10 of the Best Sheet Pan Dinners to Save on Time and Cleanup

Simple Sheet Pan Recipes, Easy Formula for Sheet Pan Dinners

What’s not to love about sheet pan meals? They’re quick and easy, use few dishes, and make your kitchen toasty warm and delicious smelling on chilly nights. The juices from roasting meat mingle with the veggies for extra flavor, and everything gets a nice caramelized finish. 

But it’s easy to get stuck in a rut with sheet pan meals. That’s why we rounded up our 10 favorites from the Cook Smarts meal plan service archives. These meals are full of flavors from around the world, creatively paired to create meals that may all contain a few of the same steps, but come out tasting completely different. 

All of our sheet pan meals are comprised of a protein plus veggies, many of which are served with rice or another grain to round out the meal. If you’d rather keep things simple (or are watching carbs), you can skip the rice and just make the sheet pan portion of the meal. Many also have a simple sauce, tapenade, or salad to make things more interesting, but again, feel free to skip these for a 100% sheet pan–based dinner. (But we bet you won’t want to!)

1. Sheet Pan Pork Tenderloin with Herb Pan Sauce

This is a hearty, warming sheet pan meal that contains surprisingly few ingredients for the depth of flavors you’ll create. Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes begin roasting in the oven while you sear the pork a deep golden brown, then finish the pork with the veggies to allow the juices to flavor the veggies as well. Deglaze the pan with stock to start a quick pan sauce flavored with lemon, mustard, and green onions, which you’ll spoon over everything before serving.

2. Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas

Who doesn’t love fajitas? And if they make it onto the table in just 40 minutes, all the better. You’ll create authentic flavors by broiling the spiced chicken, onion, and bell peppers under an open flame rather than roasting them, then use them to fill warm tortillas along with sour cream and green onions. A spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and pepitas in cumin-lime vinaigrette will round out the meal. 

3. Sheet Pan Greek Salmon

Roast salmon and potatoes are flavored with Greek spices and topped with a sharp Greek salsa. Here we share our favorite trick for pre-steaming potatoes right in the oven to keep them from drying out while roasting. You’ll add the salmon to the sheet pan when the potatoes are nearly done to ensure perfectly cooked, flaky fish, and then top it all with a finely chopped mix of olives, fire-roasted bell peppers, parsley, and balsamic vinegar. This meal is balanced by a simple kale salad with sunflower seeds. 

4. Tilapia with Olive Gremolata

Fish, potatoes, and green beans get a serious upgrade in this meal thanks to an olive gremolata flavored with garlic, lemon, and parsley that will top the fish, as well as a Dijon-honey-oregano mix that will coat the potatoes and green beans. Pre-boiling baby or new potatoes up to 5 days ahead of time will make this sheet pan meal quick and easy while keeping the potatoes tender.

5. Sheet Pan Jamaican Chicken Tenders and Vegetables

Jerk seasoning adds flavor and spice without any fuss to this quick sheet pan dinner. You’ll roast zucchini, onion, and potatoes along with seasoned chicken tenders, and serve it all over farro, a nutty whole grain in the wheat family. The meal is finished with a drizzle of sauce made from fresh mangos and flavored with yogurt, sriracha, lime, and dried ginger. Or leave the sauce off and serve it on the side for dipping!

6. Foil Packet Hawaiian BBQ Sausage

This twist on a sheet pan meal has you wrap veggies, pineapple, and sausage in foil before roasting so that they steam rather than brown. This allows you to retain the liquids that would otherwise cook off, so the flavors really meld together and stay juicy. The pineapple gives this meal a Hawaiian vibe that balances out the savory flavors of bell pepper, onion, and summer squash with a touch of bright sweetness. With few ingredients and very little prep time, this meal will make it into your regular rotation for sure!

7. Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Thyme

Fancy up this simple sheet pan meal with the addition of homemade tapenade and a serving of pasta. For the sheet pan portion of the meal, you’ll roast zucchini with boneless, skinless chicken thighs cooked with a simple compound butter of fresh thyme and lemon zest. The tapenade adds a salty, acidic kick rich with herbs, not to mention an extra serving of veggies from the olives and roasted bell peppers. With just 30 minutes of hands-on time, this meal comes together quickly yet tastes authentically Mediterranean.

8. Sheet Pan Skirt Steak with Miso Butter

Our members jump at the chance to use this flavorful miso butter in just about any meal, but skirt steak roasted with brussels sprouts and potatoes may just be our favorite way to eat it. Better yet? This meal comes together in just 40 minutes! It’s the little details that make this dinner so delightful: A quick marinade adds flavor to the steak, and presteaming the brussels sprouts and potatoes right in the oven on your sheet pan before browning them will ensure the insides stay creamy and delicious.

9. Sheet Pan Indian Chicken and Broccoli

The simplicity of this sheet pan meal relies upon two powerhouse spice mixes, curry powder and garam masala, to keep flavors complex but effort levels low. You’ll roast spiced chicken alongside broccoli, then serve it over a simple, buttery cauliflower rice. The meal is finished with an herb yogurt sauce made of fresh cilantro, yogurt, honey, and lemon juice. All in all, it’s a flavorful, weeknight-friendly meal that rivals takeout, yet stays much lighter and healthier.

10. Chicken Shawarma Barley Bowl

Change things up by serving this sheet pan meal bowl-style. High heat gives a crisp, caramelized finish to the spiced chicken. You’ll roast the cauliflower with za’atar, a Middle Eastern spice blend, and allow the chicken roasting on top to flavor the cauliflower as well. The finished chicken will be chopped and served atop barley along with the cauliflower, pre-cooked beets, and a simple garlic yogurt sauce.

Easy Formula for Sheet Pan Dinners

Don’t want to follow a recipe? Have veggies and proteins in the fridge that need to get used but you’re not sure how to combine them? We feel you! Download the template below to help you mix and match flavors, meat or vegetarian protein sources, and vegetables into a delicious sheet pan meal, then serve it all with a customizable salad on the side. You’re going to want to hang on to this PDF for frequent reference!

Ready to start planning these and other delicious dinners? Sign up for a 14-day free trial of our meal plan service to make meal planning a breeze with one-click grocery lists, effortless Instacart integration, and optional weekend prep steps. Each week you’ll get a carefully curated plan with four dinners, or dig into our archives of thousands of additional meals. There are even more sheet pan meals to discover inside!

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