Wishing you could make homemade lasagna as an easy weeknight dinner? Now you can with Skillet Lasagna! It’s a quick one pan lasagna with layers of tender noodles, fresh vegetables, and creamy ricotta cheese all cooked together on the stove. It’s the flavors of traditional lasagna ready in under an hour!


Skillet Lasagna with a slice cut out

Ever have one of those meals where you enjoy eating it, but it takes too long to make? Homemade lasagna for two definitely comes to mind.

Even if you saved a little time by buying your favorite jarred pasta sauce, you still have to:

  • Cook the noodles separately.
  • Cook the filling.
  • Assemble all of the layers.
  • And finally bake for about 45-60 minutes.

And if time wasn’t an issue, typically lasagna is made in a 13×9 pan, which means lots of leftovers. And for someone who makes recipes for 1-2 people, that is way too much, even if I froze the rest.

I got creative with my one pot lasagna soup, but sometimes you just want a classic lasagna.

This Skillet Lasagna recipe solves these problems! Not only does it make 4 servings (two plates per person OR a little bit of leftovers for lunch), it cooks in about 30 minutes on the stove.

Sounds like a quick and easy weeknight dinner to me!

I was determined to make this a one pan lasagna so you don’t have to cook the noodles separately and dirty another pot.

After a few tries, I got the liquid proportions correct. Nothing worse than uncooked noodles for dinner, right?

You don’t even need any fancy no-boil lasagna noodles for your one pan skillet lasagna (although you can certainly use them!)

Although this recipe focuses on meatless lasagna, you can easily add your favorite lasagna filling, such as beef and ricotta or even cottage cheese.

The layering and cooking method is still the same.


Close up of one pan lasagna

Ingredients For Skillet Lasagna

Here’s what you need for your one pan lasagna:

  • Olive oil: To cook your vegetables and mushrooms
  • Onion and garlic: Aromatics to flavor your filling
  • Mushrooms, carrots, and spinach: Vegetables (and mushrooms) to bulk up your lasagna filling
  • Canned diced tomatoes: Look for petite diced if available, but you can use regular diced if not.
  • Canned tomato sauce: This is plain tomato puree, not to be confused with prepared pasta sauce
  • Oregano and salt: To season the sauce
  • Sugar: Depending on your canned tomato brand ,sometimes tomatoes can be a bit too acidic. The sugar helps balance that. You can leave it out if your sauce tastes fine
  • Lasagna noodles: Can use regular or oven ready
  • Parmesan and ricotta cheese: Can’t have lasagna without cheese!

What kind of pan do you use for skillet lasagna?

Pictured here is a 12 inch cast iron pan (affiliate link). However, any large skillet with a lid will work.

Don’t have a lid? Use aluminum foil to cover the top.


Serving one pan skillet lasagna

How To Make Skillet Lasagna

Cooking everything in one pan, including uncooked pasta, may seem too good to be true, but it totally works!

Here’s how to make your one pan skillet lasagna:


Cooking vegetables for skillet lasagna

Saute onion, mushrooms, and carrots until softened.


Cooking spinach for skillet lasagna

Add spinach and garlic. Cook until the spinach has wilted and garlic is golden brown but not burnt.

Stir tomatoes, sauce, sugar, oregano, and salt together to form a sauce.


Adding noodles and sauce to skillet lasagna

Layer noodle pieces evenly on top of the spinach mixture then pour the tomato sauce over the pasta, spreading it out so all of the noodles are covered.

Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer until the pasta is tender, about 20 minutes.


Adding cheese to skillet lasagna

Top with both ricotta and Parmesan cheese then fold them into the filling so everything gets mixed together.

Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.


Skillet Lasagna assembled in cast iron pan

What To Serve With Skillet Lasagna

To make your homemade lasagna a full meal, serve it with green onion salad and small batch dinner rolls.

You can also make green beans with almonds or homemade garlic bread from Foxes Love Lemons.

More One Pan Meals

Loved this skillet lasagna recipe? Check out these other one pan dinners:

Close up of one pan lasagna

Skillet Lasagna

Yield: 4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Wishing you could make homemade lasagna as an easy weeknight dinner without leftovers? Now you can with this one pan Skillet Lasagna!

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 cup diced yellow or white onion (roughly half of a small onion)
  • 4 white button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 large carrot, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
  • 1 (15 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes with juices
  • 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (unflavored purree, not prepared spaghetti sauce)
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 5 uncooked lasagna noodles (regular or oven ready), broken into 2-inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup full-fat ricotta cheese, room temperature
  • Fresh chopped basil and/or oregano, for garnish

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet, heat the oil. When hot, add the onion, mushrooms, carrots, and a big pinch of salt. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
  2. Add the garlic, spinach, and another pinch of salt. Cook until the garlic is fragrant and the spinach has wilted, about 1-2 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, stir together tomatoes with juices, sauce, oregano, and salt. If tomatoes are too acidic you may want to add sugar.
  4. Add the noodle pieces evenly on top of the spinach mixture. Pour the tomato sauce over the pasta, spreading it out so all of the noodles are covered.
  5. Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer until the pasta is tender, about 20 minutes.
  6. Top with mozzarella, Parmesan, and ricotta then stir to combine everything. Garnish with basil and/or oregano.

Notes

  • Want to use your favorite jarred sauce? Swap out the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, and oregano for 3 cups premade sauce.
  • To make a beef skillet lasagna, add 1/2 pound ground beef to the onion, carrots, and mushrooms. Cook until the meat is brown then drain any excess grease before adding garlic and spinach.
  • Enjoyed this recipe? Check out my Lasagna For Two and One Pot Lasagna Soup.

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First published January 21, 2019