Pizza Casserole Is The Easy One-Dish Meal You'll Want To Make At Least Once A Week

Casseroles are the freezer-friendly one-pan dish that makes meal prepping easy, but it's possible to get tired of the same old tater tot hotdish or tuna noodle surprise if you eat it day after day. It's good to add a new casserole recipe into the rotation every once in a while, especially a simple yet tasty, Italian-ish one like pizza casserole, that's filled with the ever-appealing combination of sauce and gooey, melty cheese.

Pizza casserole is something you don't even really need a recipe for. Start with a base of cooked pasta, preferably a short, chunky kind like rigatoni, ziti, or shells. Broken lasagna noodles will also work. In fact, you can also use raw pasta, as long as you compensate by adding extra liquid that will be absorbed as the casserole bakes and covering the dish so the liquid soaks into the noodles instead of evaporating. Mix the pasta with pizza sauce, along with any cooked, crumbled meats and sauteed vegetables you choose to add. Stir in some shredded mozzarella for an even more pizza-like experience. Bake the casserole for about half an hour until it's heated through and the noodles (if you've used uncooked ones) are soft.

So how is pizza casserole different from any other kind of tomato sauce and pasta bake? It might be because of the sauce, because pizza sauce is somewhat different from marinara sauce. It's generally thicker, for one thing, and may involve fewer herbs and have a somewhat sweeter flavor.  Of course, you can certainly use marinara or another type of red pasta sauce to make your pizza casserole. In this case, you'd pizza-fy it the same way Ree Drummond makes her pizza lasagna: adding sliced pepperoni or other typical toppings such as crumbled sausage or sliced black olives.

If you do stick with pizza sauce, there are several options available. One is to use a store-bought variety (here's our ranking of best supermarket brands), but this type of sauce is also pretty easy to DIY. Some homemade pizza sauce recipes require cooking, but pizza sauce can also be made from uncooked crushed tomatoes. Essentially, all you need to do is open a can, then add seasonings such as salt, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, basil, and oregano. Maybe a splash of balsamic vinegar, too, which will add both sweetness and tang. If you're worried that the tomatoes will taste too raw, remember that the sauce will be baked along with the rest of the casserole (or pizza, should you choose to use it for that purpose).