Slow Cooker Pizza Casserole ..... A taste of pizza " without the crust " ..... And, " of course ", when you make it you can personalize it just the way you and your family likes it !
Ingredients:
- 1/2 - 16 oz. box of pasta of your choice: - ( more or less as desired )
- Rigatoni - Ziti - Rotini - Penne - Cavatappi - Macaroni
- etc .....
- Personalized ingredients for your Pizza Casserole are any ingredients you'd like: - ( See Tip #2 about using burger or sausage )
- Cooked Ground Burger or Italian Sausage - ( good with or without - " use 1/2 pound " )
- Oregeno or other Italian seasoning
- Minced Garlic and/or Garlic Salt
- Pepperoni
- Bacon or Ham - ( pre-cooked microwave bacon is good for this )
- Cherry tomatoes ( cut in half ) or canned Italian Style diced tomatoes
- Fresh Spinach
- Black and/or Green Olives
- Kalamata Olives
- Red or sweet yellow Onion
- Green, Red or Yellow Sweet Peppers
- Mushrooms
- Jalapeño Peppers
- etc .....
- 2 - 14.5 oz. or 15 oz. jars or cans of Pizza Sauce - ( See Tip #1 )
- 1 - 8 oz. bag of shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 - 8 oz. bag of shredded Pizza Style Cheese or mixed Italian Style Cheese
- Grated Parmesan Cheese - ( for topping )
Directions for using " Pasta & Meat " :
This is " exactly " ( with my options of ingrediants ) how I make my version of this recipe: - ( Look for directions below if going " Meatless " )
- On your stove top cook your pasta to your desired tenderness - ( I normally use Ziti or Penne Pasta )
( Note: Pasta actually cooks " only a VERY LITTLE " in a slow cooker so make sure it's your desired tenderness before adding it to your slow cooker )
- While pasta is cooking - cook about 1/2 pound of Italian Sausage in a frying pan until no longer pink. - ( See Tip #2 )
( Sometimes I use burger instead )
- Drain your Pasta and spread it in the bottom of Slow Cooker.
- Drain Italian Sausage and spread it in on top of the pasta.
- Then pour in 1 can of your pizza sauce on pasta and meat and spread it evenly.
- Sprinkle evenly with - 1 Tablespoon of dried Oregano - 2 teaspoons of dried Basil - and 1 teaspoon of Garlic Salt.
- Sprinkle " 1/2 " bag of shredded Mozzarella Cheese evenly on the pizza sauce.
- Then mix everything together.
- Then slowly pour in your second can of pizza sauce and spread evenly over top.
- Sprinkle remaining shredded cheese to cover.
- I then add Pepperoni - sliced Black Olives - and slized Green Olives on top of the mixture. - ( add your pizza topping options here )
- Then sprinkle evenly with - 2 more teaspoons of dried Oregano - and 2 more teaspoons of Garlic Salt.
- Then cook on low for 3 hours.
- And then, what we do, is top it with grated Parmesan Cheese and .....
Directions for using " only " pasta :
This is " exactly " ( with my options of ingrediants ) how I make my version of this recipe: - ( Look for directions abonve if adding " Meat " )
- On your stove top cook your pasta to your desired tenderness. - ( I normally use Ziti or Penne Pasta )
( Note: Pasta actually cooks " only a VERY LITTLE " in a slow cooker so make sure it's your desired tenderness before adding it to your slow cooker )
- Drain your Pasta and spread it in the bottom of Slow Cooker.
- Then pour in 1 can of your pizza sauce on pasta and spread it evenly.
- Sprinkle evenly with - 1 Tablespoon of dried Oregano - 2 teaspoons of dried Basil - and 1 teaspoon of Garlic Salt.
- Sprinkle " 1/2 " bag of shredded Mozzarella Cheese evenly on the pizza sauce.
- Then mix everything together.
- Then slowly pour in your second can of pizza sauce and spread evenly over top.
- Add remaining shredded cheese to top it off.
- I then add Pepperoni - sliced Black Olives - and sliced Green Olives on top of the mixture. - ( add your pizza topping options here )
- Then sprinkle evenly with - 2 more teaspoons of dried Oregano - and 2 more teaspoons of Garlic Salt.
- Then cook on low for 3 hours.
- And then, what we do, is top it with grated Parmesan Cheese and .....
" I like mine with two cans of sauce ! " ..... However that is a personal choice !
Pictured below are our three favorite Pizza Sauces to use for this recipe. My wife's favorite is the Chef Boyardee brand, which I lean toward also, since it is the only one that has " Cheese in the sauce " ( but it is also sometimes hard to find ) ..... The No. 1 brand in most trials nationally is the Don Pepino brand. All three of the below are available in most national chain grocery stores.
I prefer " adding a small onion " to my cooked burger or sausage for this recipe since I think the taste is actually improved by it. And this is also how I cook onion and burger together:
Now ... I know this takes " a little more time " ... however its actually a " great cooking technique " and one of my tricks for this meal and others as well. Whenever I'm cooking onion and burger ahead of time ( and that includes celery when needed ) to include in a meal like this one this is what I do:
- I add about 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil to my pan ...
- Then I add the diced onion to my pan ... ( and celery when called for in a recipe )
- Then, " by hand ", I break apart the burger into small bite sized pieces and place it on top of and covering the onion ...
- Then turn on the burner to medium-low and slowly start cooking ...
- Since it takes longer to actually cook the onion this give the onion time to soften up quicker ...
- And also helps the onion flavor to slowly rise into the burger itself ...
- Once I see the burger starting to change color then I start mixing it all together until the burger is no longer pink.
- They help all the flavors to cook through your meal better making it more delicious ...
- Within about an hour the " smell of the meal cooking " slowly spreads across the whole house ...
- The smell actually creates an " anticipation " in everyone for the meal to come ...
- And we all know that the " smell of food cooking helps us to enjoy the food as much as taste ! "
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