This one-skillet spaghetti is a quick, cheesy, and family-friendly dinner perfect for busy weeknights. The pasta cooks right in the sauce, gets smothered in cheese and broiled for a bubbly finish—all in one pan. It’s fast, fuss-free, and totally kid-approved.
We’ve all been there. The kids are hungry and you are frazzled and then the dreaded question: “Mom, what’s for dinner???” And with my family of five, trying to find a quick and easy meal that EVERYONE enjoys is a huge challenge.
My go-to-recipe when I don’t have much time to think or to prepare a meal is this one: One Pan Pasta. It’s a one pot spaghetti dish that has evolved into many forms over the years and it’s a staple in our dinner rotation.
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Recipe highlights
- Family friendly: If you need a budget friendly, family friendly dish, this is for you! Ground meat, pasta and cheesy goodness that is kid-approved and won’t break the bank.
- Simple: This dish is so fast and easy to whip up. You can find all the ingredients at your grocery store without fuss. And the best part? It’s all made in one pan, making clean up easy as well.
- Customize: You can use any ground meat you have on hand. You can use an assortment of pasta, as well. If you want to add more vegetables, you can! You can make the sauce chunky or smooth.
- Flavor: You can use ground sausage to vamp up the flavor, if you want. A bit of cream and parmesan is added to the marinara for creamy flavor. And that cheesy melty top is RIDICULOUSLY good!
Ingredients you need
- Olive Oil: I use extra virgin olive oil to brown the onions and ground meat. You can also use canola, vegetable or avocado oil.
- Onion: Browned onions are the base for many dishes. You can add some bell peppers, mushrooms or chopped spinach or kale.
- Ground Meat: Any ground meat or combination of can be used: beef, turkey, chicken, pork, Italian sausage.
- Canned Diced Tomatoes: You can use 28oz of diced tomatoes. My kids prefer the petite diced, as the cut is smaller. For really picky eaters, use tomato sauce or marinara.
- Water: Water is added with the sauce for the pasta to absorb and cook.
- Pasta: Spaghetti is broken down into 2-inch pieces. You can also do this with fettuccini or linguini. Sometimes I use penne, rigatoni or spiral rotini pasta, too.
- Heavy Cream: A little heavy cream gives this dish some smooth and creaminess. You can use whole milk, but it won’t be exactly the same. The milk also helps cut down the acidity in the tomato sauce.
- Grated Parmesan Cheese: You can use parmesan or asiago or a combination of these hard Italian cheeses.
- Shredded Mozzarella: Mozzarella melts smoothly and is the preferred cheese to melt with pasta.
- Seasonings: garlic, dried basil, salt
Step-by-step directions
- Brown the meat. In a large oven safe skillet sauté onions and ground meat, breaking the meat down. Season with basil, garlic and salt.
- Add pasta. When meat is cooked, stir in tomatoes, water and more salt. Stir often until spaghetti starts to soften, about 7 minutes.
- Simmer. Bring the sauce to a low boil and stir in pasta. Stir often until spaghetti starts to soften, about 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover skillet and simmer for another 7 minutes.
- Broil. Turn off heat and stir in cream, parmesan and mozzarella. Top with additional parmesan and mozzarella and place under the broiler until the top browns, about 3 minutes.
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Expert Tips and Recipe FAQS
Sometimes you need a quick meal for those busy weeknights and this one pan pasta fits the bill. It’s fast, delicious and very family friendly. You can easily customize it to your family’s needs.
- You can use any ground meat or combination of: beef, turkey, pork, sausage
- This dish works with pasta or any noodle shape. Try penne or rotini.
- Sometimes I sneak in some greens like frozen spinach or chopped kale. Just mix it in right before you add the pasta. You can also sauté some bell peppers or mushrooms, too.
- Be sure to use a pan that is safe to bake in the oven, like cast iron.
If you like this recipe, then you’ll love my bolognese pasta bake. So easy, even my college boys can make it!
This recipe is so beloved and easy, I share a camp friendly version of this dish and prepare it in a cast iron Dutch oven. The recipe for that is in my camping cookbook, The Camp & Cabin Cookbook.
Dry pasta needs liquid to soften and cook up. This can be done with boiling it first or adding it to sauce that has water added to it. My recipe for one pan spaghetti cooks the broken bits of pasta in the sauce. I finish baking it in the oven to get the cheese all melty.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Store any leftover pasta in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
TO FREEZE: You can freeze leftovers individually or the whole casserole dish itself. Once cooled completely, transfer to a freezer safe container, seal and freeze for up to 4 to 6 months. To reheat, thaw overnight for larger portions and microwave until hot.
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One Skillet Spaghetti (aka One Pot Spaghetti)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- 1 lb ground turkey or beef
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
- 2 cup water
- 8 oz spaghetti broken into 1-inch pieces
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat broiler to 500ºF and adjust rack to upper-middle position.
- In an oven-safe large non-stick skillet or cast iron, over medium-high heat and add olive oil, onions and ground turkey.
- Break up meat and as it cooks, season with basil, garlic and ½ teaspoon salt.
- Once meat is cooked, stir in tomatoes, water and ½ teaspoon salt.
- Stir in spaghetti pieces.
- Stir often until spaghetti starts to soften, about 7 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, cover skillet and simmer for another 7 minutes.
- Turn off heat and stir in cream, ¼ cup grated Parmesan and ¼ cup shredded mozzarella.
- Sprinkle top with ¼ cup grated Parmesan and ¼ cup shredded mozzarella.
- Place skillet in the broiler until the top browns, about 3 minutes.
- Let spaghetti cool for 5 minutes and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
I love skillets and spaghetti.
Never thought to toss the dry noodles right into the sauce.
I’m so doing this!