Does anyone like cooking during the week? I don’t have kids, but I still struggle to put something on the dinner table every night without just ordering something to be delivered. I have been thinking about sheet pan cooking lately, so I was super excited when this cookbook dropped into my email.
The Easy Sheet Pan Cookbook has a wealth of ideas for quick dinners made with simple ingredients with only a sheet pan as the cooking vessel. The recipes are super easy, with all of them complete meals cooked on the sheet pan in 45 minutes or less. That’s the entire meal on the sheet pan, with the exception of a side of rice, if you wanted to add that. No other cooking, no other pans to clean.
Author Ruthy Kirwan has worked hard to come up with these creative ideas that offer options for adults and children, vegetarians and vegans, and fans of poultry, seafood, beef, pork, and lamb. And besides the recipes she offers up tips for adding extra flavor, ideas for cutting down on prep time, ingredient swaps, troubleshooting for when things go wrong, and the 6 Golden Rules of cooking with sheet pans (number one, always, don’t overcrowd the pan).
She also offers tips for pantry items to keep on hand and other essential kitchen equipment, like an oven thermometer to make sure that your oven cooks evenly. And she makes her recommendations for which sheet pan you should choose. You don’t want to go cheap here, but you can find a quality sheet pan for a reasonable amount of money, and Kirwan tells you how to keep in top shape for cooking.
The recipes start with vegetarian mains, but these include filling dishes like Sheet Pan Soup, Sheet Pan Egg Pie, Oven-Baked Lentil Burgers with Root Veggie Fries, Polenta “Fries” with Roasted Broccolini, Eggplant Parm, Chilaquiles Verde, Moo Shu Mushrooms, Spaghetti Pie, and Crispy Tofu with Tamarind Butter Sauce.
From there, it’s on to seafood, where the savory recipes include Baked Tuna Croquettes with Roasted Red Pepper Salad, Cajun Catfish and Sweet Potatoes, Cod with Fennel and Potatoes, Orange-Glazed Salmon and Brussels Sprouts, Lemon Pepper Tilapia and Broccoli, Honey-Garlic Shrimp and Asparagus, and Sesame-Soy Shrimp and Snap Peas.
The poultry recipes include such mouth-watering dishes as Sweet and Sour Turkey with Sweet Potato, Chicken and Lemony Potatoes, Chicken Piccata, Plum and Rosemary Chicken, Pesto Chicken and Parsnip Fries, Moroccan-Inspired Chicken Thighs, Chicken Parm and Roasted Broccoli, Breaded Turkey Cutlets with Romesco, and even Baked Chicken Wings and Broccoli with Citrus Garlic Glaze.
And finally, the meats. You can make Steak and Scalloped Potatoes, Beef and Broccoli, Sheet Pan Cheesesteak Sandwiches, Pork Strips and Bok Choy with Peanut Sauce, Egg Roll in a Bowl, Curry-Spiced Lamb and Golden Potatoes, Chimichurri Pork Tenderloin and Potatoes, Beef and Mole Enchiladas, Blackberry BBQ Ribs and Parsnip Fries, Maple-Apple Pork Chops, and Lamb Burgers with Parsnip Fries and Lemon Aioli.
Clearly, the recipes cover a wide range of flavors and borrow from dishes that originate all over the world. But they are all recipes that are quick to make with simple prep. Some are even marked as no-knife recipes, so they could be prepped by kids or those who live with limited access to kitchen tools. Many use 5 ingredients or less, and they all focus on big flavors. The Easy Sheet Pan Cookbook is ideal for busy cooks and beginning cooks, or for anyone who wants to cook healthy, fast meals with minimal muss, fuss, and cleanup.
I really liked this cookbook, and it gave me some great ideas for weeknight dinners (I never would have thought to do scalloped potatoes on a sheet pan like that!). I do wish there had been more photos, but the pics that are included are gorgeous, making these dishes look so tempting. This is a great starting place for sheet pan cooking, and it would be a great gift for new parents or new cooks!
Egalleys for the Easy Sheet Pan Cookbook were provided by Rockridge Press through the Callisto Media Publisher’s Club, with many thanks.
