All the flavours of a pepperoni pizza in a quick and easy one pot pasta dish! Delicious, comforting and very family friendly, my Easy One Pot Pepperoni Pizza Pasta is set to be your new favourite midweek meal!
As I am sure you must all know by now, I am a huge fan of one pot dishes – they are quick, easy and most importantly, result in very little washing up!! But until recently I was very sceptical of one pot pasta dishes… the idea of cooking pasta in a small amount of sauce, rather than a large pan of salted water just seemed all wrong.
And the recipes I read on the internet for one pot pastas made me want to cry – the length of cooking time just seemed insane and I knew without trying them that they would result is a soggy gooey mess.
But I felt I needed to give it a try – the idea of a one pot pasta dish, if I could make it work, sounded so utterly perfect for busy weeknight evenings, so I hit my kitchen and got experimenting and eventually created something that I was properly happy with: my One Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta Bake. It’s a real family friendly recipe that combines the comfort of an Italian pasta dish and the flavours of a Mexican chicken fajita in one delicious pot of pure comfort food.
But now I had a one pot pasta recipe formula I could adapt again and again with different flavours, there was no stopping me…and so I got tinkering in the kitchen again and the result was this delicious Easy One Pot Pepperoni Pizza Pasta. Again, a really family friendly recipe, this time combining all that comforting one pot pasta loveliness with the delicious flavours of a pepperoni pizza!
The fab thing about this Easy One Pot Pepperoni Pizza Pasta is just how quick and easy it is: fry the vegetables, add the pasta, passata and a small amount of water. Cook until the pasta is nearly but not completely cooked. Add the pepperoni, cheese and oregano and cook in the oven until the pasta is completely cooked (but not overcooked!!!) and the cheese is bubbling on top and the pepperoni has gone all crispy!
And if you have a dish that will go from hob to oven to table then this is a seriously low washing up recipe! If you don’t have a pan that you can cook on the hob with and put in the oven, then simply cook the first part of the recipe in a large saucepan, then transfer to an oven dish before putting this Pepperoni Pizza Pasta in the oven to finish cooking.
This Easy One Pot Pepperoni Pizza Pasta works really well with all the sorts of wines you would normally have with pizza: I would personally choose an inexpensive Chianti or a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. A Sangiovese from the USA or Australia would also work well, as would a soft fruity Merlot or a young Rioja. (look for the word ‘Joven’ on the label).
Easy One Pot Pepperoni Pizza Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion sliced
- 1 green bell pepper sliced
- 1 yellow bell pepper sliced
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 3 cloves garlic crushed or grated
- 300 g fusilli pasta (or your favourite shape)
- 350 ml passata
- 650 ml water (use the empty passata jar to measure)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 teaspoons dried oregano
- 150 g sliced pepperoni (the kind you buy for pizza toppings)
- 200 g cheddar cheese (or hard mozzarella) grated
- Green salad to serve optional
Method
- Put the oil in a wide ovenproof pan and add the sliced onion and peppers. Fry for 3 minutes over a low heat, with the lid on, until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes, with the lid off.
- Put the pasta, passata and water into the pan, together with the salt and pepper and 2 teaspoons of the oregano. Bring to the boil. Cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes, stirring once or twice until the pasta is nearly al dente. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas mark 7 / 425F.
- Remove the lid. Stir the pasta, then add in half the pepperoni and stir again.
- Sprinkle half the cheddar cheese over the pasta, then arrange the remaining pepperoni on the top of the dish (like a pizza). Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the pepperoni and then sprinkle over the remaining 1 teaspoon of oregano.
- Cook in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbling, the pepperoni is crispy, and the pasta is cooked to your liking.
- Serve with a green salad.
Notes
In order to make this dish truly a one pot dish you need to cook it in a wide, fairly deep pan that is both suitable to go on the stove and in the oven. I use my much loved Le Creuset style sauté pan for this. But anything will do so long as it can be used on the hob and in the oven. If you don’t have anything suitable, then you will need to transfer the dish from a saucepan to an oven dish for the final step.
Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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I am sharing this recipe with Brilliant Blog Posts, Cook Blog Share and Recipe of the Week.
I think if I made this W (my not so young any more youngest) would think he has died and gone to heaven, – so I guess I had better put it on my list of dishes to make 🙂 J and Mr B would be very happy too. Fabulous one pot dish
Hahaha – thanks Jacqui. I’d love to know what he thinks if you do make it 😀 Eb x
I’m with Jacqueline. My picky eater would also think he’d died and gone to heaven if I made this for him! And I love the sound of the lack of washing up.
Aw, thanks Mandy. That’s high praise indeed if you think your picky eater would enjoy it! Eb x
You always seem to come up with delicious pasta dishes and this is no different. I bet children would love this with the pizza toppings but it’s also appealing to adults too! x
Thanks Cat, my kids absolutely love it – especially my pepperoni loving little boy! Eb x
Great recipe, Eb! I’m a big fan of one-pot meals, and this is one that I know the kids will enjoy! (And I will ABSOLUTELY be sneaking some veggies in there!) #recipeoftheweek
Aw, thanks Michelle. One pot meals are so good, aren’t they? Easy and very little washing up! 😀 Eb x
I think this is most children’s idea of the perfect meal, my own kids would eat pepperoni pizza every day if mum wasn’t a food blogger (annoyingly), but seriously, this is a great dish!
Haha – it is certainly very popular with my kids. My little boy especially, who would also eat pepperoni pizza every day if he was allowed!! Eb x
Love this idea Eb!! Reminds me of a tuna pasta bake dish I used to make donkeys years ago – but it was no where near as inspired as this. Ben loves pizza and pasta – so he’d be all over this – I think I’ll definitely have to give this a go 🙂
Thanks Debbie – funny you should say that…I have a tuna version in development – watch this space 😀 Eb x
I need to try one of your one pot pastas Eb! I’ve also been seeing them around over the last few years and am intrigued to see how everything actually gets cooked properly rather than being a mushy mess. This does look good and I know one of my children would love it. x
Haha – yes that intrigued me for a long time too…and if you look at some of the recipes out there on the internet, you just know they ARE going to end up a mushy mess. But I promise you my recipes do not!! I’ve been really surprised by how successfully you can cook pasta in just a small amount of passata and water, and the trick is to undercook the pasta before it goes in the oven, then the oven just finishes off the cooking process and crisps up the top. Now I have a formula that works, there’s no stopping me – I’ve got a few other versions in the planning! Eb x
I love pasta and this just looks so good! I do a similar recipe, but it isn’t one pot and yours looks much better! I will need to try this soon because my boys would love it ?
Thanks Nickki! My kids loved it – it’s a real crowdpleaser 😀 Eb x