazed pinwheels are more fun to eat than a sandwich and make a really attractive presentation without much effort. They make a great finger food served alongside some Salami Roll-Ups or Ham Balls on a toothpick.

This same base recipe can be used to make chilled ham and cheese tortilla roll-ups, just leave the glaze off unless the roll-ups will be baked. The tortillas can be eaten whole or sliced up into 1″ pieces and served on toothpicks.

If we buy a mega pack and have leftover cold meat or deli ham we love rolling it up and adding it to a Simple Charcuterie Board or Ham and Turkey Melt Sliders which are a couple more super easy meals!

Crescent Roll Dough Versus Pizza Dough

When made with refrigerated crescent roll dough the brown sugar and poppyseed glaze makes them versatile enough to serve alongside Bacon Breakfast Casserole or Brioche, Sausage, Egg & Cheese Casserole for brunch. 

When I asked my son to describe these he said, “They’re almost like a pancake rolled in ham with syrup on them!”   And if a food reminds my kids of pancakes they are sure to eat them!

My husband prefers the pizza dough because there’s more of it, so it’s naturally more filling. Thin crust pizza dough is also a little thicker than crescent roll dough so it can hold more ham and cheese making a heartier lunch or dinner.

Pizza dough tastes a little closer to a sandwich and makes bigger, thicker rolls. The sweet glaze and ranch dressing inside the rolls can be doubled when using thin crust pizza dough if desired.

How to Make Ham and Cheese Roll Ups

I like to use a large cutting board as a base to unroll the crescent dough OR thin crust pizza dough

Add a nice layer of ranch dressing across the dough. Then layer half of the ham.

Add half of the slices of cheese, then add another layer of thinly sliced ham.

Leave about an inch gap across the long side of the dough. When you roll everything up the ham and cheese will push up a little bit.

When making cut marks I like to start in the center dividing the dough in half.

Then I divide each half in half again making quarters. Each quarter can easily be cut into thirds.

Using care to keep each piece rolled-up transfer onto it’s side in a lightly greased baking dish.

The glaze is super easy to make. Melt the butter in a microwave safe dish and add brown sugar, mustard, poppy seeds and Worcestershire sauce.

Spooning the melted butter sauce over the roll-ups is to be easiest for me. Using a pastry brush is another option.

Bake in a 350°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes until browned. Serve warm and enjoy!

Roll-ups can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and re-heated, but we do prefer enjoying them right out of the oven.

Tips for Making Ham Roll-Ups

• Shredded cheese can be used in place of sliced cheese, just be sure to make an even layer
• Cheddar, Colby Jack, or provolone cheese can be substituted for Swiss cheese
• If you don’t have ranch dressing a tablespoon or two of dry ranch seasoning can be mixed into the sweet glaze and poured over the rolls
• Allowing the ham and cheese to warm up on the counter for about 30 minutes before assembling makes the roll-ups bake a little more quickly
• Cold dough is easiest to work with, so leave the dough in the refrigerator until ready to use
• The roll-ups look like they won’t fill up the 9 x 13-inch pan but they will expand as they bake, so don’t worry about the extra space
• Leave ingredients an inch away from the long end on top, but be sure to cover both of the shorts ends with a nice amount of meat and cheese

More Easy Family Meals with Pork:

• Creamy Pork Chop Casserole is a family favorite with pork chops, Swiss cheese and stuffing in a wine sauce.
• Instant Pot Pork Chops with Sauerkraut, Apples & Bacon is great on New Years Day or any day of the year.
• Kielbasa and Sauerkraut is another classic meal with several options on how to prepare it.
• Farmhouse Ham Loaf is one of my favorite meals to make that feels fancy, but is really pretty simple.
• Tender Country Style Ribs and Sauerkraut is another easy meal idea that takes very little effort!

Printable Ham and Cheese Roll Up Recipe