This hearty weeknight meal gives each person a generous serving of noodles and saucy ground meat topped with cheese for a satisfying dish. Anyone who appreciates Italian flavors will enjoy this easy-to-make dinner—all you need is a nonstick skillet and a few ingredients for the best skillet lasagna.
Why Make Skillet Lasagna?
Traditional lasagna takes time—between boiling the noodles, simmering the sauce, whipping the ricotta mixture, layering ingredients, and baking in the oven, it can take between 90 minutes and 2 hours!
The skillet version on the other hand has all your favorite Italian flavors without the same effort of layering a full lasagna. It's less mess and takes just 30 minutes to make from start to finish. This dinner might even become a regular part of the weeknight meal rotation. Kids, adults, and friends will love it. Serve it with an Italian side including a salad and some bread, and you'll have a complete family-style meal.
What Sort of Pasta Should I Use?
For a skillet lasagna, we like the look and texture of the extra-wide egg noodles which is why we included them here. Other flat pastas will work, but it may look more like a regular skillet pasta compared to a lasagna-style dish. If you're looking to try other one-pan recipes, visit our collection of fast skillet recipes for easy cooking all year long!
Ingredients
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Nonstick cooking spray
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8 ounce ground turkey or extra-lean ground beef (93% lean)
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¾ cup chopped green, red, or yellow sweet pepper
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½ cup chopped onion
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2 cloves garlic, minced
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1 (23.5-ounce) jar light traditional-flavored pasta sauce, such as Prego Heart Smart
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1 cup water
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2 cup packaged sliced fresh mushrooms
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3 cup dried wide egg noodles
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½ cup light ricotta cheese
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2 tablespoon grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
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½ teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed
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½ cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (2 oz.)
Directions
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Coat an extra-large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; heat skillet over medium heat. Cook beef, bell pepper, onion, and garlic until meat is browned; stirring to break up meat as it cooks. Drain off any fat.
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Stir in pasta sauce and water. Bring to boiling.
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Add mushrooms and uncooked noodles; stir to separate noodles. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and gently boil about 10 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally.
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Meanwhile, in a bowl stir together ricotta, Parmesan, and Italian seasoning.
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Drop cheese mixture by spoonfuls into 10 small mounds (about 1 tablespoon each) on top pasta mixture in skillet.
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Sprinkle each mound with mozzarella. Reduce heat to low. Cook, covered, 4 to 5 minutes or until cheese mixture is heated and mozzarella is melted. Serve immediately.
Ground turkey breast and ground chicken breast are great alternatives to the extra-lean ground beef. When seasoned and added to a dish with pasta sauce like this, it's difficult to tell the difference between ground poultry and ground beef.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
| 315 | Calories |
| 9g | Fat |
| 37g | Carbs |
| 21g | Protein |
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings Per Recipe 5 | |
| Calories 315 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 9g | 12% |
| Saturated Fat 4g | 20% |
| Cholesterol 61mg | 20% |
| Sodium 556mg | 24% |
| Total Carbohydrate 37g | 13% |
| Total Sugars 15g | |
| Protein 21g | 42% |
| Vitamin C 23mg | 26% |
| Calcium 164mg | 13% |
| Iron 3.1mg | 17% |
| Potassium 846mg | 18% |
| Folate, total 69mcg | |
| Vitamin B-12 1.2mcg | |
| Vitamin B-6 0.4mg | |
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
