One-Pan Recipes

One-pan Meals Make Cooking a Breeze

With convenience that can’t be beat – and flavors you’ll keep coming back to – one-pan meals are a great addition to anyone’s kitchen. We’re in love with one-pan cooking for more than one reason. Read on to find out all the reasons we adore this cooking style, and check out some of our favorite easy one-pot meals.

What Can You Cook with Just One Dish?

There are plenty of options available for making a delicious meal with a minimum of cleanup. But not everything is a one-pot meal. Some recipes use other cooking methods. Here are a few of the options you can find online and in cookbooks:

One-pot meals: Your stovetop sees all the action with a one-pot meal. To keep things clean and contained, use a high-sided cooking vessel like a stockpot or a Dutch oven, since many of these recipes will include stock, broth or water (or ingredients like vegetables, which release a lot of liquid when cooked).

One-skillet meals: Similar to a one-pot meal, this kind of recipe can be cooked on your stovetop but uses a lower-sided skillet instead of a taller pot. Castiron or nonstick skillets are great options for these recipes, but make sure your skillet is oven-safe if the recipe requires finishing inside the oven.

One-pan meals: Made using a single sheet pan or roasting dish, these meals make the most of your oven, and use ingredients that work well when roasted (and occasionally broiled). Don’t assume a one-pan meal is just a casserole, though – there are plenty of creative options to discover and try.

Slow cookers and programmable pressure cookers: These handy kitchen helpers make cleanup super easy, and they do almost all the work for you. For more information, check out our slow cooker article.

Why Are One-pot Meals a Good Choice for Me?

One-pot meals are easy to make and clean up, and everyone can get behind that. But there are a few more reasons why working one-pot cooking into your schedule can be a big plus for your weekly routine.

• Specialty diets: Whether you’re going gluten-free or you’re giving the keto diet a try, one-pot meals for specialty diets make a great addition to your meal repertoire.
• Eating better: If your New Year’s resolution is to eat a healthier diet, one-pot cooking can help. Since everything goes into the same cooking dish, it’s easy to adjust quantities and control ingredients, and meal prepping is easy too since you can easily portion out what’s in the pot. We think healthy one-pot cooking is a great idea any time of year.
• Saving time: It’s no surprise that lots of people get into one-pot cooking because it’s a big time-saver. With less to clean, you get more minutes back in your busy day – and many recipes require less hands-on time than other, more involved recipes.

If any of these sound good to you (or reading all of this has made you hungry), check out these one-pan and one-pot recipes…they’re some of our very favorites.

Perfect for busy nights, this bold and zesty chicken dinner is loaded with bright, fresh flavors. Plus it has an OptUP score of 86, which means it’s a great option if you’re looking to eat better.

For busy weeknights, it doesn’t get any better (or easier) than this delicious stovetop vegetarian lasagna. It’s made in one pot (of course) using Mafalda (mini lasagna noodles), tomatoes and seasonings. And it takes just 30 minutes, start to finish.

These sticky Asian meatballs are truly a flavorful dish, served with a sticky soy-Sriracha sauce. Sugar snap peas, bok choy and scallions give it plenty of fresh flavor. Serve the meatballs up on their own or on a bed of white rice.

There’s no wok necessary to make this stir-fry. Instead, a preheated sheet tray does the work. It’s easy to prep this recipe the night before so dinner comes together super-fast, and you can make it even faster by using Simple Truth™ 90 Second White or Brown Rice.

Ready for more inspiration? Check out The Fresh Lane to find more fresh content that will inspire your cooking adventures.