Easy Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
There are plenty of ways to get pizza at home, frozen, delivered, and now, using this easy crock pot pizza casserole. We don’t even mind losing out on the pizza dough part with all of the flavors and customizations we can make.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy Slow Cooker Pizza Casserole – This casserole is very easy to make. Perfect for busy weeknights and simple to customize.
- The Entire Family Will Love It – Few people don’t like pizza. This dinner recipe will most likely end without leftovers.
- Low Carb Pizza Casserole – This recipe is a great meal, and it can easily fit into a low-carb diet. Of course, we can add enough to make it more carb-heavy if we want as well.
- Elevate the Recipe – There is a simple way to take this recipe to the next level, all we need is a bit of pasta and time.
Easy Crock Pot Pizza Casserole Ingredients
- Lean Ground Beef: The customizations start immediately with the ground beef. You can also use ground turkey or ground chicken as the base of this casserole.
- Pizza Toppings: We use mushrooms and pepperoni in this recipe. However, you can add whatever pizza toppings you enjoy most.
- Onion: The white onion serves to flavor the ground meat a bit more. This doesn’t quite count as a pizza topping here; we can use red onion for that if we want.
- Roma Tomato: Pizza cravings could also be seen as pizza sauce cravings. A hearty tomato sauce makes for a delicious pizza. More on that later.
- Garlic: Italian dishes use garlic more often than…well, no one. Garlic is pretty much a kitchen staple.
- Italian Seasoning: We want this to taste as close to a pizza as possible. Of course, that isn’t difficult, but Italian seasoning is necessary.
- Cheese: We use mozzarella cheese in this recipe. However, you can change it up for your favorite melted cheese. In fact, you can add tons of cheese with as many different kinds as you like.
- Pizza Sauce: Everyone has their preferences for pizza sauce. We can stick with our jarred pizza sauce option, make a marinara sauce, or really change things up and go for an Alfredo sauce.
- Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan cheese is just some remaining cheese to add on top. This can be skipped if you already have a 10-cheese crockpot pizza casserole recipe, or add it anyway.
Can You Cook Pizza in a Crock Pot?
Our easy crock pot pizza casserole recipe combines ground beef, pizza sauce, and your favorite pizza toppings into an easy dinner recipe the entire family will enjoy. This easy pizza casserole recipe is not quite the pizza recipe you may be thinking.
However, slow cooker recipes aren’t great at baking pizza dough. Technically, you can get the job done; it just may not come out the way you’d expect. The steam from the food will be trapped in your crock pot, making for soggy dough at the end of it all.
This is why making a casserole is a better idea. We can change things up, though, if we want to add in some carbs. Turn this easy crock pot pizza casserole recipe into a pasta casserole recipe.
Simply boil some pasta separately on your stovetop and then serve the pizza casserole as a sort of “pasta sauce” on top of the pasta for the whole family. The tender pasta will make for a delicious and easy weeknight dinner.
You can even get super creative and add layers of pasta to the casserole to make a sort of pizza lasagna. The possibilities are endless.
Pizza Casserole Topping Ideas
Our recipe started out as a low-carb option during a weight loss journey. This is why we stick with ground turkey, cheese, and tomato sauce and only use mushrooms and pepperoni slices as toppings.
We had to use the classic crock pot pizza casserole without pasta. However, we can add pasta now or serve it as is. However, there is always room for custom pizza toppings. We can simply add in some browned ground Italian sausage.
Your favorite toppings have a place in this recipe: green peppers, Canadian bacon, black olives, red peppers, and, dare we say, pineapple. This comfort food can also be served as a breakfast if you add in bacon, sausage, hash browns and serve with some eggs. This is one of those easy family meals that even picky eaters will love.
How to Make Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
- Brown the ground turkey or beef in a large skillet. When nearly browned, drain off the fat and add the onion, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic. Place the skillet back over medium heat, stir, and cook for about 4 minutes until the onion is soft.
- Spray your Crock Pot with oil to prevent the casserole from sticking. Then add the ground meat mixture to the pot and stir in 2 cups of the mozzarella.
- Pour the pizza sauce over the ground beef mixture, covering the entire mixture.
- Layer 1 cup of mozzarella over the sauce.
- Place your topping on the sauce starting with the tomato slices, then mushrooms and pepperoni.
- Top the casserole with 1 cup of parmesan.
- Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.
How to Store Leftovers
There most likely won’t be leftovers of this delicious meal. However, you can store any possible leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container. The casserole should hold well for up to four days.
You can also freeze the casserole leftovers to get about a month from the hold time. Defrost it in the fridge before reheating.
Easy Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 Lbs Ground Turkey or Lean Ground Beef
- 1 Cup Baby Bella Mushrooms, Sliced
- 1 Medium Onion, Chopped
- 1 Roma Tomato, Sliced or 1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes, Sliced
- 1 Clove Garlic, Minced
- 12-24 Pepperoni Slices
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
- 1 Tsp Italian Seasoning
- 3 Cups Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese
- 2 14 Oz Jars Pizza Sauce, NO Sugar Preferred
- 1 Cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated
Instructions
- Brown the ground turkey or beef in a large skillet. When nearly browned, drain off the fat and add the onion, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic. Place the skillet back over medium heat, stir, and cook for about 4 minutes until the onion is soft.
- Spray your Crock Pot with oil to prevent the casserole from sticking. Then add the ground meat mixture to the pot and stir in 2 cups of the mozzarella.
- Pour the pizza sauce over the ground beef mixture, covering the entire mixture.
- Layer 1 cup of mozzarella over the sauce
- Place your topping on the sauce starting with the tomato slices, then mushrooms and pepperoni.
- Top the casserole with 1 cup of parmesan
- Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.
More Crockpot Recipes
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Crockpot Turkey Chili with Pinto Beans | Chili feels like something we shouldn’t be eating if health is our goal. But you can make it healthier with the help of the right ingredients.
How to Make Crockpot BBQ Ribs | Everyone wants ribs with meat that falls off the bone. Luckily, that is easy to achieve with the help of a crockpot.
Healthy Crockpot Breakfast Casserole Recipe | Crockpots can cook your breakfast for you while you sleep. This way, you will wake up to a breakfast that is ready to eat.
Budget Friendly Beef Stroganoff | $21 | You don’t need to break the bank to make an impressive dish. This stroganoff proves it.
