Pizza Pasta Bake is a pizza, pasta dish and casserole all in one! This is such a popular meal in our family and is loved by ALL. Satisfy your pizza craving by including all the pizza topping favorites you love. You can’t go wrong with this delicious dinner!
Original post: March 2014 | Updated: April 2020
How many delicious dinner recipes do you know that require only 5 ingredients and take 30 minutes to make? Well this Pizza Pasta Bake falls into this category, making it one of those go-to recipes to fall back on when you’re lacking in time and energy.
And really, the recipe is just a template that can be used as a solid base to build on. If your family loves a meaty pizza? Load this casserole up with meat! If they enjoy veggie pizza? Omit the meat and pack it with veggies. The recipe below can be easily tweaked to meet the needs and tastes of the people you are feeding!
HOW TO MAKE PIZZA PASTA BAKE
STEP 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
Cook ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain grease and add salt, pepper and spaghetti or pizza sauce to skillet. Cook over medium heat for an additional 5 minutes.
STEP 2
While the sauce is cooking, cook pasta in boiling water for 3 minutes shy of al dente. Drain pasta.
STEP 3
Add cooked pasta in an even layer inside the prepared baking dish. Top with sauce mixture, mozzarella cheese and pop some pepperoni slices on top. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
RECIPE NOTES
- Use any variety of medium-sized pasta for this recipe, such as rotini, shells or elbow macaroni.
- Swap beef out for ground Italian sausage for an extra boost of flavor!
- Either spaghetti sauce OR pizza sauce tastes great in this recipe!
- For extra flavor, add an onion and a few cloves of garlic to the ground beef after it’s done cooking. Italian seasoning would be a great, tasty addition, too!
- Go crazy with your favorite pizza toppings!
- If you like a little kick to your pizza, a simple way to spice it up would be to mix some sauce with a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes!
OTHER FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPINGS TO ADD TO YOUR PIZZA BAKE
- Red, orange or green bell peppers
- Mushrooms
- Black olives or green olives
- Canadian bacon and pineapple
- Extra cheese – colby, monterey jack, cheddar or Parmesan!
NOT READY TO SERVE? FREEZE IT!
Once you’ve assembled your Pizza Pasta Bake, but before you’ve baked it, it’s time to put an airtight lid on it or cover it with saran wrap. Place it in the freezer. Once you’re ready to serve it, remove the pan from the freezer, bring it to room temperature and then bake it!
LOVE PIZZA? HERE ARE MORE OPTIONS!
- Pickle Pizza
- Breakfast Pizza
- Pepperoni Pizza Sliders
- Angry Birds Pizza
- Olive Pizza
- No Yeast Pizza Dough (this recipe makes the easiest, best pizza crust you’ll find!)
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA SAUCE FROM SCRATCH
This homemade pizza sauce takes less than 25 minutes to make and tastes way better than anything you can buy from the store. It is loaded with flavor and goes well with any toppings. The recipe makes enough to cover two 12-inch pizzas!
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN SPAGHETTI SAUCE FROM SCRATCH
Spaghetti Sauce is super easy, meaty and hearty when made in an Instant Pot. Using a pressure cooker to cook pasta sauce makes it flavorful and quick to prepare, but tastes like is has simmered on the stove all day. Pour this delicious savory sauce over a pile of cooked pasta!
PIZZA COMBINATIONS TO TRY
- Canadian Bacon and Pineapple with a BBQ sauce base
- BBQ Chicken and diced red onion
- Sausage, Bacon, Pepperoni and Canadian Bacon
- BLT – Crispy Bacon, sliced spinach and diced tomatoes with mozzarella cheese
- Veggie – Spinach, mushrooms, green peppers, diced onions
- Chicken Bacon Artichoke
- Pepperoni, fresh spinach, black olives, roma tomatoes
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Pizza Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 24 oz spaghetti sauce
- 16 oz medium pasta Rotini, shells or elbow macaroni
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
- 20 pepperoni slices
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Cook ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until meat is no longer pink. Drain grease and add salt, pepper and spaghetti or pizza sauce to skillet. Cook over medium heat for an additional 5 minutes. While the sauce is cooking, cook pasta in boiling water for 3 minutes shy of al dente.
- Add cooked pasta in an even layer inside the prepared baking dish. Top with sauce mixture, mozzarella cheese and pepperoni slices. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Notes
- Use any variety of medium-sized pasta for this recipe, such as rotini, shells or elbow macaroni.
- Swap beef out for ground Italian sausage for an extra boost of flavor!
- Either spaghetti sauce OR pizza sauce tastes great in this recipe!
- For extra flavor, add an onion and a few cloves of garlic to the ground beef after it’s done cooking. Italian seasoning would be a great, tasty addition, too!
- Go crazy with your favorite pizza toppings!
- If you like a little kick to your pizza, a simple way to spice it up would be to mix some sauce with a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes!
I haven’t tried that but you certainly could. I would leave it on warm if you are going to have it on an extended time or low if you’re around. Its all cooked when you stick it in the oven, so this is just to help the flavors marinate, warm through and melt the cheese!
how many servings is your recipe?
Hi Jason! I HAD left off the spaghetti sauce in the Instructions, so thank you for catching that!!
Megan
This sounds like a fun kids recipe. I think you left out the add pasta sauce in the directions. Thanks!
These sound amazing- DEFINITELY going to try This sometime soon in my Holiday! I am in love with any Pizza things…
I have one like this that I make but I use pizza sauce and add chopped olives. yours sounds faster to make though and just as yummy as I love pepperoni.
Pasta and pepperoni are 2 of my favorite things! Love this idea and will definitely try them out. 🙂