This quick and easy sheet pan salmon with caramelized vegetables is a simple and healthy one pan dinner that will get oohs and aahs from everybody at your table.
Sheet pan dinners are all the rage right now, and with good reason. This meal, in one form or another, makes a regular appearance in our house. It’s quick and easy, but still warm and cozy. There’s something about prepping and cooking a full meal on one pan that is so enticing. It helps with the cleanup in a real way, too ~ you know it when you’re binge watching Sherlock, or you’ve just gotten the baby down for the night, or your feet are killing you ~ every. pan. counts.
For fun I used extra colorful winter veggies like rainbow carrots, multi-colored fingerling potatoes, peppers, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, and even parsley root for a pop of white. I avoid super dense vegetables like beets and winter squash because they take longer to roast. Even with this assortment I put the veggies in 10 minutes ahead of the salmon just to give them a head start. The salmon itself only takes about 20 minutes to cook through.
If you can peel a carrot and slice a potato, you can make this easy one pan dinner.
You’ll want to cut your veggies into halves or quarters, depending on size. I like fingerling potatoes because they cook quickly, especially when sliced lengthwise. Look for packages of multi-colored potatoes next to the loose potatoes in the produce section, my ruby and purple potatoes from Melissas were stunners!
TIP: Buy slender young carrots if you want to leave them whole like I did. Larger carrots will need to be chopped into chunks.
Toss your prepped veggies in olive oil, salt, and pepper, then spread out on the sheet pan. Give them room to breathe, and if you find you have too many for one pan, just use two. I put them in a 425F oven for about 10 minutes.
Then I add the fish to the pan and roast for another 20 minutes, or until it’s cooked through and the veggies are tender. I chose winter vegetables that hold their color when roasted so this sheet pan salmon dinner is gorgeous before it goes into the oven, AND after it comes out!
TIP: I love the deep flavor that roasting at a high heat gives to fish and veggies, but for an extra boost I add a few hot peppers, and some thinly sliced lemon on the salmon. I’ll toss on some fresh herbs after cooking, sometimes thyme, and sometimes dill ~ and always lots of freshly cracked black pepper!
Readers often tell me they’re afraid to pick up unusually colored vegetables at the grocery store because they think they must be genetically modified. But rainbow carrots and multi-color fingerling potatoes are heirlooms that have been around for hundreds of years ~ we’re just rediscovering them!
Colorful heirloom varieties can be even more nutritious than the vegetables we’ve been eating all our lives. In any case, it makes sense to branch out and try them, variety is key to good eating.
Other quick roasting vegetables to try:
- asparagus
- sweet bell pepper
- broccoli
- sweet potato
- fennel
- onions
- leek
- cauliflower (look for colorful varieties like green, orange, and purple!)
- mushrooms
- zucchini and yellow squash
Reader Rave ~
“I made a version of this last night for supper and it was awesome! Thanks so much for the idea. I have done other meats like this before but never thought of using salmon! I microwaved my veggies and potatoes for a few minutes to shorted their time in the oven – worked great!” ~Lindsey
Sheet Pan Salmon with Caramelized Winter Veggies
Ingredients
Note: each sheet pan will hold 3 servings.
- Brussels sprouts, about 10, trimmed and halved
- one bunch, (about 6) slender rainbow carrots, trimmed and peeled
- 12 ounces small multicolored potatoes, I used fingerling halved lengthwise
- 3 slender parsley root or parsnip, trimmed and peeled
- 1 Japanese eggplant, or 1/2 regular eggplant, cut into roughly 2 inch chunks
- 2-3 hot peppers such as jalapeno or Fresno, halved lengthwise
- olive oil
- salt and fresh cracked black pepper
- 4 slices of salmon, approximately 1/3 pound each
- 9 thin slices of lemon
- optional: honey or marmalade to brush over the salmon
- fresh thyme or dill
Instructions
- Set the oven to 425F
- Toss the veggies in about 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, or enough to lightly coat them, and season with salt and pepper. Lay them out in a single layer on a sheet pan. Don't crowd the pan. Cook for 10 minutes, maybe 15 if your veggies are on the larger side.
- Lightly season the salmon with salt and if you like you can brush on a layer of honey or marmalade. Top with the sliced lemon.
- Remove the pan from the oven and give everything a good stir. Make room for the salmon and nestle it in among the vegetables. Roast for a further 20 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through and the vegetables are browned and tender.
- Serve with a sprinkle of fresh thyme or dill.
notes:
- A good sturdy sheet pan is a workhorse in the kitchen, so invest in a couple of good ones. I love USA bakeware, it’s incredibly sturdy and affordable, too.
- If you crave more carbs, couscous makes a quick and easy side dish for this meal.
don’t forget to pin this easy Sheet Pan Salmon!
A tip I picked up growing up in Alaska, that could easily be incorporated into this meal: to keep the salmon extra melt in your mouth moist try cooking it skin side up under the broiler for the majority of the cook time. Once the skin starts to bubble, flip it, put some butter (and brown sugar?) on top, and stick it back under the broiler for another couple of minutes. It’s a handy little trick. When salmon is cooked skin side up oils from the fish skin seep into the meat, adding extra moisture. The skin also protects the meat from from getting dried out under the broiler. Easy peasy. Just don’t be tempted to flip it too soon. Wait till that skin gets nice and bubbly.
Great tip Catherine, you must have grown up with fabulous salmon in Alaska!
Thanks. And thanks for the lovely blog! Whenever I need inspiration I click around. Your recipes are always a success!
Yes! Love every thing about this from the salmon, to the vegetables, to all the beautiful colours and of course sheet pan dinners are always so great!
The colors here are amazing! I’ve re-newed my commitment to concentrate on my health and will be eating salmon at least once/week so thanks!
We can’t get enough salmon, Genevieve, and the texture of this one is really great because it flash cooks in the high heat. Hope you love it!
Such a gorgeous, vibrant meal! I love all those pretty roasted vegetables alongside the salmon. (USA bakeware my favorite too!)
This sounds great. And I will NEVER AGAIN try to do something like this with tuna – better to skip the dinner if one can’t get wild-caught salmon. (Tried that with another recipe). I’m really glad you set the record straight on brightly colored veggies. I read a book, Eating On The Wild Side, by Jo Robinson, that was very educational in that regard. Purple potatoes, purple sweet potatoes and colored cauliflower taste better than plain white, as well as being more nutritious. Likewise for rainbow carrots (orange is the least nutritious carrot color). Peru is the country which probably developed most, if not all, the varieties of potatoes one can find in the world. If I remember correctly, they’ve come up with 400 varieties of potatoes, and it wasn’t done with our modern genetic engineering techniques. They’ve been developing potatoes – and a large number of varieties of corn – for centuries. I love adding colorful veggies to my meals, and I appreciate having a good excuse to go for them.
Fabulous comment Susan! I’m surprised a nice thick tuna steak wouldn’t work with this method, but maybe it would dry out?
And yes, yes, YES to all these amazing colorful veggies being unearthed ~ I didn’t know that Peru was such a gold mine for potatoes, I’ll have to research that ~ have you seen that incredible glass gem corn? (here’s a link to a post I did about it: https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/american-artisans-native-seedssearch/
Wow! is all I can say about that corn. It’s simply gorgeous. I wish we were home enough to grow something like that (living in the desert just complicates being away at the wrong times of year). I’m not certain, but I think the potato and corn development began with the Incas. We went to the Minka market in Callao, Peru (the port city for Lima), and the produce was possibly the most amazing I’ve ever seen. Huge winter squashes – pumpkin-like but green, mangoes I wanted to dive into and eat only them for the rest of my life, passion fruit of many varieties… So many of the veggies were outsized. The markets in places like Peru, Brazil, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka – all make me want to live there so I can get the gorgeous produce.
As for the tuna, I think it was just not a very good piece of tuna. It was a nice, thick steak, but it was much fishier-tasting than I expected. If you could get good tuna, I’m sure it would be fine, but at this point I’d just rather do a dinner like this with salmon.
Oh wow. Love salmon. This looks so wonderful. Part of my family is not fond of salmon so what white fish should I substitute for them. A really pretty party dish
I think halibut would be dreamy cooked this way, but I can never afford it!
Would you cook Halibut for the same amount of time?
If the halibut is about the same thickness as the salmon pictured, then yes, that will be perfect. Just check it to see if it flakes easily with a fork.
The colors are magnificent! What a perfect meal – with my favorite little Brussels Sprouts, gorgeous potatoes, juicy salmon and colorful carrots! You are so lucky to have all those beautiful vegetables in your market. Pinning!
Thanks Tricia, I am bowled over by what’s available these days!
Mouthwatering! And I totally love the colour.
Which sheet pans do you like? This looks amazing!!!
Sorry, I just added that, my current favorites are by USA ~ I have other random pans that I’ve accumulated over the years, but I’m slowly replacing with this brand, it’s great.
I’m definitely oohing and aahing one this one. Love, love, love the gorgeous assortment of veggies. A perfect dinner, in my book, paired with the simple salmon.