Skillet Lasagna {One Pan Dinner}

Skillet lasagna has all of the rich and hearty flavors of deep dish lasagna, blended together with the ease and convenient preparation of a one pan dinner.

Happy post-Thanksgiving, Friends! Are y’all sick of turkey and leftovers yet? I know that after a few days of repurposing all of those leftovers into Turkey à la King, Turkey Hash with Chorizo, and Maple Sweet Potato Waffles, we’re about leftover-ed out. I practically had to choke down that last bit of cornbread stuffing with gravy for breakfast this morning. Okay, maybe that wasn’t all that big of a sacrifice because I could pretty much live on cornbread stuffing, but you get the idea. Leftovers for days! Not that I’m at all complaining. I feel exceptionally blessed to have a warm home and an abundance of food.

Besides making way too much food, my family and I started to decorate the house for Christmas. I know that for many people, decorating for the holiday season normally begins Thanksgiving weekend, but we’re more of a put-up-the-tree-the-week-before-Christmas kind of family. Doing so gives us time to ease into Christmas by spending more time on Advent and the story of Christmas.

This year, my brother is coming in early from LA to celebrate Christmas with us, so I want the house to look festive. I love Christmas something fierce, so to abstain from decorating until the week before is a real challenge for me. Imagine my relief to be able to use my brother as an excuse to get started early! It’s all I can do to resist putting lights and garland on All the Things while continuously watching cheesy Christmas movies.

Our family favorites of Elf, A Christmas Story, and A Charlie Brown Christmas are pretty much our background wallpaper viewing through the new year. We sprinkle in a little of The Polar Express just for good measure. Once Sons 3 & 4 are tucked into bed, I subject Bacon Slayer and Sons 1 & 2 to While You Were Sleeping, and all the Hallmark Christmas movies that will fit on the DVR. The more predictable the plot and questionable the acting skills, the better! My guys don’t really get my obsession, but I like to think that somewhere deep, deep down, they secretly like watching those movies with me. I consider our Cheesy Christmas Movie marathons to be a little estrogen-infused pay back for all of the UFC that I endure with them during the rest of the year.

Once the decorations go up, my family starts craving our other Christmas traditions, specifically the usual Christmas Eve Lasagna. Lasagna on Christmas Eve is a tradition started by my in laws, of which my immediate family talks about all year because it’s just about the only time that I make a lasagna. I love a good and hearty deep dish lasagna, but let’s face it–lasagna hardly pairs well with my usual 30-minute meals lifestyle. We love it, but who has the time to make lasagna all that often?

With this skillet lasagna, now I do! All the rich, comforting flavors of a deep dish lasagna, rolled into an easy, one skillet recipe that’s ready in 30 minutes. Okay, 35 minutes. Trust me when I tell you that all that deliciousness is worth the extra five minutes of preparation time.

Take a roll of turkey breakfast sausage, brown it up with onions, garlic, and spices, and add dried pasta. Then cover everything with tomato sauce. You read that correctly–dried pasta. No need to boil noodles with this, because the noodles cook as everything simmers and gets happy in the pan.

I serve it up in big bowls, along with hunks of crusty garlic bread. Talk about comfort in a bowl! Son #1 took one bite and declared that skillet lasagna should be part of our regular menu rotation. He even ate the leftovers for breakfast the next morning! After a week full of leftovers, that is indeed high praise.

I’m curious…do you go on a holiday movie bender? What are your favorite holiday movies?

Enjoy this skillet lasagna recipe!

Kirsten Kubert

Yields 8

Skillet Lasagna

All of the rich and hearty flavors of deep dish lasagna blended together with the ease and convenient preparation of a one skillet recipe.

10 minPrep Time

25 minCook Time

35 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

• 1 lb. roll of turkey breakfast sausage
• 1 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 C. (1 small) diced onion
• 2 to 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes, or more to taste
• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 1 (28 oz.) can whole tomatoes
• 1 lb. dried bow tie shaped pasta (also called “Farfalle” noodles)
• 3/4 C. freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 C. part skim ricotta cheese

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet set over medium heat. Brown the turkey sausage in the butter along with the diced onions, crumbling the sausage with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Once the sausage is cooked and crumbled, stir in the garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes; continue cooking for one minute.
2. During that minute, pulse the can of whole tomatoes with the all included juice in a blender until pureed. Add enough cold water to equal 4 1/4 cups of pureed tomatoes and liquid.
3. Scatter the dried pasta evenly over the seasoned sausage mixture. Drop small spoonfuls of tomato paste over the dried noodles. Pour the tomato mixture over the noodles to fully cover the pasta. Do not stir! Place a tight fitting lid over the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes or until noodles are tender.
4. Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the parmesan cheese while folding the Skillet Lasagna together. Dot the top with small spoonfuls of ricotta cheese. Cover the skillet again and let stand 5 minutes before serving.
5. Serve with additional parmesan cheese, if desired.

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https://comfortablydomestic.com/2015/11/skillet-lasagna/

Comfortably Domestic - 2016