If only Pizza Casserole was a thing in the 80’s… Maybe also Keto and Low Carb Lifestyle. Remember when you were a kid, and you tried to pick the toppings off the pizza and eat just that and leave the crust, then one of your parents was like, “Eat the crust!” and you grew that nasty habit of eating the entire slice of pizza? Or is that just me?
Well if that’s you too, then you’re in luck. You don’t have to eat the crust if you don’t make it with the crust.
This pizza casserole makes me feel like I stepped one foot into Willy Wonka’s world.
Low Carb Pizza Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Ground Mild Italian Sausage
- Jar of Marinara / Spaghetti Sauce – Basil Garlic Mushroom, or Meat flavored
- 1 green bell pepper sliced
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 1 medium onion sliced
- 16 oz. package of fresh mushrooms sliced
- 8 oz. of Pepperoni
- 8 oz. of shredded mozzarella
- Weber Roasted Garlic and Herb to season optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Cook the Italian Sausage in a skillet until it’s thoroughly done. Season with Weber Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning if you wish.
- Prepare veggies – slice the peppers and onion. What I did was slice them long ways, and then cut that in half. So that way I’m not trying to cut one with a fork while eating.
- Once the sausage is cooked, prepare to layer like lasagna. You can use a 9×13 baking pan, or 2 smaller pans (8 in or 9 in square or round pans or even a bread pan). See post for clarity or ideas on this one.
- Line the baking pan with half the sausage, 1/4 the sauce, 1/4 cheese, then half the veggies, then 1/4 sauce, then 1/4 cheese, then half the pepperoni… and repeat with the rest for a second layer or second pan.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees.
Notes
Where did I get this recipe for Pizza Casserole?
Well I scrolled through Pinterest for Keto recipes, and I found Dr. Davinah’s Eats. She has a PhD in Education, and it shows. Her Keto Guide for Dummies is the fastest read, best explanation, and easiest to understand explanation of it I’ve seen thus far. I super heart her site.
Substitute Ingredients
You really can layer anything you want into a casserole dish almost, so this is beyond the sky as far as limits are concerned. I personally like the sausage, but you COULD do beef or ground turkey and season the crap out of it Italian style – almost any combo of parsley, Italian Seasoning, basil, oregano, thyme, paprika, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper, garlic, onion, salt n pepper, etc. Maybe a little red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar.
You can also sub the vegetable toppings with your favorite pizza toppings.
Keto Low Carb Considerations
Rao’s Marinara Sauce is very keto friendly and lower carbs than other sauces out there. It has no added sugar and only 5g net carbs per 1/2 cup. Plus it has more wholesome ingredients, and in my case, is friendly for the kid with soybean allergies (the only other sauce I’ve found to date that doesn’t have soybean oil in it is Prego).
Baking Pans
I think most people are inclined to use a 9×13 pan, but if you wanted, you can fill up two small 9×9’s. I prefer this because A, I can use my toaster oven instead of huge hot oven in summer, but also, I can make one for dinner, and then make the second for later.
Layering the Ingredients
Something to consider is placement of cheese. It binds all the ingredients together to make it easier to serve. So you might want to spread a thinner layer of cheese between each ingredient. What you don’t want to do is what i did. I did the pepperoni and then cheese thinking like a pizza almost, but that creates a brick wall of pepperoni that you have to knife / slice through to cut pieces to serve, and then again to eat bite by bite.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Sausage
- a bag of pepperoni
- Red Pepper, Green Pepper, Onion, and a big thing of Mushrooms
- A package of shredded mozzarella
- A jar of marinara sauce
Process
Basically, you cook the sausage thoroughly, layer a pan with all the ingredients and bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.
That’s really it. It sounds easier than it is. Like you probably don’t need to come back and look at the recipe card.
Keto Friendly – Low Carb
Because this is pretty much just meat and veggies, it’s super keto friendly. I love that mushrooms have a very low carb count for what you get, and they are pretty filling. Like one slice fills you up because of all the mushrooms. I’m not sure how it would taste, but I have found collard greens to be incredibly filling as well, and they usually go well with marinara sauce, so I can only imagine they would taste just fine in this dish if you wanted a veggie that’s filling; however, I can also imagine it would taste less like pizza.
Does it taste like Pizza?
Yes. This recipe with these ingredients tastes like a Supreme Pizza. It actually tastes a lot better than your average Supreme Pizza on account of fresh ingredients. I don’t imagine it to be just as filling if you only did pepperoni and cheese.
But this pizza casserole was super delicious, easy to remember, and almost painless to make. Some of us have to chop veggies by hand on account we keep buying veggie choppers that don’t turn on I’m amazed this isn’t a common thing.
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