All-in-one Sheet-pan Recipes Make Balanced Meals Convenient

Posted: September 15, 2021 12:47 pm

Sheet pan meals — also known as sheet meals — grow increasingly popular for many reasons. The food is easy to prepare while delivering the nutrients of home-cooked foods. If you use aluminum foil to protect your sheet pan, cleanup becomes extraordinarily simple. You can cut and prepare the meat and vegetables in advance to simplify preparing fresh, healthy home-cooked foods for family members. Many families have different eating schedules, based on work, school and social obligations, and different members increasingly need to eat at different times. Sheet meals are the perfect solution — you can prepare the meat and vegetables in advance and slide them into the oven to finish within 30 minutes.

It’s easy to throw together foods on a sheet pan and cook them in the oven. The food tastes delicious, accommodates those with different eating schedules and makes it easy to customize meals by adding or subtracting key ingredients. The following recipes include all-in-one recipes for various types of home-cooked foods:

Sheet Pan Meals for Family Dinner: Salmon Puttanesca

You can prepare astonishingly complex meals using sheet pans. Using foil, olive oil cooking spray and other fresh seasonings allows you to prepare gourmet food that’s healthy, nutritious and appealing to the senses. Cleanup becomes as simple as you want, which depends on how you serve the food — on paper plates or fine china. This recipe for Salmon Puttanesca will impress anyone.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups sourdough bread cubes
  • 1 red onion in cut into wedges
  • ½ cup pitted niçoise olives
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • 1/4 c. olive oil
  • 6 6-ounce skinless salmon fillets
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon drained capers
  • 1/3 cup fresh parsley, basil or other preferred herb leaves

Preparation Method

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the bread cubes, onion wedges and tomatoes on a sheet pan. Sprinkle the mixture with two tablespoons of olive oil, ½ teaspoon of salt and some of the pepper to taste. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Meanwhile, rub the salmon with 1 tablespoon of olive, and place the fillets over the bread mixture. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes until salmon flakes easily with a fork. Mix the capers, olives, remaining tablespoon of olive oil and wine vinegar to make a dressing. Arrange each salmon fillet on a plate and drizzle with the dressing.

Food Network Sheet Pan Shrimp Scampi

You can use your sheet pan to heat some prepared garlic bread to complement this sheet pan meals recipe for shrimp scampi. The dish is impressive enough to serve for company, but it’s easy to prepare and cook without dirtying up lots of pans. The dish features healthy vegetables like squash and zucchini, and you can adjust the recipe to feature your favorite type of squash or other root vegetable.

Ingredients

  • 1 or 2 yellow summer squashes,sliced diagonally into rounds
  • 1 medium-sized zucchini, sliced diagonally into rounds
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground blavk pepper to taste
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2 cloves of grated or finely minced garlic
  • Zest of 1 lemon, plus lemon wedges, for serving
  • ½ loaf French bread, split horizontally and cut in half crosswise
  • 1 ½ pounds peeled and deveined shrimp, tails removed
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Preparation Method

Preheat your oven to a hot temperature, usually 450 degrees. Put the zucchini on a sheet pan in a single layer, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast the squash until golden — about 15 minutes. You can roast other root vegetables longer if using them. If you want to simplify cleanup, use aluminum foil after spraying it lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine the pepper flakes, butter, lemon zest, garlic and ½ teaspoon of salt and melt in a microsafe bowl. Drizzle the French bread with half the butter mixture, and sprinkle the grated cheese over the top. Toss the shrimp with the remaining butter.

Flip the vegetables, and move them to the center of the sheet pan. Put the bread on one side of the vegetables and the shrimp on the other. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the shrimp are cooked. After removing and plating the scampi and garlic bread, sprinkle them with the chopped parsley. The dish is ready to serve, and be sure to include the accumulated juices for dipping your bread.

Sheet Pan Chicken with Rainbow Vegetables

If you like brilliant colors in your home-cooked meals, this recipe for Sheet Pan Chicken with Rainbow Vegetables provides a colorful cornucopia of vegetables while limiting the meat content of your meal. You can empty your refrigerator of vegetables that are rapidly approaching their use-by date while creating a stunning masterpiece. Feel free to substitute other types of vegetables than those recommended. This is a hearty dish that’s perfect for busy days.

Ingredients

  • 2 or 3 sweet potatoes for their orange color
  • 2 cups of broccoli
  • Seasoning mix like ranch dressing, lemon-herb or your favorite herbs
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • Colorful mix or pepper slices including red, yellow and green
  • Zucchini or other types of squash, sliced or cubed
  • 1 ½ pounds of Boneless, skinless chicken breast, chicken thighs or even sliced smoked sausages
  • ¼ cup of olive oil or other fat
  • Lemon zest and lemon juice if desired

Preparation Method

This refrigerator-cleaning recipe doesn’t taste like leftovers, but leftovers can be used. The first step is to pre-roast sweet potatoes or other root vegetables — cut into bite-sized pieces –in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the meat and vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Mix the vegetables and herbs with the sweet potatoes, drizzle with olive oil and continue roasting for 10 to 15 minutes.

Crispy Sheet Pan Gnocchi and Veggies from Thekitchn.com

You can take prepared gnocchi and bake it instead of boiling for a twist in flavor and texture. This recipe for Crispy Sheet Pan Gnocchi and Veggies uses roasted gnocchi, which makes a game-changing way to enjoy these delicious dumplings. Many people prefer the roasted texture which makes the gnocchi crispy and browned — similar to roasted red potatoes. They won’t be as light, but they create a delectable sauce for your veggies, and the texture is chewy and tender, which many diners prefer.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound fresh or frozen gnocchi
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 1 red onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
  • 12-ounce bag of mixed baby bell peppers, cut into 1-inch chunks
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves
  • Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, for serving

Preparation Method

Arrange your oven rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat it to 450 degrees. Place all the gnocchi and vegetables in a bowl, and combine them with the salt, pepper and olive oil. Spread the mixture in an even layer on your sheet pan, preferably covered in parchment paper or foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Roast the vegetable mixture for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through the roasting time. The mixture should be cooked until the vegetables begin caramelizing. Divide the mixture into serving bowls, and garnish with basil leaves or parsley and grated cheese.

Vegetarian Sheet Pan Dinner with Chickpeas and Veggies

Allrecipes.com offers this recipe for Vegetarian Sheet Pan Dinner with Chickpeas and Veggies. One of the great advantages of sheet meals is that you can customize meals based on dietary restrictions or whether the diner is vegetarian or vegan.

Ingredients

  • 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • ½ butternut squash – peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
  • 2 large carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 3 medium russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
  • 2 green onions, chopped

Preparation Method

This is the perfect sheet meal for mixed diners that include vegetarians or vegans. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and oil or grease a large sheet pan. Combine all the vegetables except green onion with the spices, and drizzle them with vegetable oil. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, and stir the mixture. Continue baking for 20 to 25 minutes until the chickpeas become crisp. Garnish the servings with fresh green onion.

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