Pizza Casserole
This easy pizza casserole recipe is a family pleaser! An Easy casserole recipe. Plus this pizza pasta casserole is an easy freezer meal. Try it today!
Servings: 6
Equipment
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
- ¼ 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 9x13 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.
Video
Notes
This pizza pasta casserole freezes great so you can easily make two batches and toss one in the freezer for an easy freezer meal. A delicious time saver!
Recipe Tips
- Pasta - When preparing the pasta make sure to not overcook it. It will finish cooking in the oven. I like to cook the pasta al dente or according to the package.
- Ground Beef - We recommend draining any grease from the beef before mixing it with the other ingredients.
- Prepare baking dish - Spray the baking dish with cooking spray for an easy cleanup.
- Cover Casserole - Cover the casserole with foil before placing in the flavor. This locks in the flavor and prevents the casserole from burning. We like to remove the foil for the last 15 minutes so the cheese gets brown and bubbly.
Substitutions and Additions
- Meat - We used ground beef in this recipe, but you can easily use Italian Sausage. Also substitute with ground turkey or do half turkey and half ground beef.
- Sauce - We made our sauce out of crushed tomatoes, but you can also use a jar pizza sauce or marinara sauce if you prefer. Spaghetti sauce would also work with this pasta recipe.
- Pasta - Use your favorite pasta. Bowtie pasta, rotini or rigatoni pasta would be a good substitute to use.
- Cheese - Mozzarella is our favorite cheese to use but you can also mix in some parmesan cheese or use an Italian blend cheese.
- Vegetables - You can easily sneak in some veggies such as slice fresh mushrooms, black olives, green bell pepper and onions.
Nutrition
Serving: 6g | Calories: 841kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 45g | Fat: 42g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Cholesterol: 130mg | Sodium: 1534mg | Potassium: 892mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 710IU | Vitamin C: 12.4mg | Calcium: 426mg | Iron: 5.2mg
