Keep dishes to a minimum with this easy Hawaiian One Pan Pasta with the flavors of a Hawaiian pizza – ham, bacon, pineapple and gooey cheese.
One pan dinners are a favorite! If you love them, too, you also need to try this Taco Skillet or this Ham and Cheese Pasta with Ranch.
When I am planning my weekly dinner menu, there are a few things that I look for. Recipes that don’t have a lot of ingredients, don’t have a lot of steps, and are fairly straightforward and easy. And fast. This Hawaiian One Pan Pasta has all of those covered.
First of all, and maybe most important – only one pan!! Ever since I posted my Skillet Pasta with Sausage, I’ve kind of been obsessed with the whole one pan pasta idea. I mean, why boil your pasta separately and get another pan dirty when you don’t have to? Plus, I love that the pasta is cooked in something besides water (tomato sauce and chicken broth in this instance) because it gives the pasta so much flavor. Plus, it’s all done in 30 minutes!
One pan + 30 minutes = win!
Hawaiian pizza is one of our favorite pizza flavors, so I couldn’t resist giving this a Hawaiian pizza twist. Not only is it a great way to use leftover ham, but I throw in some bacon, because everything is better with bacon. A little bit of sweet from the pineapple, and melty mozzarella cheese on top puts this one pan pasta as one of my very favorites. We seriously loved this so much that I made it twice in one week!
Ingredients
- Bacon: I like to chop the bacon and then cook it, but you can also cook the strips and the crumble them.
- Ham: This is a great recipe for leftover holiday ham! If you don’t have any leftovers, you can get a ham steak at the grocery store and cut it into cubes.
- Tomato Sauce: Make sure you are using tomato sauce, not marinara sauce.
- Chicken Broth: I like to use a low sodium chicken broth.
- Seasonings: For the seasonings, you need onion powder, dried basil, and pepper.
- Pasta: You can really use any short cut pasta. I like to use rigatoni.
- Pineapple: I used canned pineapple here, but fresh pineapple would be even better! Just make sure to cut the pieces small.
- Cheese: We like mozzarella, but another easy melting cheese would work, as well.
- Cilantro: This just adds some freshness and flavor at the end.
Tips and Tricks
You will want to make sure and taste the pasta before adding the cheese to see if you need to add any additional seasonings, especially salt. It will probably be salty enough from the bacon add ham, but depending on tastes, you may want to add some.
This is best served right away, simply because the pasta will continue to absorb any liquid and it may dry out. If you do have leftovers, store them in the refrigerator. You can always add a splash of chicken broth when you are reheating, if needed.
While I love the combination of bacon and ham, you could use all of one or the other if that is what you prefer.
More Leftover Ham Recipes
Ham and Potato Soup
French Bread Hawaiian Pizza
Ham Risotto with Peas
Ham and Bean Soup
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Hawaiian One Pan Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 oz bacon
- 8 oz leftover ham cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 8 oz dry rigatoni pasta
- 8 oz pineapple tidbits drained
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Dice the bacon into small pieces. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until crisp. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease.8 oz bacon
- Add the cubed ham to the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until the ham is browned. Add the tomato sauce, chicken broth, onion powder, basil, and pepper to the ham.8 oz leftover ham, 1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce, 2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- Stir to combine, then add the pasta and stir again. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and cook until the pasta is tender, about 15 minutes. (I like to stir this one or two times during the cook time to make sure all of the pasta gets cooked evenly.)8 oz dry rigatoni pasta
- Stir in the pineapple and reserved bacon, then remove from the heat.8 oz pineapple tidbits
- Sprinkle the top of the pasta with the mozzarella and cover again. Let the dish sit until the mozzarella is melted. Sprinkle with cilantro before serving.1 cup mozzarella cheese, chopped cilantro
Rebecca Becker says
This was a wonderful dish!
Samantha says
This recipe is so tasty. Every time we have ham I am excited for leftover to make this! Thank you for sharing!
Karen says
I pinned this years ago and it was good. I came across it again tonight, searching for dinner ideas. Except now I have an instant pot…. So making this an instant pot meal. I browned the bacon, set it aside, added the ham using the moisture from that to deglaze the pot. Added the pasta on top of the ham, sauce, spices and then chicken broth. I set the timer for half the time on the box minus one minute. I let it naturally release a couple minutes and added pineapple, bacon and cheese. It was perfect.
Emeric says
I would like to know (I’m french) when you said, for example, 8oz of ham or 16oz of pasta, it’s fluid oz or solid oz (gram). Thank you for all your good recipes
Nikki says
Wow! Made this dish tonight after I pinned it a couple weeks ago. I regret waiting that long! This was amazing! Definitely going to be a regular recipe. Thanks!!
Brittany says
I made this tonight for my family. It was OK, nobody was really fond of the flavors, I think it was the chicken broth that made it taste different for us. We mainly picked at the ham, bacon and pineapple lol. Very easy to make though and cleanup was faster!
Sharesa says
Do you think this could be doubled and made in a large pot? We have a larger family but I love the idea of only one pan 🙂
Deborah says
You probably could, but you’d need quite a large pan. My skillet is 12-inches, and it fills it up completely. You might be able to do it in a Dutch oven or something large like that, but the cooking time may change as well.
Carleen says
This looks great!! Any suggestions on what to serve with it?
Deborah says
I would probably just pair it with a simple green salad. I don’t think it would need much more than that. Hope you love it!
lori wargin says
Very good next time I would leave the salt out, it was salty enough with the ham and bacon. Thank you for the recipe.
CC says
This was awful! Followed the recipe to a T and came out tasting like crap. If you’re brave enough to make this then skip the salt. There is enough of it between the bacon and ham!
Monica says
This was an awesome dish! Full of flavor. The only thing I did different was add a couple small diced peppers from the garden.
Abbey says
Making this right now! Love the recipe and the current smell coming from my kitchen! Thanks so much!
Janet Griffith says
I’m really Sorry!! That is exactly what I did. I can”t believe I missed that step.
Janet Griffith says
Is this some kind of joke? I added 2 cups chicken broth and then I had soup!! It doesn’t say when the pineapple. Thanks for wasting my time and money!!!!
Deborah says
Hi Janet – sorry you had problems with the recipe. I just wanted to make sure you used dry pasta? The broth will get absorbed into the pasta, cooking it, so it shouldn’t be really liquidy. And the pineapple gets added at then end of step 2 along with the bacon.
Valeria says
I ‘m sorry, but my husband and I really did not like this. I made it exactly as is ,and I threw the rest of the pot. We like Hawaiian pizza , but the flavors in this just did not go together!
Deborah says
I’m so sorry you didn’t like it! It’s been quite popular, but I totally understand that everyone has different tastes. Hopefully the next one will work out better for you!
Stacy @Stacy Makes Cents says
I love how this made my whole house (basement included) smell like bacon. And maybe me. I’m cool with that. I used some kind of weirdo shaped pasta instead of rigatoni – it kinda looked like a ram’s horn. Ha! Not even sure how that came to live in my pantry. But anyway, it worked out great with a different pasta shape. 🙂
Deborah says
Ha – I, too am totally ok with the house smelling like bacon!! I’m so glad you tried this and it worked out well for you!!