15 One-Skillet Family Dinners

Whether it’s a good kid-friendly casserole dinner or a budget family dinner under $15, I love cooking for my family — sharing food I love with people I love, making wholesome dinners I feel good about, and gathering around the table to talk about our days. Here’s what I don’t love about cooking for my family: dishes. After working in restaurants for nearly a decade, I’ve gotten pretty good at cleaning as I go, but I still dread having to tackle a mountain of dishes after dinner. 

Enter the one-skillet dinner. It allows me to enjoy all the things I love about cooking dinner and drastically reduces the one thing I don’t love. I call that a win. Here, I’ve assembled a list of 15 of my favorite one-skillet family dinners, from an easy skillet lasagna to a comforting chicken fricasse, and they all cook up in just one pan.

Chicken sausage is a great choice for quick dinners, and my family loves it when I make this combination of our favorite chicken sausage (The recipe calls for hot Italian, but we like Seemore’s Chicken Parm Sausage) with broccolini and orzo. Yes, my 7-year-old picks out her broccolini (which I then eat), but even a little veggie exposure is better than nothing!

Yes, you can make chicken alfredo — a family favorite — in one-skillet, thanks to this brilliant recipe, which builds flavor by starting with cooking pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breast and then sautéing the garlic, cooking the pasta, and making the sauce all in the same pan. I love adding a handful of sundried tomatoes to the dish right at the end for a little ’90s throwback flair.

My usual lasagna recipe dirties an embarrassing number of pans and takes hours to make, relegating it to weekends and special occasions. This skillet version makes me seriously question why I go to all the trouble because it’s nearly as good and in a fraction of the time, not to mention the time I save by not having to scrub all those dishes. 

In the summer, I am always on the hunt for good uses for zucchini, which is so abundant at the farmers market, it’s kind of hard to ignore. This recipe uses garlic, lemon, and a pinch of paprika to amp up the mild zucchini and sweet corn, which pairs well with chunks of tender chicken. In my opinion, a little fresh basil at the end really makes the dish.

I’m all about the egg roll in a bowl trend, and I love making this one-pan version with a pound of ground turkey and a bag of coleslaw mix. I let everyone add their own sauces, like a drizzle of sweet chili sauce, or my favorite, a spoonful of chili crisp.

If you loved Hamburger Helper as a kid, you (and your kids) will love this homemade version, which combines the classic elements — ground beef, elbow noodles, a veggie-studded tomato sauce, and lots of cheese — to make a crowd-pleasing (Seriously, the recipe serves 12. You can easily halve it.), affordable, one-pot meal.

I had never thought about eating meatballs and rice together like this until I came across this recipe, but now it’s something my whole family loves. Using frozen meatballs and jarred marinara sauce (Rao’s, obviously) means I can get this in the oven in about 5 minutes.

I absolutely love pepperoncini, and I’m committed to helping my kids see how magical they are. Despite not being as crazy about pickled peppers as their mom, thanks to the cream and Parmesan cheese that provides the heft in this one-skillet recipe, my kids are fully on board.

Stuffed peppers are a delicious summertime treat, but I find them kind of annoying to make. This skillet-ized version solves that problem, and it’s also vegetarian, making it a fixture of our meatless Mondays.

Fried rice is one of my kitchen heroes when I need something fast, affordable, and easy that appeals equally to the grown-ups and the kids at the table. This version uses sweet and savory lap cheong, or Chinese Sausage, to add a ton of flavor. 

Since gnocchi has recently become one of my 13-year-old’s favorite foods, I’ve been looking for more ways to enjoy the potato pasta, and this is one of the best I’ve found. It’s a little prep-heavy compared with some of the other recipes on this list, but it’s an excellent choice for an evening when you have a little spare time and crave something that feels luxurious.

This recipe delivers delicious cozy flavors with a couple smart tricks — First, you’ll baste the pork chops in butter, which makes them perfectly juicy and tender, and then you’ll cook the apples in that buttery, porky goodness you’ve just created. Finishing the pan with dry apple cider magnifies the sweetness, creating a crave-worthy pan gravy that begs to be sopped up with crusty bread.

If you’ve only got 10 minutes to get dinner in the oven, you can’t go wrong with this one. Dried Italian dressing mix and balsamic vinegar make this chicken and rice skillet super flavorful, with a tanginess that my kids adore.

My entire family loves French onion soup, and this one-skillet wonder delivers those deep, caramelized onion flavors (quickly thanks to an ingenious hack) to the ubiquitous pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts to great effect.

Rendering the bacon for this recipe usually results in my kids coming to the kitchen to see what’s up (and if they can snag a piece). When they discover that I’m making this tortellini with asparagus, peas, and bacon, they’re positively pumped. My 7-year-old doesn’t like the asparagus, so I plate hers without any — more for me!