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Growing up near Chicago, my family took regular trips to downtown Chicago to eat at the original pizzerias. There’s nothing quite so filling and delicious as a hearty deep-dish pizza. But a traditional deep dish pizza takes hours to make and has about a thousand calories a slice.
This shortcut pizza casserole gives you all the flavors that will remind you of a classic deep dish pizza, without all the effort or calories. It’s easy enough that you can make it on any weeknight. Everybody loves the flavors of deep-dish pizza and there’s no trip to Chicago necessary.
Upside Down Pizza Recipe
Almost every family relies on pizza as a regular staple in their list of meals. There’s a reason for that: it’s cheap, easy, and you can feed the whole bunch without a ton of complaints. Between take-out pizza and homemade pizza, you probably have it often enough that you might like a new spin on the old faithful.
The upside-down pizza recipe has all the delicious and hearty flavor of original pizza but mixed up into a new form. It’s different enough from traditional pizza that it will seem like a whole new meal. But it still has the same benefit of all pizza: you go from prep to table without a whole lot of fuss.
Homemade pizza is already easy enough, but this recipe is even simpler than the usual. If you don’t add any extra ingredients beyond what’s already here, there are only five ingredients standing between you and dinner.
The fewer the ingredients, the less time you’ll spend in the kitchen. I don’t know about you, but I have some days where I just don’t want to be in the kitchen for very long. I’d rather spend that time playing with my kids instead. When it’s one of those days where you know the family has to be fed but you just don’t feel like doing it, this is the perfect time-saving dish.
Upside Down Pizza Casserole
This recipe is easy and has super-healthy spinach or broccoli in it. But you can also look at the recipe as just a starting point and add to it at will. Even though it has meat sauce already, my kids can’t get enough of pepperoni. If you add pepperoni to the meat sauce, that gives it more of that traditional supreme pizza taste.
If you want to make this extra deluxe, you can add green bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, or even more meat. The basic recipe is good as is, but this also lends itself well to adding more. Because all the ingredients are on the bottom of the casserole, it doesn’t need to be arranged as artfully as a traditional pizza.
This recipe calls for two cups of cheese, but there’s no rule that you can’t put in more cheese! If your kids (and spouse) are like mine, they’ll cheer for more cheese. I’ve tried this recipe with even double the cheese and it’s still great—even if not as healthy, for sure. Sometimes you need to splurge and what better way than with extra cheese?
I try to help my family eat healthier when I can, so sometimes I serve pizza with a side salad. My kids will eat almost anything with ranch dressing on it, but sometimes they use the ranch to dip their pizza in, too!
With the crust baked on the top, it seals in all the flavors underneath. Slicing into the top will release all the steam and amazing scents. Aren’t you getting hungry already? No trip to Chicago for deep dish necessary when you can make something fast and tasty in your kitchen.
If you enjoyed this recipe, make sure to check out our Pepperoni Pizza Supreme and our Pizzeria Stella Sausage and Veggie Pizza.
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Upside-Down Deep Dish Pizza
- Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 jar (2 pounds) Ragu Rich and Meaty Meat Sauce
- 1 package (10 ounce) frozen chopped spinach or broccoli thawed and squeezed dry (optional)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (about 8 ounces)
- 1 can (10 ounces) refrigerated pizza dough
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In 2-quart baking dish, pour meat sauce.
3. Evenly top with spinach or broccoli.
4. Cover with cheese.
5. Place pizza crust over dish, sealing edges tightly.
6. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
7. Let stand 10 minutes.
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 20 Minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: upside down pizza recipe, upside down pizza casserole