Quick + Easy Skillet Lasagna.
In the mood to cook dinner tonight? I’ve got you covered.
In the mood to not cook dinner whatsoever tonight? I’ve got you covered there too.
This summer we’ve managed to do one thing: eat a lot of fresh dinners. I’m talking a ton. Lots of tacos, lots of fish, lots of freshly grilled burgers (yes it counts) and even fruit. Granted I may have been eating by myself most nights… buuuut whatever. The point I’m trying to make is that this kitchen usually houses a good amount of comfort food – in the form of baked, cheesy casseroles and mashed potatoes and roast beef and pulled pork with gravy. And well, I think because it reached 10 million degrees (no, I will never stop exaggerating) by May… I just could barely fathom making a chicken pot pie or what not.
Until this week. This week I started craving something warm and homey and HOT. With cheese. Problem was… I still didn’t want to stand over the stove all day when it came time for dinner because, well… I stand over the stove all day to begin with. I just want to play. It’s summer! Playtime. And it’s flying by.
So I timed myself. I had the ingredients (no, not Rachael Ray-style, like all piled upon my face before I reached the counter or anything), grabbed them from the fridge and started doing my thing, hoping I’d be able to sneak this recipe inside of my 45-minute window before picking my mom up from the airport. I came in right under 30 minutes and even had time to inhale a bowl covered in parmesan cheese. Which just might have been one of the highlights of this summer and my little life.
What qualifies me to call this dish lasagna? Well… nothing. I’m not Italian, nor did I marry into any Italian, and while I’ve made some lasagna before, I’ll be the first to tell you that I buy my tomato sauce in a jar and pasta and bread are last on my list of indulgences. So let’s just chalk this whole dish up to pure ignorance – oh and of course my use of the signature wavy noodle – and call it a day.
So you CAN have a fast and easy hot hot hot dinner on this summer night… go fig.
Oh and it’s pretty healthy too… more room for ice cream. Gotta eat it now – summer is almost toast.
Easy Skillet Lasagna
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken into thirds
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 sweet onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 pound 95% lean ground beef
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
- 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 8 fresh basil leaves, torn
- parmesan cheese for grating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare water for pasta and bring to a boil. Season ground beef with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Heat a large (mine was 12.5 inch) oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add in olive oil and 1 tablespoon of butter, then toss in onions with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Add in garlic and cook for another minute, then add in ground beef, baking it apart with a spatula or wooden spoon. Cook until just browned, about 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. If there is excess liquid in the pan, feel free to drain a bit.
- At this point your water should be boiling, so make sure to toss the broken noodles in and cook them for about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon or drain and set aside for a few minutes.
- Once beef is browned, add in tomatoes with remaining butter and the 3 tablespoons of fresh basil, tossing well to coat. Add in broken noodles, using the spatula or spoon to fold the beef and sauce over the noodles. One noodles are evenly distributed and mostly under the sauce, add sliced mozzarella on top and scoops on ricotta. Bake for 10 minutes, then immediately remove and add torn basil on top. Serve!
Notes
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Um and… someone is eating ricotta now. This is major. What is going on? Is the world ending?
136 Comments on “Quick + Easy Skillet Lasagna.”
For THAT baby I’m willing to wait more than 30min! :)
I completely need to make this… maybe tonight!
I have a very similar skillet lasagna recipe that I make all the time – it’s a keeper and one of my boyfriend’s favorite meals. I like to use bowtie pasta. I think bowtie is so much fun. :)
There’s nothing quite like a cheesy lasagna!
Yum! This sounds like the perfect easy weeknight meal, ideal for summer or winter!
Ooh this sounds great! I have to admit I haven’t really been craving hot foods lately either but if they can be made in a skillet instead of requiring baking at a bajillion degrees for far too long than I care to wait for dinner after work, then I’m in!
The husband LOVES lasagna and I am in no mood to cook as of late. Easy skillet lasagna = WINNING! …..Plus I need to pinch off my fresh basil plants. See? WINNING!
It is so darn hot here, too! I can’t wait for cooler weather, and I am already day dreaming of all of the comfort food I will be making. This recipe will definitely be on the list- I love skillet dinners!
makin’ it!!
Love this! Especially those big basil leaves on top. Yum!
Now this is an amazing dish! Wow, this is one I am for sure going to make. Great recipe, I am so excited to try it!
This sounds amazing. And I am Italian :) Adding this to our weekly menu for next week!
Not authentic? So? Not Italian? Not too concerned because that skillet looks like some good noms and that’s all that matters! Must make soon…making next week’s grocery list. :-)
my boyfriend would love me forever and ever if I made this for him, he keeps asking for lasagna!
WHAT! Lasagna you can make in a skillet!?!? You just made my day.
Also, I’ve made a point to have ice cream pretty much 5 out of 7 nights a week in a frantic attempt to get every last bit of summerness out of this month. I think I’m doing such a good job of celebrating summer that I’m making myself sick. Haha.
Hahaha yep… celebrating that way too.
Dinner???? I want this right, NOW for breakfast!! YUM!
Oh my LORD my face just fell off looking at that.
Me and mu husband both love lasgna, but it takes me at least 2 hours to make one, and the house seems on fire during summer! This version is amazing, quick and easy, love it!
In a skillet?!? I’m so in. So, so, so in.
This is perfect to make when you have leftover lasagna noodles but not enough to make an entire lasagna! That happens to me allllll the time!
Love how you simplified the lasagna making process, and made it even comfier! Yum!!
That is beautiful! I am just picturing carrying that dish out to a waiting table of hungry people. Perfection!
Makin’ this tonight. Thanks.
LOVE IT. By this point of the summer I’m always craving weird warm and gooey stuff. And crockpot recipes.
Fast forward 3 months, and this is so dinner. It’s like 95F here and I can fry and egg on my head but come fall, this is awesome!
Ok let’s just say I had to stop drooling…. Fantastic! :-)
This looks fantastic. I’m printing this out, so I can make it this week. Thanks for sharing!
I love lasagna. I love my cast iron skillet. I love you.
oh yum! i need a cast iron skillet so bad you can do so much with them.
I really just snorted my coffee when I read the Rachel Ray comment. that was too good. I love this! Marking it for “back to school” dinners :)
This is awesome! It looks like it could be a really versatile recipe, too!
This is perfect. With a SECOND baby on its way I am totally looking for quick meals. I love lasagna and I have been dying to use my cast iron. Thanks girl! Holla, we are both in PA now. :-)
Congrats!! :)
This looks so awesome–delicious!!
YAY! I can make a cheesy, ooey gooey meal in the summer without anybody screaming at me for having the oven on! Major score.
I’m all about quick and easy. This is going on the menu plan for next week!
I love lasagna but I always find the idea of making an entire tray for myself (or OK, myself and my roommate) a waste. I love that you can make this so quickly AND you won’t have as many leftovers. Thanks for sharing!
-Alyssa
The Glossy Life
i’ve never made lasagna in a skillet before – great idea!
yeah, this is on the list for next week. i kind of am obsessed with lasagna but NEVER have the time to make it!
My dad makes a skillet lasagna that is similar, but he uses elbow noodles. So good!
Oh dear. That picture of the cheese all gooey and wonderful made me super hungry.
Why is it when someone says they’ve prepared a meal in, say, 30 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever that I find myself reading over the post and recipe really, REALLY fast???
Ok- how many skillets do you have? How do you clean them? I want to make this but also that cookie in a skillet you made a few weeks back looks delicious too. So how do I do it without making my lasagna taste like chocolate chips? (not that that would be bad…)
Thanks!
So simple and so tasty!
I so needed this last night. Why? Because I may or may not have stress eaten an entire QUART of ice cream BY MYSELF waiting to find out if Aly Raisman was going to get the Bronze medal. Ugh, most stressful moment of the Olympics.
Anyways, it would have been nice to feel slightly less guilty about that. Though I probably would have just eaten the entire pan of lasagna. Moderation….not really my strong suit.
Yes! This one is definitely going into my list of things to make for dinner once fall arrives. Easy comfort food is my favorite.
Love this. Looks much easier than traditional lasagna. Perfecto :)
I love this. I am making it for dinner immediately! Thank you for the recipe and dinner idea.
What a delicious challenge for yourself. Lasagna in 30 minutes is brilliant! Hot weather totally deserves some comfort food love.
I love lasagna but am way to lazy to deal with layering and all that fancy stuff most of the time – this is an awesome compromise. :-)
What a great idea! I’ve never tried lasagna in a skillet.