One-pan mince recipes to make tonight

How can I make cooking at home easier? We get it. You're busy. You're on a budget. But each night you've got to come up with a tasty dinner to feed the family. Don't worry. You can make cooking easier, while putting up delicious weeknight meals with these one-pan mince recipes.

How to save time cooking with mince

Mince is the meat of champions for so many reasons. It's budget friendly. It's readily available in supermarkets. And, most importantly, it's quick to cook. Here we take a look at the different varieties of mince and what dishes you can make with mince.

Chicken Mince: is the mildest flavoured of all the minces, so takes on the flavour of the herbs, spices and sauces that it's cooked with. It's best used in Thai dishes such as larb or spring rolls, Mexican dishes and also makes great meatballs. It's also the leanest.
Beef mince: Depending on how you're cooking it, you can choose how lean you'd like your mince. If you're cooking the mince in a sauce, you may want one that has more fat so that it doesn't dry out. The fat in mince also helps to carry the flavour of the spices. Of course if you prefer lean, you can get extra lean mince.
Lamb mince: As it is the strongest in flavour of all the minces, it can take equally strong spices and flavourings. You'll find that lamb mince works best with Indian curries and Middle Eastern dishes where spices such as cumin, turmeric and cardamom will help to neutralise the lamb flavour creating a robust and tasty dish.
Pork mince: This mince is equally happy in Italian meatballs as well as Chinese meals like Szechuan-style stir-fries with green beans. You can buy pork mince combined with beef or veal mince. This combo is ideal for making bolognese or meatballs.

One-pan wonders

Nothing makes cooking feel easier than a good one-pan recipe. Especially if you're the one doing the washing up. One-pan can mean a variety of vessels. Depending on the type of meal you're making, you could use a frying pan or skillet, large saucepans or pots, and baking trays or baking dishes. The beauty of a one-pan recipe is that it captures all the flavours of the ingredients in the one place.

Here are a few tips on turning a dish into a one-pan meal:

Flameproof and ovenproof dishes are your best friend: you can pick up a good set of cast iron frying pans, casserole dishes and saucepans a lot cheaper these days from places like Aldi, Kmart and other large stores. Great for starting a meal off, that is frying the mince, cooking the onion and other base veggies before bunging the lot in the oven to do its thing.
Opt for microwave rice rather than regular rice as it will be ready to use in just 90 seconds. And because it is pre-steamed, it can be added uncooked to a dish with liquid or sauce and will cook faster and not dry out.
Use fresh pasta rather than dried as it is quicker to cook, and if there is enough liquid it will cook in the dish rather than needing to be pre-boiled.
Use pre-cut frozen beans or other veg to save valuable prep time and cooking time. These can be added to the one-pan meal towards the end of cooking rather than having to pre-cook them.

One-pan mince recipes

Let's celebrate easy weeknight cooking with this collection of recipes that combine easy and affordable mince with all the convenient genius of one-pan meals. Which one will you try tonight?

GET THE RECIPE: One-pan Meatball Parmigiana by Perfect Italiano

GET THE RECIPE: Bolognese Pasta Bake by Perfect Italiano

At a first glance, you could be forgiven for not thinking that this is one-pan dish, that is unless you have leftover bolognese and leftover cooked pasta. If you do, you're winning already! If you have the bolognese leftover or defrosted in the fridge after batch cooking it, you're halfway there. What you can do is thin the sauce with some water, and add fresh pasta (not dried) to the sauce, cover with a lid and cook on the stove until the pasta is al dente. Then add the cheese, bung it in the oven and dinner is done in one pan!