30 Best Healthy Sheet Pan Dinners - From A Chef's Kitchen (2023)

FAQs

Do you cover sheet pan meals? ›

I have been making Sheet Pan Dinners for as long as I can remember. Tossing everything onto one pan, that I typically cover with aluminum foil first to make cleaning up easier is literally the easiest way ever to make dinner.

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.

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.

Any major dents or cracks in the pan are signs that you should replace your baking sheet. The dents and cracks cause uneven cooking with your food, making it frustrating to prevent undercooking or overcooking.

Use the Right Kind of 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.

You're Not Coating the Pan

If your pans have a history of giving you a hard time when it comes to food sticking, then it's probably in your best interest to lay down a sheet of parchment paper (or aluminum foil). For some sheet pans, a thin coat of nonstick cooking spray can do the trick.

The main difference comes down to the rim. Sheet pans and jelly roll pans have a tall rim that's typically around an inch high. Baking sheets and cookie sheets typically have either no rim or one slightly raised grabbing edge.

A full-size sheet pan's dimensions are 18” x 26”. You can fit one full-size sheet pan on each of your commercial oven's shelves. Perfect for high-volume settings, full-size baking sheets are the most common sheet pan size in commercial settings.

Nordic Ware Half-Sheet Pan

Full sheet pans, the ones you see used in restaurant kitchens and commercial bakeries, are actually ginormous (26x18") and won't fit in most home kitchen ovens. But if you need to cook for a crowd, the Nordic Ware Big Sheet Baking Pan, at 21x15", is your fighter.

The benefits of sheet pan dinners

Making your own dinner is much healthier than eating out or ordering takeaway. You will be using less salt, and less unhealthy fats, while adding tons of colorful veggies to your protein. Last but not least, sheet pan dinners require less cleanup than other types of dishes.

Should you wash a pan after every use? ›

I would strongly recommend that you wash your pans after use. You don't need to use soap if they're cast-iron; a good scrub with salt and hot water is fine.

Before using new cookware for the first time, wash it with hot, soapy water, rinse well, and dry it thoroughly with a soft cotton or linen towel.

Soak with Solution

Soak the sheet pan with a mixture of 1 Tbsp. baking soda, a few drops of dish soap, and hot water for one hour to overnight. After soaking, you should be able to scrub away any debris or stains. For non-stick pans, avoid heavy-duty or abrasive scrubbing.

herofiber Half Sheet Pan (set Of 2)

Garten reportedly uses half sheet pans for everything from cooking vegetables to baking brownies to roasting her famous “engagement chicken,” which even worked for Meghan Markle. And according to enthusiastic Amazon buyers, you can't go wrong with HeroFiber's version.

Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Essentials

Nonstick pan (Gordon uses pans made by ScanPan, but any well-made pan with a solid, heavy bottom will work.)

Carbon steel frying pans are one of the most popular choices in commercial kitchens, made to easily withstand the demands of hospitality environments. Pro chefs will know that using a carbon steel pan is probably one of the best materials due to its superb durability and affordability, and it heats up quickly.

When Not to Use Parchment Paper. Parchment paper is not designed for high-heat cooking. Avoid using it in your oven or on the grill if temperature will exceed 400 degrees, says Michelle Weaver, chef at Charleston Grill in South Carolina, as there's a chance it could catch fire.

"Its versatility makes it perfect for baking your favorite cookies, making parchment packets, or cooking a sheet pan dinner." Think recipes like roasted vegetables, salmon parchment packets, and classic chocolate chip cookies. The best parchment paper uses include: Baking cookies. Baking cakes.

While foil and plastic wrap seal out air, parchment paper allows foods to breathe a little when wrapped. This means exterior crusts stay crisp, instead of getting soggy.

As a designer of professional cooking equipment and working hand in hand with a professional chef, the type of baking sheet most often used by professionals is the heavy aluminum with 4 sides. Aluminum takes on the heat very evenly and gives the best baking results overall.

Is aluminum baking sheet better than nonstick? ›

A cake baked in an aluminized steel USA Pan. Most aluminized steel pans are further coated by silicone or a ceramic coating to enhance the non-stick abilities of the pan. These coatings are sturdier than most non-stick coatings, making these pans a better investment.

A pan should be relatively thick so that it's durable and bakes evenly. “It doesn't need to be super-heavy,” Alice Medrich told us, “but it needs to be heavy enough so that it doesn't warp.” A thinner pan will also heat up quickly and may burn the bottoms of cookies.

You don't have to cover the pan with foil. This step makes clean up easier. When you are finished cooking you remove the foil and all the mess instead of having to scrub the pan. Because it's easier to peel the liner off of the baked good than it is to peel the baked good off the tray.

Aluminum foil is safe to put in the oven, making it great for lining baking sheets. But it's not recommended to use foil to line the bottom of the oven to catch spills and drips because it can melt in high heat and damage the oven. The best foil uses include: Cooking food on the grill.

Covering a casserole helps the dish cook evenly, stay moist, and prevents burning. Uncovering helps with browning, crisping and allowing for steam to release.

There's no set rule, but knowing what covering and uncovering does to food may help you decide. Covering foods prevents them from browning and crisping, but it does trap in moisture. Uncovering the foods promotes browning and crisping, and reduces the amount of liquid in the finished dish.

All it says is aluminum foil can be used as an alternative to tape to cover doorknobs and hardware while painting. It has nothing to do with safety and the inclusion of the phrase "when you're home alone" was only used as clickbait to make the ad seem more important. Copyright 2022 Scripps Media, Inc.

Guard against paint drips.

Wrap door handles, knobs and drawer pulls in foil to protect them from splashes and spots.

Greasing the pan is a necessary step even when using a nonstick pan. Whether you're using a bundt pan, cake pan, cupcake pan, or cookie sheet, applying a thin layer of grease to the sides and bottom of the pan will help your baked goods release with ease. 3. Apply your grease evenly.

A: Yes, when roasting vegetables, parchment paper is better than foil. Recent research in the International Journal of Electrochemical Science suggests that when we use aluminum foil during cooking, some aluminum leaches into food.

Does it matter which side of aluminum foil touches food? ›

According to Reynold's Kitchen, the difference in appearance between the two sides of aluminum foil is simply a result of manufacturing and serves no real purpose. Meaning, whether you are cooking your food with the shiny side up or the dull side up, you're doing it right.