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Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie combines sliced zucchini, Italian sausage, onions, and bell pepper with tomato sauce and cheese – all baked in a pie crust until golden brown. Slice and serve like a deep-dish pizza.
Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie
After a slow start this summer, our garden is finishing strong with tons of zucchini to be picked. One of our new favorite zucchini recipes is this fantastic Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie.
We start by lining a casserole dish with store-bought pie crust, then fill the crust with sliced zucchini, cooked and crumbled sweet Italian sausage, onions, bell pepper, a quick homemade tomato sauce, and two kinds of cheese.
After baking in the oven until hot and bubbly with a golden crust, let the pie set up before slicing it for serving.
Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie is a dish that’s great for family meals, game day parties, or any other time you want something delicious and satisfying.
Why you’ll love Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie
- The combination of flavors in this Italian-inspired pizza pie is simply delicious.
- Even picky eaters will gladly eat this dish – and parents can feel good about feeding more vegetables to your kids.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pie Crusts – We used two dough circles from one box of store-bought refrigerated pie crusts. If you prefer, you can make your own pie crust instead, but the boxed crusts are easy to use and very convenient – plus they taste great. (Also see Chef’s Tip below for other crust ideas.)
- Sweet Italian Sausage – You can buy the sausage in bulk, or buy one pound of the sausage links and remove the meat from the casings.
- Fresh Zucchini – You’ll need about a pound, cut into slices. You can swap in yellow summer squash if you have that on hand.
- Sweet Onion
- Yellow Bell Pepper – Or any other color bell pepper, but we liked the colorful contrast and sweetness of the yellow peppers.
- Tomato Sauce – You’ll make a quick sauce with canned crushed or pureed tomatoes, olive oil and spices including dried oregano, basil and red pepper flakes. Or use your favorite jarred sauce.
- Cheese – Both shredded mozzarella and grated Parmesan cheeses are included in this recipe.
Special Tools Needed
- Large Sauté Pan
- 9×13-inch Oven-Safe Casserole Dish
- Several Parchment Paper Sheets
- Cutting board and Sharp knife
- Various Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Strainer and Bowl
How do I make Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie?
- Line a 9×13-inch casserole dish casserole dish with parchment, leaving the edges long enough so you’ll have handles to lift the pizza pie after it bakes. Cut in from each corner so the parchment fits.
- Connect two pie crust circles together, then trim and patch to fit a 9×13-inch casserole dish with some crust overhanging. Carefully lay the crust over the parchment paper in the casserole dish.
- Sauté the Italian sausage. Drain excess fat into a bowl.
- Brown zucchini slices in a little of the saved sausage fat.
- Sauté onions, peppers and garlic in olive oil.
- Make fresh sauce by combining canned tomatoes with olive oil, sugar, salt, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes.
- Layer ingredients in the crust (see recipe below for specifics).
- Bake until the crust and cheese on top are golden and the pie is hot and bubbly inside.
- Let rest 15 minutes, then cut into eight portions and serve.
Chef’s Tip
This recipe can easily be adapted to use puff pastry dough or pizza dough in place of pie crusts. Baking time will vary.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie ahead of time? You can assemble the pie ahead of time but serve it freshly baked. Also keep in mind that if you’ve chilled the pie before baking, the baking time will vary.
- How do I store leftovers? Store covered and refrigerated for up to three days.
- How do I reheat leftovers? Reheat in the oven or microwave. Note that the crust will be softer if reheated in the microwave.
- Can I freeze this pizza pie? We don’t recommend it.
You might like these other Pizza Recipes:
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Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie
Zucchini Sausage Pizza Pie combines sliced zucchini, Italian sausage, onions, and bell pepper with tomato sauce and cheese – all baked in a pie crust until golden brown. Slice and serve like a deep-dish pizza.
Ingredients
2 pie crust circles (1 box)
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 pound fresh zucchini, sliced into quarter inch slices (about two medium zucchini)
1 large sweet onion, cut into thick half-moon slices
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can crushed or pureed tomatoes
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon dry basil
Pinch red pepper flakes
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Take one sheet of parchment paper and cut in three inches from each corner. Then place in 9X13 casserole dish. The edges will fold in on themselves and the parchment will fit the entire dish perfectly.
- Lay out the two pie dough circles and cut and patch to make one rectangle that will fit into the parchment lined sheet tray. If you overlap the two circles, cut along the overlap, remove that piece and then patch the two together. Then take the piece you removed and use it to fill in the edges. This all sounds tedious but was actually quite simple. We had the two pieces patched together in two minutes.
- Fold the finished dough in half the long way, lift and place into casserole dish and unfold. It should cover the bottom and go up all four sides. If not, easy to patch with scraps or overhanging pieces.
- Place one tablespoon of the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat and once hot, add sausage meat and chop and toss to brown. Pour into a strainer over a bowl to drain.
- Add one tablespoon of the sausage fat back into the pan and start frying the zucchini slices in batches so that they lay flat while cooking. Flip and cook about one minute per side. Remove to a plate covered in paper towels. Use up to two tablespoons total of the reserved sausage fat to cook all of the zucchini then discard the remaining fat. Pat the zucchini dry.
- In the same pan, add two tablespoons of olive oil and once hot, add onions and cook for two minutes. Add one more tablespoon of oil and add the pepper strips and continue to cook until the vegetables are tender. Add garlic and cook for one more minute. Remove to a bowl.
- Add remaining oil and once hot, shut off burner and add canned tomatoes, sugar, salt, oregano, basil and pepper flakes. Whisk to combine then pour into a bowl.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Start layering into pie dough covered casserole dish in this order;
- One third mozzarella
- One half cooked sausage
- One third sauce
- All of the pepper and onion mixture
- All of the zucchini feathered on top of the layer below it
- One third of the sauce
- One third of the mozzarella
- The rest of the sausage
- The rest of the sauce
- The rest of the mozzarella
- And all of the grated Parmesan
- Fold the edges of the crust in toward the center of the dish.
- Bake for 35 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let set up for 15 minutes before cutting.
- Cut into eight portions and serve. The mixture will be somewhat loose, almost like a cross between a pizza and a lasagna. Use a heavy spatula the same width as each slice to remove portions.
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Notes
The longer the pizza pie sits out of the oven, the more set-up it will become. However, this is meant to look and serve rustic style, so does not have to be perfect looking pieces.
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