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.

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.

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.

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.

The metal of your sheet pan is at a cooler temperature than your hot oven. Metal expands as it heats. The large surface of your sheet pan will heat and expand faster than the short rimmed sides. This creates stress right where the flat base meets the raised lip, causing some pans to buckle or twist.

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.

Can you bake a cake in a sheet pan? ›

Any layer cake recipe that yields three 8" or 9" cakes will work in a half sheet pan with no adjustments needed. If the recipe yields two 8" to 9" cakes, I increase the recipe by 1.5 (if you measure by weight, rather than volume, this is a cinch). Grease the half-sheet pan and line it with parchment.

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.

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.

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.