Jazz up pizza night with this easy pizza casserole recipe. This freezer friendly pizza pasta casserole is one recipe that the kids will be begging for more.
This easy pizza casserole recipe is a kid pleaser. My entire family devoured it and raved about how great it was. This pizza pasta casserole also freezes great so you can easily make two batches and toss one in the freezer for an easy freezer meal.
That way with very little work, you can make one for your family today and then the second goes in the freezer making another night even easier for you. You know I love an easy freezer meal. There is nothing better than having dinner already in the freezer. Don’t you agree?
Plus, your kids will love it because it is like pizza, but you will love it because it is a TAD fancier than pizza. This easy pizza casserole recipe is packed with flavor. I think you will be surprised by how good it really is. Don’t let the simple ingredients fool you. It will be your new favorite casserole dish.
There is just something about pizza recipes. Don’t you agree? Pizza is a staple at our house from ordering out to our flatbread pizza, our crock pot pizza chicken, or our Bubble up pizza our family has to enjoy some kind of pizza every single week. It is a kid pleaser and Mom loves how easy it is to throw together.
If you like this pizza casserole, make sure you check out this Easy lasagna recipe. It’s quick and easy!
Ingredients you need for pizza pasta casserole:
- 1 lb of ground beef (or Italian Sausage)
- 6 oz pepperoni
- 3 cups of Mozzarella cheese
- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (or Homemade Pizza Sauce Recipe)
- 1 teaspoon of garlic salt
- 1 Tablespoon of Italian Seasoning
- 16 oz of penne pasta
- ¼ up of Parmesan cheese
How to make Easy Pizza Casserole Recipe:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown the ground beef and drain any sausage.
- Pour in the crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and the garlic salt. Stir to combine.
- Meanwhile boil pasta according to directions but cook to al dente, meaning you want the pasta to be firm and undercooked.
- Drain pasta and pour half of the pasta in a 9×13 baking dish.
- Spoon half the meat mixture over the pasta.
- Top with half the Mozzarella cheese.
- Lay half the pepperonis on top.
- Then later the remaining pasta, meat sauce, cheese and pepperoni.
- Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
- Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes until bubbly and brown.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then serve.
Easy Pizza Pasta Casserole Side dish ideas
- Easy Ramen Noodle Salad Recipe
- Creamy Broccoli Salad Recipe
- How to Steam Broccoli in the Microwave
- Easy Parmesan Roasted Zucchini Recipe
- Oven Roasted Parmesan Asparagus
With an easy casserole dish and an easy side dish you can have dinner ready in no time.
Print your recipe below:
Easy Pizza Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef (or Italian Sausage)
- 6 oz pepperoni
- 3 cups Mozzarella cheese
- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes (or 2 15 oz cans of crushed tomatoes)
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
- 16 oz penne pasta
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown the ground beef and drain any sausage.
- Pour in the crushed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and the garlic salt. Stir to combine.
- Meanwhile boil pasta according to directions but cook to al dente, meaning you want the pasta to be firm and undercooked.
- Drain pasta and pour half of the pasta in a 9×13 baking dish.
- Spoon half the meat mixture over the pasta.
- Top with half the Mozzarella cheese.
- Lay half the pepperonis on top.
- Then later the remaining pasta, meat sauce, cheese and pepperoni.
- Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
- Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes until bubbly and brown.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then serve.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Facts
How to Freeze Easy Pizza Casserole Recipe:
- Make the easy pizza pasta casserole recipe in a tin toil pan according to direction above.
- However, instead of baking, cover with foil and allow to cool.
- Once cooled, freeze.
- To bake, remove from freezer the day before you want to eat it and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour covered, and 15 minutes uncovered.
We also love Pepperoni Chicken Pasta Recipe. The kids love it and it’s so easy to fix.
I love this Pizza Pasta Casserole. Making it for the third time tonight. So tasty and easy to make. Thank you for this recipe.
Ah…..I think you mean to ” thaw in the refrigerator” not ” thaw in the freezer…” ha ha
Mar – Thanks for letting me know. I have corrected the post 🙂
Am I reading that right? The serving size is 6g???
The entire recipe serves 6. Thank you!
Should I leave my noodles uncooked if I am just prepping it for freezer meal? I do that with my lasagna.
I usually cook them for this recipe. Thank you!
So what do we think about layering in the crockpot and then cook on low for 3 hours?
Yes, I think that would work great. I would cook it in the crock pot for 2 1/2-3 hours until the pasta is done. Thank you!
This recipe is amazing. My mother in law seen and wanted to try it so bad that she bought all of the ingredients and brought it to my house lol. She isn’t much of a cook so anytime she wants to try something new she brings it to me. Usually she is very very picky so I am even more amazed at how much she loves it!! The day after we had dinner she bought the stuff for three more servings and had me prep them to be frozen so she could just pop them in the oven. It was so funny. This is awesome, my kids love it too lol. A hit for the entire family 🙂
I love this recipe. I just use wide egg noodles instead. I make it at least once a week
Can you use pizza sauce instead of crushed tomatoes
Pamela – Thank you for sharing. I’m glad you enjoy it.
Elizabeth – Yes, I think that pizza sauce would be delicious in this recipe instead of the crushed tomatoes. Thank you.
Whoops used marinara instead of crushed tomatoes, took a taste test when I took the foil off and so far so good! Thanks for this recipe!
This was really good! I didn’t know what to make, and I only had so much time, but knew I had pizza fixings. So I looked up “pizza casserole” and your recipe came up first. I wanted something I could make with ground beef. Perfect!
This was so quick and easy! I only had egg noodles, I used one can of pizza sauce, one can of tomato sauce. Two cups of mozzarella, most of the pepperoni left over from our French bread pizza, I used Parmesan packets from ordering out, haha… it all came together nicely. I will keep this one! Thanks!
I made this using pizza sauce and cut back to about 12oz of the penne. It was delicious!! One off my favorite recipes now!
Hello! I live in a country wife you cannot find crushed tomatoes. What would you suggest to substitute instead? Thank you!
How long should I cook if baking directly out of the freezer?
Thanks!
Great site, I love the recipes and how you have made it super easy to view and print a recipe! Thanks.
We make several of these every couple of months, freeze them, and use them on Family Night Fridays instead of pizza! Delish!
This is a big favorite in my house. Question for you all tho, do you use fresh mozzarella or shredded mozzarella like kraft or sargentos? I read fresh sometimes makes it ‘wetter’ but I usually use fresh.
I like to use fresh and shred my own as it melts easier and tastes better in my opinion but you can use the pre-shredded too.
Is this 16 oz uncooked penne ? Seems like a lot of pasta.
Yes, I use 16 oz of penne pasta for this recipe. Thanks.
Can you make the casserole the day before you will bake it
Yes, this is great to make ahead. Store in the refrigerate and then bake the same time as in the recipe.
Love this recipe!!!! Came across Carroe making it in a live one time and had to try it!!! The family loved it!! I love it! It’s a keeper in our house!!
See a ‘PRINT YOUR PIZZA CASSEROLE BELOW” comment, But DO NOT find a way to PRINT.
In the recipe card on the post, there is a print button right below the photo that will allow you to print this recipe. Thank you!
I made the Pizza casserole and am loving it so much.
Thanks for the recipe.
Loved this, but the next time I will not cook the whole amount of Penne. Maybe 10-12 oz. It was a little dry. I didn’t layer anything but the cheeses. We mixed all the topping in the meat mixture. But I will definitely fix this again!