47 Sheet-Pan Dinners for Easier Weeknights
In a sea of short-lived cooking hacks, sheet-pan dinners are built to last. All that expansive, short-walled surface area gives you more pan contact and air circulation. And that means beautiful browning, minimal effort on your part, and very few pots and pans to clean up afterward.
It’s a versatile approach too: Use your tried-and-true sheet pan to create everything from virtuous chicken-and-veggie suppers to gooey mac and cheese (with a higher ratio of crispy edges than classic baked versions) to date-night-worthy lamb and more. Yeah, there are a few special occasion-worthy dishes below, but with any of our best sheet-pan dinners—no matter how simple—every weeknight will feel like a special occasion.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson1/47Sheet-Pan Chicken With Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Judy Haubert2/47Sheet-Pan Mac and Cheese
Maximize the best part of any baked mac and cheese (the crispy edges, duh) by cooking in (what else?) a sheet pan. Maybe serve a simple kale salad on the side.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Stevie Stewart3/47Spring Sheet-Pan Salmon With Roasted Artichoke Hearts and Leeks
Photo by Isa Zapata, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boystova4/47Turkey Meatloaf
Photo by Elizabeth Coetzee, Food styling by Micah Marie Morton5/47Oven-Grilled Honey-Mustard Chicken
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson6/47Sheet-Pan Roasted Squash and Feta Salad
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell7/47Roasted Niçoise Salad With Halibut
Jarred marinated artichokes bake up super crispy while the halibut stays meltingly tender in this simple sheet-pan dinner.
Photo by Andrew Purcell, Food Styling by Carrie Purcell9/47Sheet-Pan Collard Greens and Crispy Tofu With Niter Kibbeh
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Prop Styling by Anne Eastman, Food Styling by John Bjostad and Lillian Chou11/47Khachapuri for a Crowd
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell12/47Free-Form Chicken Meatballs With Carrots and Yogurt Sauce
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Dana Bonagura14/47Sheet-Pan Sausages and Greens
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Sean Dooley15/47Pollo Rostizado con Naranja y Chile de Árbol
While chef Pati Jinich recommends serving this chile-orange roast chicken dinner with rice, you could certainly slice the meat off the bones, and serve it as fajitas with warm tortillas—or tuck the chicken, potatoes, and carrots into rolls, along with avocado and fixings, for the best tortas of your life.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova16/47Baked Sweet Potatoes
This may look like just a pan of baked sweet potatoes, but what it really does is open a world of possibilities. Serve them for dinner stuffed with ricotta cheese, pesto, and pine nuts—or stretch a leftover grilled chicken breast tossed in bottled BBQ sauce. And if neither of those ideas strikes you, here are nine more ways to put them to work.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell17/47Roasted Cabbage With Crispy Chickpeas and Croutons
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson18/47Sheet-Pan Old Bay Trout and Succotash
Corn, green beans, and tomato steam in foil packets alongside lemony trout in this easy one-sheet-pan dinner. No Old Bay in the house? Mix together your own seafood seasoning with paprika, garlic powder, dried thyme, and a few other flavorings.
Photo by Ted + Chelsea Cavanaugh, Prop Styling by Nathaniel James, Food Styling by Laura Rege19/47Shawarma-Spiced Tofu Pita Wraps
Craggy pieces of tofu soak up a mountain of spices (truly, you may think it’s too much; we promise it’s not) and turn crispy in the oven, creating a flavorful base for these veggie-packed pitas.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks20/47Herb-Crusted Cauliflower Steaks With Beans and Tomatoes
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson21/47Sheet-Pan Curry Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell22/47Summer Pizza With Salami, Zucchini, and Tomatoes
Need a family-friendly dinner idea in a hurry? Thanks to store-bought dough, this veggie-topped pizza is on the table in less than an hour. If summer is a distant memory, try this salad pizza with prosciutto, crumbled blue cheese, and pickled red onions.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell23/47Double-the-Mustard Chicken With Potatoes and Greens
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Ali Nardi25/47Rosemary Rack of Lamb With Roasted Potatoes and Carrots for Two
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell26/47Sheet-Pan Pasta Bake With Chicken and Kale
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton27/47Sheet-Pan Grilled Cheese
Cooking for a crowd? This is hands-down the most efficient way to get grilled cheese into as many hands as possible at one time. Technically, this is a sheet-pan-plus dinner because you are gonna need some easy tomato soup to go with that, right?
Photo by Elizabeth Coetzee, Food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich28/47Sicilian Pizza
You know our friends at BA recently tasted a bunch of store-bought jars of marinara, ultimately proclaiming one their favorite? We’re not saying you have to use that one, but if you want to skip a step in this recipe, let’s just say the homemade sauce is less essential than the dough.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Ali Nardi29/47Cumin Chicken Thighs With Squash, Fennel, and Grapes
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Kate Schmidt30/47Fish Packets With Snap Peas, Tomatoes, and Herb Butter
This weeknight dinner is anything but boring thanks to an easy homemade herb butter flecked with cilantro, parsley, chives, or whichever tender herbs are in your crisper.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Ali Nardi32/47Sheet-Pan Crispy Fish Tacos With Chili-Roasted Corn
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Astrid Chastka, Food Styling by Anna Hampton34/47Crispy Chicken and Potatoes With Cabbage Slaw
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Kate Schmidt35/47BBQ Pork Chops With Herb-Butter Corn and Sweet Potatoes
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Ali Nardi36/47Sheet-Pan Chicken Saltimbocca with Roasted Potatoes and Crispy Kale
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Mariana Velasquez38/47Chicken With Apricots, Prunes, and Carrots
Inspired by the classic Rosh Hashanah dinner tzimmes, this roast chicken is rubbed down with cumin and cinnamon before baking with carrots, dried apricots and prunes, and lots of garlic. It’s easy to scale up or down and requires very little hands-on cooking time.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell40/47Spiced Chicken With Spaghetti Squash, Pomegranate, and Pistachios
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Ali Nardi42/47Sheet-Pan Paella With Shrimp, Mussels, and Chorizo
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Thu Buser43/47Sheet-Pan Chicken and Potatoes With Lots of Lemon
Photo by Isa Zapata, Prop styling by Tim Ferro, Food styling by Taneka Morris44/47Slow-Roasted Salmon With Fennel, Citrus, and Chiles
This is the recipe that started the slow-roasted salmon trend a few years ago. We’ve riffed on it a few times since, but it’s hard to beat the original. One tip: If you prefer more caramelization, start with a hot oven: Roast the citrus and vegetables at 400° for about 20–30 minutes, until charred around the edges. Then reduce the heat per the recipe, add the fish, and continue cooking.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone45/47Mango-Chutney Chicken With Roasted Carrots And Zucchini
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Molly Baz46/473-Ingredient Chicken Breasts Stuffed With Ham and Cheese
Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou, Prop Styling by Elizabeth Jaime47/47Sheet-Pan Gnocchi
