Photo: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

One of the things I love most about tortilla pinwheels is that they take all the flavor of your favorite sandwich and pack it into a bite-sized morsel. While I could probably never pick just one favorite sandwich, Italian subs are definitely a top contender, and they make for an excellent tortilla pinwheel, thanks to their layers and layers of rich flavor. All that flavor in one bite means they’re perfect for party appetizer OR for packing lunches!

Photo: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

What Ingredients Do You Need for Italian Pinwheels?

While you can switch things up quite a bit depending on what you like, these call for:

  • Cream cheese, which you want to soften
  • Italian seasoning, onion powder, and garlic powder
  • Roasted red peppers, (the kind in a jar)
  • Pepperoncini or banana peppers
  • Provolone, thinly sliced
  • Sliced salami or soppresetta
  • Large flour tortillas, the burrito size. You need 6 to 8.
  • You could also layer some ham in there if you want extra credit.

    Photo: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

    How Do You Make Italian Pinwheels?

    You want to start with the spread, which is much of the flavor here and definitely the glue. The base is cream cheese, which needs to be room temp. You mix that with some Italian seasoning, onion powder, and garlic powder until it’s smooth, and then add in your roasted red peppers and pepperoncini. For both the peppers, you want to make sure you drain them very well before you dice them, so your cream cheese spread doesn’t end up liquidy.

    Photo: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

    You want to spread that cream cheese mixture to the edge of each tortilla, being pretty generous with it.

    Photo: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

    Then, you’ll layer up the provolone in a line and the salami in a line slightly above that. As you roll, that means you’ll get a little of each in every bite.

    Photo: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team

    Roll the tortilla up tightly, wrap it in plastic wrap, and pop it in the fridge until it’s chilled enough to make slicing easy. That is roughly an hour. These store well overnight, so they make a great lunch prep option and great party food. Just chill it until you need it and slice it up before you serve it.

    Photo: 12 Tomatoes Creative Team