Deep Dish Pizza Casserole
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This deep dish pizza casserole recipe takes your favorite pizza toppings like ground beef and pizza sauce and transforms them into casserole form, with a delicious deep-dish crust and lots of melted cheese, of course.
Fill your kitchen with mouthwatering irresistible aromas from this deep dish pizza casserole recipe. This is another one of my favorite super easy, quick to throw together, family pleasing, and incredibly delicious meals, originally from my mother’s recipe collection. All we need to do is brown the meat and onion, add the sauce and seasonings, and pour it into a casserole dish along with the crust ingredients and all the cheese. 30 minutes in the oven and it’s ready to serve to your hungry family.
One of the best things about this pizza casserole is how incredibly adaptable it is to whatever ingredients you have on hand! For example, I’ve made it with absolutely no cheese before and it was still delicious. I’ve included lots of suggestions below, but feel free to swap ground beef for ground turkey or sausage, make the pizza sauce from scratch, and throw in your favorite veggie pizza toppings like olives and mushrooms. Let this casserole work for you.
For all of my readers with hungry mouths and teenage boys to feed, get ready for a home run with deep dish pizza casserole!
Recipe Ingredients
- Ground beef
- Pizza sauce
- Italian seasoning
- Onion
- Shredded parmesan cheese
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- Flour
- Eggs
- Oil
- Milk
- Salt
How to Make Deep Dish Pizza Casserole
In a large skillet brown your beef and chopped onion.
After that, drain any grease and add any other pizza ingredients you typically enjoy, or just keep it as is, as I do.
Had my entire family (except for me) not been dropped on their heads as children (thereby ruining their ability to tell what is good in food), I would be adding bell pepper and mushrooms now. YUM!
Pour in your pizza sauce and stir.
Spray a 9×13 inch pan with baking spray. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the bottom of the pan. Spread the meat mixture over the mozzarella.
Then it’s time to mix up the pizza crust.
In a medium bowl, place milk, flour, eggs, oil, and salt. Stir until well combined and no lumps remain.
Pour over the meat in the casserole dish and sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. It may not look done but it is.
By now, your kitchen is filled with the most delicious smell of this deep dish pizza casserole. Your kids and spouse have been driving you crazy by asking if it’s done yet, and your stomach has set into a continual growl.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Enjoy your quick and easy casserole!
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Simply reheat in the microwave.
Recipe Notes
- A different way to make this pizza casserole is to add a layer of canned crescent rolls or refrigerated pizza crust dough to the bottom of the casserole dish and then top it with the mozzarella cheese and the meat mixture instead of making your own crust. It should take less time to cook, about 15 minutes.
- Another option is to substitute the pizza crust for cooked pasta, like rotini pasta or penne pasta. This will take about 20 minutes until the cheese melts.
- For added heat, add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.
Recipe FAQs
What pizza toppings can I add to this deep dish pizza casserole?
You can really add in whatever pizza toppings you like. I tend to keep mine pretty basic because my precious family has no imagination, despite a collective twenty years of effort on my part to change that. However, I will tell you that even basic, this recipe is absolutely delicious and deeply satisfying. Anyway, here are some suggestions:
- Chopped green bell pepper or red bell pepper
- Sliced mushrooms
- Chopped black olives
- A layer of pepperoni on top of the parmesan cheese.
- A combination of ground beef and sausage (spicy Italian sausage would be delicious).
- Ground turkey instead of ground beef
- Homemade pizza sauce
- Different types of cheese, like provolone cheese or sharp cheddar cheese.
- Add 2 minced garlic cloves when you saute the onion and ground beef.
What do you serve with pizza casserole?
I love to just serve my casserole with a simple side salad.
You may also like these pizza recipes:
Barbecue Chicken Pizza, Southern-Style
Air Fryer Pizza Rolls Made From Scratch
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 1 15-ounce jar pizza sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Brown ground beef, onion, and bell pepper. Drain well. Add pizza sauce and Italian seasoning. Stir well.2 pounds ground beef, 1 medium onion, chopped, 1 bell pepper, chopped, 1-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning, 1 15-ounce jar pizza sauce
- Grease a 9x13 inch casserole dish with cooking spray. Sprinkle mozzarella over the bottom and spread the meat mixture over the cheese.2 cups mozzarella cheese
- In a mixing bowl, add flour, milk, eggs, oil, and salt. Stir until well mixed and no lumps remain. Pour over the meat in the baking dish.1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon oil, 1/2 tsp salt
- Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the batter and bake for 30 minutes.1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Nutrition
“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
~Abraham Lincoln
Can this be made without the meat as just a cheese deep dish pizza? I am a vegetarian, but it looks so good!
I’m looking forward to trying this! It sounds good.
I made this tonight & my husband & 17 month old son LOVED it! I LOVED IT! YUM! It has a lasagna feel without the lasagna preparation. Delicious! This is going to be a staple in our household. Thank you so much, Christy!
I just used can of Hunt’s Traditional spaghetti sauce that I had got on sale for 99 cents. I added a little salt to the meat, and didn’t add any Italian seasoning…only salt. I had some Pecorino Romano cheese and added it along with a little Parmesean. I used Mozzerella, but I think if all you had was cheddar, it would be excellent also. It tasted great! So simple to make!
I use more of the Pecorino Romano cheese and cheddar on my homemade pizzas. I am making this tomorrow night with both of those cheeses and sharp provolone. My husband loves Jimmy Dean sage sausage on his pizzas and i have left over spaghetti sauce with italian sausage chunks in it. I think this recipe will be a winner for sure. I am finding many recipes here that I want to fix!
I made your Beef Stew last night (a huge hit!) and I’m making this tonight! I changed it up a bit by adding another layer of cheese and some pepperoni. Also, I put garlic salt in the dough instead of plain salt. Looking forward to diving in! 🙂
Oregano herb can really spice up every food that you can cook, i love to add it on our foods ‘:’
do you think a person could make up this casserole, pour the ‘ crust’ over the top, and then immediately put in the freezer for baking at another date? I’m trying to make up unbaked casseroles to have in the freezer, but not sure how crust will come out…have you ever done that?
I haven’t done this recipe that way but it should work. Try it out and let me know!
You might try cooking it a little (like 10 or 15 minutes) then freeze.
I was thinking the same thing, but I was also thinking if I made the recipe all the way through and froze it without the dough topping and just made that right before baking it.
I think I am going to try it that way. You could always put the flour mixture, minus the liquid items, in a ziploc and freeze it between foil layers with the directions to finish the topping and baking instructions on it.