Pizza Casserole
This Ten Layer Pizza Casserole is absolutely awesome! Seriously, this deep-dish casserole is stuffed with wonderful ingredients. It’s just like pizza or lasagna, only in pasta form. This amazing casserole has multiple layers of sauce, ground beef, noodles, mozzarella cheese and Ricotta cheese. The top layer is pepperoni for those of you who are Pepperoni Lovers like me! Yes, it is really something.
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I loved this casserole and so did all the company we served it to. Back in late January, we invited the college age students from our church to lunch after church. I served a LOT of food including two of these huge casseroles. I also served Fried Green Beans, Creamy Sweet Corn, Greek Salad, Texas Toast, Oreo Cookie Dessert and Race Car Brownies. Yes, I made double batches of everything because this group loves to eat! I sent the leftovers home with them. They were thrilled to take tasty, delicious food back to their dorms or apartments.
Not all of the kids are going to college. Several are going the trade school route and others are entrepreneurs or working. But they were all in that 18-25 age range where they are first out on their own. We had such a terrific time with this group. They were helpful, offering to help me with set up and clean up. They were complimentary of my cooking. Kind words are always welcome and appreciated by the cook. 🙂 They were just an overall delightful group to get to know.
Earlier in January, the directors for the group asked us to consider preparing a meal for the college crowd. The directors had been in our Sunday school class for years so we were good friends. She knows how much I love to cook, so we said yes. When you’re cooking for 15-20 people it can be quite a bit of work. Debra made sure I knew that these kids LOVED to eat. Their appetites were very hearty. Since many were putting themselves through college without any help from parents, their food budgets were meager. Whenever they came to Debra’s house, they ate big! She assured me they would eat big at my house too.
So I planned big! I made everything the Saturday beforehand. I made up two of these Pizza Casseroles and kept them refrigerated until Sunday morning. I put the beans and corn in crockpots to heat up on Sunday. I put the casseroles into the oven on a time-bake. John made up the Greek Salad for me. So all we had to do was mix it with the dressing when the kids arrived. I put the Texas Toast in the oven when I got home from church. The Oreo Cookie Dessert was actually served first for our Friday night care group. I served the leftovers to the college kids along with the Race Car Brownies for dessert. They cleaned out my leftover dessert! 🙂
Because this casserole is so dense from all of the layers, it did take quite a while to bake. This dish was refrigerator cold rather than lukewarm from recent assembly when I baked it. Therefore, it took about an hour and 30 to 45 minutes for the casseroles to bake fully. Normally the casserole will take about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. You really need a deep-dish casserole dish for this recipe. Or a foil roaster pan with four- to six-inch sides.
I saved this recipe from Pinterest back when I first joined in January 2012. I had forgotten about it until I saw it when I was looking through my recipe files electronically. I’m so glad I saw it because it is so worth making. Unfortunately, the only reference I had for the author of this recipe is “For Mamas.” I hunted and hunted for a website by this name and couldn’t locate one. There are many Pizza Casseroles available online. But only this version of the recipe has the degree of layers and extra ingredients here. I will be happy to provide attribution to this person if anyone can forward it to me.
This Ten Layer Pizza Casserole is fantastic. I highly recommend you make it for company because it will serve about 15 people! Especially true if you serve a lot of other food like I did. It’s also terrific for a potluck. The leftovers are excellent reheated. So even if you make it just for your family, there’s plenty to have for lunches during the week. It is so good you’ve just gotta make it. 🙂
This Ten Layer Pizza Casserole is spectacular.
I served this tasty casserole with Fried Green Beans, Creamy Sweet Corn and my Best Ever Greek Salad. It was an absolutely mouthwatering meal.
This casserole is so dense it must be made in a deep dish pan.
The college kids we prepared this for, raved over Pizza Casserole.
Here’s what I did.
I used these ingredients. I used wide Amish noodles because that’s what I had on hand. You can use dumpling noodles or rotini if you prefer that instead.
Brown ground beef. Drain and set aside.
Cook noodles. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Stir to combine. Set aside.
Place the large jar of spaghetti sauce in a very large bowl. Add green pepper, onion, mushrooms, olives, Italian seasoning and basil.
Stir ingredients to combine.
Grease a large deep dish 9×13″ glass baking dish.
LAYER ONE: Spread a thin layer of spaghetti/pizza sauce on bottom of baking dish.
LAYER TWO: Spread half of the noodles over top of the spaghetti/pizza sauce layer.
LAYER THREE: Spread half of the cooked ground beef over top of the noodle layer.
LAYER FOUR: Layer half of the remaining spaghetti/pizza sauce over top of the ground beef layer.
LAYER FIVE: Layer the remaining noodles over top of the spaghetti/pizza sauce layer.
LAYER SIX: Spread all of the Ricotta cheese over top of the noodle layer.
ALSO LAYER SIX: Spread half of the mozzarella cheese over top of the ricotta cheese.
LAYER SEVEN: Spread the remaining cooked ground beef over top of the mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese layer.
LAYER EIGHT: Spread the remaining spaghetti/pizza sauce over top of the ground beef layer.
LAYER NINE: Sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese over top of spaghetti/pizza sauce layer.
LAYER TEN: Place pepperoni slices over top of the mozzarella cheese layer. Cover with foil.
Bake at 350 for one hour. Remove foil. Bake an additional 15-30 minutes or until casserole is bubbly and heated completely through in the middle.
Serve Pizza Casserole with your favorite side dishes.
I served it with Fried Green Beans, Creamy Sweet Corn and Greek Salad.
Our company loved this amazing Pizza dish.
If you enjoy Pizza but in pasta form, this is the main dish for you!
Here’s the recipe.
TEN LAYER PIZZA CASSEROLE
(Recipe adapted from “For Mamas” as found on Pinterest, circa January 2012)
Pizza Casserole
Equipment
- 1 stock pot with lid to boil noodles
- 1 colander
- 1 sharp knife to cut vegetables
- 1 hamburger chopper to break meat down into small pieces while frying
- 1 large skillet
- 1 9x13" glass baking dish use a deep dish pan (not the small edged pyrex glass baking dishes)
- 1 small bowl to combine veggies with spaghetti sauce
Ingredients
- 16 oz. bag wide Amish egg noodles or rotini noodles
- 48 oz. jar spaghetti sauce (or any tomato/spaghetti/pizza sauce you prefer)
- 3 cups mozzarella cheese shredded (or more, if desired)
- 1 to 2 cups ricotta cheese if desired (I used 2 cups)
- 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef or Italian sausage
- 6 oz. pkg. sliced pepperoni
- 1/2 cup onion diced
- 1 cup bell peppers diced
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms fresh preferred
- 1/2 cup ripe olives drained and sliced, if desired
- 2 tsp. Italian seasoning or more if desired
- 2 tsp. dried basil or more if desired
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Brown the meat in a large skillet until no longer pink; drain.
- Use a hamburger chopper to break the meat into small pieces while frying.
- Boil noodles in large stock pot until al dente.
- Drain in colander; add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir to combine.
- Set aside.
- Pour spaghetti sauce into a mixing bowl. Add onion, peppers, mushrooms, olives, Italian seasoning and basil to the mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
- Spread a thin layer of tomato/ spaghetti/pizza sauce on the bottom of a deep-dish 9x13" baking dish or roaster pan.
- Second layer, spread half of the noodles over top of sauce layer.
- Third layer, spread half of the cooked ground beef over top of the noodle layer.
- Fourth layer, spread half of the remaining sauce over top of the ground beef layer.
- Fifth layer, spread the remaining noodles over top of the sauce layer.
- Sixth layer, spread half of the Ricotta cheese on top of the noodle layer and half the mozzarella cheese on top of the ricotta cheese.
- Seventh layer, spread the remaining cooked ground beef over top of the mozzarella cheese layer.
- Eighth layer, spread the remaining sauce over top of the ground beef layer.
- Ninth layer, spread the remaining mozzarella cheese and remaining Ricotta cheese over top of the sauce layer.
- Tenth layer, spread the pepperoni over top of the mozzarella cheese layer.
- Cover with foil, and bake for 60 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake for another 15-30 minutes.
- Cook until the casserole is bubbly, cheese is melted and the middle of the casserole is thoroughly cooked.
Notes
© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen
Nutrition
Pizza Casserole is also great reheated.
This is a terrific main dish for company or potlucks because you can get about 15 servings out of it with other food.
This layered casserole dish was exceptionally tasty.
You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!
Pizza Casserole
Equipment
- 1 stock pot with lid to boil noodles
- 1 colander
- 1 sharp knife to cut vegetables
- 1 hamburger chopper to break meat down into small pieces while frying
- 1 large skillet
- 1 9×13" glass baking dish use a deep dish pan (not the small edged pyrex glass baking dishes)
- 1 small bowl to combine veggies with spaghetti sauce
Ingredients
- 16 oz. bag wide Amish egg noodles or rotini noodles
- 48 oz. jar spaghetti sauce (or any tomato/spaghetti/pizza sauce you prefer)
- 3 cups mozzarella cheese shredded (or more, if desired)
- 1 to 2 cups ricotta cheese if desired (I used 2 cups)
- 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef or Italian sausage
- 6 oz. pkg. sliced pepperoni
- 1/2 cup onion diced
- 1 cup bell peppers diced
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms fresh preferred
- 1/2 cup ripe olives drained and sliced, if desired
- 2 tsp. Italian seasoning or more if desired
- 2 tsp. dried basil or more if desired
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Brown the meat in a large skillet until no longer pink; drain.
- Use a hamburger chopper to break the meat into small pieces while frying.
- Boil noodles in large stock pot until al dente.
- Drain in colander; add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir to combine.
- Set aside.
- Pour spaghetti sauce into a mixing bowl. Add onion, peppers, mushrooms, olives, Italian seasoning and basil to the mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
- Spread a thin layer of tomato/ spaghetti/pizza sauce on the bottom of a deep-dish 9×13" baking dish or roaster pan.
- Second layer, spread half of the noodles over top of sauce layer.
- Third layer, spread half of the cooked ground beef over top of the noodle layer.
- Fourth layer, spread half of the remaining sauce over top of the ground beef layer.
- Fifth layer, spread the remaining noodles over top of the sauce layer.
- Sixth layer, spread half of the Ricotta cheese on top of the noodle layer and half the mozzarella cheese on top of the ricotta cheese.
- Seventh layer, spread the remaining cooked ground beef over top of the mozzarella cheese layer.
- Eighth layer, spread the remaining sauce over top of the ground beef layer.
- Ninth layer, spread the remaining mozzarella cheese and remaining Ricotta cheese over top of the sauce layer.
- Tenth layer, spread the pepperoni over top of the mozzarella cheese layer.
- Cover with foil, and bake for 60 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake for another 15-30 minutes.
- Cook until the casserole is bubbly, cheese is melted and the middle of the casserole is thoroughly cooked.
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