Baked Pizza Pasta

Pasta casseroles are perfect for weeknight meals. You just put the ingredients, with minimal prep, into a big pan and let the oven do the real work. This Baked Pizza Pasta takes all the flavors of a supreme pizza baked with a simple red sauce and mixes it with pasta and cheese. What’s not to love about that?

I went with pepperoni, sausage, bell peppers and onions, which is sort of the basic supreme pizza. You could certainly add other traditional pizza toppings like mushrooms, olives, or ham. The red sauce is very simple but full of flavor. The reason for the beef broth is to finish cooking the pasta. Pasta needs to absorb liquid to rehydrate. Tomato sauce alone doesn’t work as well, so you can end up with some undercooked pasta.

If you don’t have an aluminum pan to use (I buy a 5 pack every month for dishes like this), you could divide it into to two baking dishes. Probably one 13×9 and one 9×9 or 8×8. This is also a freezable dish. If you want to make it ahead and put it in the freezer for later, only bake it for 30 minutes than let it cool. Wrap it in plastic wrap and them aluminum foil. To reheat it, remove the plastic wrap and bake it for 45 minutes, if frozen, or 30 minutes, if thawed.

Now Let’s Get Cookin’!

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Baked Pizza Pasta

The delicious flavors of a supreme pizza in a pasta casserole

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Equipment

• 1 20x12x2 baking pan

Ingredients

• 1 lb Italian Sausage
• 1½ lb Short Pasta elbows, shells, rotini
• 1 Red Bell Pepper diced
• 1 Green Bell Pepper diced
• ½ Red Onion diced
• 4 Garlic Cloves minced
• 1 28oz can Tomato Puree
• 1 15oz can Crushed Tomatoes
• 2 cups Beef Broth or vegetable
• ½ cup Parmesan Cheese shredded
• 3 tsp Italian Seasoning divided, see recipe below
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 tsp Fennel Seed
• 6 oz Pepperoni Slices divided
• 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese shredded

Instructions

• Start water boiling for pasta. Preheat oven to 400Fdeg.
• In a frying pan over medium heat, add sausage and cook for 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove from heat and cut in half then slice each link.
• Add pasta to boiling water and cook for half of cooking time listed on packages. Drain in colander.
• In a 20x12x2 aluminum tray, add bell pepper, garlic, onion, crushed tomatoes, tomato, puree, broth, red pepper flakes, fennel seed, half of Italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese. Cut half of pepperoni into quarters and add to tray. Stir to combine.
• Stir in pasta and cover with 1½ cup mozzarella cheese and remaining Italian seasoning. Cover with foil and bake in oven for 30 minutes.
• Remove foil, top with remaining pepperoni and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes more. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.