Sheet Pan Dinners | Walking on Sunshine Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What to cook a sheet pan dinner at? ›

A sheet pan meal is a full meal – protein and vegetable or vegetables– cooked together on a sheet pan in a hot oven, typically 425° F. The food combos are endless, but the recipes share a few attributes. They are fairly low fat, come together within an hour, and dirty just one pan.

The right baking sheet to use for sheet pan dinners is called a half-sheet pan. It's made of heavy-gauge metal, measures 18 by 13 inches, and has a 1-inch rim all the way around. It's sturdy enough to take high oven heat — and sometimes broiler heat if your recipe calls for it.

We recommend foil over parchment paper for sheet pan cooking. As it conducts heat, foil can help accelerate the cooking process and help browning.

Temperatures range from 375-400°F for sheet pan meals. Depending on the vegetables and protein you've chosen, it may take anywhere from 35-45 minutes to cook thoroughly. Remember if you've chosen something you know will overcook in that period, you want to add it in later on in the cooking time.

Foil is the right choice when you're roasting at temperatures of 425°F (220°C) or higher. Unless it's labelled non-stick, foil needs greasing, and — surprise! — it makes no difference if the shiny side is up or down. Cover the baking sheet completely, including the sides and corners, to catch any mess.

Although cookie sheets are often referred to as "baking sheets," there are differences between a cookie sheet and a baking sheet (also known as a baking sheet pan or simply a sheet pan): Baking sheet pans have rolled edges with a lip around the entire pan, whereas cookie sheets do not.

Aluminum foil and parchment paper are your friends.

Line the pan with either foil or parchment before cooking to help make clean-up easy! Remember: If you're broiling, do not use parchment paper, which can catch fire. Go with the foil, and mist it with cooking spray to prevent food from sticking.

You don't really need to line the pan

“I throw stuff directly on the sheet pan and then when you go to stir or scrape it up with a spatula or wooden spoon, you get all that flavor that's on the bottom of the pan up into the dish,” says Pelzel.

Here, you'll assemble dinner components in reusable containers or zip-top bags so during the week all you need to do is dump everything on sheet pan, maybe toss with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then bake. You'll also be ready to tackle the week with simple, ready-to-eat breakfast and lunch options.

In a pinch, baking directly on an ungreased baking sheet will work fine; the cookies have enough fat in them to prevent severe sticking — although you might need a thin metal spatula to pop some of them off.

Should you line your sheet pan? ›

I'll accept that argument for delicate cookies—parchment paper is a necessary precaution there. But for everything else, a little oil on the sheet pan should be enough. Plus, the more you use your sheet-pan unlined, the more seasoned it will get, making it more and more naturally nonstick.

Eat fruits and vegetables.

Unlike processed foods, which typically don't contain much water and can be harder to digest, many fruits and vegetables are full of water and nutrition. Experts recommend eating produce with high water content, such as berries, watermelon, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery and bell peppers.

It is best to avoid fried and oily foods during the summer because they affect digestion and clog your skin's pores with excess oil. Artificial sweeteners and flavouring agents in processed foods are harmful to the body.

Like most nonstick sheet pans, it shouldn't be subjected to temperatures above 450ºF. That's a generous maximum for most baking projects, but this isn't a baking sheet you want to stick under the broiler or use to fire pizza at high heat.

You can also place an empty sheet pan in the oven as it preheats — a great trick for getting roasted veggies extra crisp. For cookies though, it's better to preheat the pan for just a couple of minutes or to run hot water over it first, as a pan that's too hot could cause cookies to spread too fast.

Pan-roasting is a hybrid method of cooking using both conductive heat (by searing) and radiant heat (by roasting). It works well with small roasts and portioned cuts of meat that are more than 1 inch thick such as racks, loins, chops, and thick steaks.

A Baking Sheet—also referred to as a sheet pan—is one of the most versatile pieces of bakeware that you can own. These handy kitchen tools come in a rectangular shape, which makes them ideal for use in a standard kitchen oven.