This gluten-free pizza casserole is a cross between pizza, spaghetti, and lasagna. How can it not be good? It’s a delicious substitute for pizza when you don’t have time to make gluten-free pizza from scratch but you don’t want to disappoint the family.
I’m resharing this recipe with you because it is one that I make regularly. It is well liked, and even though I always use gluten-free pasta, I don’t hesitate to make it for people who are not gluten free. Just the other week I made it when my son’s friend was over for dinner, and he loved it. I sent some of the leftovers home with him.
It is not a dairy free recipe. I do cook a lot of dairy free meals for my family, but sometimes I make gluten-free meals like this that they really enjoy and I simply eat something else.
This is a recipe that you can easily adjust in quantity and to your taste. For example, if I want to feed more people, I cook 16 ounces of pasta (instead of 12) and use a large jar of pasta sauce that I get from BJs (32 ounces instead of 28). I also cook 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef. And as for the cheese, I always just eyeball it. 🙂
Pizza Casserole
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 8
Ingredients
- 12 ounces gluten-free pasta (I used Tinkyada penne)
- 1 pound ground beef or sausage
- 1 onion, chopped
- 6 ounces sliced pepperoni (Hormel is gluten free)
- 1 jar pasta sauce
- 16 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Cook the pasta, drain, and quickly rinse with cold water.
- Saute the beef and onions and drain.
- Grease a large rectangular casserole dish.
- Put a small amount of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the dish and spread it out thinly.
- Add half the pasta.
- Top with half the beef and onion mixture.
- Spoon on half of the remaining spaghetti sauce.
- Top with half the cheese.
- Add a layer of pepperoni.
- Repeat pasta, beef and onion, sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
looks good! I make somewhat vegetarian version of this, but I’ve never really tired to make it turn out like pizza. I think that might just be the trick – to make it more than just veggies and pasta bake. Thanks for the idea!
Linda — This looks fantastic! I shared the link to your recipe on my gluten free swap group today!! SO hopefully a bunch of folks will stop by and see your recipe today! I can’t wait to try this!
That looks so good! My kids love all things pepperoni. We will have to try this.
Made this recipe last night, and I loved it. However, I used the bionature gluten free noodles. I find that they make better left overs because they don’t dissolve when they get moist.
looks like something my kids would eat …but my middle son who has autism only eats regular noodles. Can I use Tinkyada spag. noodles?
Cynthia, I’ve never made it with spaghetti noodles, but it should work well.
Linda-
Made it last night and it was a HUGE hit! Used the tinkyada spag noodles with no problems. I included the kids in preparing it and they had a blast. Even DH who is not GF loved it. Thank you
Great! Thanks for letting me know.
There’s a restaurant here in Houston that has a dish just like that (minus the pepperoni) and they call it Baked Spasagna! (Like spaghetti/lasagna). My stepdad has ordered it several times and loved it!
I made this and blogged about it, it was such a huge hit! My kids DEVOURED it!!
It’s like a pizza lasagna!
I love pizza but making gf for me & regular for the family is a real pain. Think I’m gonna try this & use zucchini in place of pasta bc am also low carb. Thx for all u do
This is delicious and so easy to make. Thank you for sharing a great recipe.
Can you use Gluten free no boil lasagna noodles?
I don’t know. I’ve never tried those.
This is delicious! This was one of the first gluten-free dishes I made and couldn’t tell any difference in taste. Yummy!
Thank you Linda. My mom shared this with me and I absolutely love it! I can have pizza without the wheat and the gluten, it takes good care of my craving for pizza. Perfect today for the superbowl! I’ll be checking in with your site for more recipes. I wish you the best health and healing.
This is one of our favorite recipes. Thank you so much!
Great recipe! This almost the same recipe that I invented when I smelled my bosses carry-out lunch in the office which was a hot Italian sandwich and wanted something similar. I use ground turkey and add spices to the turkey, and I use a can of pizza sauce. Add some peppers (jalapeno or banana or other pickled sandwich peppers) on your plate when serving to add to the flavor.
We don’t care for pepperoni. What would be a good second meat?
I haven’t tried it, but I think that crumbled cooked sausage would work well.
Should the pizza casserole be covered while in the oven?
No, bake it uncovered.