I love ALL versions of lasagna, but some nights I don’t have the time or energy to make the fully layered real deal. On those nights, I make this super quick one-pot skillet lasagna that gives me all that cozy cheesy goodness in just about 30 minutes. Skillet lasagna has been a staple in my house for almost ten years, so I hope it becomes one of your regular go-to recipes, too!
Lasagna for Lazy Nights
This super simple skillet lasagna follows the same formula as my other one pot pasta recipes. The pasta, in this case, lasagna noodles, are cooked right in the sauce so you only need to use one pan and every drop of flavor soaks right into the pasta. I made this recipe as simple as possible, using all the shortcuts, so it’s the easiest to make when you’re the shortest on time.
What You’ll need
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this easy skillet lasagna:
- Italian sausage: sausage is packed with herbs and spices which give flavor to the entire skillet without you having to add ten different herbs and spices.
- Fresh garlic: because every recipe needs to start with fresh garlic. ;)
- Pasta sauce: I used a store-bought sauce here just to make the recipe super quick and easy, but you could always make your own from scratch using our weeknight pasta sauce recipe (sub Italian sausage for the beef).
- Italian seasoning: an extra dose of herbs and spices just for good measure! Using a pre-made blend cuts down on the number of ingredients you have to measure.
- Lasagna noodles: because this is “lasagna,” right?? We break the noodles into smaller pieces so they cook quickly and can be easily stirred into the sauce. You can use other pasta shapes if you prefer, but the cooking time may be slightly different.
- Cheese: We used three cheeses in this recipe to make it extra cozy. A mixture of ricotta and Parmesan are added in dollops onto the pasta, then everything is covered in a blanket of melty mozzarella!
What Else Can I Add?
Another reason skillet lasagna is so great is that it’s actually quite versatile! You can add or substitute many of the ingredients to make it your own. Here are some ideas for add-ins or substitutions for the ingredients in skillet lasagna:
- Sautéed vegetables: finely chop then sauté just about any vegetable in the skillet after the beef has been browned. Try zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, eggplant, or more. Make sure to cook out most of the water to avoid a soupy lasagna.
- Meat: Add more meat or swap out the Italian sausage for ground beef, pork, or even diced chicken. Just make sure to add additional seasoning to the sauce to make up for what is lost in the Italian sausage.
- Sauce: Experiment with different flavors of store-bought sauces. Make your sauce spicy by adding a pinch or two of crushed red pepper.
- Cheese: try topping your lasagna with some crumbled feta for an extra kick!
What to Serve with Skillet Lasagna
I always love serving heavier dishes like lasagna with a light and simple side salad to brighten up the meal, but you also can’t forget the garlic bread for sopping up every last drop of that sauce!
Skillet Lasagna
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1/2 lb. Italian Sausage ($2.25)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 24 oz. pasta sauce ($1.89)
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning ($0.05)
- 9 lasagna noodles ($0.90)
- 1 cup ricotta cheese ($1.99)
- 1/4 cup Grated Parmesan ($0.40)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella ($1.17)
Instructions
- Add the Italian sausage and olive oil to a large deep skillet. Cook over medium heat until the sausage is cooked through.
- Mince the garlic, add it to the skillet with the sausage, and continue to sauté over medium for one more minute.
- Add the pasta sauce, Italian seasoning, and water to the skillet then stir to combine.
- Break the lasagna noodles into one to two-inch pieces, then stir them into the sauce in the skillet.
- Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the sauce to come up to a boil.
- Once boiling, give the skillet a brief stir, replace the lid, then turn the heat down to medium-low. Let the noodles simmer in the sauce, stirring occasionally, until tender (about 15 minutes). If the sauce becomes too dry before the noodles are tender, add more water and continue to simmer.
- While the noodles are simmering, stir together the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in a separate bowl.
- Once the noodles have cooked, add the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles in small dollops. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over top.
- Place the skillet under your oven's broiler for a few minutes or just until the cheese is melted and slightly browned (make sure to use an oven-safe skillet, no lid). Or, place the lid on the skillet and continue to cook over medium-low heat until the cheese is melted. Serve hot and enjoy!
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Nutrition
How to Make Skillet Lasagna – Step by Step Photos
Brown ½ lb. Italian sausage in a deep skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Once browned, add two cloves of minced garlic and continue to sauté for one minute more.
Add one 24oz. jar of your favorite pasta sauce, ½ tsp Italian seasoning blend, and 1 cup water to the skillet. Stir to combine.
Break nine lasagna noodles (½ lb.) into one to two-inch pieces.
Stir the broken lasagna noodles into the sauce in the skillet. Place a lid on top, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the sauce up to a boil. Once boiling, give the skillet a good stir, replace the lid, then turn the heat down to medium-low.
Allow the noodles to simmer in the sauce, stirring occasionally, until they are tender (about 15 minutes). If the sauce gets too thick before the noodles are tender, simply add a little more water and allow them to continue to simmer.
In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup ricotta cheese, ¼ cup grated Parmesan, ¼ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp pepper. Stir until evenly combined.
Add the ricotta mixture to the skillet in dollops across the top, then sprinkle 1 cup shredded mozzarella over top.
To get the cheese nice and melty and browned, place the skillet lasagna under your oven’s broiler for a few minutes (no lid and make sure you’re using an oven safe skillet and watch it closely!). Alternatively, you can place a lid on the skillet and let it cook over medium-low for a few minutes more until the cheese has melted.
Serve hot with some crusty garlic bread for dipping! 🤤 (garnished with parsley, not needed for flavor)
Soooo good. My oven hasn’t been working but this is SO delicious.
My husband and I love this recipe. Will make again.
YUM. So quick and easy, and I love that it only needs half a pound of meat! This was a huge hit.
I’ve made this 3 times now and it’s DELICIOUS every time. I adjusted for my family – used less lasagna noodles, more cheese, etc – but even the very first time we made it without doing much adjusting, it was wonderful. This has quickly become a favorite of ours to make!
The lasagna never got soft. Kept adding water. Cooked for 30 minutes. Finally ate crunchy noodles.
That’s extremely odd. Any lasagna noodle should be cooked after that long. Did you use standard white flour lasagna noodles?
This was amazing. Although, I think elbow macaroni would be easier. Do you think there is an option to bake it so it can be made for a crowd? Stove top version has its limitations. I used Good brand cottage cheese instead of ricotta and it was crazy good.
You used cottage cheese for the top that’s what I’m using and mix it with parmeson cheese. Thankyou
Easy and delicious. I sautéed mushrooms and onions before adding garlic. Used frozen Italian meatballs from Costco instead of sausage. I put them in the sauce with the noodles to simmer. I had to add water a couple times so it wouldn’t scorch while the noodles finished cooking. Served with roasted broccoli on the side.
Tried this tonight… nice, simple, and extremely tasty 👅
Another winner from BudgetBytes ! Went together easily, tasted delicious and preparing with only one pan for clean-up was a bonus. The only change I made was to leave off the mozarella at the end. The Ricotta/Parm mixture was just the right amount of cheese for us.
Turned out great – thanks!
We had this for a nontraditional day-before-Ash-Wednesday supper (sausage! lots of rich dairy! we used jarred Rao’s sauce to feel slightly fancy!), and I added spinach because I had a ton lying around. My husband loved it. I’d like to try it again with less ricotta and a different sauce flavor (marinara rather than the sausage-and-mushroom we used), but it was a lot less work than traditional lasagna, worth it on a weeknight.
So easy and satisfying to make in hardly any time at all. Don’t skimp on cheap marinara if you’re buying store bought though. No meat necessary.
This was so good! One of my resolutions was to cook for the new year. Made this for my family of four (dad, myself, and two brothers) and it was devoured QUICK. Absolutely do not expect to have leftovers of this dish lol. :,)
I am disappointed by this recipe. I liked your older recipe and am fortunate to have printed it out years ago and actually saved it. I will use the old recipe, circa 2016. The beauty of your old school recipes was not needing to rely on things like jar spaghetti sauce.
I love Budget Bytes recipes, I really do. But this one was sadly terrible, I won’t make it again. It was way too thick with the ricotta on top and somehow after I broiled the cheese, the sauce got so thick that it was hard to eat. We won’t make it again.
Delicious! I love how it’s a smaller portion of lasagna. Instead of Italian sausage, I used ground beef according to the comment below.