5 Ingredient Series: Sheet Pan Suppers

Chicken and vegetables on a plate

Sheet pan suppers are great because you can cook everything together on one foil-lined pan, making clean up a snap. You can use all kinds of ingredients and flavors to create something everyone will love. They are a good option for using up any leftover meat or produce you have on hand. Sheet pan suppers use the roasting method for cooking, which brings out the natural flavors of whatever you decide to put on the pan. 

Plan Your Pan
  1. Think about the cooking time of each ingredient. Things that take longer to cook like raw meat or firmer vegetables like potatoes, carrots, or yams should go in first, then add tender vegetables like peppers, tomatoes, or onions about halfway through the cooking time, so they don’t burn or get overcooked. Another way you can speed up cooking time of things that might take longer to cook would be to cut them into smaller pieces or thinner slices, so they cook faster. When cutting up vegetables for your sheet pan, make them about 1-2 inches in size, not too small. Proteins such as fish, shrimp, chickpeas, and tofu do not take as long to heat to the right temperature as bone-in chicken or beef. 
  2. Decide which flavors you want to use. You can use dried herbs and spices, a bottled salad dressing or sauce, or make your own sauce by mixing vegetable oil with some acid like citrus juice or vinegar, plus a flavor like Dijon mustard, herbs, lemon-pepper, grated parmesan cheese, or garlic.
  3. What equipment will you need? Some helpful pieces of equipment to have handy for your sheet pan supper are:
  • Sheet pan with a 1-inch rim*
  • Sturdy spatula
  • Oven mitts or kitchen towel
  • Foil
  • Timer
  • Food thermometer

*If you don’t have a sheet pan, you could use an oven-safe pan like a glass baking dish or cast-iron skillet, but the food might not get as browned and crisp because the sides of these pans are higher, trapping steam around the food as it cooks.

Build Your Pan
  • Preheat your oven to 425° F. Wash your hands with soap and water.
  • To make clean up easy, cover your pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. 
  • Place the ingredients on top of the foil, starting with the things that will take longest to cook, like the meat and potatoes. (If everything will take about the same amount of time to cook, you can add everything at once. For example, tofu, peppers, onions, and broccoli will all cook at the same rate.)
  • Sprinkle the ingredients with about 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil and then pour on your flavor mixture. You can toss and mix everything together right on the pan with clean hands or the spatula (just be careful not to rip the foil). Wash your hands and the spatula before touching anything else if they touch raw meat. 
  • Pop your sheet pan into the preheated oven for 30-45 minutes, depending on what’s on the pan. Meat and potatoes will take about 45 minutes, while more tender vegetables and plant-based proteins will take about 15-20 minutes. 
  • Stir everything once, halfway through the cooking time to so everything browns evenly (set your timer for half of the total cooking time and flip the items on the pan when the timer goes off, then restart the timer for the same amount of time). 
  • Vegetables are done when they can be stabbed easily with a fork; meat is done when the it is cooked to the right temperature.

Check out this sheet pan dinner recipe on our website: Garlic Chicken Potato Zucchini Sheet Pan Dinner 

Here are some other recipes you can use as a starting point. Just add some of your favorite vegetables and maybe some potatoes, squash, or sweet potatoes. Now you’ve got a complete meal on one pan that you can enjoy all by itself, or pair with a whole grain side dish, green salad, or some fruit.

Author
Kelly Boeger, MS RDN LDN
July 17, 2024
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