Made from scratch, this Cast Iron Skillet Lasagna is an ultimate comfort dish including handmade pasta, sauce, and ricotta cheese. It’s goofy, simple to put together, and certain to become a family favorite!
A delicious, cheesy lasagna—is there anything more soothing than that? Nope. It is the comfiest when you combine pasta with a rich, meaty tomato sauce that is filled with mushrooms and heaps of cheese. This homemade cast-iron skillet lasagna is the pinnacle of that! It’s all prepared in a single skillet, too!
Ingredients Needed
- For this dish, we like to use 90% lean ground beef, but you can use 80% or 85% as well; you’ll simply need to drain the fat more once the meat is cooked.
- Marinara: For this dish, we adore our homemade mushroom marinara, but any marinara or tomato sauce would work just fine.
- Cheese: Ricotta cheese produced fresh from scratch enhances the flavor of mozzarella and ricotta cheese together!
- In our cuisine, onions and garlic are staples.
- Lasagna noodles: Made using fresh pasta that may be formed quickly and effortlessly!
- Fresh spinach is a great way to “sneak” in extra protein, iron, calcium, and magnesium.
- Herbs: Sage, dried oregano, thyme, and basil. Of course, you could also use fresh! Simply refer to the recipe notes for the conversion.
Another essential component of this dish is the cast-iron skillet. We are huge fans of this fantastic cast iron from Finex that is created locally in Portland, Oregon. It’s an investment, and to be honest, I’m jealous if you have the cast iron that your grandmother used and has been passed down through the centuries. If not, though, and you’re looking to get a new (wonderful) cast iron, this one is great!
Once more, definitely an investment. Here’s another that is more reasonably priced and as fantastic.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Add the ground beef to your cast-iron pan after sautéing the onion and garlic. After cooking, remove any leftover fat.
Advice: You should remove the majority of the fat from your cast-iron pan, depending on the fat content of the beef you use.
- Step 2: Add the fresh spinach and heat until it wilts, and then mix in your preferred marinara and dry herbs.
- Step 3: Take out two thirds of the marinara sauce, pour it into a big bowl, and mix in the lasagna noodles.
- Step 4: Place half of the cheese on top.
- Step 5: Continue with the remaining cheese mixture, noodles, and sauce.
Step 6: Add the remainder of the mozzarella cheese and then the remaining spinach marinara on top.
Step 7: Bake till done!
Easy, cheesy, and ooey-gooey perfection. Without a doubt, one of our favorites is this lasagna. This has been cooked several times in the last month, and my family loves it.
Easy Substitutions
- Simply replace the ground beef with your preferred vegetables to make it vegetarian!
- Instead of using ground beef, use ground sausage to make sausage lasagna.
- Increase the amount of mozzarella or Parmesan cheese in the mixture, or you could even replace part or all of the cottage cheese with ricotta to make it cheesier.
- Use your preferred sauce along with more cheese, herbs, or vegetables.
- provide some red pepper flakes to provide some heat.
More Recipes You Might Like
- Homemade Mac and Cheese with Kale
- Sourdough Bread Stuffing with Ground Sage Pork
- Traditional Baked Ziti
- Southern Corn Pudding
Cast Iron Skillet Lasagna From Scratch
Made from scratch, this Cast Iron Skillet Lasagna is an ultimate comfort dish including handmade pasta, sauce, and ricotta cheese. It's goofy, simple to put together, and certain to become a family favorite!
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1-2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 white onion (diced about 1 cup)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 cups packed baby spinach
- 3 cups Mushroom Marinara Sauce or your other favorite marinara or 25 oz jar of pasta sauce
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (divided)
- 8 pieces lasagna noodles (cut into thirds)
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- Fresh basil or parsley for garnish (optional)
- Set oven temperature to 400 degrees.
- In a 12-inch cast iron skillet or another kind, heat the oil to medium. Add the garlic and onion, and sauté for three to five minutes, or until gently browned.
- When the ground beef is no longer pink, add it and crumble it with a wooden spoon for about five minutes of cooking.
- After draining approximately half of the fat, add the spinach and cook, stirring frequently, for an additional one to two minutes, or until the spinach wilts.
- Add the sauce, stir thoroughly, stir in the dry herbs, and cook for five to seven minutes.
- In the meantime, combine 2 cups mozzarella cheese and ricotta in a small bowl.
- About 1/3 of the sauce should remain in the skillet after being removed from the pan and transferred to a bowl.
- Place a layer of lasagna pieces on top of the noodles, then cover with half of the bowl’s sauce and roughly half of the cheese. Layer the remaining cheese, lasagna pieces, and sauce on top of each other. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese on top.
- Bake the cast iron for thirty to thirty-five minutes with a cover on it or with aluminum foil.
- Add some fresh basil or parsley over top, then serve and savor!
Depending on the sauce you’re using, use herbs according to your taste. If your sauce is already extremely highly seasoned, add less; if not, add more for a more basic sauce.
Replace 1/4 teaspoon of dry herbs with about 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh herbs.
Use either cottage cheese or ricotta cheese in combination. If desired, top the remaining mozzarella layer with Parmesan cheese.
To make the lasagna more cheesier, add extra cheese.
Replace the ground beef with your preferred vegetables to make it vegetarian.