Skillet Lasagna

Skillet lasagna. It's like lasagna-lite. And I mean that in two ways, 1) It only uses one pot. There's a lot less putzing around. Regular lasagna involves lots of steps. And 2) It doesn't use a lot of cheese (there's no mozzarella, which seemed weird to me. Trust me, you don't miss it.). If you want to be all girly and worry about calories and fat content, less cheese = slight better for you. Hence lasagna-lite.

I used the recipe from America's Test Kitchen (as I've already mentioned that I love them to death). One difference is that I used Italian sausage and removed the casings. I had a coupon and I find the spice of the sausage to be tasty.

I acted all professional and prepped everything before I started cooking. I usually lack the foresight. This made things surprisingly easy.

Mmm, onions, garlic and chili powder (instead of red pepper flakes).

Add that de-cased Italian sausage...good stuff.

Now, I was a little skeptical at first. The recipe told me to evenly spread the broken up lasagna noodles over the meat and then top with my tomatoes. I felt that the noodles wouldn't cook right but went with it. Spoiler, it all worked out. I was also afraid that the sauce was too watery. I knew it had to be watery for the noodles to cook but I was worried it wouldn't all come together in the end. This worry was in vain.

Good lord this dish looks way fancy. I feel like a fraud because it was super easy. Input does not equal output.


My dinner was full of class tonight. Lasagna, garlic bread, salad and a little wine (mixed with juice because I can't drink it straight). Classy.


Skillet Lasagna

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, minced
Salt, pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (up to 1 teaspoon for spicy)
1 pound meatloaf mix, or 8 ounces ground beef-8 ounces ground pork
10 curly-edged lasagna noodles (8 ounces), broken into 2-inch lengths (Important: do NOT use no-boil lasagna noodles)
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 ounce (1/2 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated
8-ounces (about 1 cup) ricotta cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh basil

1. Pour the tomatoes with their juice into a quart measuring cup. Add enough water to the tomatoes to measure 4 cups.

2. Heat the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the meatloaf mix and cook, breaking up the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.

4. Sprinkle the noodle pieces evenly over the meat. Pour the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce over the pasta. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 20 minutes. (The sauce should look watery after 15 minutes of cooking. If dry, add up to 1/4 cup additional water to loosen the sauce.)

5. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dot heaping tablespoons of the ricotta over the noodles. Cover the skillet and let stand off the heat for 5 minutes.

6. Sprinkle with the basil and serve, passing extra Parmesan separately.

Variation: Skillet lasagna with Italian sausage and red bell pepper
Substitute 1 pound of hot or sweet Italian sausage, casings removed, for the meatloaf mix. Add 1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped medium, to the skillet with the onion in step 2.