Tonight’s a great night to combine a quick meat sauce with pasta cooked right in the skillet and some of the yummy flavors I love in lasagna! This ground beef skillet pasta is Italian comfort food served up in 30 minutes using only one pot. Is it dinner time yet?
Lately I’ve been having some fun working on various one-pot comfort food meals and spreading out the love to some of my favorite cuisines – Greek Lamb Meatballs and Rice, French Chicken Thighs Dijon, and now Italian Ground Beef Skillet Pasta. There is just something rather wonderful about creamy, Mediterranean dinners cooked all in a single skillet ready for a weeknight meal!
While I’m not against puttering about in the kitchen for most of an afternoon ( 🙂 I call that a fun afternoon), as I mentioned in my chicken dijon post sometimes you simply want to get dinner on the table without too much fuss. And workhorse skillet dinners are one of my favorite ways to go from ‘oh, I’d best get dinner started’ to ‘come and eat!’
When I can combine a skillet dinner with comfort food? So much the better. I clearly love comfort food, I especially love Italian comfort food. It’s home to me! Take some pesto and ricotta here, a couple of cans of tomatoes there, add a few handfuls of pasta and wrap it in a meat sauce.
What could be better?
Oh, yes! A nice glass of red wine. That finishes things off nicely. 😉
And now I want to stop right here and give a little shoutout to my husband. He had noticed that I’ve been either racing to finish my photoshoots before the winter sun disappears for the day (which is very early up here in Massachusetts!), or dealing with some rather cumbersome artificial lights that I was having trouble getting the hang of. They were never quite right! So, he bought me a set of lovely, umbrella lights which I can position and angle right to my photo area.
While I still love the look of natural light, it’s very nice to be able to take my photos later in the day! Or when it’s stormy and dark out at noon. I’ve been playing with the lights since Christmas, getting used to them and trying them out, and this week has been the week to finally put them to use. First, the Meyer lemon drop cocktail and now this pasta skillet. Going forward you will be seeing a mix of natural lighting and artificial lighting depending on when my food is ready for its closeup. I may even be able to do more photos in my kitchen (which has horrible natural light), and get more in-process, making-of photos.
A few points about the recipe before I get to it:
- Use a nonstick skillet. It makes all the difference in the world! You can use a standard skillet, but be prepared to stir it frequently and it’s going to stick no matter what. I just bought a Greenpan skillet. I’ve heard mixed reviews on their long term quality, so I’m going to give it a good test. So far, so good though.
- You can make this a vegetarian meal; however, it’s rather dull without the meat. We’ve tried it! I have yet to try beans as the protein, so if anyone wants to give it a shot, let me know how it tastes. Either ground beef or meatloaf mix works wonderfully as the meat in the recipe.
- Any short tube-y or spiral pasta works just great! (Or tube-y spiral pasta, like the trivelli in the photos, if you want to combine the two ideas.) If your pasta is on the thicker side, it may need a couple extra minutes before you take it off the heat. Taste a piece and see if it’s done to your liking.
Ground Beef Skillet Pasta with Pesto and Ricotta
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef, or meatloaf mix
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 28 oz whole tomatoes, pureed
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 8 oz water
- 10 oz short pasta, such as trivelli, fusilli, penne, shells, etc.
- 4 oz (1/2 cup) pesto
- 8 oz ricotta cheese, whole milk or part skim
- 2 oz parmesan cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Add the ground beef, onion, and salt to a large, nonstick skillet. Bring to medium heat and saute for 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and the ground beef has mostly lost its pink color. Add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.
- Mix together the pureed whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water. Spread the pasta out in the skillet and then pour the tomato mixture over the pasta, making sure to push down the pieces so that all the pasta is submerged. Bring to a boil, then cover the skillet and simmer on low for 20 minutes. Stir the pasta once or twice while it's simmering.
- Taste the pasta to make sure it's cooked through (if not, cover and simmer for 2-3 minutes more), then stir in 2 tablespoons of the pesto and dollop spoonfuls of the ricotta over the top. Cover the skillet and take it off the heat to let it rest for a couple of minutes.
- Serve the pasta with extra pesto and parmesan cheese.
Notes
- If you don't have a nonstick skillet, you will need to stir the pasta frequently to keep it from burning. I've found that you can leave it for the first 10 minutes, and then for the next 10 minutes stir it every 2-3 minutes.
- Thinly sliced fresh basil makes a nice addition to the recipe.
- I puree the whole tomatoes since I am feeding people who are not fans of chunky tomato sauces. Feel free to chop or lightly pulse the tomatoes instead.
- Any fresh (refrigerated) pesto sauce in the supermarket will work. I've tried a number of brands, and they are all good. I wouldn't suggest using the shelf stable, canned pesto sauces, though. They will have a very different flavor.
Beth says
Easy and SO good. I was surprised that the pasta cooked so well. Will definitely make this againl.
Courtney Jones says
Absolutely loved the flavors in this dish!
Jess says
I am not normally one to leave bad reviews, but want to warn others that, unfortunately, this was a huge flop for me. So much so that we couldn’t even eat it and had to toss it. 🙁
Cooking the pasta in the same pan resulted in such a mushy texture and the sauce had no seasoning whatsoever – it just tasted like we were eating canned tomatoes. Sadly the pesto wasn’t enough to salvage the lack of flavor.
justalittlebitofbacon says
As this recipe remains a perennial favorite in our house, I’m not sure what to tell you. Did you use no onion, garlic, or salt? Did you drain the ground beef and remove all the flavor of its fat? Did you not check on the pasta to see when it was cooked through and time to add the pesto?
SS says
Was looking for a ground beef (bison), pasta and pesto recipe. So I shut off the boiling water and the oven as I thought this was the original plan.. Lo & behold I found a recipe in which you only dirty 1 pan. Yay me.
I had 2 cans of diced tomatoes and pearl mozzarella available, added some italian seasoning and it was delish. I can’t wait until my daughter comes home from college so that I can make this for her. We all love Pesto.
justalittlebitofbacon says
Awesome! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Jonsi says
I came across this site & recipe while searching for a quick family meal. My kids and my husband are so picky, it’s literally made cooking maddening. I was so excited at the thought of cooking pasta in the sauce. Less clean-up! HALLELUJAH! Quick cooking time! HALLELUJAH! I only had a 15 oz can of tomato sauce and 15 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and everything else on hand. My 3yo is allergic to animal milk so I scooped his out pre-pesto and ricotta. It needed about half a teaspoon more salt and about another cup of water to make up for the sauce I omitted. 3yo said “mmm so good!” The 4yo ate it all, which rarely happens at dinner. You averted a family’s trip through a nasty drive thru lol Thanks! Can’t wait to explore your other recipes! 🙂
justalittlebitofbacon says
Yay! I’m glad all your picky eaters enjoyed it! I only have one myself but I well know the balancing act of finding something I want to cook and she will eat. 🙂
Susan Schellhammer says
I really don’t like cooking at times,but this was truly easy. It would be great for a family dinner. Thank you
justalittlebitofbacon says
I’m glad you enjoyed it! And it’s definitely one of our favorite family dinners here. 🙂
Susan Schellhammer says
It is delicious. I was raised eating Italian food. Living where I do niw,you cannot find that many Italian restaurants.
Meredith says
Loved this; thank you so much! 😀
justalittlebitofbacon says
You’re welcome! And thank you for the feedback.
Kathy says
Made this tonight and husband really really liked it. It would have been too bland w/o the pesto – so it was really good using recipe. I did have to substitute cottage cheese (small curd) for the ricotta and it was just fine.
justalittlebitofbacon says
I agree that the pesto is key! And thanks for sharing your cottage cheese sub. 🙂
Valentina | The Baking Fairy says
Yes, please! I love pasta in any way, shape, or form, and I am loving the combination of ground beef with pesto! This is one I’ll have to try 🙂
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thanks! It’s really a great combination! This is one of our favorite meals. 🙂