This pizza pasta is a one pot meal made with pepperoni, sausage and plenty of cheese, all mixed with pasta in tomato sauce. An easy dinner that’s family friendly and quick to make!
We love all things pizza in my house, including pizza stuffed chicken, pizza dip and pizza muffins. This pizza pasta is our new favorite dinner recipe, the kids request it every week and I’m happy to oblige because it’s so simple to make.
My kids would eat pizza every day if I let them. But there’s only so many times you can have pizza before you get tired of it, am I right? This pizza pasta is a fun twist on a classic with hearty pasta cooked in a savory sauce, plenty of cheese, and our favorite pizza toppings.
Table of Contents
Pizza Pasta Ingredients
To make this pizza pasta bake, you will need olive oil, Italian sausage, onion, mini pepperoni, garlic, marinara sauce, water, salt, black pepper, pasta, mozzarella cheese and parsley.
How Do You Make Pizza Pasta?
Heat the oil in a large pan, then add the sausage and break it up with a spatula as it cooks. Next add the onion to the pan and cook until it is soft. Stir in some of the pepperoni and garlic and cook for one more minute. Pour the marinara sauce into the pot along with water, salt, pepper and the pasta. Cover the pot and let the mixture simmer until the pasta is tender – no need to drain! Sprinkle the cheese and remaining pepperoni on top of the pasta. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the cheese is melted. Add a sprinkle of parsley, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For Pizza Pasta
- You can use turkey or pork Italian sausage. I use mild sausage, but feel free to use hot if you like spice.
- While the pizza pasta primarily cooks on the stove top, you will need to turn on the oven to melt the cheese at the end. Be sure to use an oven safe pan so that you can easily transfer your pan from stove to oven.
- Make sure you use a large pan for this recipe, as the pasta will expand considerably as it cooks and you want to make sure you have enough room for it all!
- Choose your favorite brand of marinara sauce for this recipe. I typically use Rao’s or Newman’s Own.
Quick Tip
Can’t find mini pepperoni at your store? You can use chopped regular sized pepperoni instead.
Recipe FAQs
You can use pizza sauce for this dish instead of marinara. Pizza sauce tends to be a bit sweeter than marinara, and also contains less seasonings, but it will still taste great.
You can cook dry pasta in sauce, you’ll just want to make sure you also add some water so that the pasta will properly soften.
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Flavor Variations
While this dish is delicious as written, you can absolutely customize the ingredients to suit your tastes.
- Protein: Swap out the sausage and pepperoni for other protein options such as ham, ground beef, salami, chicken, bacon or linguica.
- Pasta: I typically use rotini noodles, but other types of short pasta will work including penne, fusilli, gemelli, cavatappi or farfalle.
- Vegetables: Feel free to add some extra cooked veggies to the mix. My favorites include bell peppers, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, olives, spinach or zucchini.
- Cheese: Swap out the mozzarella for another type of cheese. Some great choices are provolone or fontina. You can also add some freshly grated parmesan cheese.
This pizza pasta makes for great leftovers, my kids always ask to take it for lunch the next day. This dish is hearty enough to serve on its own, but if you’re looking for side dish ideas, I’d recommend my garlic knots, parmesan roasted broccoli or candied carrots.
Pizza pasta has it all. It’s quick, doesn’t dirty up a ton of dishes, and has flavors that both kids and adults adore. Make it for dinner tonight and watch the rave reviews come in!
More Delicious Pasta Recipes
Pizza Stuffed Shells
45 mins
Philly Cheesesteak Pasta
30 mins
Cajun Chicken Pasta
40 mins
Sausage and Pepper Pasta
30 mins
Chicken Parmesan Pasta
40 mins
Pizza Pasta Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Pizza Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 lb mild Italian sausage casings removed
- 1/2 cup onion finely diced
- 3/4 cup mini pepperoni divided use
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 24 ounce jar marinara sauce
- 2 1/2 cups water
- salt and pepper to taste
- 12 ounces short pasta such as rotini or penne
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large, deep pan over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook for 4-5 minutes, breaking up the meat with a spatula, until browned.
- Add the onion to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes or until translucent.
- Add 1/2 cup of the pepperoni and the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the marinara sauce, water, salt, pepper and pasta to the pot and bring to a simmer.
- Cover the pot and cook over low heat for 12-14 minutes or until pasta is tender.
- While the pasta is simmering, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- After the pasta is finished cooking, sprinkle the cheese over the top and arrange the remaining 1/4 cup of pepperoni on the cheese.
- Bake for 4-5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes
- You can use turkey or pork Italian sausage. I use mild sausage, but feel free to use hot if you like spice.
- Can’t find mini pepperoni at your store? You can use chopped regular sized pepperoni instead.
My kids are grown and gone, but I found this recipe and decided to make it for myself and my husband. It was so good! We plan to make this again in the future. We had to do a couple of variations because I didn’t have a couple of ingredients on hand. Well, I thought I didn’t have an onion, so I used a green bellpepper instead. But then I found the onion and threw that in, too. I also didn’t have any marinara, so I had to find a recipe for marinara online and mix that up first. It was really really good. Anyone who comes across this recipe should at least try making it once. IN the future, if I am going to have people over, I”m going to make this. Just awesome.
Made this recipe today. I used Turkey meat, Turkey pepperoni instead and bell peppers. The dish was delish. Will make it again.
My kids ask for this all the time! Lucky even I can make it!
This recipe is really great! Sometimes I make it without the meat and add mushrooms!
Omg can we say yum?!?! Can’t get any better than pasta and pizza TOGETHER!!! Delicious
Pizza Pasta is a delicious combo of two of my favorite things. I love this recipe 🙂
this looks amazing! been a long time since i made anything like this
Love how you used the mini pepperoni’s in this. I have to do that next time I make pizza pasta.
First time for me to learn pizza pasta, what an interesting dishes. Pepperoni is one of my favorite and glad I can use it to topped this dish. Look easy to prepare so I may make this dish next week for our Chinese new year party gathering. Its good to have some western dish as most of my relatives are bring in Chinese food for our potluck party.
This just looks so good! What a great family recipe for weekends or weeknights! I want to dig right in!
Looks yummy and looks easy to make. I need to try this.
Omg, that just made me so hungry. That looks so bomb. I’d definitely want to make some at home. Pizza and pasta? Like who would not want it…. LOL
We love pizza and we love pasta! So of course, these recipes are perfect for us!
Looks so yummy and delicious. Thanks for sharing this recipe, i need to try this out
What an awesome idea for me to try. My family also loves pasta, pizza anything that has cheese. Looks delicious!
Pizza Pasta is something new. Sounds interesting!
This Pizza Pasta is such a good selection for me to try out. Thanks for sharing the recipe with us.
I would love to try this one on! Italian is my favorite cuisine and pizza is like everyones favv! hehe. lovely recipe 🙂
Omg! Looks so amazing! We love anything pizza!
That looks pretty yummy. I love that it appeals to young kids too! My neighbor boys will love this.
Hmmmm I’m drooling! This pizza pasta looks sooooooo delicious. Can’t wait to have a taste.