Method ยท 16 recipes

One Pan Recipes

One pan here means exactly that: one skillet, one wok, or one pot, start to finish. No colander for the pasta, no sauce pot next to the vegetable pot, no stack of dishes waiting for you at 9 pm.

The trade for washing less is paying a bit more attention while you cook. Stir the pot, scrape the bottom, taste as you go. In exchange, most of these dinners land in 20 to 25 minutes, and the pan can double as a serving dish when nobody is being fancy.

Every recipe here gets its time added up the same way as everywhere else on TasteBoard, and the swaps tell you honestly what changes. Nothing on this page needs special equipment, a 12 inch skillet with sides does almost all of it.

Browse the 16 recipes
Chicken cooking in a pan

Photo: @Matti Blume / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Who it is for

This hub is for the dishwashing skeptics. If you own one good skillet and a Dutch oven and consider that plenty, you are in the right place. It is also for weeknight cooks who want the stove to do the work, students in shared kitchens, and anyone who thinks a recipe with four pots is a recipe you cook exactly once.

If you are new to cooking, one pan recipes are a gentle start. You learn heat and timing on a single surface, and when something goes slightly wrong, it goes slightly wrong in one place instead of three.

How to choose

  • Pasta night with zero extra pots: creamy tomato penne simmers the noodles right in the sauce, 20 minutes.

  • Got leftover chicken: chicken quesadillas in 15 minutes, the fastest thing on this list.

  • Takeout mood: speedy egg fried rice, 15 minutes, and it beats soggy delivery every time.

  • Meat and veg people: beef and broccoli stir fry, 20 minutes, glossy sauce included.

  • Something gentle and meatless: white bean and spinach stew, 25 minutes, fully vegan.

  • Garlic lovers with chicken in the fridge: garlic butter chicken bites, 20 minutes, one skillet.

The recipes

16 recipes here

Questions cooks actually ask

Does one pan really mean one pan?

Yes. Every recipe on this hub cooks in a single skillet, wok, pot, or Dutch oven from start to finish. You might rest meat on a plate or mix a sauce in a cup, but all the cooking happens in one pan.

Is one pan cooking slower than normal?

Usually the opposite. Fewer vessels means less waiting for a second pot to heat up, and sauces build in the same pan where the meat seared, so nothing flavorful gets left behind. Most recipes here are done in 25 minutes or less.

Do I need a wok for the stir fries?

No. A 12 inch skillet with high sides gets hot enough for home stir frying, and the recipe pages say exactly that. A wok is nice to have, not a requirement.

What is the difference between one pan and sheet pan?

The stove versus the oven. One pan recipes keep you at the burner stirring, sheet pan dinners roast while you set the table. Both count as one thing to wash, so it is really about where you want to stand.

Keep exploring

  • Dinner in 30 Minutes

    One pan or not, this hub collects every recipe that is truly done in 30 minutes or less.

  • Chicken Dinners

    All the chicken, every method, from 15 minute skillets to slow cooker tacos that take four hours.

  • One Pan and Sheet Pan

    Prefer the oven to do the work, sheet pan dinners are the hands off version of one pan.