My college roommate showed me how to make this delicious comfort meal using just 4 ingredients and it is incredibly good.

This oven baked 4-ingredients sheet pan pizza pasta is one of those cozy, no-fuss meals that feels like a hug in a pan. My college roommate showed me how to make it on a tight budget with just pasta, jarred sauce, shredded mozzarella, and pepperoni, and I’ve been making it ever since. Everything bakes together on a foil-lined sheet pan until the rotini gets a little crispy around the edges, the cheese melts and browns, and the pepperoni curls up just like a good pizzeria pie. It’s perfect for busy weeknights, feeding hungry kids after activities, or when you just want an easy, comforting dinner without a lot of dishes.

Serve this pizza pasta hot right from the sheet pan with a simple green salad or some sliced cucumbers and carrot sticks to balance out the richness. Garlic bread or buttered toast soldiers are great for scooping up the extra sauce and cheese. If you’d like to round it out a bit more for adults, pair it with a glass of red wine or sparkling water with lemon, and maybe a small bowl of olives or a quick store-bought antipasto mix. Leftovers reheat well for lunch the next day, and my kids love it packed in a thermos.

Servings: 4–6

12 oz dry rotini pasta

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a rimmed sheet pan with aluminum foil, making sure the foil comes slightly up the sides to catch any sauce or cheese that melts over.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the rotini pasta and cook 2 minutes less than the package directions for al dente (you want it a bit firm since it will bake more in the oven). Drain the pasta well.

Return the drained rotini to the warm pot and pour in the jarred pizza or marinara sauce. Stir until all the pasta is evenly coated in the sauce. If it looks very dry, you can splash in a tablespoon or two of water using the empty jar to rinse the last bit of sauce into the pot.

Spread the sauced rotini evenly over the foil-lined sheet pan, making sure it’s in a fairly even layer so it bakes and crisps a little along the edges.

Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella evenly over the pasta, covering as much of the surface as you can. This will give you a nice cheesy blanket that melts and browns in the oven.

Arrange the pepperoni slices over the top of the cheese. You can scatter them randomly or line them up in rows, but try not to overlap too much so they have room to curl and crisp as they bake.

Place the sheet pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted, bubbling, and starting to turn golden brown in spots and the pepperoni edges are curled and a little crispy.

If you like extra crispy cheese and pepperoni, switch the oven to broil for 1–3 minutes at the end, watching very closely so it doesn’t burn. Pull the pan out as soon as the top looks browned to your liking.

Let the pizza pasta rest on the counter for about 5 minutes so the cheese can set slightly. Use a spatula to scoop generous portions, making sure to get some of the crispy edge pieces for anyone who loves that extra texture.

Serve hot right from the sheet pan, and store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven or toaster oven to bring back some of that crispiness.

For picky eaters, you can leave part of the sheet pan without pepperoni and just make a plain cheese version; I like to mentally divide the pan into sections before topping. If someone doesn’t love pepperoni, you can swap it for another pizza-style topping that still keeps the ingredient list short, like cooked crumbled sausage or sliced cooked chicken, but try to keep it to one protein so it stays simple. To sneak in a bit more nutrition without changing the feel of the dish, use whole wheat rotini or a high-protein pasta; the sauce and cheese do a great job of keeping everything tasting like comfort food. For extra flavor without adding more ingredients, choose a bold, garlicky pizza sauce and a mozzarella that melts well (a blend of part-skim and whole milk mozzarella browns nicely). If you’re cooking for a crowd, double the recipe and use two sheet pans, swapping their positions halfway through baking so they brown evenly. To make clean-up even easier, spray the foil lightly with cooking spray before adding the pasta so any crispy cheese bits release more easily. And if you have a little extra time, you can par-bake the sauced pasta alone for 5 minutes before adding the cheese and pepperoni; this helps the top layer of pasta get even crispier under the cheese, which my kids absolutely love.