I’ve got a real treat for you today – a combination of two of my favorite things: mix & match recipes and sheet pan dinners.
You know I love mix & match recipes because they’re super flexible and can be made with whatever ingredients you have around or are craving, and I love sheet pan dinners because there’s nothing easier than tossing a pan in the oven and calling it dinner!
These Mix & Match Sheet Pan Dinners let you switch up the proteins, veggies, and seasonings for delicious sheet pan dinners any night of the week.
These sheet pan dinners have three main components: proteins, veggies, and seasonings. Feel free to start with whichever component you want to mix & match ingredients into countless flavorful, easy meals.
First, choose your veggies.
The options are endless here! I like to start with veggies, since I can chop up whatever veggies I have lying around in the fridge. I usually opt for quicker-cooking veggies like zucchini, onion, peppers, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, and green beans because I like my sheet pan dinners to be fast. These veggies can all go in the oven at the same time to make things extra easy, but if you’re in the mood for heartier veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes, or winter squash, just toss those in the oven a few minutes earlier to give them extra roasting time. Amounts are flexible here, too – use as many veggies as will fit in a single layer on your sheet pan (while factoring in a little space for proteins, too – or if you are batch cooking a lot of food for the week, just use an extra pan for protein). I usually end up with 3 cups or so of veggies!
Next, choose a protein.
Proteins that do well in a sheet pan format include salmon, shrimp, chicken breast, and diced tofu. All cook easily in the oven without much prep, which is definitely a bonus! About 1 to 1 & 1/2 pounds of protein will roughly make four servings (or one block of tofu, which sometimes comes in a little under a pound!).
Finally, choose your seasonings.
Here’s where the real fun begins! Sheet pan dinners make great mix & match meals because you can put the same protein and veggies on a pan with different seasonings and end up with entirely different meals without extra effort. You can freestyle with just about any herbs, spices, and condiments you have on hand (my Orange Juice BBQ Sauce would be a great condiment to slather on protein & veggies here), or feel free to use some of my favorite seasoning combinations below! Each seasoning recipe makes enough to season 1 to 1 & 1/2 pounds of protein and enough veggies to fit alongside that in the pan.
Garlic & Herb Seasoning
Combine 1 tablespoon each chopped rosemary and thyme, 3 cloves garlic (minced, grated, or crushed), 2 tablespoons olive oil, and salt & pepper to taste.
Lemon Dijon Seasoning
Combine 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary, 2 teaspoons chopped thyme, 1 clove garlic (minced, grated, or crushed), 2 tablespoons dijon mustard, juice of one lemon, and salt & pepper to taste.
Ginger Soy Glaze
Combine 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, and 1 clove garlic (minced, grated, or crushed).
This one comes from my Sheet Pan Asian Salmon with Veggies – a great sheet pan recipe if you’re looking for more recipe structure!
Fajita Seasoning
Combine 2 teaspoons each chili powder, smoked paprika, and cumin with 2 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, and salt & pepper to taste.
Time to get cooking!
The method is the same for any combination of veggies, protein, and seasoning. Just mix the seasoning ingredients together and toss the protein and veggies in the seasonings either in a large bowl or directly on the sheet pan.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and bake until the protein is cooked and the veggies are tender (see below for more specific notes about cooking time for different proteins).
Now that you’ve got an idea of just how easy it is to create flavorful sheet pan dinners, here are some of my favorite combinations to try! Don’t forget to add a carb when serving to round out your meal and make it fully satisfying.
Sheet Pan Tofu and Veggies with Ginger Soy Glaze
Tofu is great for sheet pan dinners because it soaks up any flavor you put on it. Here I made the ginger soy glaze in a large bowl and added the tofu to let it marinade for a few minutes before tossing in the veggies and spreading it on the sheet pan. Another great thing about tofu is that it’s more flexible on cooking times! I roasted this pan for 15 minutes and ended up with tender veggies and slightly crispy tofu, but you could easily roast longer with heartier veggies to get crispier tofu!
Lemon Dijon Sheet Pan Salmon and Veggies
You guys already know I’m a big fan of lemon dijon yogurt salmon, but the big standout here is tossing the veggies in a lemon dijon sauce, too! The simple lemony herb sauce is fantastic on salmon and brings SO much unexpected flavor to the veggies. I spooned about half the sauce over the salmon and tossed the veggies in the remaining sauce, then baked it all for 12-15 minutes to get tender salmon and crisp-tender veggies. If you like more tender and caramelized veggies, start them off in the oven about 5-10 minutes early or remove the salmon from the pan when done and keep cooking the veggies for an extra 5-10 minutes.
Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas
Sheet pan fajitas are really flavorful and fast! Shrimp cook quickly in the oven, so pair them with quick-cooking veggies like onions, peppers, and zucchini and the whole pan will be done with just 10 minutes of baking. If you’re in the mood for chicken fajitas, slice the chicken into about 1-inch strips to keep the cooking time down and make it easy to stuff into tortillas!
Garlic and Herb Sheet Pan Chicken and Veggies
The garlic and herb seasoning here is a classic, and makes for flavorful chicken and veggies! I tossed the chicken breasts in about half of the garlic and herb mixture, then tossed the veggies in the other half and baked it all for about 20 minutes for tender veggies and juicy veggies.
I hope you guys found this post useful for creating easy weeknight meals. Let me know which combinations you end up trying, and check out my other Mix & Match Recipes, too:
