Pizza Pasta Casserole (Vegetarian Dump & Bake)

Name: Pizza Pasta Casserole (Vegetarian Dump & Bake)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 16 oz short pasta (like elbow, rigatoni, or cavatappi, 453 g); 8 oz sliced mushrooms (226 g); 1 green bell pepper (diced); 1 2.25-oz can black olives (drained, 63 g); 2 14-oz jars pizza sauce (396 g); 2 cups vegetable broth (480 mL); 1 cup heavy cream (236 mL); 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning; ¼ tsp salt; 1 5-oz package vegan pepperoni (divided, 141 g); 8 oz grated mozzarella cheese (preferably a block that you grate yourself. 226 g)

By Sarah Bond, BS Nutrition, MS Sensory Science, Published Oct 07, 2026

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50 minutes

Serves 6 servings

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Baked rigatoni pizza pasta with melted cheese and pepperoni slices in a white ceramic baking dish.

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Dump-and-bake dinner, but make it pizza! Uncooked pasta, jarred pizza sauce, veggies, and cheese go straight into one casserole dish and come out a complete dinner that tastes like pizza! No pot of boiling water, no colander, and dinner is on the table in under an hour.

A plate of baked rigatoni pasta with melted cheese, pepperoni slices, and olives, with a small bowl of seasoning and a grater nearby on a red tiled surface. — This dump-and-bake pizza casserole is vegetarian, topped with plant-based pepperoni, and easy to make fully vegan with a couple of swaps. Think of it as pizza night and pasta night teaming up in one very cheesy pan.

Why You’ll Want to Make This Every Week

Most pasta casseroles start with a pot of boiling water. This one skips it entirely. The dry pasta goes straight into the dish and cooks in a sauce of pizza sauce, vegetable broth, and heavy cream, so it soaks up flavor the whole time instead of losing starch down the drain.

I’ve leaned hard on dump-and-bake dinners since my son was born. If I can’t stir it together with one hand while he sits on my hip, it doesn’t make the weeknight rotation.

I also wanted a complete meal, not a pan of cheesy carbs that needs three sides to feel like dinner. Mushrooms, green bell pepper, and black olives, the classic supreme pizza trio, cook right alongside the pasta and turn this into a one-dish dinner.

Baked ziti with melted cheese and pepperoni slices in a ceramic baking dish.

Vegan Pepperoni?

Hot take: you don’t need meat pepperoni here. My background is in sensory science, and pepperoni is mostly about flavor and visual cues, that smoky, peppery spice and those red rounds on melted cheese. Plant-based pepperoni nails both.

Store-bought works great, but if you want to make your own, my Seitan Pepperoni is a fun project that slots right in.

Baked rigatoni pasta with pepperoni and melted cheese in a baking dish, served with a spoon.

Baked rigatoni pasta with melted cheese and pepperoni slices in a white ceramic baking dish.

Key Ingredients

Short pasta: The structure of the whole dish. Dry pasta absorbs liquid as it bakes, which is exactly why it thickens the sauce on its own.
Pizza sauce: Pizza sauce, not marinara, is what makes this taste like pizza instead of baked ziti. It’s thicker and more concentrated, with that oregano and garlic punch you know from a slice.
Vegetable broth: This is the cooking liquid for the pasta. The broth adds savory depth that plain water can’t, and it thins the sauce just enough for the noodles to cook evenly.
Heavy cream: Its higher fat content helps it resist curdling in an acidic tomato sauce at 400°F, and it softens the tomato’s sharp edge into something closer to a rosé.
Mozzarella: Buy a block and grate it. Without the anti-caking coating on pre-shredded bags, it melts into that glossy, bubbling, pull-apart layer you want on top of a pizza.
Vegan pepperoni: Half goes into the pasta to season it from the inside, half goes on top for the classic pizza look. Pepperoni is mostly about flavor and visual perception, and plant-based versions deliver both, so even skeptics come around.
Mushrooms and Peppers: Buy the mushrooms pre-sliced to save a cutting board.
Black olives: A small can adds briny, salty pops.

Ingredients for a recipe laid out on a red tiled surface, labeled as pasta, broth, pizza sauce, cream, olives, seasonings, mozzarella, vegan pepperoni, and veggies.

Troubleshooting Your Pizza Casserole

Pasta still firm after 20 minutes: Your foil probably wasn’t sealed tightly enough, letting steam escape. Stir, re-cover tightly, and bake 5 more minutes before adding the cheese. Thicker shapes like rigatoni may also need a few extra minutes.
Hard noodles on top: Any pasta sticking above the liquid won’t cook. Press everything down with your spoon before covering so the pasta is submerged.
Sauce looks loose at the midway stir: Totally normal. The pasta keeps absorbing liquid during the final 15 minutes, and the casserole thickens more as it rests for a few minutes out of the oven.

Easy Variations

Supreme style: Add diced red onion with the other veggies.
Spicy: Stir in a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, then finish with a drizzle of hot honey.
Green veggie boost: Stir a couple of handfuls of baby spinach into the hot pasta at the midway stir, right before the cheese goes on.
Margherita: Skip the pepperoni, olives, and peppers, and top the finished casserole with fresh basil.

A fork lifting rigatoni pasta with melted cheese, olives, and vegetables from a bowl.

This casserole is rich and cheesy, so pair it with something crisp and bright. My Vegetarian Caesar Salad gives you that classic pizzeria salad crunch, while my Tomato Burrata Salad keeps the Italian theme going in summer.

If no-boil dinners are your thing too, my Lazy Lasagna Casserole works on the exact same dump-and-bake principle!

Let's eat more plants!