Easy Pizza Macaroni Bake
Description
Boxed macaroni and cheese is topped with ground beef, pizza sauce, Cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni slices in this kid-friendly casserole.
Ingredients
•
2 (7 1/4 ounce) packages macaroni and cheese dinner mix (such as Kraft®)
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6 cups water
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1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
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1 pound ground beef
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1 onion, chopped
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1 small green bell pepper, chopped
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1 (14 ounce) jar pizza sauce
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1 (3 1/4 ounce) package sliced pepperoni
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1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
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1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
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1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Directions
1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
2
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Reserving cheese packets, cook macaroni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, 8 minutes. Drain and transfer macaroni to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle one reserved cheese packet over macaroni and top with Cheddar cheese.
3
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef, onion, and bell pepper in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes; drain and discard grease. Stir remaining reserved cheese packet into beef; spread beef mixture over macaroni.
4
Pour pizza sauce over beef mixture and top with pepperoni slices and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle oregano and basil over cheese.
5
Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes.