Pasta Twists with Italian Meat Sauce

This is a true one-skillet pasta dinner. Ground beef and onion get browned, then the frozen vegetables with pasta and jarred spaghetti sauce go right in. Everything simmers together until the pasta is cooked and the vegetables are crisp-tender. No separate pot of boiling water, no draining, no extra dishes.

The garden-style pasta with vegetables is doing all the multitasking here. It’s a frozen product that combines pasta twists with mixed vegetables in one bag, which cuts your prep to practically nothing. The pasta absorbs the spaghetti sauce as it cooks, so every twist is flavored through and through.

A handful of shredded mozzarella melted over the top at the end turns this from a simple skillet meal into something that feels more like a baked pasta without the baking. The residual heat from the covered pan melts the cheese into stretchy, gooey strings.

Kitchen Tips

• Brown the beef well before adding anything else. Good browning means better flavor in the sauce. Don’t just turn the meat gray.
• Keep the heat at medium once everything is simmering. Too high and the sauce reduces before the pasta cooks through.
• Stir occasionally to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Cover the pan after adding the cheese and let it sit for 2 minutes. The trapped steam melts it evenly.

Variations

• Use Italian sausage instead of ground beef for a spicier, more herbal sauce.
• Stir in a handful of fresh spinach during the last minute for extra greens.
• Add red pepper flakes or a dash of Italian seasoning to the sauce for more depth.