Skillet Lasagna -- a one-pan dinner from Leslie Budewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Who doesn’t love lasagna? I admit, though, to not loving all the steps, putting together this and that, and layering it all together. No-boil noodles have made the dish a lot easier – no more cooking the pasta, then handling the hot, cooked noodles. This skillet version solves all those problems, with only one dish to clean! 

I found the inspiration recipe in Country Living – I’ve had a subscription for decades. We did make a few changes, mostly to clarify the ingredients. The lack of mention of no-boil noodles, or of boiling them in advance, made me wonder if the boil-first version had disappeared from grocery shelves. Turns out they are still available, but I guessed right and chose the no-boil version. The noodles aren’t as easy to break as I expected; put them in a plastic bag so pieces don’t fly around your kitchen when you snap them! The original also called for sausage in casings, then removing the casings; just buy bulk sausage! And chicken stock? Some cooks and recipes treat it as a neutral flavor, but I don’t see the point in using it with sausage; vegetable stock worked beautifully. 

You’ll notice that the recipe doesn’t call for salt and pepper, or the traditional Italian herbs. You’ll get some of that in your sausage, and possibly in your marinara. My advice: taste and add herbs or seasoning if your tongue tells you to!

I was worried about moving a hot, heavy cast-iron pan into a hot oven, but a 12" skillet has high sides, and won’t be so full that spills become a risk. I tucked a rimmed baking sheet on a lower rack, just in case, but there was no spillage. 

Serve with a green salad, crusty bread, and a glass of red wine. Buon appetivo! 

PS: I finally figured out how to embed a PDF of the recipe for easy printing. 

Scroll down to the 💕 for the link. 

Skillet Lasagna 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound sweet Italian sausage 

2 cloves garlic, minced 

2 cups vegetable stock

2 cups marinara sauce

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes 

8 ounces no-boil lasagna noodles, broken into large pieces (see note above) 

Italian herbs, kosher salt, freshly ground pepper (optional) 

2/3 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish

1/3 cup ricotta

4 ounces mozzarella, grated (about 1 cup)

2 tablespoon grated Parmesan

Place an oven rack in the top position and heat oven to 450 degrees. 

Using a 12-inch cast-iron skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking it up with your spatula, until the pieces begin to brown, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add stock, marinara, and tomatoes. 

Tuck the lasagna noodles into the mixture. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer about 4 minutes. Remove the cover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender, about 6 to 8 minutes. Taste and add herbs or salt and pepper, if needed. 

Turn off the heat and stir in the basil. Top with the ricotta, spreading it lightly with the back of your spoon, then sprinkle on the mozzarella and Parmesan. Place the skillet in the oven and bake until golden brown, again about 6 to 8 minutes. 

Remove from oven and allow to sit on the stove top a few minutes. 

Serve with a large spoon or spatula and top, if you’d like, with additional fresh basil. 

Serves 6-8. Refrigerate leftovers covered; they reheat nicely. 

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF! 

At Seattle Spice Shop, owner Pepper Reece has whipped up the perfect blend of food, friends, and flavor. But the sweet smell of success can be hazardous . . .  

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender’s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved—and occasionally maligned—herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz’s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower’s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who’s taken to the hills. 

Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there’s one in every pocket. 

Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz’s success, and a local growers’ cooperative. She’s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. 

As Pepper’s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud?

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. Watch for Lavender Lies Bleeding, the 9th Spice Shop Mystery, on July 15, 2025.

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine. 

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.