Of all the Simple Recipes I’ve been sharing around here, this Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole has proven to be the very simplest. Get this: No cooking necessary to make this recipe. A two-year-old could make this. Or a very busy adult. Either one will do.
This Simple Meal requires one dish (a crock pot) and thirty-seconds of prep (dump/stir/plug in). Your meal cooks itself.
As you can see from the above picture, I even cheated on my veggie side dish by simply setting out mixed greens and grape tomatoes. Therefore absolutely nothing about this meal took any work or actual cooking.
Now, you can add other cooked meats to this if you want. You can chop in some mushrooms and peppers if you want. None of those tasks take long, but they do take a few more minutes of prep. Sometimes I throw those veggies onto the table as side dishes, along with a can of black olives. Or, in a pinch, sometimes I skip it all and just throw out the mixed greens.
Either way, this meal is completely effortless, very inexpensive, and ridiculously good.
This spring, we’ve found this meal great to throw together before leaving for the soccer field. When we get home, we immediately get to sit down to an awesome, warm dinner. (Spring soccer is cold. I have done this cold soccer season for 15 years. When does it end?! Good thing my kids are worth it. Good thing I have a really great coat, and hat, and gloves, and fuzzy blanket. Good thing I can come home to warm comfort food at the end of my wind-blown, drizzly soccer cheering experience.)
Look how effortless this is —>
Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
- 16-ounces UNCOOKED whole grain pasta
- 50-ounces pizza or spaghetti sauce
- 2 cups shredded cheese
- 6-ounces pepperoni
- Optional: additional cooked meat, sliced olives, chopped sweet pepper, and/or sliced mushrooms
- Stir uncooked pasta and pizza sauce in a crock pot.
- Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
- Stir.
- Top with shredded cheese and pepperoni.
- Cook for an additional 10 minutes on low to melt cheese.

Will your family love this, or what? But trust me: no one will love it as much as you. Because this recipes allows you to cook without cooking. It provides you a great meal without working for it.
And now, if we could all find ourselves such a thing as a Self-Cleaning Crock Pot. (Tip, I soak my crock overnight and everything comes clean easily in the morning. No need to scrub when soaking does the hard work for us, am I right?)
Want to enjoy more Simple Recipes? We’ve got a bunch!
- Simple Baked Salmon and Asparagus
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- Simple Garlic Butter Shrimp
- Simple Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips
- Simple Crock Pot Shredded Ranch Chicken (for salad or tacos)
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What kind of pepperoni do you use?? I haven’t found any safe-ish brands locally.
Ugh, I just use the regular gross stuff. I also haven’t found a good one locally or inexpensively, so I compromise on this one. :)
Love the idea of cooking raw pasta right in the slow cooker!
One tip I found, when working with pepperoni or other pizza-esque sausages. If you lay them out on a paper towel covered plate and microwave for about 7-10 seconds, it will warm up the fat enough that much of it will melt off. …
…requires a microwave, and is an extra step, obviously, but if fat/grease is a concern, there you go.
This is going on my lunch meal rotation. What could be easier. I think I will have my 7 year make it! :) Thank you for sharing!
Would there be a difference is cooking times if I used regular pasta?
As far as I know the cooking time would be the same!