Sheet pan dinners have become so popular because they are easy, healthy, don’t take long in the oven and the best part is the cleaning up afterwards takes literally no time. It’s basically a one pot meal but on a sheet pan.
A sheet pan looks like a rectangular baking tray but has a small rim all around it. Sheet pan dinners are perfect for mid week dinners and a great way to use up your vegetables in your fridge. How often do we race in from kids after school activities at 4pm or 5pm and have to start making dinner. Sheet pan dinner is perfect for those days as your meal will be on the table 45 minutes later.
It’s a good idea to start by choosing a protein for the meal. This can be planned ahead of time. I personally have 4 favourite protein dishes to make sheet pan dinners that seem to be a regular in our house. These are all made with lots of vegetables but will often depend on what I have in my fridge. This is also a great way to use up what you have in your fridge. I will always put the grill on for the last few minutes to crisp the skin and make it all golden brown. The 4 sheet pan meals that are in my repertoire are:
Salmon with skin on
Chicken chops with skin on
Sausages
meatballs
With sheet pan dinners the protein and the vegetables can go in at different stages and it’s important to know that different protein has different cooking time as well as your vegetables. For example, if I were to use below ground vegetables like potato, sweet potato, beetroot, and carrot, I would put them in first and 15 minutes later add my protein, however if I was choosing above ground vegetables such as cauliflower, asparagus, beans, broccoli, I would put them in after my protein or with my protein, depending what it was. Then there is your leafy green vegetables which don’t take long at all and I would put these in right at the end.
You will need to coat your vegetables in a fat, season them, and add any herbs and spices. There are so many variations of sheet pan dinners you can make and honestly it’s hard to go wrong. Give it a try……
