Like fast meals without a lot of prep? Listen to me sing the praises of Sheet Pan Meals!
If someone asked me what wisdom I’d go back and tell my college-aged self, it would have definitely been some meal prep hacks that have saved myself in the age of having a kiddo and multiple jobs and passion projects. Because in college, I lived on Pizza Rolls, water crackers, mac and cheese, frozen pizza, and bagels and cream cheese. So. Much. Garbage.
One of the biggest time savers we utilize almost weekly is Sheet Pan meals. They are fast, require little prep/mess, don’t have to have a long list of ingredients, and you can batch several days and once and simply reheat. I’ve slowly been dialing back meat consumption a bit (I love playing with my diet), and upping the vegetable intake, so I can also nail the proportions I’m looking for with sheet pan meals as well. Plus, what veggie doesn’t taste better roasted?
Here is one of our favorites lately, Sheet Pan Chicken Sausage and Veggies. I easily picked everything up at Aldi (our typical grocery store haunt), and made a week’s worth in just 45 minutes!
- 2 large carrots or 2 cups
- 2 red potatoes or 2 cups
- 1 small-medium zucchini or 2⅓ cups
- 2 peppers or 2 cups
- 1 head broccoli or 1 and ½ cups
- 16 ounces Chicken Sausage
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment or foil for easy clean-up.
- Prep the veggies as follows: Peel and very thinly slice the carrots. Chop the red potatoes into small cubes. You want the pieces quite small here (marble-sized). Slice the zucchini into thick coins. Coarsely chop the broccoli. Remove the stems and seeds from the peppers and chop into bite-sized pieces. Chop the sausage into thick coins.
- Distribute/divide veggies and sausage on the sheet pan.
- In a small bowl combine all of the seasonings and salt and pepper if desired with the olive oil. Stir to combine.
- Pour the seasoning and oil mixture on top of the veggies and sausage and thoroughly toss/turn to coat.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove and toss around the veggies and sausage and return to the oven for another 10-20 minutes or until veggies are crisp-tender.
- Remove and top, if desired, with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.
- Perfect served with rice or quinoa or plain.
I threw a little soy sauce and honey mustard dressing in with my veggies and rice. Everyone has their thing right?
The great thing about this is that you can approximate all measurements, swap out veggies, and make it your own with little consequence to the actual meal. I think that’s why it works so well — you really don’t need a super specific recipe — even though that kind of defeats the purpose of me sharing it.
Want some more of my faves? Here ya go:
- Sheet Pan Roast Chicken and Cabbage from Food52: The chicken gets amazingly crisp and the cabbage is phenomenal. The whole dish has so much flavor, it’s definitely at the top of my list.
- Sheet Pan Fajitas from Cooking Classy: This is a staple because it’s literally peppers, onions and whatever meat you want — it doesn’t get more simple, and you can dress them up with different salsas or slaw as well.
- Sheet Pan Peanut Chicken and Broccoli from Pillsbury: I’m a sucker for peanut sauce anything, so this has been a hit for me.
Do you have a favorite sheet pan dinner for me to try? I’m planning next week’s menu right now and would love to try your favorites!
