Pizza and pasta in one cheesy-baked casserole? Yes, please!
This is an easy pizza pasta recipe packed with all of the flavors of our fave pizzeria pie and a generous helping of cheese and pepperoni.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights For Pizza Pasta
- Flavor: This recipe has all of the flavor of our favorite supreme pizza baked into a zesty pizza pasta bake.
- Prep note: Cook the pasta until al dente (firm)—usually the lower end of cooking time on the package; it will cook more as it bakes in the oven.
- Time-Saving Tip: Skip the shredding; pre-shredded pizza cheese works just fine in this recipe! You can also use pre-cooked sausage in this recipe (you’ll still need to soften the peppers and onions).
What You’ll Need To Make Pizza Pasta
- Meat: Sausage adds lots of flavor, and ground beef is added to make it extra hearty. Use just one or the other if it’s what you have on hand.
- If using just beef, add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning as beef isn’t seasoned like sausage is.
- Pasta: I love Cavatappi for this recipe as the curly shape holds up well, and the sauce and fixings are held in the curls. Other options are penne, ziti, or farfalle.
- Vegetables: Use whatever veggies you like on pizza. We add bell peppers, but mushrooms and spinach are other great additions.
- Sauce: I use pasta sauce, but you can replace up to 1 ½ cups with pizza sauce if you’d like. I find pizza sauce to be a bit sweeter, which is why I prefer at least some pasta sauce in this recipe.
- Cheese: Use shredded mozzarella cheese or your favorite Italian cheese blend in this recipe.
Other Toppings to Try
Top this pizza pasta recipe with sliced mushrooms, sliced black olives, jalapenos, onions, sundried tomatoes, pineapple tidbits, or other pizza topping faves!
How to Make Pizza Pasta (overview)
- Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.
- Brown the meat. Add bell peppers and pasta sauce and simmer until thickened.
- Combine in a baking dish and top with cheese and pepperoni.
- Bake until golden and bubbly.
Like most baked casseroles, this recipe is great with breadsticks or crusty bread and a fresh side salad. Try Caesar salad or our favorite Italian salad (everyone loves this salad!).
Storing Leftovers
- Assemble pizza pasta ahead of time and refrigerate up to 48 hours before baking.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Portions can be frozen in freezer-safe containers for up to 4 months. The pasta will not be as firm, but it will still be delicious!
My Favorite Zesty Casseroles
Did your family love this Pizza Pasta? Leave a rating or a comment below.
Pizza Pasta
Ingredients
- 16 ounces cavatappi penne, or rotini
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 8 ounces Italian sausage mild or hot
- 8 ounces lean ground beef
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ red bell pepper diced
- ½ green bell pepper diced
- 1 can diced tomatoes drained, 14.5 ounces each
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 jars pasta sauce 24 ounces each
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 28 slices pepperoni
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cook pasta el dente according to package directions. Drain well.
- Meanwhile, brown onion, sausage, and beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain any fat.
- Add in garlic and red and green peppers, and cook 2-3 minutes until tender. Add drained tomatoes, oregano, and pasta sauce. Stir well.
- Combine pasta and tomato sauce and pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Top with cheese and pepperoni slices.
- Bake 35-40 minutes uncovered or until cheese is melted and pasta is heated through.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine American, Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Delicious!
So glad you loved it Amanda!
Another great recipe from Holly!! Thanks so much
I like your recipe
can you freeze this? instructions for freezing?
Freeze cooled portions in aluminum foil and plastic wrap with the date labelled on the outside for up to 4 weeks. Enjoy Jeri!
My kids helped with this and they all loved it! We used some of the pasta water to thin the pizza sauce. Will definitely make again.
I made this tonight for dinner and we all thought it was great. The only problem is that most pasta here comes in 16 ounces so I increased the sauce and oregano and put it in a lasagna pan rather than a 9×13 since there’s more then the pan can hold due to the amount of pasta.I also added more cheese. I will definitely make again and added some black olives for mushrooms.
So I had some leftover pizza ingredients and thought about making some kind of pizza pasta bake. Searching online, I found several recipes, but this one seemed the most interesting to me — the base recipe is loaded with so much more flavor than the other recipes I found. I made the recipe last night with a few adjustments. (1) Since most pasta is not packaged in 12 oz boxes (at least not in my local grocery stores), I chose to use a full 16 oz box and proportionally increased the sauce, garlic, and oregano accordingly. (2) I used pizza sauce only — Rao’s Margherita Pizza Sauce, which is extremely flavorful and thicker than many jarred pasta sauces. (3) I have nothing against ground beef and Italian sausage, but I chose to use one pound of hot Italian chicken sausage instead. (4) And yes, I still added a heaping tablespoon of crushed red pepper, which did not make the final result too terribly spicy. (5) I also added sliced black olives and sliced mushrooms (jarred not fresh, and well-drained). (6) And once the sauce mixture was fully prepared, I stirred in about 3/4 of a cup of pasta water because the mixture was particularly thick. (7) Before pouring the mixture over the cooked Cellentani pasta in my large lasagna pan, I grated a healthy portion of Parmesan cheese over the pasta. (8) And finally, I cooked the dish for 45-50 minutes, making sure the cheese was darkly browned but not burned. The final result was very, very tasty. I highly recommend this recipe! As Holly indicates, the recipe is easy to adjust so you can easily use ingredients that suit your pizza taste.
Sounds delicious Jason! So glad you loved how delicious and versatile this recipe is!
Outstanding! Felt like a real mom tonight with this winner of a recipe. Picky eaters here and it was gobbled up. I followed the recipe exactly as published (adding pizza sauce -1 jar instead of sauce that was mentioned in the recipe notes) and had frozen onions and peppers -cooked up perfectly. I’m just sticking to your recipes from now on -can always count on them to be terrific. Thank you for all that you do!
Going to try the pizza bake looks good
Good recipe though I highly highly highly, cant say it enough, highly recommend not rinsing pasta, stripping the pasta of the starches that helps sauce stick to it nicely. Pasta much better served not rinsed.
I tried this tonight and rinsed thoroughly with cold water -it was perfect. Not sure what could be different but just wanted to mentioned it worked great.
Delicious & easy to make. Will definitely make it again!
I ‘ve been making this for many years and I’ll give you a helpful hint. Do not put the pepperoni in when you’re starting to Brown the beef. It is best to wait till beef is 90% Brown and then put the pepperoni in just for a very short time. All you want to do is warm it up. If you put the pepperoni in at the same time you put the raw beef the pepperoni lose all its flavor. If you want to taste the pepperoni inside the casserole do it at the very very end of Browning the meat. Plus I mix my pasta &meat sauce together, then put in pan this way it’s all evenly distributed.you can always add a little dot here & there of more sauce. Before you put the cheese and pepperoni pieces on the top and bake.
Great tip Cindie, thank you for sharing!
Great recipes
Love all your recipes!
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