Picture the ideal take-out pizza: tangy sauce, gooey cheese, glistening pepperoni cups, a few shakes of dusty oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. It’s all I ever really want on a Saturday night, even if I’m having people over. Somewhere between abandoning the craving for the sake of entertaining and actually just ordering a pizza lies this sheet-pan pasta. Boasting all of the flavors of a good pie with the works, this one comes together easily—with far less effort than most pastas deemed worthy of a dinner party.
Unlike most baked pasta sauces, made in a pot on the stove, you’ll build a concentrated base right on the sheet pan. Toss garlicky, oregano-spiked tomato paste with mushrooms and onions and roast until sticky, then make it saucy with pasta-cooking water. Scrape the vegetable mix into the pasta pot, giving everything a mix, then back onto the sheet pan everyone goes for a blanketing of cheese and its final trip in the oven. Warm from the oven and dotted with beloved toppings (spicy banana peppers, olives, an anchovy or 10), each bite tastes almost exactly like your favorite slice.
Read more: Bake Pasta on a Sheet Pan for Maximum Crisp
