A few years ago I made lasagna for the first time (it was a slightly modified version of this recipe from The Pioneer Woman), and in doing so, I created a monster. A lasagna monster that is, and his name is Shane ๐ He didn’t remember ever having had lasagna prior to that, and he fell in love with the dish immediately. For the longest time I couldn’t solicit his opinion on dinner for the coming week without the word lasagna appearing somewhere in the answer.
Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t the only one who enjoyed that lasagna, but the recipe made so much food we’d be eating the leftovers for days and days (and days!), and eventually I needed a break. It’s also one of those recipes that leaves you with a big stack of dirty dishes in the sink, and I think we can all agree that washing dishes is the pits. Seriously, does anyone actually enjoy that task? But anyway, the result has been that over time I’ve almost completely stopped making lasagna, and frankly, I feel a little bit guilty about it. Nothing like getting someone hooked on a dish and then deciding you were completely over it…
A compromise was in order, and in this skillet lasagna I’ve found it. This is a lasagna made entirely in one pan, in less than an hour – a total win-win in my book! And, as if that wasn’t reason enough to love this meal, it also yields a manageable amount of food. We had it for dinner one night, and I think I ate the leftovers for lunch for a few days afterward. This is the third or fourth recipe I’ve tried that called for cooking the pasta directly in the same pan with the other ingredients, and though I was skeptical at first, I’ve grown quite fond of the technique. Shane and I both agreed this freeform lasagna has all the flavor of a traditional lasagna – you won’t miss a thing!
And just for fun, because I know it’ll make him smile, a few photos of Shane from his half marathon yesterday. He scored a new PR finishing in 1:37:29 – another great stepping stone to his goal of qualifying for the Boston marathon in the next year or two! He’s also training to compete in his firstย Ironmanย later this summer (he’s done the 70.3, but never the full) – it’s going to be a busy year here. All of this training may also help to explain that incredible metabolism I referenced the other day ๐
Skillet Lasagna
barely adapted from Cook’s Country’s Skillet Suppers
A few notes on this one:
– The recipe calls for meatloaf mix, but feel free to use any ground meat you like – they’ll all work.
– You can use regular or no-boil lasagna noodles. If you go with the regular, they’ll have a very slight bite to them.
– A nonstick pan was suggested, but I don’t have a cover for mine, so I used my regular stainless steel pan and didn’t have any issues. Just be sure to stir occasionally as the pasta cooks so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 pound meatloaf mix (ground beef, pork and veal)
10 lasagna noodles, broken into 2-inch pieces
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Add the diced tomatoes along with their juice to a 1 quart (4 cup) measuring cup. Add enough water to bring the volume to 1 quart total.
Set a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the oil. When it starts to shimmer, add the onion and the salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onion begins to brown, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook just until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the meat, using a wooden spoon to break it apart. Cook until the meat is browned.
Add the broken noodles to the pan, but do not stir – just let them sit on top of the onion/meat mixture. Pour the tomato/water mixture and the tomato sauce over the noodles (again, don’t stir). Cover the pan and bring the liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook, now stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender (about 20 minutes).
Turn off the heat under the pan. Stir in 1/2 cup of the Parmesan and season to taste with salt and pepper. Drop the ricotta by heaping spoonfuls onto the top of the lasagna (don’t stir to incorporate), then cover and let stand for about 5 minutes to allow the cheese to soften. Remove the cover and sprinkle with the basil and remaining Parmesan, then serve.
Mmmm, skillet lasagna sounds awesome, as does the small amount of dishes!!!
Congrats to Shane too!
Great idea- this looks terrific!
Love skillet lasagna! So easy and tastes so good!
Oh, awesome! I love the fact that this is a one-pan recipe–I’ve been wanting to make a lasagna lately, and this seems like the perfect recipe to try. Yay!!
He deserves a skillet of sinful lasagna after a half-marathon! And about washing dishes.. I don’t like it either. I need an assistant the follows behind me in my kitchen and washes everything that I use so that nothing piles up!
Omg, I just looked at every single one of your food photographs and I LOVE them ๐ Looks sooo tasty!
I have never had skillet lasagne before! This sounds and looks wonderful!!
Mal @ The Chic Geek
Thanks for making this tasty meal and for posting fun pictures of my race!
An easier lasagna with less dishes? I’m definitely making this!!!
Oh I love the skillet lasagna my dad makes. I haven’t made it for myself in so long I now have to!
This is a fun meal. It sounds so hearty! Congrats to Shane!
I love the Idea of using Skillet instead Oven, Tracey. esp it helps me in countries like India, where I can not control the temp in oven…
-Mythreyi
Yum! Yum! Yum!
I love skillet dishes so much. This looks like another winner in my book. Congrats to Shane on his half marathon!
Best of luck to Shane on his upcoming races. Lasagna in a skillet seems just perfect. What a great idea!
Great idea and it sounds delicious! We love lasagna, but it is kind of a pain to make it and it makes a ton. Last time, I divided it into two pans and froze one to bake later, and I decided that’s how I’m going to do it from now on.
I need to try this! My hubby isn’t a huge fan of lasagna, but I love it!
oh, MY, how I love this recipe. thanks for sharing!!
What a brilliant idea! I love one-pan recipes and this is just perfect! Bookmarked this page ๐
lasagna looks wonderful must remember to try making in the skillet instead of baking
thank you for sharing
Love all your food stuff, but I’m also trying to work out what lens you used for the half marathon photos – you’ve done a great job of singling him out. Cheers, Sara.
@Sara – Oh, I should have mentioned in my post – I can’t take any credit for those photos. Shane’s dad took them, he’s our race photographer ๐ I can double check with him what lens he was using if you’d like.
LOVE this idea! I love lasagna too. I’ve even tried a white-sauce fish lasagna, which by the way is my new favorite.
good luck to shane and all his athletic endevours! Skillet lasagna sounds awesome.
Lasagna is D’s favorite food. He would eat it every single day if I made it that often! But, like you, it’s kind of a pain with all of the dirty dishes so I usually only make it on his birthday. I’ll have to give this skillet version a shot — I’m sure he will love it as much as Shane does!
I am a total lasagna lover but I hate leftovers so this is perfect! I think I even have everything on hand to make it!
Congrats to Shane!!
How did I miss this one. This is just to easy to pass up!! And looks great.
I want to try this! I have seen recipes for skillet lasagna before, but yours just looks so simple and pretty!
This was really good. I like lasagna, but dislike all the work, and this is a recipe that I’ll be much more inclined to make again. I also loved how it had much less cheese than a typical lasagna recipe, but you didn’t really notice it when you ate it.
Do you think ground turkey would be good in this? That’s all I have on hand right now. This looks so good, I want to make it tonight ๐
@Kimberli – I think so, especially if you’re used to eating ground turkey! I bought the meatloaf mix as a special treat here, but we almost always do ground turkey ๐
Made this last night. This was so easy to do and so tasty! Only thing I changed was to increase the red pepper. Got two thumbs up from my hard to impress DH. Thanks for the recipe – we will definitely be making this again!
I made this tonight. The taste is spot on, but its a little soupy. Definitely going to play around with it and make it again. So much easier than regular lasagna!
I just wanted to say this lasagne is so good. My girls gobbled it up and now asks me if I’m making it everynight. I did change a few things. I only had ground turkey on hand and didn’t want to go to the store. When all the flavors meld together we couldn’t even tell it was turkey. I also added shredded mozzarella cheese instead of the ricota (I’m not a big fan of ricotta) and it turned out fabolous. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Thanks for the tips for getting this recipe to work well. It is great that you can make the whole dish only using one pan.
This was awesome!! Thank you for such a great recipe!
Just wanted to let you know that I made this last night and it was GREAT! I even brough left overs to work to share with a coworker- she gobbled it up and I thought it was even better the next day! Thansk for the great recipe!
Is there an alternative to using ricotta cheese?
@Kala – I’ve never made it with anything but ricotta, but maybe cottage cheese? I’ve seen some lasagna recipes that use that instead.
In the process of making this- it smells heavenly! But where do you use the “1 8-ox can tomato sauce”?? It never comes up in the instructions. I didn’t use it at all, hopefully mine turns out well ๐
@HoneyBee – The instruction to add the tomato sauce is in the 3rd paragraph – you add it along with the diced tomato and water mixture. I’m not sure you’ll have enough liquid for the dish to turn out well without it, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed!
I had high hopes for this and although it tastes okay I feel like something is missing.
I found this recipe several months ago and I make it 1-2 times a month. It is so much easier than regular lasagna and tastes way better. Thanks for sharing this!