Do Sheet Pan Meals Ever NOT Suck?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Microwave your potatoes first.

I don't really do recipes but do plenty of things on sheet pans. Right now I have fajita chicken, onions and peppers, some leftover (frozen) roasted cauliflower with mexican spices in its own small pyrex right on the tray, and black beans in another small pyrex.

If the beans get too toasty, you add liquid and cover.
If the veggies get crispy, you take them off the try and put them in a bowl to wait.
Chicken takes longest.
Sometimes I add frozen or fresh corn about 5 minutes before it comes out, like, dump part of a bag to the veggies.

You just have to be flexible and intervene if something is getting too done and pay attention.

...so not the hands off dinner they are supposed to be. So you can't go read in the other room as a PP insists.

[Anonymous]

if you overcrowd your pan, it doesn't work at all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Microwave your potatoes first.

I don't really do recipes but do plenty of things on sheet pans. Right now I have fajita chicken, onions and peppers, some leftover (frozen) roasted cauliflower with mexican spices in its own small pyrex right on the tray, and black beans in another small pyrex.

If the beans get too toasty, you add liquid and cover.
If the veggies get crispy, you take them off the try and put them in a bowl to wait.
Chicken takes longest.
Sometimes I add frozen or fresh corn about 5 minutes before it comes out, like, dump part of a bag to the veggies.

You just have to be flexible and intervene if something is getting too done and pay attention.

...so not the hands off dinner they are supposed to be. So you can't go read in the other room as a PP insists.

I’m the pp who posted that and I am not “insisting” - I am being honest that I put the sheet pan in and go read. My favorites are a gnocchi/sauage/bell pepper one, and variations. I don’t live the chicken thigh ones though I make those occasionally. I toss the sausage/gnocchi with a little Trader Joe’s chimichurri sauce on the sheet pan at the end and it gives it a lot of flavor.

[Anonymous]

I find it a better use of my time to just have sheet pan roasting sessions. I get all my veggies roasted and caramelized at their various schedules with olive oil and no pan crowding. Everything freezes well and then I use it in cooking better meals than a 'sheet pan' meal in less time.

[Anonymous]

I used sheet meal pans all the time. What did you mean by it, though?
I will start roasting a chicken, then add potatoes and other veggies later. I do the same with ribs and other roasts. They are to die for.

[Anonymous]

Sheet pan is a bad cooking method. A lasagna or similar is fine. Roasted veggies side dish is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it a better use of my time to just have sheet pan roasting sessions. I get all my veggies roasted and caramelized at their various schedules with olive oil and no pan crowding. Everything freezes well and then I use it in cooking better meals than a 'sheet pan' meal in less time.

You freeze and recook vegetables? Do you start from canned or frozen? May as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ohh do you use oil? Mine are bleh unless I use olive oil, a decent amount—not drenched, but more than a tablespoon, ya know?

Makes a big difference on those veggies and starches

People are dry toasting vegetables?!

[Anonymous]

The trick is to cover the sheet well with foil so the potato cooks through, and then open it to brown / broil. It doesn’t work with everything, but works with things like chicken thighs and potatoes, kofta and potatoes and meats that can take this well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They never cook evenly and most recipes I've tried are passable but nothing anyone in my family enjoyed.
Are there any truly great sheet pan recipes? Or do people just like these out of convenience?

Does your oven work, OP? My family LOVES baked salmon, etc.

But your salmon doesn’t bake in the same amount of time as the potatoes and veggies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it a better use of my time to just have sheet pan roasting sessions. I get all my veggies roasted and caramelized at their various schedules with olive oil and no pan crowding. Everything freezes well and then I use it in cooking better meals than a 'sheet pan' meal in less time.

You freeze and recook vegetables? Do you start from canned or frozen? May as well.

If I'm going to make a big pot of butternut squash soup it can be a long process. Sometimes I get the vegetables roasted in advance (squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, whatever is fall-like) and then refrigerate or even freeze. When I am ready I blend it all and warm it and add everything else to make the soup. I always have caramelized onions in the freezer. I can't think of anything canned or package-frozen that tastes that good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This one is one of our absolute favorite recipes: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020829-sheet-pan-gochujang-chicken-and-roasted-vegetables?unlocked_article_code=1.6k8.QZ47.R3rRYMO2wEHS&smid=share-url

Here are my notes:
1) Make with bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, delicata squash (3 small, unpeeled) and rutabaga (one -- instead of turnips).
2) Double sauce amounts.
3) Cut vegetables into 1-inch pieces. Use cubes of frozen ginger. Pickled radishes didn't seem to add much.
3) PAT CHICKEN DRY VERY WELL before marinating in 1/2 the doubled sauce for one-two hours.
4) Use two cookie sheets: place chicken on one cookie sheet and veg on the other. Consider using three cookie sheets, as with even two it's crowded. Pour rest of sauce (not used for meat marinade) over veg. Cook for ten minutes more than recommended time.

This is also a favorite for our family. I use squash or sweet potatoes and cauliflower or broccoli in place of the turnips and skip the radishes.

[Anonymous]

I like one using frozen trader joes sweet potato gnocchi, pesto and pre cooked sausage, but that's really more assembling then cooking LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never like them, either.

+2

I’d rather prepare each component separately and have them more perfectly (deliciously) cooked, especially since it often doesn’t take much more time to do so.

Yes. And I don't want to eat three things that all have the same spice. It's boring.

[Anonymous]

Potatoes and bone in chicken legs/thighs cook amazingly well together. Pour a lemon juice herb/spice marinade over top, bake at 425 for about 40-45 min. The fat rendered from the chicken makes the potatoes so delicious and dark meat chicken hold up well to longer cooking time.