This low prep meal only takes 5 minutes to layer in a casserole dish. Pop it in the oven to bake and you've got a delicious dinner your family will love.
An easy dump and bake dinner that’s quick to prepare with just one dish to wash!
And did I mention it’s CRAZY GOOD? If you’ve landed on this little corner of the Internet, you’re probably looking for easy dinner recipes to make with minimal ingredients. This quick and creative dinner leaves you time to do other things while still serving up a tasty meal for your picky eaters. Add it to your dinner menu for those hectic school nights when you don’t feel like cooking!
In my opinion, the crispy fried tater tots are actually better than a pizza crust because they absorb all of the yummy flavors. Plus, you can toss them right into your dish FROZEN, making for one of the laziest dinners you’ll ever make.
Ingredients
- 1 (32oz) bag frozen tater tots
- 1 (24oz) jar pasta sauce
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 bag pepperoni slices
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
Just like regular pizza, you can bake this pizza-potato casserole with all of your favorite pizza toppings. No need to stop at pepperoni. How about sausage, olives, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, jalapenos, spinach, basil, or garlic? It can be customized to suite your taste with all kinds of traditional pizza toppings.
The ideal thing about this kid friendly dinner casserole is that there’s almost zero planning required. No need to even thaw the tots! Just place everything into a greased baking dish and pop it in the oven. All of the ingredients are common staples that can be stocked and ready to go for last minute meals.
Layer, layer, layer! Less than 5 minutes of prep to make this easy dump and bake dinner.
There’s really no right or wrong way to layer this casserole, but I like to spread a thin layer of pasta sauce onto the bottom to keep everything from sticking. From there, top with pepperoni, half of the tater tots, half of the sauce, and half of the shredded cheese. Then REPEAT! Finish it off with more pepperoni and a bit of optional grated parmesan.
Once you’ve got everything layered, top your dish with foil and bake in 400° F oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking for about 15 minutes, or until the pepperoni starts to crisp and the tots turn golden brown.
Once baked, allow it to cool for about 5 minutes and then let everyone dig in! Half of the tots are crispy while the other half kinda fall apart and absorb the sauce. It’s a wonderful mash up of flavors! Serve as is or with red pepper flakes, parsley, Italian seasoning, or even a drizzle of ranch dressing.
Easy Tater Tot Pizza Dinner Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 (32oz) bag frozen tater tots
- 1 (24oz) jar pasta sauce
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 small bag of pepperoni
- ¼ cup grated parmesan (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F and grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce onto the bottom of your dish and then top with ⅓ of your pepperoni.
- Next, Layer on HALF of the frozen tater tots, HALF of the remaining sauce, HALF of the mozzarella, and another ⅓ of the pepperoni.
- Repeat the layers ending with the last of the pepperoni on top along with grated parmesan. Sprinkle it on to your desire! No need to even measure cheese in my opinion.
- Cover with foil and bake in the center rack of your oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the pepperoni gets crispy and the top layer of tater tots turns golden brown.
- Allow the casserole to cool for about 5 minutes and then serve alone or with red pepper flakes, parsley, Italian seasoning, ranch dressing, or anything else you'd like.
Notes
- The reason I use a tomato based pasta sauce for this recipe instead of pizza sauce (although they are basically the same thing), is because most store-bought pizza sauce is sold in small jars which would require buying two jars with leftovers, doubling the cost for the same result.
- In addition to the pepperoni, feel free to add any of your other favorite pizza toppings to the layers such as crumbled sausage, bell peppers, olives, mushrooms, jalapenos, onions, fresh herbs, spinach, ham, pineapple, etc.
- If you like pizza as much as my family, check out this list of Fun & Easy Dinner Ideas Made With Pepperoni. Everything from quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches to creative casseroles!
Don’t forget to pin and save this easy family dinner casserole for later! 🙂
