**The Ultimate Pizza Casserole: A Delicious Twist on a Classic Dish**

When it comes to pizza, there's nothing quite like a perfectly cooked crust, melted mozzarella cheese, and savory toppings all coming together in harmony. But what if you could have your pizza without the crust? Sounds like a crazy idea, right? Wrong! In this article, we'll show you how to make a pizza casserole that's just as delicious as its crispy-crusted counterpart.

**The Process Begins**

To start, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius). While that's heating up, let's get started on the pasta. Boil some salted water and add in a couple of cups of uncooked ratoni (or your favorite pasta shape). Cook until it's al dente, then drain and set aside. In a separate pan, cook about a pound of lean ground beef over medium-high heat until it's browned, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. Once it's done, add in half a chopped onion and three or four cloves of minced garlic. Saute for a couple of minutes until the onion is translucent.

**Adding the Sauce**

Now it's time to add the sauce. Pour in about 400 milliliters (1 cup) of tomato sauce, followed by half a cup of pizza sauce (yes, store-bought works great!). Add two teaspoons of Italian seasoning, a pinch of salt, and another teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper. Mix everything together until it's nicely combined, then let it simmer away for about 10 minutes. This is where the magic happens, folks!

**Assembling the Casserole**

Once the sauce has reduced slightly, it's time to add the pasta. Grab up your spoon and fold everything together until the sauce covers the pasta evenly. If you're feeling fancy, do a little "tippity-tappity" motion with your spoon to get everything mixed in just right. Now it's time for the cheese! Sprinkle on a good layer of grated mozzarella (the more, the merrier!). Add some pepperoni slices on top – you can never have too much pepperoni, if you ask me!

**Adding the Toppings**

But wait, there's more! Add a handful of fresh mushrooms, sprinkled over the pepperoni and cheese. Next up are chopped red and green bell peppers (feel free to customize your toppings to your heart's content). A sprinkle of chopped black olives adds some salty flavor, while a few leaves of fresh basil finish off the dish.

**The Final Touches**

Now that everything is assembled, it's time to pop this beauty into the oven. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) for about 25 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. And voila! Your pizza casserole is ready to devour.

**A Delicious Twist on a Classic**

This pizza casserole may not have a crust, but it's still every bit as delicious as its crispy-crusted counterpart. The combination of pasta, ground beef, and cheese is pure magic, while the toppings add a burst of flavor and texture. So go ahead, give this recipe a try – your taste buds will thank you! And don't forget to subscribe for more cooking tutorials and recipes like this one

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys Dave here I love pizza and I love casseroles so I got to thinking why not make a pizza casserole yes my friends pizza casserole with all the trimmings of a pizza in the form of a casserole only without that crust believe me it came out absolutely delicious so let me show you how to do this so the first thing I want to do is add some salt to a pot of boiling water add in a couple of cups of uncooked pasta now I'm using ratoni here but you can of course use the pasta of your choice I just like the shape it looks kind of pizza like and we'll just let this cook away for about 10 minutes until it's El Dente and then strain and drain it then we'll grab up about a pound of lean ground beef and throw it into a pan over medium high heat and I'm using my old cast iron pan here you don't have to use cast iron but it does help when you put it in the oven so just use an oven proof pan so we'll just kind of break this down and fry it up until it is cooked through after about seven or eight minutes our ground beef is looking pretty darn good so I'm just gonna go ahead and throw in half a chopped onion and three or four cloves of chopped garlic and we'll just go ahead and stir and saute this for about two or three minutes until that onion becomes a little bit translucent and that smell of garlic just fills the air and I say this in every video there is nothing better than the smell of garlic and onion sauteing now in we go with about 400 milliliters of tomato sauce and this is about a cup or so then half a cup of pizza sauce yes the old pizza sauce you can buy in just about any grocery store it's really cheap and I should actually do a video of this one drop a comment in the description section below if you'd like to see that followed by you guessed it about two teaspoons of Italian seasoning because it is pizza and after all I'm kind of Italian half a teaspoon or so of salt just to bring out those flavors and another teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper grab up your handy dandy wooden spoon or metal spoon whatever you have on hand and mix everything together until it's nicely combined and this is looking and smelling good already guys now we're just gonna go ahead and let this wonderful delicious sauce that I could probably eat right about now simmer away for about 10 minutes or so after simmering away for about 10 minutes it is time to go ahead and dump that pasta in no this is looking mighty good of course you've got to grab up that spoon once again and fold everything together until that sauce completely covers the pasta and of course I'm gonna kind of do the old tippity-tappity thing and fold this down a little bit just so it's kind of spread out evenly then on with a good layer of ooey gooey grated mozzarella yes mozzarella folks and you can add as much of the stuff as you like and if you can try and get a good mozzarella because I like pizza where you can actually taste the mozzarella and you probably saw this one coming because now we are going on with some pepperoni yes pepperoni the topping of any pizza and like I said with the mozzarella got a good pepperoni if you can because it makes all the difference in the world so it just kind of spread this out evenly next up a handful of fresh mushrooms sprinkled over the top of that pepperoni and cheese a combination of chopped red and green bell peppers now this is just my choice of toppings I mean it is entirely up to you be the boss of your own pizza casserole then some chopped black olives you can also use green if you like or no olives of all it's entirely up to you and the last but not least of our toppings some fresh basil yes basil I just love it and it is so good on pizza and by the way guys if you like what you're seeing go ahead and give this video a like because it does really help and we also have a video on baked spaghetti that I'll put a link to that is so so good so check that video out too okay guys this gorgeous piece of work is going into a 375 degree Fahrenheit 200 Celsius preheated oven for about 25 minutes after about 25 minutes or so guys we are done and just look at this doesn't this look absolutely gorgeous okay so let's go ahead and lift this up and just look at this that ooey gooey goodness of the mozzarella the toppings that ground beef the pasta oh my goodness if this doesn't look like a pizza casserole my friends I don't know what does oddly enough guys I had to get two spoons going and you'd like into this it is everything a pizza should be and more absolutely delicious simply a must must make and as I say in every video if you're hungry for more like And subscribehey guys Dave here I love pizza and I love casseroles so I got to thinking why not make a pizza casserole yes my friends pizza casserole with all the trimmings of a pizza in the form of a casserole only without that crust believe me it came out absolutely delicious so let me show you how to do this so the first thing I want to do is add some salt to a pot of boiling water add in a couple of cups of uncooked pasta now I'm using ratoni here but you can of course use the pasta of your choice I just like the shape it looks kind of pizza like and we'll just let this cook away for about 10 minutes until it's El Dente and then strain and drain it then we'll grab up about a pound of lean ground beef and throw it into a pan over medium high heat and I'm using my old cast iron pan here you don't have to use cast iron but it does help when you put it in the oven so just use an oven proof pan so we'll just kind of break this down and fry it up until it is cooked through after about seven or eight minutes our ground beef is looking pretty darn good so I'm just gonna go ahead and throw in half a chopped onion and three or four cloves of chopped garlic and we'll just go ahead and stir and saute this for about two or three minutes until that onion becomes a little bit translucent and that smell of garlic just fills the air and I say this in every video there is nothing better than the smell of garlic and onion sauteing now in we go with about 400 milliliters of tomato sauce and this is about a cup or so then half a cup of pizza sauce yes the old pizza sauce you can buy in just about any grocery store it's really cheap and I should actually do a video of this one drop a comment in the description section below if you'd like to see that followed by you guessed it about two teaspoons of Italian seasoning because it is pizza and after all I'm kind of Italian half a teaspoon or so of salt just to bring out those flavors and another teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper grab up your handy dandy wooden spoon or metal spoon whatever you have on hand and mix everything together until it's nicely combined and this is looking and smelling good already guys now we're just gonna go ahead and let this wonderful delicious sauce that I could probably eat right about now simmer away for about 10 minutes or so after simmering away for about 10 minutes it is time to go ahead and dump that pasta in no this is looking mighty good of course you've got to grab up that spoon once again and fold everything together until that sauce completely covers the pasta and of course I'm gonna kind of do the old tippity-tappity thing and fold this down a little bit just so it's kind of spread out evenly then on with a good layer of ooey gooey grated mozzarella yes mozzarella folks and you can add as much of the stuff as you like and if you can try and get a good mozzarella because I like pizza where you can actually taste the mozzarella and you probably saw this one coming because now we are going on with some pepperoni yes pepperoni the topping of any pizza and like I said with the mozzarella got a good pepperoni if you can because it makes all the difference in the world so it just kind of spread this out evenly next up a handful of fresh mushrooms sprinkled over the top of that pepperoni and cheese a combination of chopped red and green bell peppers now this is just my choice of toppings I mean it is entirely up to you be the boss of your own pizza casserole then some chopped black olives you can also use green if you like or no olives of all it's entirely up to you and the last but not least of our toppings some fresh basil yes basil I just love it and it is so good on pizza and by the way guys if you like what you're seeing go ahead and give this video a like because it does really help and we also have a video on baked spaghetti that I'll put a link to that is so so good so check that video out too okay guys this gorgeous piece of work is going into a 375 degree Fahrenheit 200 Celsius preheated oven for about 25 minutes after about 25 minutes or so guys we are done and just look at this doesn't this look absolutely gorgeous okay so let's go ahead and lift this up and just look at this that ooey gooey goodness of the mozzarella the toppings that ground beef the pasta oh my goodness if this doesn't look like a pizza casserole my friends I don't know what does oddly enough guys I had to get two spoons going and you'd like into this it is everything a pizza should be and more absolutely delicious simply a must must make and as I say in every video if you're hungry for more like And subscribe\n"