One Pot Cheesy Pizza Pasta Bake

All of your favorite pizza ingredients and baked penne pasta wrapped into a hearty one pot Italian inspired pasta bake dinner! Italian sausage, pepperoni, loads of vegetables, sauce, melted cheese and pasta create a savory and satisfying combination!

Here’s why this dinner recipe works:

• Making a one pot pasta meal is actually quite genius because all you have to do is add all of the ingredients, including the pasta to the pot. That means clean up is easy!
• This pasta bake is the best of both worlds. Pasta plus the flavors of your favorite pizza make a great combination!
• You can change out the “toppings” to match your pizza preferences.

So many great tasting ingredients:

• Meat: I used both spicy Italian sausage and pepperoni.
• Vegetables: I chose what I like on my pizza – onion, bell pepper, garlic, artichoke hearts, basil, and olives (they count as a vegetable, right?)
• Pasta sauce: Just choose your favorite go-to brand that you most likely already have on hand.
• Mozzarella: You can use a bag of pre-shredded or you can buy a block and grate it yourself. I think whole milk mozzarella works best.
• Penne pasta: Feel free to use any kind of bite sized pasta you’d like, but penne works great in this recipe because it really absorbs the flavors, sauce and cheese!

Here’s how to make my pizza pasta bake:

1. In a dutch oven or oven safe pot, cook the Italian sausage with the onion and bell pepper until the meat is slightly browned and crumbly. Add the garlic and half the pepperoni, stir, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the artichoke hearts, basil, pasta sauce, water, and pasta. Stir everything well, cover, and cook until pasta is tender.
3. Cover everything with shredded mozzarella, olives, and the remaining pepperoni.
4. Bake the pasta bake in your preheated oven for 5-10 minutes until the cheese has fully melted.

Top tips for making this pasta bake:

• Be sure that the pot you use is oven safe since you’ll start the recipe on the cook top and it will finish cooking in a hot oven.
• Cook the pasta al dente on the stove since it will finish cooking in the oven. Taste it and when it’s just soft enough to chew, it’s time to let it finish cooking during the baking process.
• Change out any of the toppings based on your preferences. Ground beef would work well instead of or in addition to the sausage and pepperoni. Mushrooms would be a great addition – I would add them in at the same time as the onion.
• Since there is some chopping prep involved, get all of your ingredients ready ahead of time so that the cooking process is quick and easy.

The leftovers taste even better! You’ll definitely want to try this recipe out for your next family dinner.

Be sure to leave me a comment if you make this recipe to let me know what you think!

One Pot Cheesy Pizza Pasta Bake

Prep20 minutes mins

Cook25 minutes mins

Total45 minutes mins

Servings 6 servings

Author Krissy Allori

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All of your favorite pizza ingredients and baked penne pasta wrapped into a hearty one pot Italian inspired pasta bake dinner!

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Equipment

• Dutch oven

Ingredients 

½x1x2x

• ▢ 13 ounces spicy italian sausage removed from casing
• ▢ 1 small onion diced
• ▢ 1/2 red bell pepper diced
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 3-4 ounces pepperoni divided
• ▢ 1/4 cup artichoke hearts
• ▢ 1/4 cup fresh basil
• ▢ 14 ounces pasta sauce
• ▢ 1 1/2 cups water
• ▢ 8 ounces pasta
• ▢ 8 ounces mozzarella grated
• ▢ 1/4 cup black olives sliced

Instructions 

• In dutch oven over medium high heat, cook sausage with onion and pepper until meat is slightly browned, 10-15 minutes. Add garlic and half the pepperoni, stir, and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
• Add artichoke hearts, basil, pasta sauce, water, and pasta. Stir well and cover. Cook over medium high heat for 7-10 minutes until pasta is tender. While pasta is cooking, preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• When pasta is cooked, cover with shredded mozzarella as well as remaining pepperoni and olives. Bake in preheated oven for 5-10 minutes until cheese has fully melted.

Notes

Top tips for making this pasta bake:

• Be sure that the pot you use is oven safe since you’ll start the recipe on the cook top and it will finish cooking in a hot oven.
• Cook the pasta al dente on the stove since it will finish cooking in the oven. Taste it and when it’s just soft enough to chew, it’s time to let it finish cooking during the baking process.
• Change out any of the toppings based on your preferences. Ground beef would work well instead of or in addition to the sausage and pepperoni. Mushrooms would be a great addition – I would add them in at the same time as the onion.

Nutrition

Calories: 579kcal, Carbohydrates: 36g, Protein: 27g, Fat: 36g, Saturated Fat: 14g, Cholesterol: 91mg, Sodium: 1408mg, Potassium: 565mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 1011IU, Vitamin C: 22mg, Calcium: 233mg, Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Did you make this? Leave me a comment below

This post was originally published in November 2015 but has been updated with more information and cooking tips. Don’t worry – I didn’t change the recipe!