Baked Pizza Pasta
This baked Pizza Pasta recipe is a family favorite. Flavorful pizza sauce tossed with rotini noodles, pizza toppings and melted cheese. Delicious and easy!
A FAMILY FAVORITE MEAL
I’ve been in a pizza mood lately. I’ve been craving pizza and anything that tastes like pizza. Ok in all honesty, I am always in a pizza mood. Did you catch the Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Salad from last week? And now I’m sharing another pizza-inspired recipe: Pizza Pasta Bake.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Let’s start with the basics of what this recipe is exactly. Pizza pasta is just cooked pasta that has been mixed with pizza sauce and pizza toppings. This is a really fun recipe to play around with because you can use pretty much any pasta shape you love and add any of your favorite pizza toppings to the mix.
Yes! Funny enough I get this question a lot on social media. So I am going to show you in this recipe how I use it. Pizza sauce is more concentrated in flavor than your typical marinara sauce. So if I am using it in pasta, I dilute it some with water or chicken broth.
If I am in the mood, I will make my own Homemade Pizza Sauce. But sometimes we don’t feel like doing all that, right? I try to show more affordable options here on my site so folks don’t feel like they have to buy an expensive brand to make something good (like Great Value items.) However, if you have the money to splurge on something a bit extra, I really like Rao’s Pizza Sauce. It is as close to homemade as you can get in my opinion.
Yes, prepare the pasta (just don’t bake). Cover really well to protect against freezer burn. Then continue with baking instructions when you’re ready to eat. Note: you will have to add on extra cooking time since you will be cooking from frozen.
Any leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- ground beef
- onion
- garlic
- Italian seasoning
- pizza sauce
- water
- rotini pasta
- mozzarella cheese
- pepperoni slices
HOW TO MAKE BAKED PIZZA PASTA
Cook 3 cups of pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta well. Brown ground beef with onion, garlic and Italian seasoning. Start preheating your oven to 350F degrees. Drain excess grease from ground beef.
In a large bowl, mix together pizza sauce and water.
Add in cooked pasta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, cooked ground beef and 20 slices of pepperoni (that have been sliced in half.) Stir well.
Spray an 9″x 9″ baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in pasta mixture.
Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.
Place remaining pepperoni slices on top.
Cover with aluminum foil. Note: I like to spray the inside of the aluminum foil with nonstick spray so the cheese doesn’t stick to it while baking or use nonstick aluminum foil. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes (until cheese is melted.)
Serve with a crisp green salad and garlic bread or garlic breadsticks.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Originally published: August 2012
Updated photos & republished: October 2021
Baked Pizza Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef, (or Italian sausage)
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 14 ounce jar pizza sauce
- ¾ cup water
- 3 cups rotini pasta, measure before cooking
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided use
- 36 slices pepperoni, divided use
Instructions
- Cook 3 cups of pasta according to package directions. Drain well.
- Brown and crumble ground beef with onion, garlic and Italian seasoning. Drain excess grease from ground beef.
- Start preheating oven to 350F degrees
- In a large bowl, mix together pizza sauce and water.
- Add to the bowl, cooked pasta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, cooked ground beef and 20 slices of pepperoni (that have been sliced in half). Stir well.
- Spray an 9×9-inch (or 11×7-inch) baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour in pasta mixture.
- Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Place remaining pepperoni slices on top.
- Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.
- Remove aluminum foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes (until cheese is fully melted).
Video
Notes
- I like to spray the inside of the aluminum foil with nonstick spray so the cheese doesn’t stick to it while baking or use nonstick aluminum foil.
- You can substitute the jar of pizza sauce & water for one jar of spaghetti sauce. If you like it more saucy, use two jars of pizza sauce.
- Have fun with this dish and add more of your favorite pizza toppings like mushrooms & green peppers
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
This was quick and easy and everyone loved it. For our family, I used 1 lb of ground beef and 1 lb of pork sausage and left the rest about the same. Thank you for the idea!
Love your tasty recipes!!!!!!!!!!.
Very good!
Very good, family loves it! I had to change it up a little with what I had on hand, and tripled the recipe and cooked in my Dutch oven for my big family. Used 3 jars of pizza sauce, including one spicy and only 1
Cup of water and used spicy pizza seasoning instead of Italian seasoning. Didn’t have enough big pepperonis so used mini ones mixed in and the large I did have on top. Turned out perfect! Will definitely add this to the dinner rotation!
New family favorite! Make it every week now. My 25 year old son found this, so happy he did. Love ❤️ this!
Absolutely love hearing that Donna! Thank you so very much for taking the time out of your day to come back and comment – it means so much!
My family Loves this recipe !
We really like this recipe. And it makes pretty good leftovers. I love making it on days when I need something SUPER simple the following day as well
My family loved so much. I had to make the next night too.
Added garlic bread on the side.
This is the second time I have made it. It is absolutely delicious. My family loves it.
don’t get me wrong. this is great. taste is awesome. but my only negative is that it’s really just a buttered up mastaciolla. doesn’t taste anything like pizza. kudos on the extra ingredients to make it a little more flavorful though.
love this. this is super easy and most ingredients people already have at home. great for picky eater kids.
YUM! Made this for dinner last night OH WOW it is so good! I did add fresh mushrooms and a medium size can of sliced olives – I can’t believe how pizza tasting this is without a crust. We’re not super crazy about bread but who doesn’t love pizza flavor?! I used Lumache pasta I had just bought from Azure Standard along with our home raised Italian Pork Sausage. I’m printing this out and serving it often – thank you!
Can I use spaghetti sauce instead?
Yes, I actually mention that above 🙂
Delicious! I used half ground beef and half hot Italian sausage.
I’m making my Pizza Pasta Bake right now. I have to tell you that you’re the one I go to for all my important recipes. You just have a way of cooking that reminds me so much of the way I’ve been eating all my life. I’m Sicilian. My grandparents on both sides were from Sicily and when you cook something Italian, it just comes out great.
I love hearing that so much RoseMary! I hope you loved this one and find lots more recipes on here that you enjoy!
Are the nutritional facts per serving?
They are. However, these are just estimates. If you need nutritional facts due to dietary or health concerns, please use your own trusted nutritional apps.
Using pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce. Which one is better?
I added black olives, mushrooms, and bell peppers to the top! It was delicious!!!
I made this yesterday for my family, and it was a hit!!!!!!
Absolutely delicious ????❤????❤????????????
Yay!! Thanks so much Colleen!! I love hearing when a recipe was a hit!
This is a great easy meal! Perfect for families. So easy and quick to prepare and very tasty! You could add any pizza toppings that you like to this dish. I did it as written and we loved it! I will definitely be making this again!
This was great !, I mixed mild Italian sausage with the ground beef, also used a larger baking dish and added sliced mushrooms…mmmm
Steps for freezing? Do I bake it the same amount of time or longer? Does it need to thaw or can I go straight from freezer to oven?
I used Johnsonville Italian Sausage and added bacon bits and it was Fantastic
Made this tonight. It was good!
Wow! Why didn't I think of this? Looks great and I can't wait to try it.
Looks amazing its in my oven right now! Can't wait to taste! Great quick cheap dinner idea! Love the site!
This looks so good and your step-by-step directions are awesome for people like me 😉 Thank u for sharing and I am so excited to try it!
This looks yummy. Do you freeze it before or after you bake it?
Before baking. 🙂
Before baking. 🙂
I am new to the whole freezer meal idea and want to make dinners for my sister in laws who just had babies. Will this freeze well?
It sure will Pat!
Im more of a baker but i MUST try this! Making it for dinner today. Adding pizza crust to the bottom as well. Cant wait!
I have to tell you I made this for my husband, I'm trying new things. HE LOVED IT! He never says anything about what I make. He tells everyone that comes to our house about this. AMAZING! Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Just made this recipe for dinner — it's in the oven. Just FYI, the recipe never states what to do with the meat, though I figured I needed to stir it into the pasta and sauce. I was working from the printed version so I didn't have a visual reference.
This is one of my family's favorites! Thanks for all of the great recipes! Keep it comin'!
My family enjoyed this meal! What a great way to use my leftover pizza sauce (why do they put so much in the jar?! I only used 1/2-3/4 of it!). Thanks for sharing!
If you like pizza toppings or pizza lasagna, this is your dish. I absolutely love it!
It smells soooo good it is in the oven right now just waiting to try it but if it tastes like it smells then it is going to be delicious yummmm
That looks so good! I make something like this but on the stove and without the ground beef. I could eat the whole skillet by myself. I will have to make this one day.
Hello, I absolutely love your blog, I went shopping to buy all the ingredients to a lot of your recipes. The olive garden dressing is spot on.
I was wondering if you post how many servings a recipe makes, we are a family of six and I almost always have to double or even triple them. Thank you for your time.
Tried this tonight for dinner and everyone loved it. Substituted the garlic for garlic powered since my husband is not a garlic fan.
mmmmm…
I like that you did seasoning on top – I will have to try that next time I make it (I have a similar recipe). I love your pictures!
Making this tonight
I just love your recipes, and of all the ones I've tried, they've all been hits! I like that most use ingredients we already have on hand. I can't wait to try this one! Thank you…love your site!
Mmmm…all my favorite yummy flavors together!
MMMM Brandie! This looks soo good. I use to make a very similar dish years ago…recipe has been lost in my files for many years, so thank you very much for sharing this one. We will be trying it soon. The recipe I use to make was cooked in the crockpot….what a great combination of YUM.
Pizza is good. Pasta is good. Pizza Pasta is awesome! 🙂
YUM!
Yum! This turned out awesome! Just added onion and green pepper!
Thanks this turned out awesome – made it to your recipes and no changes. Loved it!
I love when people just go by the recipie
If someone adds this or that so what
Then don’t respond what else you added
Don’t wanna hear it