The Art of Supper in One Sheet Pan

Here’s what we look for: it measures in at 18 by 13 inches and boasts a good, sturdy rim that’s at least 1 inch high. Even though your pan will probably darken with use it’s good to start with a sheet that has a light-colored surface for ideal browning. Solid construction is important as too-flimsy, too-thin pans warp under high heat and transfer heat too intensely, that being said it should be light enough that you can easily move it in and out of the oven with one or two hands.

While we don’t use it for every one of our sheet-pan suppers, a wire rack that nestles into your rimmed baking sheet is a worthy addition to your kitchen, and it doubles as a cooling rack when you’re not using it to cook. When we do use one it’s to elevate food for ideal crispness. Even lean cuts of meat render fat and release juices as they cook, and while we sometimes take advantage of those juices to moisten our vegetables in the pan, they do impede crisping and browning. A good rack should be sturdy and able to withstand a hot broiler, it should clean up without warping or damage, and the grid should be small enough to prevent food from falling through.

You betcha! You’d be surprised how much you can fit on an 18 by 13-inch baking sheet, especially when you choose your ingredients carefully and take advantage of staggering, or swapping out foods with different cook times. For example in our recipe for one-pan halibut we’re able to get fish, potatoes, corn on the cob, and andouille cooked all on one pan by letting first the tender corn and then the delicate fish cook alongside hardier spuds and sausage.

Yes, all of our recipes call for the same 18 by-13 inch rimmed baking sheet. That being said, we are huge advocates of having multiple sheet pans in different sizes; we use smaller sheet pans, also called quarter sheet pans, for seasoning meat and fish, corralling ingredients as we prep, or even baking and roasting in a toaster oven!