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★ Why You'll Love this Recipe ★
This one-pan wonder is a great way to change up your weeknight dinner rotation, using what you probably already have on hand, in a new and tasty way!
So simple, yet so good!
We’re taking boxed mac and cheese, stirring in pizza sauce, topping with mozzarella cheese and mini pepperonis and baking it to melty perfection!
If you love pizza and love the ease of mac and cheese...
You’re going to LOVE this delicious meal!
This recipe comes together just as easily as making a pot of mac and cheese and a frozen pizza.
Just prepare the mac and cheese, stir in pizza sauce, top with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni, and bake like a pizza!
So simple, yet so so good. Cheesy pasta tastes so good with your favorite pizza sauce stirred in, you'll wonder why you never tried the combination before.
Make it a Meal
Serve this pizza mac and cheese with a green goddess salad for a dose of healthy veggies and a skillet cookie topped with vanilla ice cream for dessert.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
This simple recipe requires just 7 basic ingredients.
Here's everything you'll need:
- Boxed macaroni and cheese mix. Any variety works!
- Butter and milk. You'll add these as directed. Any variety of milk works, use whatever is in your fridge.
- Pizza sauce. I love Rao's or Ragu pizza sauce. Each has a unique flavor but both taste very good! You can also try this recipe using marinara sauce for a slightly different taste.
- Mozzarella cheese. Shredded is best since this will get sprinkled on top like pizza.
- Mini pepperoni. This is optional but completes the "pizza" look.
- Add other toppings as desired. Again, optional. But you could add mushrooms, black olives, salami, pineapple, bell peppers... anything you'd normally put on a pizza!
Simple as that. This is just a spin on pizza. Or a spin on mac and cheese depending on how you look at it.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This pizza-style pasta casserole is very easy to make. It's great for busy weeknights. Here are the basic steps (you can find the full recipe below).
- Boil pasta, cooking it al denté; then drain.
- Add butter and cheese powder.
- Stir to combine.
- Top with Mozzarella cheese.
- Add pepperoni or other toppings if desired.
- Bake.
That's it! Very easy to pull off and you'll love the flavor combination of mac and cheese with the pizza sauce and toppings! It's a perfect match.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Hands down, my favorite sauce is Rao’s. Rao’s sauce originated from a restaurant in NYC. Their food is so good, it’s really hard to even get a seat to eat there so they started bottling their sauce. It. Is. Not. Cheap. BUT… it’s amazing. So, if you really want to elevate this dish, spring for Rao’s pizza sauce. This isn’t sponsored, I’m just a big fan.
If you want to save some dollars, go ahead and opt for another pizza sauce brand. The combination of the cheese sauce and tomato sauce is what makes this dish really yummy. So don’t fret if you can’t swing the cost of $$$ per jar of pizza sauce. It'll still taste great with any pizza sauce.
Top this mac and cheese casserole just like a pizza. This casserole is meant to eat like a pizza. So go ahead and swap out the pepperonis for anything you prefer to put on your macaroni and cheese pizza.
Some of my favorite pizza toppings are: black olives, artichokes, fresh spinach leaves, fresh basil, and ricotta cheese.
If you’re more of a meat lover, try sausage, ham, pepperoni, chicken, bacon… etc.
If you love veggies, try broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions… Any combination you love. Do it up!
To make this a one-pot meal, you’ll need an oven-safe skillet.
If you don’t own a cast iron skillet, then you might want to invest in one. I use mine all the time! I have a lot of other great recipes you can make in your cast iron skillet too. Check them out!
Browse my other cast iron skillet recipes
Shop cast iron skillets on amazon
You can also use a pie pan if you don't have or don't want to buy a cast iron skillet.
This recipe honestly tastes great starting with basic boxed mac and cheese. You can even just go with store brand. Or Kraft if you want to be fancy. 😉
If you prefer ready-made mac and cheese to save a little more time, or maybe you just like the consistency of it better, that’s fine too. Go ahead and heat that up as directed on the package, then transfer to a cast iron skillet, and follow the same directions to finish this off, pizza-style!
You can use elbow pasta or shells. Organic or not. White or yellow cheese. Or, even the characters noodles are fun! Your choice.
Yes, this can be prepared ahead of time. Allow mac and cheese to cool after stirring in pizza sauce. Transfer to a storage container with lid. Add layer of shredded cheese and any toppings like pepperoni. Cover and freeze. When ready to eat, defrost to room temperature and bake as directed. If baking from frozen, add 3-5 minutes of bake time.
Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container, for up to 5 days.
★ More Pizza Recipes ★
Want more dinner ideas?
Browse all my easy dinner recipes! Pin your favorites for later.
This easy Pizza Mac and Cheese recipe was featured on South Your Mouth!
Pizza Mac and Cheese
Equipment
- cast iron skillet or casserole dish
Ingredients
- 7.5 oz box mac and cheese
- 4 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup milk
- 13 oz jar Rao’s pizza sauce
- 1 cup shredded Italian cheeses
Toppings
- ½ cup mini pepperoni or other toppings as desired
- fresh parsley for garnish
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- Add All Ingredients to Your Walmart Cart Adds everything with one click! You can edit items before you check out.
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450ºF.
- Prepare mac and cheese. Using a large cast iron skillet, prepare macaroni and cheese according to package instructions for al dente (1 minute less than minimum cook time) — boil, drain and return pasta to skillet. Add butter, milk and cheese packet. Stir to combine.
- Add pizza sauce. Stir pizza sauce into prepared mac and cheese
- Add cheese and toppings. Layer on shredded cheese. Then layer on mini pepperonis and/or other toppings as desire.
- Bake at 425˚for 10 minutes or until mozzarella cheese is completely melted.
- Serve. Spoon onto a plate, garnish with parsley if desired, and enjoy!
Notes
- Be sure to cook macaroni al dente so the pasta can absorb some of the pizza sauce and doesn't get oversaturated and soggy.
Elicea says
Has anyone tried baking this and then freezing, for meal prepping large batch family dinners? I’m thinking this would be great to add to the meals I’m prepping for a friend for her first couple weeks postpartum, but if it doesn’t freeze and reheat well, I’d rather skip. Any tips in freezing?
mike says
Feed me more please!!!!!!!
mike says
Soo good! 🍕