13 Easy Sheet Pan Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the basic of sheet pan dinners? ›

A sheet pan takes the concept of a one-pot meal and flips it onto a pan. It saves time, makes clean-up easier, and doesn't require expensive equipment or fancy ingredients. Just start with your protein of choice, then add vegetables, fat and flavorings, and roast at high heat until everything is golden brown.

Lining the pan

Cleanup is a breeze when you line the baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.

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.

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.

Baking Sheets or Sheet Pans

No matter what the size though, you can easily tell them apart by the inch-high rim around the entire edge of the pan. This rim is not only great for keeping juices and liquids in the pan, but it helps trap smaller vegetables and cubes of meat.

A full-sheet pan measures 26-by-18 inches and typically has sides that are about one inch high. They're generally too large for practical home use—in fact they won't fit in many home ovens.

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

Despite its heat resistance, parchment paper can't handle the heat of any broiler, which can reach temperatures upward of 500°F. And wax paper? It should never come near the high heat of the oven or broiler. So, remember, stay safe and skip the paper when it comes to broiling.

Since parchment paper doesn't have a helpful “this end up” sign with an arrow, it takes a little detective work. Just hold the paper up to the light and look for the side that's slightly glossier or shinier. It is the shiny or glossy side of the parchment paper that should be face up on your baking sheet or cake pan.

Don't Crowd. If the ingredients overlap, use an additional sheet pan so as not to crowd them. "There should be a sliver of space between the ingredients, so they don't steam as they release liquid," say Lemoine and Massov. Ingredients can also be divided between a half-sheet and a quarter-sheet if there's overflow.

How many people does a sheet pan feed? ›

A full-sheet cake (18 x 24 inches, requiring approximately 16 cups of batter) serves up to 80 people. Meanwhile, 1/2 sheet cake (18 x 12 inches and using 7 to 8 cups of batter) should be enough for 36-48 guests. And the smallest option, 1/4 sheet cake (9 x 13 inches, up to 4 cups of batter), can feed 20-24 people.

But there are some key differences between the two. The most significant difference is the size; jelly roll pans are usually a few inches smaller than the standard sheet pan, about 15 by 10 inches. Jelly roll pans are about at the halfway point between a half-sheet pan and a quarter-sheet pan.

Without preheating the baking sheet, ingredients that contain a lot of moisture will essentially start to steam in their own juices before they roast, softening and never quite developing that crispy exterior you want.

While warping is natural, you can lessen its chances of happening by reducing rapid temperature changes. For example, don't put a cold (i.e. right out of the fridge) sheet pan into a hot oven, and avoid rinsing a hot sheet pan (i.e. right out of the oven) in cold water.

A sheet pan, also referred to as baking tray, baking sheet, or baking pan, is a flat, rectangular metal pan placed in an oven and used for baking pastries such as bread rolls, cookies, sheet cakes, Swiss rolls, and pizzas.

Larger Baking Sheets can be used to bake any savory dishes you can think of, such as roasted, baked chicken, and one-pan sheet meals. On the other hand, smaller-sized Baking Sheets are ideal for baking sweet treats, such as sheet cakes, brownies, and cookies.

I recommend starting with two half-sheet pans and one quarter-sheet pan, but I've discovered that, like gas expanding to fill the space it's in, no matter how many sheet pans I have — six half-sheets and two quarter-sheets, if we're counting — I could always use at least one more.