Our 20 Absolute Favorite Sheet-Pan Recipes

This article was originally published in June 2020. It has been updated to include more of our community's favorite recipes.

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I’d like to give a shout-out to sheet pans. Because it’s amazing how the simplest, cheapest of tools can accomplish quick, delicious, and fuss-free (in the planning, prepping, and cleaning) meals the entire family adores. Sure, we love Instant Pots, Air Fryers, and the like, but sheet pans are the OG busy (and hungry) cook’s best friend.

But I hardly need to tell you this. Sheet-pan recipes are some of our most popular attractions (ahem, please refer to this list). There are the buttery, flakey slab pot pies, roast-y salads, a full American breakfast...I could keep going!

But I don’t want to keep you here all day, so I’ve combed through Food52's recipe box for the most cooked, most favorited sheet-pan recipes ever. Yes, it was hard to narrow it down to just 20, but these superstars are the best of the best—our community's absolute favorites. Now, without further ado:

1. Sheet Pan Shrimp Scampi for One

Senior Editor Eric Kim was inspired to make this solo shrimp scampi supper after a trip to Hawaii. Now we can enjoy it, too (without stepping on an airplane).

2. Sheet-Pan Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake

“I love this cake because it's one of those things I'm able to throw together when it seems I have nothing in my pantry and fridge,” writes recipe developer Eric Kim. “All it needs are the usual suspects, things like brown sugar, butter, flour, eggs, and milk—plus chopped dates.”

3. Sheet-Pan Eggs

This egg-cellent (not sorry) breakfast is perfect for those blurry mornings when you have to cook for a crowd. Simply whisk eggs, pour into a greased pan, bake, and then pat yourself on the back.

4. Sheet-Pan Chicken With Broccoli, Chickpeas, And Parmesan

This all-in-one traybake from the queen of weeknight suppers, EmilyC, uses tons of smartypants tricks. My favorite? Add baking powder for better browning.

5. Sheet-Pan Croquembouche

Sheet pans make quick work of desserts, too. “This streamlined version makes at-home croquembouche totally doable,” writes recipe developer Emma Laperruque. “Look no further for a holiday showstopper or even a birthday cake replacement (trust me, no one will complain).”

6. All-In-One Sheet-Pan Brown Rice With Sweet Potato And Broccoli Rabe

This recipe highlights a reliable, forgiving method for cooking grains on a sheet pan in the oven, and results in a flavorful, do-it-all grain salad you’ll turn to again and again.

7. Sheet-Pan Roast Chicken and Cabbage

In just 40 minutes, you’ll get juicy, crispy-skinned chicken and sweet, tender cabbage, flavored by not only the spicy dressing, but also the aromatic drippings of the chicken. What are you waiting for?

8. Sheet-Pan Harissa Chicken With Smashed Olives & Apricots

This bright and bold harissa chicken maintains a perfect, five-star rating amongst our community members. Trust Cathy on this one: “This is amazing! Every element blends perfectly together." It won over Emily, too: Consider me a skeptic until about 3 minutes before plating. Never been happier to be wrong.”

9. Roasted Sweet Potato, Chickpea & Kale Sheet-Pan Salad

Yes, salads can be cozy comfort food, too. See below.

10. Sheet-Pan Chicken And Cauliflower Bake

This tray bake is the spicy, smoky shawarma-inspired dinner that you’ll definitely want to add to your weeknight rotation.

11. Sheet-Pan Crispy Rice With Bacon And Broccoli

Absolute Best Tests columnist Ella Quittner speaks the truth: “Crispy bits are textural and flavor magic.” And this dish is chock full of ‘em.

12. Sheet-Pan Eggs & Potatoes, Huevos Rotos-Style

This convenient play on huevos rotos (“broken eggs” in Spanish) is the perfect lazy brunch recipe. It requires only 10 minutes of actual work, serves up to six people, and highlights the beloved trio of sausage, potatoes, and eggs.

13. Sheet-Pan Lamb Meatballs With Cauliflower And Tahini-Yogurt Sauce

Fact: Super tender lamb meatballs and comforting cauliflower combined with the refreshing brightness of pomegranate, makes the crowd go wild.

14. Sheet-Pan Chicken With Figs & Bread Salad

With a scrappy vinaigrette that does triple-duty, as well as tapping into the wallet-friendly bulk bin (hey there, dried figs), this dinner is both inexpensive and satisfying.

15. Nuta-Caramelized Chicken & Squash

Consisting of white miso, yellow mustard powder, sugar, and rice vinegar, nuta is a typical Japanese dressing for blanched greens and seafood that tastes like really good honey mustard. Here nuta works double-duty: caramelized on chicken thighs and squash, and as a piquant dressing for peppery arugula.

16. Sheet-Pan Broccoli & Chorizo Salad With Tortilla Chip Gremolata

Salad? On a sheet-pan? Recipe developer EmilyC thinks yes, making three great cases for it.

17. Our Best Brussels Sprouts With Bacon

Our best version of the best food partnership (okay at the very least tied with peanut butter and eggs). Top a bowl of these Brussels sprouts and crisp bacon bits with a soft, oozy egg, for a square (round?) meal.

18. Sheet-Pan Pork Chops & Vegetables With Parsley Vinaigrette

While a schnitzel-ready, thin, boneless pork cutlet is likely to dessicate in the oven, a thicker-cut, bone-in chop is ready. Dry-rub one per person and lay atop a bed of root vegetable hunks—the recipe calls for carrots and fennel, but why not beets, parsnips, or turnips?—eager to drink in any (sheet-)pan juices.

19. Baking Sheet Macaroni and Cheese

Food52 co-founder Amanda Hesser wanted a mac and cheese that didn’t skimp on the crunch—so she made this recipe. Combining techniques from baked pasta, gratin, and kugel, Amanda’s mac is texturally complex and decidedly delicious.

20. Sheet-Pan Apple Crisp

A traditional apple crisp is heavy on the apples, lighter on the streusel. Not with this sheet-pan riff from Food Editor Emma Laperruque. “Instead of using a deep-dish casserole pan, a sheet pan creates a shallow crisp that’s equal parts jammy apples and oaty streusel,” Emma writes. If there’s a more perfect use for an eighth-pan, I don’t want to know about it.

Just kidding I do—share some of the best things to come out of your half-, quarter-, and eighth-sheet-pans in the comments below!