Skillet Lasagna Recipe

I’m not exactly sure what’s on your To-Do list during this gorgeous fall season, but mine says ‘Eats lots of warm, cheesy pasta dishes.’ Oh, yours, too? I’m so glad!

I love a good bubbling pan of lasagna, but leftover lasagna six days later in a household of two gets old. It’s great the first day, good the second day, okay on the third, and then I’m ready for something else -  anything else, really. 

So, when I was scaling down this recipe to serve two, my mind first turned to a bread loaf pan. I commonly make dinners and desserts in the loaf pan, because when the final dish is cut down the middle, it happily serves two. But, I wanted, no, I needed, lasagna faster than the time it takes for it took in a loaf pan. So, I made it all in one skillet. It has all the components of a regular lasagna—rich meaty sauce, gooey mozzarella cheese, hunks of creamy ricotta, and layers of noodles. It just comes together in much less time!

This recipe comes together in less than 30 minutes, without using any shortcuts. It starts with a homemade meat sauce. For the sauce, I recommend bulk sausage (that is, sausage not in a casing), but ground beef is fine, too. You only need a half-pound for this small batch of lasagna. After making the homemade tomato sauce, I add an extra two cups of beef broth in order to get the noodles to cook right in the pan. 

For the record, I used regular noodles because I like their curly edges, but I bet the ‘no-boil’ noodles would work here, too. I really think the ricotta pillows take this recipe over the top. It’s so nice to be mid-bite and get fluffy ricotta. I used full-fat ricotta, because I’m fine if pillowy ricotta makes my thighs pillowy, too.

If you’ve got a larger family to feed, try placing two skillets side-by-side and making the recipe. It’s that good!