Hey hey, fall sheet pan dinner recipe! This sheet pan sausage and root veggies comes with its very own warm spinach salad made right.on.the.freaking.pan. The ingredients are simple, the method is foolproof, and the salad dressing is seriously, drinkably delicious.
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Omg how is it fall, look at us broken records acting like we don't understand time. Like seriously.
We are in the throes of some kind of insanely busy season, so much to do and no time to do it, craving fun and relaxation but HELLO PANDEMIC, and also we have no time for fun so...around and around we go.
THE GOOD NEWS IS, this season has given me reason to try out all kinds of sheet pan dinner recipes. Sheet pan dinners are easy, delicious, and I like to use them as a clean out the fridge kind of situation, using whatever needs to get out of the fridge.
Sheet pan dinners are doubly important now that we've foolishly decided that we should eat dinner with our kids after years of eating at 9pm once everyone is in bed. Old Life, I miss you so much.
BUT, yes, the merits of family dinner are great and wide and well-researched, so now we need to get our dinner act together by 6 instead of 9 while tolerating "dinner ready yet, Mama?" every 5 seconds after 4:45pm.
Parenting is such a dream.
Recipe Notes
I decided some stuff early on in my sausage sheet pan dinner journey. (god what a boring way to write about my own life)
- First: sheet pan chicken dinners are not my favorite. I tried a lot and never found they turned out as "oh wow this is really yum" as when I did a sausage sheet pan dinner. This is likely because processed meats are way more forgiving, and I want all my recipes to be forgiving. In the end, already-cooked chicken sausages of all flavors have been my favorites.
- I also wanted to use all root vegetables and similar (IE the butternut), all things that can handle a good long time in the oven, don't need a ton of attention, and would cook evenly. There are lots of other options for veggies that fit this description: any potatoes, squashes, and root vegetables are fabulous here.
- THEN, I went totally bonkers and added a warm spinach salad to the sheet pan because I wanted something green but no other dishes to wash. The heat from the pan and oven wilts the spinach in just 30 seconds or so, and the dressing can be made in advance as meal prep or while the veggies and sausage roast together.
OK LET'S DO IT. Veggies and sausage!
Because we're using all veggies that can be cooked 1. for awhile and 2. together, we only really have two steps in this sheet pan dinner: roast the veggies and sausage, then make the warm spinach salad.
The whole thing takes under an hour, and the dinner is gluten free AS LONG AS you check the label on your sausage.
Ingredients
Chop. The chopping can also can be done for meal prep. PS for quantities - I listed what I used in the recipe card, but we're looking for 1 package of chicken sausages and enough veggies to cover an entire large baking sheet, give or take.
Ingredient Variations
This is one of the easiest recipes to swap things in and out. I like the combo of veggies up there, but brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, green beans, cubed pumpkin, turnips, and shallots would all be delicious to swap in.
Step By Step Instructions
Everything goes on the pan. Olive oil and salt.
(PS any oil you like is fine here! Even baking spray works fine, just something to help the salt stick to the veggies and chicken sausage)
Roast! 425F for about 40 minutes total. Toss the veggies and sausage around every 10-15 minutes, so two or three times, and then spread everything back out into one even layer.
Garlic Lemon Vinaigrette
While the sheet pan sausage is working, I make the dressing. It's lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt, sugar, and fresh garlic. This is delicious as a chicken marinade or on any salad you like, so highly recommend making a double batch as meal prep if you're into that sort of thing!
When the veggies are done, turn the oven OFF and take the pan out of the oven. Scoot all of the veggies and sausage to one side of the pan, then heap all of the spinach on the now-empty side of the baking sheet and drizzle with about half of the dressing.
Back into the oven for...literally just the tiniest minute. 60 seconds or so.
Look how pretty this is!
Give the spinach a tiny toss to coat it evenly with the dressing, then serve immediately.
Serving and Storage
- The spinach will release some liquid, so if you happened to make some easy bread to go with this dinner it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
- Topping this with flaky salt and red pepper flakes is a very nice move to take this from "kiddo bland" to "yes, there it is" for grownups.
- I love this served right away, but leftovers keep well in the fridge for a few days. You can reheat everything all together in a small skillet on the stovetop or in the microwave.
And that's it! Is it your Halloween dinner? A weeknight savior? Is it what gets you through the next weird 8 weeks of "what day is it what holiday is next pls let's not get sick?"
It's probably all of the above, to be honest. This is SUCH a good dinner, and, if I do say so myself, takes care of some of the issues I have with sheet pan dinner recipes in general.
The tang and fresh garlicky goodness of the spinach and dressing with the roasted, caramelized veggies is just out of this world, and thank you to whoever invented precooked sausages, a true hero.
I hope you love this! You could swap out lots of the ingredients for other veggies you have on hand, other sausage you like, even kale or other greens for the warm spinach salad side of things.
Enjoy!
Recipe
Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies
Ingredients
Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies
- ½ pound small potatoes halved and cut to bite-sized
- ½ pound beets halved, trimmed, and cut to bite-sized
- 1 medium carrot cut into chunks
- 1 onion cut into chunks
- 2 cups cubed butternut squash about half of 1 small butternut
- 12 ounces cooked chicken sausages sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Warm Spinach Salad
- ½ lemon juiced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dijon or brown mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 5 ounces baby spinach
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Arrange the prepped veggies and sausage on a large baking sheet in one even layer. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the salt.
- Place the pan in the oven and roast for about 40 minutes total, stirring every 10 minutes or so (2-3 times during the roasting).
- While the veggies are roasting, make the dressing by whisking or shaking the lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt, sugar, and garlic together.
- When the veggies are tender and the sausage is crispy at the edges, scoot them to one half of the baking sheet and pile all of the spinach onto the other side of the baking sheet. Turn the heat on the oven OFF. Drizzle about half of the dressing over the spinach.
- Place the sheet pan back in the oven for about 2 minutes, just to barely wilt the spinach. Toss the spinach to evenly coat in the dressing, then divide the spinach, sausage, and veggies onto plates. Drizzle with extra dressing if you'd like. Enjoy!
I love a good sheet pan meal!
Love these sheet pan sausage and veggies. It's such an easy weeknight dinner idea!
yum! This sausage and veggie sheet pan meal was so easy and delicious! Perfect for an easy weeknight dinner!
This sheet pan dinner was so good, my family loved it!