A few tips to help boil down and master the sheet-pan dinner

For quite some time I've watched the “sheet pan dinner” trend gain fans. How big a trend? In just 0.39 seconds, searching on the term “sheet pan dinners,” Google delivered 186,000,000 results. Popular and, yet, confusing.

How does anyone decide what to make with that many choices?

Trimming my search terms down to “sheet pan chicken dinners” significantly reduced the results to 12.9 million. Making that even more reasonable, I did as many do, and took a close look at the top ten recipes and went with one that seemed unique with chicken quarters seasoned with lime, cumin, and smoked paprika. Also, the veggie combination of onion, cauliflower, and sweet potato tantalized my palate. Decision made.

When viewing a finished sheet pan dinner picture everything looks perfect and there's an assumption that it works by putting everything on the sheet pan and roasting it all for the same time and out it comes; perfectly prepared.

Not exactly. When reading sheet pan dinner recipes, I've often discovered that everything on the sheet pan didn't get on it simultaneously for the oven ride.

Almost every sheet pan dinner recipe is a combination of a protein and vegetables. Since it's tricky to get a protein done to the right temperature when the vegetables are perfectly cooked, too, most recipes divide the process into at least two parts, sometimes more.

That division diminishes the supposed “simplicity” of a sheet pan dinner. It's the same disappointment as making a crock pot dinner that requires sautéing the vegetables and searing the meat before starting the pot. What fun that must be at 6:00 in the morning before heading out to work.

Here's the problem; different vegetables take longer to cook than others. Spinach cooks in a flash (ever notice nearly zero uses of spinach in a sheet pan dinner) while dense russet potatoes can take up to 45 minutes.

Some sheet pan dinner recipes require blanching a vegetable before combining it on the pan with the protein. Others, like my first shot at a sheet pan dinner, require cutting vegetables to a specific size and roasting them first before adding the protein to finish.

My sheet pan chicken dinner used large pieces of onion, cauliflower and sweet potato that were roasted together at the same time. Then, the marinated chicken was added with everything arriving at the finish line simultaneously.

Here's the behind the scenes reasons for the photo-finish. The onion cut into big pieces slowed down the cooking and caramelization. Same for the cauliflower with florets cut into 1½-inch chunky pieces. Finally, the sweet potato chunks were cut into smaller 1-inch pieces, which should speed its cooking along.

The chicken's lime marinade works some definite cooking magic. Just like the lime juice in ceviche can “cook” seafood, it starts to unwind (denature) the proteins. This marinade use of salt does the same thing; just as it does in a brine. Denaturing is the same process that occurs when proteins are exposed to heat, acid, or alcohol.

By the end, I learned that a careful and controlled balancing act goes along with any kind of sheet pan dinner.

How did my first sheet pan dinner turn out? Unbelievably well. I followed the recipe's directions carefully and used my own deep kitchen knowledge to adjust the recipe for my changes (boneless thighs take much less time to roast than whole chicken leg-quarters).

Would I make a sheet pan dinner again? Absolutely. If you haven't made one before now, give my sheet pan dinner a try.

One Pan Chicken with Cauliflower, Sweet Potato, and Onion

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced fine

1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, divided

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon sugar (or two packets organic stevia)

1 lime, rinsed, zest grated and then squeezed

2 teaspoons sea salt, divided

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled

2 pounds organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 medium head (1½ pounds) cauliflower, cut into 1½ -inch florets

1-pound organic sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 medium red onion, peeled (root end trimmed but not removed), cut in half and each half cut into quarters from top to root

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 tablespoons water, garlic, 1 tablespoon black pepper, cumin, sugar (or sugar substitute), lime zest and lime juice, 1½ teaspoons salt, paprika and oregano to a medium-large mixing bowl and stir together until combined. Add chicken thighs to the bowl and, using a rubber spatula, stir and fold the chicken in the marinade until completely coated. Cover and set aside for one hour.

While the chicken marinates: Add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil to a large mixing bowl and stir in the remaining ½ teaspoons of salt and pepper. Add the cauliflower, sweet potatoes and onion to the bowl and stir and fold together until coated. Set aside.

About 30 minutes before the chicken is done marinating, place the oven rack in the center and begin heating the oven to 425 degrees. When the oven is hot, transfer the vegetables to a half-sheet pan and roast for 15 minutes.

Carefully remove the pan from the oven; using a spatula, push the vegetables to one end of the pan (it's okay if they pile up). Place the marinated thighs on the pan (folding each in half), return the pan to the oven and roast for 20 minutes, or until the thighs reach 165 degrees and the vegetables are tender.

Remove the pan from the oven and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes. Transfer the vegetables and chicken to a large platter and serve. Serves 6.

Nutrition values per serving: 348 calories(33.7 percent from fat), 13.1 g fat(2.5 g saturated fat), 24.7 g carbohydrates (19.5 net carbs), 6.3 g sugars, 5.2 g fiber, 33.5 g protein, 126 mg cholesterol, 982 mg sodium.

SaltSense: Reducing the salt added to the marinade to 1/2 teaspoon (instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons) reduces the total sodium per serving to 595 milligrams.