Meatball Sub Casserole
All the flavors of a great meatball sub are combined in this easy casserole! Made in one pan, and using frozen/pantry items, it’s a favorite among both kids and adults!
This Meatball Sub Casserole is one of my favorite meals to cook for my family. We really love one pot meals, and this one is always a winner… like my Cheesesteak Pasta and Chicken Parmesan Pasta! This is one of my One Pot Meals I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
This post was originally sponsored by Cooked Perfect Meatballs.
MEATBALL SUB CASSEROLE
If you love a great meatball sub, you’ll love this bubble up bake! Made with everyday ingredients, and in one pan, this meal is ready and on the table in less than an hour.
How are you all doing with the COVID-19 pandemic? This is such a confusing and ominous time, and I think most of us are still spinning and trying to figure out how to shift our lifestyle to cope with bare grocery shelves, lack of schooling, and restaurants closing (at least in my area).
I just wanted to say that I’m here for you – and I’ve gone through my entire recipe collection to catalog all the recipes that are freezer-friendly. This is a great time to not only make some freezer meals for yourselves, but for your elderly neighbor, or a friend who’s pregnant, etc.
You stay home, stay safe, and I’ll keep working on recipes for when the world settles down again… we all have to eat right?
HOW TO MAKE MEATBALL SUB CASSEROLE
- Cut each biscuit into 8 pieces. Cutting them this small allows them to fully cook, as well as make them more bite-sized.
- Add biscuit pieces to oven-safe skillet. I love using my cast iron for this, but a regular 13×9 pan will work as well.
- Top with marinara and seasonings. For ease of preparation, I love to use my favorite bottled brand, but if you have homemade on hand, you can use that.
- Stir to coat biscuits in mixture.
- Nestle in the meatballs. I prefer to use thawed meatballs here, so nothing gets soggy.
- Cover with 1/2 the cheese. I like to only use half now, so when the last half gets added, it’s nice and gooey.
- Cover with foil. To help the cheese not stick to the foil, spray one side of the foil with cooking spray and cover with the sprayed side down.
- Bake for 30 minutes, then uncover, top with last 1/2 cheese and bake 15 minutes more. Baking it covered for most of the time ensures the biscuits will be cooked all the way through.
The best part about this meatball sub bubble up bake is that during that 45 minute cook time, it’s totally hands off! All you have to do is uncover the skillet about 30 minutes into the cook time.
So you can hang out with your family, go oversee the homework, fold some laundry, or just go sit down and relax!
WHAT TO SERVE WITH THIS CASSEROLE
To go alongside this meal, I like to serve a Caesar salad.
Since the bubble up bake has bread in it, I usually don’t serve bread, but if you’re feeling like you need some extra garlicky goodness in your life, this cheesy garlic bread is our family’s go-to!
VARIATIONS OF THIS RECIPE
- GARLIC HERB – For extra flavor, melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter and stir in some minced garlic and dried Italian seasoning. Toss biscuit pieces in garlic herb butter before adding to skillet.
- HOMEMADE MEATBALLS – I love using frozen meatballs for convenience, but every now and then I like to switch it up and make my own. I use this meatball recipe, and bake at 400 F degrees for 20 minutes.
- TOPPINGS – Feel free to add any additional toppings you like! Mushrooms, peppers, etc.
MAKING MEATBALL SUB CASSEROLE AHEAD OF TIME
I’ve not tried to assemble this casserole ahead of time and refrigerate it, so I can’t say for certain if that would work well.
FREEZING
This recipe is great to make and freeze! Bake about 10 minutes less than directed, then cool completely and freeze.
To thaw, place overnight in the refrigerator, and then bake at 350 F degrees for about 20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
STORAGE
Leftover should be refrigerated in an airtight container and consumed within 5 days.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT FOR THIS RECIPE
- Cast Iron Skillet – I use my cast iron pan for SO many things, you love it!
I hope you all give this meatball sub bubble up bake recipe a try… I’m sure you’ll love it!!
BE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT OTHER READERS’ COMMENTS FOR TIPS AND REVIEWS.
AND DON’T FORGET, IF YOU’VE MADE THIS RECIPE, LEAVE A COMMENT AND PLEASE GIVE IT A STAR RATING LETTING ME KNOW HOW YOU ENJOYED IT!
Recipe originally published in 2017 and has been updated in 2020 with additional information.

Meatball Sub Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 can 8 count refrigerated biscuits
- 14 oz bag Frozen Italian Style Meatballs, thawed - (I use the 1/2 oz size meatball, which has about 28 meatballs in the bag)
- 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- fresh basil or parsley, minced - (optional - for garnish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F degrees and spray a large oven safe skillet or 3 qt baking dish with non stick spray. Set aside. Lightly spray one side of a piece of aluminum foil with non stick spray and set aside.
- Remove biscuit dough from can and slice each biscuit into 8 pieces. Add to greased skillet or baking dish.
- Top with marinara sauce, garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Stir around to mix seasonings into sauce and coat dough in sauce.
- Nestle thawed meatballs into and on top of the dough pieces. Cover with half the shredded cheese, and cover skillet or dish with foil, sprayed side down.
- Bake for 30 minutes, remove foil, add remaining cheese, and bake another 15 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted. If desired, broil a minute or two.
- Serve hot, garnished with fresh herbs, if using.
Notes
If changing the recipe serving quantity, the recipe plugin will change the ingredient values for you, but it does NOT change the written instructions, those are manually added and not subject to a slider/button. You will have to extrapolate that multiplication to any amounts listed in the instructions.
For example: if an ingredient calls for 4 cups, and you doubled the recipe, it will automatically change to 8 cups. In the instructions, if I say “use 4 cups of cheese”, you will have to realize that since you doubled it, you use 8 cups, not 4
Do you think I could use sausage instead of meatballs? Or would it be too greasy? My family doesn’t care for them.
I’ve only tested this recipe as written. So without testing and retesting it myself, I can’t say for certain if that would work. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out!
Should I do anything different if I’m using dinner-sized 1oz meatballs? I guess I could cut them in half after they are thawed, before cooking!
To make it a bit easier to enjoy a bite that’s more than just meatball, I’d cut them in half, but other than that, no changes necessary 🙂
Could you sub canned biscuits for canned croissants??
I’ve only tested this recipe as written, so I can’t say for certain, but I think it would work well.
This sounds so good, I have to try it. Thank you…
So delicious, we’ve made it twice this week!
We tried this last night and it was delicious. We will definitely be making this many more times!
Hi i live in australia no such thing as canned refridgerated buscuits what do i use instead?
Do you have any frozen biscuits? You could thaw those.
Can you use a 9inch cast iron skillet instead of 12 for this recipe?
You can, although it may be a tad full.
What biscuits are you actually using?
I usually use Pillsbury Grands biscuits.
Sounds yummy! If using homemade meatballs, would they need to be precooked before adding to casserole or could they go straight into the casserole and cooked all together?
I’d probably bake them about halfway through, just so they stay together and the casserole doesn’t get greasy 🙂
This was fantastic and fun! I did make my own meatballs and so glad I did. Way better then any sub!
Thank you.
Stay safe and healthy.
RF
A casserole that will go down in my family’s history! Meatballs and casseroles are the best!
This is one casserole that I know my kids will love. What a great idea for dinner tonight.
My kind of comfort food!! Everyone at my house really loved it!
Served this for dinner last night and it has easily become a new family favorite dinner! Looking forward to enjoying leftovers tonight!
My family would LOVE this!! It looks SO good!!
Look at all of that cheesy goodness! This will be a winner at my house this week!
This Meatball Sub Casserole looks absolutely delicious! Yummy!
This is definitely a family pleaser! Adding this to my weekly dinner rotation soon. 🙂
It is between 6-8 WW pts depending on the brand you use per serving
I’m so crazy about your recipes and so are my family! After trying a couple of them I used your websit to build our menu for a month. We’re a Navy family and we invited some of the guys over for dinner tonight and this was a huge hit!!! Good job girl- Sailor approved!!
How many ww points is this?
I’m not entirely sure, as this wasn’t developed with WW in mind… but the most accurate way to find out would be to plug the ingredients in WW recipe builder 🙂
Can this be prepared the night before and baked the next day?
Hi Terri, I never have, but you’re welcome to try it using your best judgement.
Bubble Up’s are the best! So easy and always a family favorite!
Mmmmmm bread + meatballs + cheese = PERFECTION!!
I need to make this for dinner soon! It looks so good!
I am definitely going to be dreaming about this dish until I make it! I love those meatballs, too — so convenient!
Ohhhh yes! This looks SO good– I mean, what person in their right mind can pass up a cheesy, meatball-y deliciousness like this!? Need to try ASAP!
Love how easy this meal is! Perfect for busy weeknights!
I’m pretty sure this will be devoured very quickly! Can’t wait to make it!
Omgoodness this has got me excited! Lol, I love grilling and cooking meats but hate making sides (idk why) so I love these one pot meals and casseroles! Cheesy chicken noodle casserole is one of my favorites..
I happen to only have frozen biscuits at the moment. Can I just thaw them prior or should I cook em halfway or something? And is it just as good or should I hold off til I can get to the store. With recipes like this I think I just found my new favorite chef!! Thanks!
I’ve not tested this recipe using frozen biscuits, but I think it would work just as well if you thawed them, then cut them up like directed in the recipe 🙂
This looks so good!! I am loving this cheesy dish!
So um….what to say about this recipe. Holy freaking delicious. My hubby and I started weight watchers not too long ago and we’ve been scouring the net looking for good, new meals to try out. This tops our list, seriously, ample servings and tastes so good. Keep it up you’re one of my new fave blogs