The sheet pan is among the many home kitchen’s unsung heroes. At first look, it’s merely a broad metallic pan that may be utilized throughout the oven, an indispensable instrument for baking cookies and biscuits. Nonetheless a sheet pan—additionally known as a baking sheet or baking tray—may be utilized to roast veggies, bake fish, and loads further. Currently, savvy home cooks flip to their sheet pans to rush up meal prep or to throw collectively a no-fuss weeknight dinner.
So what exactly is a sheet pan? These flat, rectangular pans are normally constituted of some type of heat-conductive metallic, like aluminum. They’re designed like trays with rimmed edges (about an inch extreme) that forestall meals from sliding out of the pan, and could also be positioned throughout the oven. They differ from cookie sheets, that are usually rimless with a goal to imply you’ll be able to slide baked objects off the tray and onto a cooling rack.
How one can Buy a Sheet Pan
When buying for a sheet pan, seek for one constituted of aluminum, which distributes heat properly and is normally pretty moderately priced. Should you occur to love nonstick surfaces, chances are you’ll go for an aluminum pan with a nonstick or ceramic coating which makes cleaning up a bit less complicated. Should you occur to don’t have any factors with lifting heavier pans, go for one constituted of heavy gauge aluminum or aluminized metallic. Whereas lightweight pans could also be less complicated to maneuver, they might succumb to warping when positioned throughout the oven.
Biggest Sizes of Sheet Pans for Most Dwelling Cooks
Baking trays are offered in numerous sizes, nevertheless primarily probably the most useful dimension for a home cook dinner dinner is the half sheet pan. This pan normally measures 18 x 13 inches and matches most residential ovens. The quarter sheet pan measures 13 x 9 inches, exactly half the scale of a half sheet pan and is correct for toaster ovens or storing prepped parts throughout the fridge. You might also use two quarter sheets side-by-side throughout the oven to take care of objects separate when roasting. The eight sheet is half the scale of the quarter sheet, measuring 9 x 6.5 inches. That’s useful for reheating pizza or roasting small portions of veggies or nuts.
The Spruce Eats / Leah Maroney
Easy and Delicious Sheet Pan Dinner Recipes
Should you occur to’re a meal planner, you’re almost certainly already using a baking sheet to roast trays of Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, or hen thighs. Nonetheless dinner and sheet pans go strategy previous these dishes! Attempt these recipes for sheet pan dinners that mean you can make a whole meal on one pan (and sometimes in decrease than an hour)—good for no-fuss weeknight cooking.
Listed beneath are quite a lot of of our favorite sheet pan dinner recipes to get you started:
- Pulled Pork Nachos: A easy appetizer or snack that comes collectively in about 20 minutes, start to finish.
- Sheet Pan Greek Rooster: Vibrant roasted greens and herbed hen bake collectively… to perfection.
- Salmon Teriyaki: Fish in a tangy teriyaki sauce cooks alongside a rainbow of various greens.
- Christmas Dinner: Critically! Ham, veggies, and even dinner rolls create a trip meal (or just Sunday supper) in decrease than two hours.