20+ Quick and Easy One-Pan Recipes For Nights When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking
All you need is a single pan for these delicious recipes.
Fred Hardy
Making dinner every night can be a slog, but if you meal prep and have a few worthy hacks in your back pocket, the final meal of the day can come together easily and might even be enjoyable. One such hack involves the dishes you use (or don’t use) when whipping up some dinner. While it might sound unattainable, you can totally make a meal that’s delicious and satisfying using just one pan. This often translates to less prep and cleanup for you, and since multiple components of the dish frequently cook at the same time, you can typically have dinner on the table in under an hour.
If you’re ready to simplify your dinner routine, take a look at this roundup of quick and easy one-pan recipes you’ll want to make over and over again.
Related: 88 Easy Dinner Ideas to Add to Your Weeknight Rotation
Crispy Rice Bake With Shrimp and Peas
Dust off your cast-iron skillet and prepare to make a paella-esque dish that everyone will love. This one-pan meal sports a base of spices and aromatics, as well as tender rice, juicy shrimp, and tasty peas. The crunchy, crispy edges are the best part, especially when you add a dollop of the homemade garlicky mayonnaise.
Tofu Fried Rice
Fred Hardy
This 25-minute vegetarian fried rice dish is full of bold flavor and hearty ingredients that will leave you and your table feeling satisfied. Raisins give a burst of sweet flavor, while lemon juice gives a zing to the mix. Drizzle with creamy yogurt just before serving.
Sheet Pan Gnocchi With Broccoli
Grab your trusty sheet pan and get ready to make a dish that’s bound to become a new family favorite. For this recipe, which requires a mere 10 minutes of hands-on work, you’ll simply toss potato gnocchi on a rimmed baking sheet with broccoli florets, onions, and pesto, and then bake until everything's ready to go. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Sheet Pan Cheesesteak Sandwiches
Gone are the days when you need to travel to Philadelphia to satisfy a craving for a cheesesteak. As this recipe proves, you can make the loaded sandwich from the comfort of your own home in under an hour. The key here is to use a single sheet pan to cook everything, and layer in a baguette with cheese, and broil until toasty.
Greek Chicken and Potatoes
The secret to this sheet pan dinner is marinating a whole chicken in an oregano-spiced lemon marinade, which both tenderizes and flavors the meat. Once roasted potatoes and broccolini join in on the fun, you’ve got a complete, balanced meal that’s delicious and easy to make.
Sheet Pan Salmon With Potatoes and Broccolini
Not a chicken fan? Try this similar sheet pan meal, which pairs salmon with potatoes and broccolini instead. Here, everything is flavored with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and a bit of punchy Dijon mustard.
Sun-Dried Tomato Butter Salmon and Broccolini
Fred Hardy
Since this meal sounds so impressive it’s hard to believe that it comes together in 25 minutes, but the clock doesn’t lie. Salmon is seasoned with butter, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian seasoning, and garlic before being roasted alongside broccolini. To flavor the bright green vegetable, top it with a few squeezes of lemon juice and some grated Parmesan cheese once it’s out of the oven.
Shawarma-Seasoned Cauliflower and Chickpea Pitas
Fred Hardy
This five-ingredient dinner is healthy, flavorful, and just so happens to be meat-free. Here, a pungent shawarma spice blend seasons roasted cauliflower and chickpeas, which are then served on top of pita with creamy yogurt, crisp cucumber, and zingy red onion.
Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies
CAITLIN BENSEL
Sausage and peppers is an Italian classic, and thanks to a single sheet pan, this version of the beloved dish comes together in just 20 minutes. That’s because the Italian pork sausages, bell peppers, tomatoes, and shallots all head for a quick bake under the broiler at the same time. Serve with crusty bread (or on a roll) to sop up all of the flavorful juices.
Sheet Pan Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
The sheet pan strikes again! In this recipe, chicken legs are roasted alongside sweet potato pieces and smoky bacon bits. After about 25 minutes, the chicken comes out with delicious crispy skin, which pairs well with the crisp, salty bacon, as well as the crunchy, peppery watercress salad you can serve on the side.
Related: 28 Essential, Easy Chicken Recipes for Every Day of the Week
Cheesy Chicken Nachos With Avocado and Radish
Leftover rotisserie chicken in the refrigerator? It’s time to make this colorful and stacked nacho platter that’s ready in 20 minutes. Here, tortilla chips are topped with chicken and cheese and then baked. Once the chips are out of the oven, you can add even more toppings such as salsa, avocado, cilantro, and jalapeño slices.
Sheet Pan Pork With Fennel and Apples
This weeknight dinner, which is perfect for a chilly fall night, is ready in about 40 minutes. For this tasty meal, pork tenderloin is roasted with apples and fennel, all of which get bathed in an orange-scented, honey-mustard glaze. To ensure a golden-brown crust on the pork, start by roasting everything, then crank it up to broil to seal the glaze.
Grandma Pie With Pepperoni and Pink Sauce
As it turns out, you don’t need to leave the house or pick up the phone to get restaurant-quality pizza. To make this pie, stretch the pizza dough to the corners of a baking sheet and top with a homemade tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and onion slices. It’s pizza time!
Sheet Pan Cod and Potatoes
It’s all about the timing with this bright and light fish dinner. You’ll begin by baking the creamy Yukon gold potatoes on a sheet pan. The cod comes next, then you’ll stir in chard leaves that wilt and char without turning limp. Once everything is cooked, dress it up with a quick olive salsa that adds richness, acidity, and a little kick.
Sunny-Side-Up Sheet Pan Breakfast
Yes this recipe is more than suitable for brunch, but because it’s packed with ingredients like crispy prosciutto, roasted potatoes and onions, spinach, and several eggs, it’s a stellar dinner option as well. Plus, since it all comes together in one sheet pan, you’ll have very few dishes to do once the meal is over.
Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas
This Mexican-inspired meal takes just 30 minutes and one sheet pan to make. The baking sheet will get a head start in the oven, so when the shrimp and veggies hit the pan, the shrimp will get a subtle sear. Once the main ingredients are done cooking, wrap them in warm tortillas and serve with all the fixings, such as sour cream, salsa, and sliced avocado.
Sheet Pan Pierogies With Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Shallots, and Mustard Dressing
In this sheet-pan dinner recipe, classic cheese and potato pierogies, which you can buy frozen, are the stars of the show. Shallots and Brussels sprouts roast alongside the dumplings to make a complete meal on one sheet pan, and the whole meal is topped with a zingy mustard dressing.
Skillet Eggs in Enchilada Sauce
This saucy skillet meal takes inspiration from the Middle Eastern shakshuka, and is made with healthy kale, aromatic onions, mild poblano peppers, and tangy tomatillos. Jarred enchilada sauce infuses each bite with tangy heat, while poached eggs add protein and round out this vegetarian meal.
One-Pan Salmon With Roasted Cabbage and Olive Vinaigrette
Cabbage isn’t the most exciting vegetable, but when you roast it (as is the case with this recipe) it gets sweeter and caramelizes and crisps in spots. Here, it’s paired with salmon and the whole thing is topped with a sweet and savory olive vinaigrette for a dinner that you can have on the table in 40 minutes.
Related: 9 Healthiest Vegetables to Eat, According to RDs
Sheet Pan Frito Pie
Frito pie, a mixture of chili, cheese, and of course, Fritos, is either served casserole-style or straight out of the Fritos bag—until now. In this recipe, everything comes together in one sheet pan, which means the ratio of chili to Fritos is pretty much 1:1. In other words, each bite is cheesy, crunchy, and practically perfect.
Roasted Potato and Egg Sheet Pan Brunch
This recipe gives a veggie-and-potato breakfast hash the sheet pan treatment, which is why it only requires 20 minutes of hands-on work. If you’re craving a bit more flavor once this dish is done cooking, top it with some shredded cheese and a drizzle of hot sauce.
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