Instant Pot Pizza Casserole—saucy penne pasta with pepperoni, Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese. A fast and easy recipe!
Instant Pot Pizza Casserole
How could this not be good? If you’re a fan of pepperoni pizza and pasta you will be a fan of Instant Pot pizza casserole. My son and daughter both thought this was about the best thing ever.
I liked how easy it was so make. It came together so quickly. No extra equipment needed. Just layer the ingredients in the Instant Pot and set it and forget it. While the pasta was cooking I cut up romaine lettuce for a green salad to go with dinner.
What types of pasta can I use? I used a study penne rigate pasta which seems to hold up very nicely in the Instant Pot. Other choices are cavatappi, shells, bowties (farfalle), rigatoni or elbow macaroni.
What other pizza ingredients can I include? You can make this a supreme pizza casserole instead of pepperoni pizza casserole! Try including diced green peppers, sliced mushrooms, sliced olives and red onions. Pile the veggies on top of the pepperonis when layering the casserole.
How do you not get the burn message with red sauces? As you read the instructions in the recipe and view the pictures below you’ll notice that I deglazed the pot with broth after browning the sausage. Then I added in the pasta evenly over the meat and gently pressed it to submerge it in the broth. Finally I added in the sauce over the top of the pasta. By layering the ingredients (and not stirring), the meat and broth at the bottom of the pot serve as a barrier to the pasta and sauce sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning. It’s very important to not stir and to layer the dish. It’s a great work around when making recipes with thick sauces like spaghetti and chili.
Recommendations
More Amazing Instant Pot Pasta Recipes…
Instant Pot Sausage Tortellini Soup
Instant Pot American Chop Suey
Instant Pot Chicken Parmesan Manicotti
Instant Pot Rigatoni and Sausage
Instant Pot Dump and Go Meatball Lasagna
Instant Pot Italian Chicken Pasta
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Instant Pot Pizza Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 19 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
Saucy penne pasta with pepperoni, Italian sausage and mozzarella cheese. A fast and easy recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 ยพ cups chicken or beef broth
- 8 oz uncooked penne pasta
- 2 (14 oz ) jars pizza sauce (or a 28 oz jar of pasta sauce)
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 oz sliced pepperoni (about a half cup)
- ยฝ cup grated mozzarella cheese
- ยผ cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to sautรฉ setting. When display says HOT add in the sausage and break it up*. Add in the onion. Brown the sausage for about 5 minutes. Add in garlic and sautรฉ for 30 seconds. Drain any grease.
- Add in the broth and scrape the bottom of the pot so that nothing is sticking.ย
- Add in the pasta and press to submerge as much as possible but do not stir.ย
- Dump the pizza sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the sauce. Layer the pepperoni over the top. Don’t stir.ย
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 4 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Sprinkle cheeses on top and let melt. Stir and serve.ย
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. Make in the 8 or 3 quart pot with no changes.ย
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
No stars. Bland, boring and no pizza flavor. Wasted lots of cheeses. Lacking! No prize recipe. The only good thing is my 4 year old grandson had so much fun putting all the ingredients in the pressure cooker. Always a good time cooking with him. Everyone has different tastes, but I would not recommend wasting cheese on this one.
I have to disagree. With the Italian sausage, broth and pizza sauce there is lots of flavor.
This was absolutely amazing whole family (2yo,3yo,and hubby) gobbled it up!
★★★★★
So glad to hear it Laura!
can you see ground beef instead of sausage would will be good
Yes you could do that. I would season the beef a little with salt and pepper while it is browning.
When will the new cookbook be available?
It will be available for pre-order the end of this week and will be sent out the first week in December! If you’d like to be the first to know more info then make sure to sign up for the emails about the book: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/instant-pot-cookbook/
Is making this in a crock pot doable? It sounds reallllly good but I don’t have the Instant pot. Thank you.
Hi, I took my recipe in part from this slow cooker version so I would follow these directions: https://realhousemoms.com/crock-pot-pizza-casserole-backtoschoolweek/
Can this be doubled, and still come out okay? Thank you for sharing, looks delicious!
Yes in the 6 or 8 quart you can double.
Trying to understand why you call this pizza, there is no crust as there is with a pizza, so why make a claim that it’s a pizza recipe???
It’s called pizza casserole ๐
For the same reason you wouldn’t expect a “taco casserole” to be wrapped in a tortilla or a “cheeseburger casserole” to be inside a bun, a pizza casserole doesn’t imply there’s a crust. It’s a casserole that tastes like pizza.
★★★★★
Yep ๐