Lunch / Dinner
Pizza Pasta Bake
If you love pizza but haven’t the time to prepare a labor-intensive dough version, this skillet dinner recipe is the way to go. Make this once, and you’ll be telling your friends about it, plus your family will be begging you to make it again and again. Cooked in a skillet in less than half the time as its dough-version cousin, this pizza casserole requires only broiling. It’s perfect for those times when you crave pizza but have only a short amount of time to spend in the kitchen.
If that’s not enough to convince you to try it, here’s more. This effortless skillet recipe still contains all the ingredients you’d typically find on a pizza, like pepperoni and sausage. But one of the best things about this pasta is that just like your favorite pie, everything from the pasta shape to the “toppings” is customizable to your taste preferences.
Ingredients
COOK:
SAUTÉ:
STIR IN:
Test Kitchen Tip
To make this casserole faster, just stir jarred marinara or pizza sauce into the mushrooms and sausage, then skip the onion, garlic, and tomatoes.
Instructions
Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water according to package directions; drain.
Preheat broiler to high with rack 6–8 inches from element.
Sauté pepperoni in a skillet over medium-high heat until beginning to crisp; transfer to a paper-towellined plate. Brown sausage in pepperoni drippings until cooked through, 8 minutes. Transfer sausage to a separate papertowel-lined plate.
Sauté mushrooms in sausage drippings until browned. Add onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, and pepper flakes; cook 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and cook until slightly reduced, 3 minutes.
Stir in cooked pasta, pepperoni, sausage, and olives, then layer mozzarella over the top.
Broil casserole until cheese is browned and bubbly. Sprinkle Parmesan over top of casserole and garnish with basil.
Brown pepperoni before tossing with pasta to render the fat so it doesn’t make the pasta greasy.
So it covers the entire surface of the casserole as it melts, layer the cheese over the top of the pasta.
Nutritional Facts
Nutritional Facts
Per serving
Calories: 549
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 30g 46%
Saturated Fat 12g 60%
Cholesterol 87mg 28%
Sodium 1020mg 42%
Carbs 43g 14%
Fiber 5g 20%
Protein 27g
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.