Pizza casserole takes under 30 minutes to make, including boiling your pasta. It’s my kids favorite pizza dish and is so family loved that its kept on rotation. This quick and easy pizza meal will have everyone saying YUM and MORE PLEASE.
Totally kid approved, pizza casserole includes the loved taste of a slice of pizza with flavorful and filling pasta. Inexpensive to make, cheesy, and makes great left overs – the perfect dinner combination!
Why you will love Pizza Casserole
Pizza by its very natural is a kid friendly dish but there is more than one way to enjoy pizza flavors without an actual pizza. From pizza dip, pizza rolls, pull apart pizza bread or even big mac pizza, there is no shortage of ways to enjoy popular pizza. I just know that your family will adore the pasta combined with pepperoni and pasta sauce for a slice free meal. Easy, cheesy, and done in 30 minutes, this dish also makes great left overs which means tomorrows meal will be done too!
Add or take away favorite pizza seasonings, change up the cheese, or switch out the beef or sausage, this skillet pasta meal is so versatile it is impossible to mess up. Serve with a side of feta salad as a pizza friendly side dish option.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
You can also alter the ingredients by adding other pizza friendly toppings like black olives, green olives, a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese or even hotly contested pineapple and ham. Nutritionally, because this dish uses pasta, as written is NOT keto or low carb.
- Rotini pasta
- Italian sausage
- minced garlic
- chopped onion
- green bell pepper
- pepperoni
- pizza sauce
- mozzarella cheese
Kid Friendly Casserole
Kid friendly and super easy, this pizza casserole will be done in no time. Chopped onions, delicious ground Italian sausage and all the right spices, this casserole is like pizza but in a hot dish and with filling pasta.
You can easily substitute the pasta for other kinds like bowtie, penne or macaroni shells. Just keep in mind that all pastas, because of shapes, taste a bit different in the dish due to how they soak up and carry the pasta sauce and meat. We recommend Rotini as it does an absolutely fabulous job at snagging all the flavorful ingredients involved in this dish.
This recipe is provided by a guest author, Chef Amanda, here on Salty Side Dish.
How to make Pizza Pasta Casserole
Pasta is incredible comfort food. Incredibly hearty and filling, you cannot go wrong when you combine delicious flavors like rotini pasta (or penne pasta if you like) in a large skillet with Italian pasta.
I can think of a great deal many main dish and side dish recipes that are totally delicious that start this way, and kid friendly pizza casserole is no exception.
PREP:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cook rotini pasta according to package directions, Drain pasta and set aside.
- In a cast iron pan, add ground sausage and cooked until brown. If necessary, drain excess grease from pan before going onto next step.
- Stir in garlic, chopped onions and green peppers
- Cook all ingredients an additional 3-5 minutes, this softens the onions and green peppers.
- Stir in pepperoni, pasta and tomato sauce.
- Mix well.
- Top pizza casserole with mozzarella cheese.
- Place enter pan into oven and cook for additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and all ingredients are heated through.
- Top with a little extra Parmesan cheese, black olives, mushrooms, or any of your additional favorite “pizza” ingredients if you want!
Expert Tips
- If you don’t have an ovenproof skillet like a cast iron pan, just transfer to a greased casserole or baking dish and heat in the oven.
- If you have really greasy ground sausage or protein, its best to drain any excess grease.
- Make it with meat: Substitute Italian sausage for ground beef or chopped diced ham.
FAQ’s
Yes, this dish can be prepped up until the point where cheese is added (but don’t add it), covered and frozen. Prior to eating, just unfreeze overnight (fridge natural thaw works great) and bake (versus skillet) in a 350 degree oven for up to an hour. Add cheese in the final 10 minutes of baking. Final cooking times will vary and baked pasta dish is ready once everything is hot and melty through the center.
Many people like using broccoli or cauliflower to substitute as pasta in dishes for nutritional needs like keto or low carb. That is fine to do, however, it certainly wont be the same meal.
Related Casserole Recipes
Casserole dishes are amazing and filling. If you need some more delicious casserole recipes, try my favorites:
- SPINACH CASSEROLE (SIDE DISH)
- CHEESY SHRIMP AND ASPARAGUS (SIDE DISH)
- ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO CASSEROLE RECIPE (SIDE DISH AND MAIN DISH)
- BREAKFAST SAUSAGE AND GRITS CASSEROLE RECIPE (BREAKFAST)
- BLUEBERRY FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE (BREAKFAST)
- STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM CASSEROLE (BREAKFAST)
- CHEESY BEEF AND TORTILLA CASSEROLE (MAIN DISH)
- WORLD FAMOUS SAUSAGE HASHBROWN CASSEROLE RECIPE (MAIN DISH BREAKFAST)
- CHICKEN CASSEROLE WITH RITZ CRACKERS (MAIN DISH)
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Kid Friendly Pizza Casserole
Ingredients
- 8 oz. rotini pasta cooked and drained
- 1/2 lb ground Italian sausage cooked
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 cup pepperoni slices
- 14 oz. pizza sauce jar- any flavor
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cook pasta according to package directions, Drain and set aside.
- In a skillet, add sausage and heat until brown. Drain excess grease if necessary.
- Stir in garlic, diced up onion and chopped green pepper.
- Cook an additional 3-5 minutes to allow for ingredients to soften.
- Stir in pepperoni, cooked and drained pasta and tomato sauce. Mix well.
- Top with mozzarella cheese.
- Place cast iron skillet into oven and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and it’s heated through.
- Top pizza casserole with a little extra Parmesan cheese or your favorite pizza toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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