There’s no easier, more comforting dinner on the fly than this easy pizza bowl recipe! Garlicky marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, succulent Italian sausage, and whatever else you love as pizza toppings are baked in individual servings until the cheese is bubbling and melted and the pepperoni is crispy at the edges.
Whether you’re low-carbing it with a keto diet and eat this crave-worthy dish with a spoon, or scoop it up with crusty bread, you’re going to satisfy any pizza craving with these easy pizza bowls. It’s got all the delicious elements of pizza, but it’s faster than a take-out traditional pizza
One of the best things about our budget friendly pizza bowl recipe is that you can customize it for every single member of the family and make almost an infinity of different versions in one go. It’s less expensive and less time-consuming to make than regular pizza, too.
Got a vegetarian? Leave out the sausage and pepperoni and amp up the veggie content.
Have a meat lover? Toss in some chopped Canadian bacon or ham, too! These delicious pizza bowls are incredible with pineapple tidbits on them for a Hawaiian pizza should the fancy strike you, too.
In short, if the combination works on a pizza, it’ll work in a pizza bowl. We’re talking about a surefire hit every time.
There’s so little meal prep that needs to be done for this easy dinner and it’s a great way to use up odds and ends of things that are lingering in your refrigerator. These are definitely low carb bowls if you don’t serve with bread for dipping.
You can also use a cut up cauliflower pizza crust for dipping if you want to maintain the low-carb keto pizza bowl recipe angle. I’m a bread girl, myself, but from time to time my husband tries to reduce his carbs.
Pizza Bowls
We’ll get into our ingredients and equipment lists straight away because this is one very easy recipe. I’m going to give you the simple ingredients list for our whole family’s favourite pizza bowls, but feel free to change it up and make it your own!
Ingredients
- Olive oil or olive oil non-stick cooking spray
- Marinara sauce or pizza sauce
- Mozzarella cheese
- Italian Sausage Crumbles
- Pepperoni
- Pizza Seasoning or Italian seasoning
When it comes to choosing marinara sauce or pizza sauce, go where the spirit leaves you. You can either make your own in a slow cooker or simply stir a couple tablespoons of our fabulous pizza seasoning into some plain tomato sauce. Remember convenience is the name of the game on this recipe.
I like part-skim mozzarella cheese for these bowls because it melts nicely and gives you a glorious cheese pull. You can certainly use whole milk mozzarella or fresh mozzarella, but I think they’re a little over-the-top for this dish.
I either buy pre-cooked Italian sausage meat crumbles from the pizza counter at our local grocery store or plan ahead and cook extra when I’m making Wegman’s copycat lasagna soup. If you’re so inclined, you can even use “Beyond Sausage” for this. Any which way works fine!
I am a big fan of the small, spicy cup-and-char pepperoni because I love the little crispy curled edges. If that’s not available, any pepperoni you love should work well!
From regular pepperoni to turkey pepperoni to vegan faux pepperoni, go with what moves you. This is a truly customizable dish!
Speaking of customizable, my kids might disagree but I love to put a handful of baby spinach leaves under my cheese in my pizza bowls. Thinly sliced onions, chopped bell pepper, banana peppers, browned ground beef, and so many more pizza ingredients work in this crustless pizza bowl recipe.
There are lots of fun ingredients you can add to this low-carb dinner, so get creative! Make these pizza bowls your own!
Pizza Bowl
Let’s get into the equipment now. This is a ridiculously short list; it does, however, have a couple of details that are important.
Equipment
- Serving size oven safe bowls or oven safe ramekins or mini gratin pans
- Half Sheet Pan
- Oven Mitts
The really crucial item to keep in mind here is that you need oven safe bowls or ramekins. Most dishes that are oven safe are marked “oven safe” on the bottom.
Ramekins are adorable and almost always oven safe, but do check to be sure. Unless we’re serving our pizza bowl recipe as appetizers, though, that’s just not a big enough serving for our hearty-eaters.
We find that soup crocks (usually around 18 ounces capacity each) are a better size for us. And if we use ones that have handles, it makes holding them to get that last bit of gloriously flavourful pizza filling out of them.
If you do use ramekins, you’ll need to use at least 8 to 10 of them. Also, add only about 3 tablespoons of pizza sauce to each ramekin and divide the remaining toppings appropriately between them.
We don’t fill them to the top, but the extra space allows them to bubble beautifully without spilling over. Take out a little insurance anyway and place whichever bowls you decide to use on a half sheet pan.
God forbid a bowl should break (if you forgot to see whether it’s oven safe!) or the contents should bubble up and over the edge. If it does, though, the baking sheet will protect your oven floor and prevent smoking spills!
Pizza Bowl Recipe
Preheat your oven to 425ºF.
Line up the oven-safe bowls on your sheet pan and lightly brush or spray the insides with olive oil.
Divide the marinara or pizza sauce evenly between the bowls followed by the Italian sausage crumbles.
Divide and scatter a layer of mozzarella over the sausage, followed by the pepperoni slices and a sprinkling of the pizza seasoning.
Bake for 20- 25 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly, the cheese is melted and golden brown, and the pepperoni is curling at the edges.
Remove the pan from the oven and let the bowls stand for 5 minutes before transferring each to a serving plate. They will still be warm, so caution your eaters!
Serve with a spoon or with crusty bread for scooping. French bread, Italian bread, garlic bread, pita bread, breadsticks, and naan are all good dipping choices.
Pizza Bowl Recipe
Rate RecipeEquipment
- 6 8 to 10 ounce (or four 18-oz)oven safe bowls, dishes, or ramekins
- 1 half sheet pan
- 2 oven mitts
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil or olive oil non-stick cooking spray
- 1 1/2 cups Marinara sauce or pizza sauce
- 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup Italian Sausage Crumbles
- 20 slices Pepperoni up to 24 slices
- 1 teaspoon Pizza Seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425ºF.
- Line up the oven-safe bowls on your sheet pan and lightly brush or spray the insides with olive oil.
- Divide the marinara or pizza sauce evenly between the bowls followed by the Italian sausage crumbles.
- Layer the cheese over the sausage, followed by the pepperoni slices and a sprinkling of the pizza seasoning.
- Bake for 20- 25 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly, the cheese is melted and golden brown, and the pepperoni is curling at the edges.
- Remove the pan from the oven and let the bowls stand for 5 minutes before transferring each to a serving plate. They will still be warm, so caution your eaters!
- Serve with a spoon or with crusty bread for scooping. French bread, Italian bread, garlic bread, pita bread, breadsticks, and naan are all good dipping choices.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Reader's Thoughts...
Shea says
This is fate, lol. Just started low carb/keto and was craving pizza like mad. Then this popped up in my email. This is amazing! I might even share with my kids, but probably not. 😉
Rebecca says
HAHAHAHAHAAHAH. Yeah… you can make one for them. Just make TWO for you! Thank you for taking the time to rate the recipe and let me know you love it!