Pepperoni Pizza Mac and Cheese on Stove

If you love our Ninja Foodi macaroni and cheese but want to take it another step further to ultimate yum, this pizza mac and cheese will your favorite two dinners together into one!

Pizza Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

So you’ve made our microwave mac and cheese recently and thought “why didn’t I think of this and why didn’t I make it earlier?” Well now you can take it a step further at the end with olives, crumbled sausage, spicy pepperoni, like all the things.

We have even thrown on last night’s leftovers to make a more unusual brisket mac and cheese dish. I mean the possibilities are endless when it comes to making your favorite “pie”. I’m not sure the Canadian bacon and pineapple version would work well on top but just about anything savory goes.

Pizza Mac and Cheese Kraft

To start with you could make the base semi homemade out of the box. Almost everyone has eaten this popular lunch on the stovetop but you can also make Kraft mac and cheese in Instant Pot. Benefit to this method is there is no draining required at all.

If you don’t already have your favorite homemade mac and cheese recipe I will share a simple one with you below. You can whip that part together in a pot and then to layer it all together I like using a cast iron skillet. That way you can pop it in the oven and melt the cheese on the top.

Ingredients

1. Typically you’d use elbow macaroni but you could use any smaller noodle
2. Heavy whipping cream is best to get the sauce thick
3. 3 cups of mozzarella cheese
4. Salt and pepper are basic seasonings
5. 1/2 cup marinara sauce, pizza sauce or even spaghetti sauce works
6. Toppings like pepperoni, bell peppers, red pepper flakes to make it spicy etc…

A pot to make it initially and a cast iron pan or 9×9 baking dish for the final step. If you allow it to cool this will solidify together and you can basically slice it like a pie. I don’t really care about that and just use a large serving spoon to scoop it out like a casserole.

Variations

Once you get the hang of this you can swap in different add ins and proteins to make this old fashioned dish just more fun. Like our Hamburger Mac and Cheese using leftover ground beef makes this dish just more hearty. For this one you’re going to need;

Another is to boil small shells or elbow macaroni until al dente, boil ingredients for cheese separately, fold together and then go on to the pizza step. If you wanted to just fold the toppings into the noodles like our Instant Pot pizza pasta that would skip the broiling all together.

How to Make Pizza Mac and Cheese

• Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a cast iron skillet with a bit of olive oil and set aside. Prepare the pasta according to package directions. Drain but do not rinse.
  • Place pasta back in the saucepan and whisk in milk (whipping cream is recommended or it will be thinner), 2 cups cheese, salt and pepper.
• Set skillet over medium high heat until cheese sauce is completely melted.
  • Pour the mac and cheese into the prepared skillet.
  • Spread the tomato sauce over the center, then top with remaining 1 cup shredded cheese and toppings.
• Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes to lightly brown.

If you needed a larger batch of this you could easily double it. Pour into a 9×13″ pan so it fits and add all the things to the top. I will say black olive slices are out of this world too.

After you make this macaroni and cheese pizza you can think outside of the box even more. Make a pressure cooker meat lovers macaroni and cheese version with brisket leftovers and sausage, bacon and more.

Other dinner recipes in a cast iron you’ll love

You could use a second pan and make flank steak cast iron to serve on the side and enjoy both. A great way to add protein sliced on top or diced and mixed inside.

Once you fall in love with this you might want to use this skillet for other dishes. I would do just that. Our cast iron salmon is a close second on our list of faves.