Skillet Lasagna |Cooking With Amanda

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!

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Skillet Lasagna Recipe

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Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound spicy bulk sausage, or ground beef
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
1 15-ounce can beef broth
6 lasagna noodles, broken
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
parmesan cheese, for garnish, optional
fresh parsley, for garnish, optional

Directions

In a medium-sized skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
Add the sausage, and cook while breaking up with a wooden spoon until golden brown.
Sprinkle in the salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes.
Toast the spices in the meat for about 1 minute.
Next, pour in the tomato sauce and beef broth.
Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer.
Break up the lasagna noodles into about 1" pieces. Stir the noodles into the pan so that they are all mostly covered with the sauce.
Simmer the noodles, uncovered, until al dente, about 8 minutes or so.
Turn then heat to low, and stir in the mozzarella.
Dollop the ricotta on top.
Carefully move the skillet to the table, and serve with Parmesan cheese for garnish.