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This unusual recipe combines the delicious appeal of pepperoni pizza with the timeless charm of lasagna, and the resulting pepperoni lasagna boasts so much incredible flavor. It’s hearty, meaty, cheesy, and delicious. The whole family is going to love this tasty blend of lasagna noodles, tomato sauce, cheese, herbs and seasonings, and pepperoni.
This pepperoni lasagna makes an exciting change from your regular dinnertime meals and it’s sure to be a brand new family favorite.
Also try ham provolone lasagna roll-ups, stuffed rigatoni pasta pie, eggplant lasagna or a margherita pizza. Tortellini alla panna is tasty too.
Why You’ll Love It
So tasty: The flavors in this tasty pepperoni pizza lasagna are incredibly good. You get all those wonderful lasagna flavors you know and love, with the added appeal of pepperoni and sweet Italian sausage.
Easy to make: This recipe isn’t difficult at all, and you’ll mainly be combining the ingredients, cooking them and then assembling all the lovely lasagna layers.
Family-friendly: Nobody can resist this delicious lasagna pepperoni recipe and even the kids will love it. This is a meal that everyone is going to enjoy.
Lasagna with Pepperoni Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below
Lasagna noodles: One of the main ingredients. You can use your preferred brand.
Meat: Sweet Italian sausage and pepperoni add plenty of meaty appeal to the dish. You can use turkey pepperoni instead of pork if that’s your preference.
Tomatoes: Tomato paste (tomato concentrate) and crushed tomatoes combine to make the juicy, flavorful sauce.
Herbs and seasonings: Brown sugar, dried basil, parsley and oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and a splash of apple cider vinegar add plenty of flavor to your pepperoni pizza lasagna. I like to garnish the finished lasagna with sprigs of fresh basil.
Cheese: Parmesan cheese, mozzarella and ricotta cheese add plenty of savory, creamy appeal.
Olive oil: For frying the Italian sausage. If it’s fatty or you have a good nonstick pan, you might not need it. Or you can sub nonstick cooking spray.
How to Make Pepperoni Sausage Lasagna
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card
Start the sauce: Brown the Italian sausage in a splash of olive oil in a large pot. Add the pepperoni, tomato paste, brown sugar, basil, parsley, oregano, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onions powder, and red pepper flakes, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add a little more salt if needed.
Deglaze the pan: Add 1 cup water, crushed tomatoes and apple cider vinegar, bringing the sauce to a simmer over a medium heat.
Add the parmesan: Stir in the parmesan cheese and cook briefly over a low heat, then set the pan to one side.
Combine the cheeses: Mix the ricotta cheese with a little more than half the mozzarella cheese in a medium bowl.
Assemble the lasagna: Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and add a layer of the lasagna noodles and then a layer of meat sauce, spreading it out to cover the noodles. Add more noodles and then spoon in the ricotta mixture and then another lasagna noodles layer. Add more pasta sauce, then more noodles, and then the remaining pasta sauce and finally sprinkle on the rest of the shredded mozzarella cheese.
Bake: Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling. If it browns too fast, you can cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake a little longer. Remove foil afterwards.
The finishing touches: Let the lasagna cool for 15 minutes and then serve garnished with parmesan and fresh basil.
Substitutions and Variations
Gluten-free option: If you want a gluten-free version, use gluten-free lasagna noodles (these are my fave!)
Different meats: If you don’t want to use regular pepperoni or turkey pepperoni, you can use ham or another deli meat. As for the sweet sausage, try mild sausage or hot sausage if you prefer. You can even use ground beef or a ground beef and ground pork blend if you want a more traditional flavor.
Additional veggies: You can finely chop some vegetables and add them to the sauce. Mushrooms, zucchini and bell peppers are also tasty options.
Serving Suggestions
Side dishes: Enjoy some garlic bread or panzanella salad on the side. These Italian sides are also delicious.
For dessert: Finish up with berry cheesecake tart or one of these mouthwatering strawberry recipes.
How to Store Pepperoni Lasagna
Store: Keep leftovers for up to 3 days in a covered container in the refrigerator.
Freeze: You can freeze it for up to 3 months.
Thaw: Defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
Reheat: You can reheat this in the microwave or in a hot oven.
Top Tips
Perfect pepperoni: Although the thin slices of pepperoni you use on pizzas will work if that’s all you can find, chunks of pepperoni work better. You can either buy a whole pepperoni link or ask the deli counter to cut you some 1/4-inch thick slices and then you can roughly chop those.
Oven-ready noodles: You can use these if you prefer, but add a splash of water to the sauce so it doesn’t dry out too much. I prefer to use regular noodles because they have a nicer chew to them.
Let it cool: Leaving the pepperoni pizza lasagna on the countertop for 10 or 15 minutes before serving serves two purposes. First, it cools down a little so you won’t burn your mouth on piping hot lasagna, and second, the lasagna settles a bit so you can cut it into cleaner portions.
Lasagna Recipe with Pepperoni FAQs
If you’ve been looking for new lasagna ideas, you might not have thought about pepperoni and Italian sausage but these work so well and it might become your brand new favorite pizza recipe! Pepperoni enhances the savory flavor, offers a contrasting texture and also offers some. And then the sausage tastes great in there too. It’s almost like a sausage and pepperoni pizza but in lasagna form, and it’s absolutely amazing!
Although a dish with pepperoni and sausage might not seem like the ideal candidate for vegetarianizing you can make a veggie version. Sub the meat ingredients for extra veggies, such as mushrooms and eggplant, or use TVP, tempeh, jackfruit, or tofu.
This might sound like an unusual ingredient but I never omit it from homemade lasagna. You know when something made using canned tomatoes can take on an almost metallic taste? Well a glug of vinegar seems to remedy this. You won’t taste it in the finished pepperoni lasagna.
Pepperoni Pizza Lasagna Recipe
Pepperoni Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 Pound lasagna noodles, cooked to almost al dente
- 1 Pound Italian sausage, sweet
- 6 Ounces pepperoni, chopped
- 6 Ounces tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon basil, dried
- 1 Teaspoon parsley, dried
- ½ Tablespoon oregano, dried
- ½ Teaspoon salt
- ½ Teaspoon black pepper
- ½ Teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ Teaspoon onion powder
- ½ Teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 28 Ounces crushed tomatoes
- 1 Cup water
- 2 Teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ Cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 16 Ounces mozzarella, freshly shredded
- 8 Ounces ricotta cheese, whole milk
- olive oil, as needed
- fresh basil, optional, to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a 9 x 13-inch or similar size baking dish by lightly spraying with oil.
- In a large sauté pan, brown the Italian sausage in a splash of olive oil.
- Add the chopped pepperoni, tomato paste, brown sugar, basil, parsley, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes to the browned sausage.
- Mix well and cook on medium high for a couple of minutes before deglazing the pan with the crushed tomatoes, water, and apple cider vinegar. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up any stuck-on bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer, stir in the parmesan cheese and cook until melted and combined. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- In a bowl, mix together a little more than half of the mozzarella with all of the ricotta cheese.
- Layer the bottom of your greased 9 x 13-inch pan with a single layer of the par-cooked noodles.
- Spoon just a little less than half of the meat sauce over the top of the noodles, and spread out evenly to fully cover the layer of noodles.
- Cover the sauce with another layer of noodles.
- Add all the cheese mixture evenly across the noodles, add then another layer of noodles on top of the cheese mixture.
- Spoon most of the remaining sauce over the layer of noodles, and cover the sauce with one last layer of noodles.
- Cover the top of the lasagna with a thin layer of the sauce, then generously cover with the remaining mozzarella.
- Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden.
- Let the lasagna cool for 15 minutes. Cut into servings and garnish with fresh basil and parmesan cheese.
Notes
Oven-ready noodles: You can use these if you prefer, but add a splash of water to the sauce so it doesn’t dry out too much. I prefer to use regular noodles because they have a nicer chew to them.
Let it cool: Leaving the pepperoni pizza lasagna on the countertop for 10 or 15 minutes before serving serves two purposes. First, it cools down a little so you won’t burn your mouth on piping hot lasagna, and second, the lasagna settles a bit so you can cut it into cleaner portions.
Nutrition
This tasty dish is perfect for dinner. It’s made with pepperoni, sausage, lasagna noodles, a shredded mozzarella and ricotta mixture, herbs, seasonings, tomatoes, and more. The pepperoni adds a salty, savory flavor as well as a contrasting texture and the sausage makes a change from the more conventional ground beef. This comfort-style dinner is going to thrill everyone at the dinner table, for sure!
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Pepperoni in lasagna? So good! It’s hearty, cheesy, and everyone loved it at dinner.
I just tried this recipe. It was so tasty! Will make it again. Thanks!