When you can take two of your favorite things and combine them, it’s a beautiful thing. And that’s just what Pizza Lasagna is — a beautiful thing AND two of my favorite things, combined. It really does taste like pizza night but with the comforting vibe that only pasta can provide. It might not ever replace classic lasagna but sometimes you just need to switch things up, and Pizza Lasagna is just the way to do it.

I suppose you could take the flavors of any pizza and make them into lasagna but I find the flavors of a combination pizza work wonderfully here. A little Italian sausage, some pepperoni, bell pepper, sliced olives… it’s a winning combo. You’ll need one box of lasagna noodles, some mozzarella and parm, and of course, the sauce. You can use marinara or pizza sauce.

But what’s the difference between marinara and pizza sauce? Honestly, not a lot. Pizza sauce is thicker, so it doesn’t bog down the crust, and it tends to be flavored more simply. Either one will work here and the end result will still remind you of pizza.

I am basically allergic to boiling lasagna noodles — I avoid it all costs. It’s tedious, they stick together… you know what I mean. My favored method is just to soak the lasagna noodles in hot water while I work on getting the rest of the ingredients ready. This gives them a head start so you can be sure that every nook and cranny will cook through in the oven.

There isn’t a ton of prep to do here, you’ll just need to brown the sausage and soften the onion and bell pepper in the same pan before you can get to layering. The layers consist of lasagna noodles, a ricotta/egg mixture, mozzarella, pepperoni, sausage, black olives, the bell pepper and onion mixture, and some sauce. Repeat and repeat until you reach the top of the pan.

I wouldn’t usually use parmesan in the shaker can for lasagna or a baked pasta dish, but this is one instance where it just feels right. It really gives you that pizza parlor feel!