Skillet Lasagna with Italian Sausage Meatballs

 

Don't you love laboring for an hour (or more) assembling traditional pan lasagna and then waiting for another hour (or more) for it to bake?  Me neither.  (And, we won't even talk about all those dishes!)

But .... I do love me some lasagna.  So, what's a girl (or guy) to do?

Whip up this skillet lasagna in a fraction of the time while still enjoying all of the flavors of pan lasagna.  There - problem solved.

Yes, this recipe truly uses only one pan.  (No need to even pre-boil the pasta.)  Isn't that fabulous?

I chose to shape the Italian sausage into mini meatballs, but you could totally just break the sausage up and cook it as you normally would for a meat sauce.  (You could even use ground beef if you prefer.)  I utilize a good-quality marinara in this recipe, but if you have some canned or frozen from-scratch sauce on hand, go for it and use that!

Serves 4 - 6.
Adapted from Center Cut Cook.


Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound bulk Italian sausage, formed into mini meatballs
1 onion, peeled and diced
1/2 cup roughly-chopped button mushrooms (optional)
4 - 5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning (or similar dried herbs)
10 lasagna noodles, broken into thirds or fourths
28 ounces jarred marinara sauce
8 ounces canned diced tomatoes (including the liquid)
1 - 1 1/2 cups hot water
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup ricotta cheese or cottage cheese (per your preference)
Fresh basil, for garnish

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat.  Brown the meatballs on all sides, but do not worry about thoroughly cooking through at this point.  Add in the onions and mushrooms.  Cook for 1 -2 minutes.  Add in the garlic.  Season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Stir.

Place the broken noodles on top of the onion and meatball mixture.  Pour the sauce, tomatoes and 1 cup of the hot water over the noodles.  Do not stir noodles at this point.  Once things start simmering, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20 - 25 minutes.  Gently stir everything halfway through the 20 - 25 minutes of cooking.  If things seems like they are getting too dry, add in the remaining 1/2 cup of hot water.

Once pasta is tender, reduce heat to low.  Stir in 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese and all of the Parmesan cheese.  Spoon on the ricotta or cottage cheese in even dollops on top of the pasta.  Sprinkle on the remaining mozzarella cheese.  Cover pan with a lid or tightly with foil.

Allow skillet to sit covered over low heat while the ricotta (or cottage cheese) warms through and while the other cheeses melt.

Garnish with fresh basil and serve.