Change up pizza night with this pizza casserole. Get all the flavors of supreme pizza but without grains. Made with spiralized zucchini and loaded with all your favorite pizza toppings this one pot dish is quick and easy to make and will please everyone at the dinner table.
If you asked me about pizza casserole a month ago, I would give you the face of disgust and politely change the subject. It’s not that I don’t like pizza or casseroles… well, let me take you back to ‘the incident’. Before we had kids, the Hubs would make pizza casserole. We loved it. It was quick and easy to make and oh so satisfying. Then one day he decided to make a double batch. I was pregnant with our first and we ended up having leftovers for days! By the end of the week I was so sick of it…. 9 years later and he still hasn’t made it.
Pizza is huge in my family. If it was up to my kiddos, we would eat it every other day. I knew I wanted to bring back the pizza casserole, but make it better. The old pizza casserole consisted of ground beef, pizza sauce, pepperoni, pasta and cheese. This new and improved version is loaded with vegetables, just the way I like my pizza. In place of the pasta I use zucchini noodles. My daughter, who is not a fan of zucchini, announced to the table that this casserole is now her favorite meal. She had seconds and called dibs on the leftovers! The Hubs said he didn’t miss the pasta. I love sneaking in extra veggies into these meals!
Tidbits–
- Zucchini Noodles– I use a vegetable spiralizer to make the zucchini noodles. I like using zucchini because you don’t need to cook it before adding it in. If you have zucchini haters in your house I think using spaghetti squash would work well in this dish. Or if you don’t mind it not being grain free you can use whole wheat pasta (I recommend using penne or rotini) instead. The spaghetti squash and pasta will need to be cooked prior to adding it into the casserole.
- Meats– I like using ground Italian turkey sausage and pepperoni. We all preferred the hot Italian sausage over the mild. The added spiciness made the casserole SO good. I think ham would be a delicious alternative for the pepperoni. You can skip the meat all together to make it vegetarian. I would bulk up on the vegetables in place the meat.
- Vegetables– Add any veggies you like. I like traditional supreme pizza toppings in this casserole. So I use mushrooms and green bell pepper. I think black olives and baby spinach would be great in here too!
- Pizza Sauce– Use your favorite kind of pizza sauce. My family loves my pizza sauce. If you are in a time crunch jarred pizza sauce will work just as good.
Grain Free Supreme Pizza Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
- ½ yellow onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ½ large green bell pepper sliced
- 1 cup mushrooms sliced
- 10 ounces ground turkey Italian sausage mild or hot
- 2 medium zucchini spiralized and cut into smaller pieces
- 2 ounces pepperoni cut into fourths. Reserve some whole for topping.
- 2 cups pizza sauce
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 1 cup mozzarella and provolone mixture shredded, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven 400F.
- In a large oven safe skillet, heat oil on medium-low heat. Once the oil has heated, add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the onions are translucent.
- Add the garlic, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until the vegetables have softened a bit.
- Add the turkey sausage, breaking up into smaller pieces as it browns. Cook until it is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
- Add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini has softened slightly, about 3 minutes.
- Add the chopped pepperoni, pizza sauce, salt, oregano, and pepper. Mix to combine all of the ingredients. Stir in ½ cup of cheese. Once fully combined, top the mixture with the other ½ cup of cheese and a few slices of pepperoni.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the casserole is slightly bubbling.