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sheet pan dinner

Dinner Ideas Healthy Kids and Teens Nourishing Staples Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

March 8, 2022

A whole dinner all on one sheet pan! The kids will love these sweet, sticky teriyaki meatballs and sweet roasted veggies!

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Real life, real food

For those of you who have followed me for a while on social media, you know that our family has been in the building and moving process for the last year – with the last 5 months living somewhere other than “home.” I haven’t overly talked about it, as I like to keep things zeroed in on our real food goals in this space, but let me just be real for a minute! Having a family, moving, cooking in someone else’s kitchen, and trying to keep “normalcy” for the kids…its a stressful, full-time job! While life has been a little extra busy, I’ve found it harder to blog, but what I *have* found, is that you all do enjoy these simple, everyday meals that are the only thing I have had time to write up for you, and that makes me super happy. It tells me that you are real people, not just looking for the fancy shmancy “health” food treats…you are looking for real food for everyday life!

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

Momma’s secret weapon for a busy weeknight…

Sheet pan dinners! Oh sure, the Instant Pots are all the rage. And quick skillets are great too. But seriously…dump it all onto a sheet pan and it cooks while you tend to other matters in the house or with the kids? Sign. Me. Up. I cannot tell you how much I adore that whole “kill two birds with one stone” thing – and sheet pan dinners allow me to get dinner in the oven, and be hands free for other things while it cooks.

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

What is teriyaki?!

In short, this sweet, sticky sauce is Asian inspired, and it usually used to toss with simple stir fry. I have found over the years that it is a great way to get veggie hesitant kids to try a stir fry, and it couldn’t be easier to make. Traditional teriyaki sauces or those that you find in the store will be soy based, which we avoid in our house, so years ago I developed a teriyaki sauce that we could enjoy in our house. I hear from you all frequently that your little ones adore it!

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

The Method :: The 5-Minute Teriyaki Sauce

Making versus buying this sauce may seem like a redundant extra step, but not only can the teriyaki be whisked up in 5 minutes, it can be made days in advance. Simply add all of the teriyaki sauce ingredients to a small sauce pan and whisk until thickened. Primal Kitchen does have a soy free, great teriyaki sauce if you prefer to buy it! It doesn’t usually fit in my budget, so I tend to just make my own.

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

The Method :: The Veggies

The sky is the limit here! For this dinner, I used what I had left in my veggie bin this week. I would definitely encourage you to try the purple onion and cabbage – they both get so sweet and kid friendly with roasting! It is a great budget saver as well! Get all the veg cut up into slightly larger than bite-sized pieces, and just toss them on the sheet pan with some olive oil.

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

The Method :: The Meatballs

These meatballs are SO delicious, and you can just roll them up and place them right on the sheet pan with the veggies! It doesn’t get any easier than that! The meatballs can also be made in advance – you can even freeze them if you have a prep day and want to stock up. That way on a busy weeknight you just have to pull them from the freezer.

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

The Method :: Brushing the Teriyaki Sauce, and Roasting

Once your meatballs are rolled up, brush some of the teriyaki sauce on each of the meatballs so their tops are covered – we aren’t looking for perfection here by the way! Then drizzle the rest of the teriyaki sauce over the veggies in the pan and roast the sheet pan off for 20 minutes.

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

Serving suggestions

We love to serve our teriyaki stir fry over rice, but if you prefer grain free, it is absolutely delicious over a baked sweet potato (or regular potato). I also think a little rice ramen (Costco carries this brand btw) would be incredible! Another way to serve would be to add another sheet pan of veggies to roast right along with this sheet pan and just have extra veg.

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

Prep ahead tips

While the actual roasting of this dinner is just a quick 20 minutes of hands free time, there are a couple of steps to get to that point, and you can do some of it ahead of time. You can make the teriyaki sauce days in advance so that part is done – you could even chop the veggies on a prep day so that it dumps in the pan fast. The meatballs are definitely something that can be rolled up ahead of time and frozen on a prep day. This sheet pan meal would also make a great meal prep for mom’s lunches all week to pull from. Make it up on a Sunday, and warm it up everyday for lunch!

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

Ingredients

For the 5 Minute Teriyaki Sauce ::

For the Veggies ::

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 purple onion cut into ½ inch thick strips
  • ½ small head of cabbage cut into ½ inch thick strips
  • 2 bell peppers cut into 1 inch strips and then halved to make them bite sized
  • 2-3 cups broccoli florets
  • 1 medium/large carrot peeled and julienned (or bite sized pieces in the shape you like)

For the Meatballs ::

  • 1 lb grassfed ground beef
  • 1 egg
  • ¼ cup GF panko bread crumbs or GF flour blend
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees and get a large sheet tray out. The sheet tray does NOT need to be lined with parchment or greased.

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees, and get a large sheet tray out. The sheet tray does NOT need to be lined with parchment or greased.

Make the Teriyaki Sauce ::

  • Put everything into a small sauce pan, and bring the heat to high.
  • Use a whisk to stir every so often until it comes to a simmer, then continually whisk for about 1 minute until the sauce thickens. Turn the heat off and set the sauce aside.

Get the veggies ready ::

  • Toss all of the veggies with the olive oil on a large sheet tray so that the veggies are coated evenly.

Make the meatballs, assemble, and bake ::

  • Mix all of the meatball ingredients in a small mixing bowl until combined evenly.
  • Roll 1 – 1 ½ inch meatballs and place them on the sheet tray with the veggies – they can rest right on top of the veggies or on the sheet tray.
  • Brush each meatball with the prepared teriyaki sauce, and then drizzle the rest of the sauce over the veggies on the sheet tray.
  • Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Notes

  • If you don’t have access to good GF Panko crumbs, you can use any GF Flour Blend, or something simple like rice flour or even cassava flour if you are grain free.
  • Meal prep tips! You can make the teriyaki sauce days in advance so that part is done – you could even chop the veggies on a prep day so that it dumps in the pan fast. The meatballs are definitely something that can be rolled up ahead of time and frozen on a prep day.
  • The overall consensus for my kids is that the teriyaki sauce as written here is overly sweet for them – I think it tastes like a normal teriyaki you’d buy in the store which is why I left it as is. If you have little ones at home that aren’t trained toward sweet yet, I’d pull the sweet back a bit!
  • Change up the veggies to what is in season!
Sheet Pan Teriyaki Meatballs & Roasted Veggies :: Gluten Free, Soy Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free

More real food recipes you might like! ::

Dinner Ideas Healthy Kids and Teens Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

July 9, 2021

An easy weeknight Hawaiian sheet pan dinner with a sweet and zingy fruit sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce that the whole family will fall in love with!

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

Quick dinners to fuel busy, active kids!

We are in full on summer mode in these parts, and that means HUNGRY kids. Not only are they growing at warp speed, they expend so. much. energy. every waking moment, and that makes for really big appetites. Whether you are enjoying the active days of summer, or are in full swing school fall schedule mode (which…is a whole different level of busy!), I hope you get a chance to get this super fun sheet pan dinner change up onto your meal rotation soon!

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

Weeknight perfect prep and *oh so* full of kid friendly flavor!

Sheet pan dinners are so very time-crunch friendly, and you can really pack in the flavor and nutrients all in one shot. The veggies roast down on the sheet tray, which pulls out their natural sweetness, caramelizing on the sheet pan, and we’ve packed out this sheet pan with lots of protein fuel too. Add in mixing it all up with an easy, sweet and zingy Hawaiian inspired barbeque sauce will ensure this whole sheet tray gets devoured by your crew! Fuel that actually counts for rapidly growing kids all on one sheet tray in less time? Sign. Me. Up.

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

Less sugar and more flavor!

I have a love hate relationship with “sauces.” On the one hand, I love how sauces and dips help make veggies and meat more “fun” for kids, which in turn helps get a lot more of it down. And on the other hand I just cringe at the amount of sugar in so many dips and sauces. Thankfully there are really cool companies that have come out with less sugar, or more fruit sweetened sauces and dips, and while they are delicious, and such a great swap, instead of cringing at the sugar, I end up cringing at my budget! A small bottle of sauce or dip that has great ingredients divided among 3 kids and a kid-like husband…well let’s just say it is gone in no time. One particular sauce we fell in love with was a really great ingredient Hawaiian inspired BBQ sauce, so instead of buying it again, I looked at the ingredients and sort of made up my own version for much cheaper!

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

The Method :: The Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce

This sauce! OH! This sauce! You are going to fall in love with not only the flavor, but the prep time! This is literally a dump in the blender and buzz away sort of a recipe! The sweetening stars of the show are dates and Hawaiian inspired pineapple! There is zero added processed sugar, and you’ll absolutely never miss it. The pineapple adds just the right amount of liquid, and light refreshing flavor too! You’ll first soak the dates for a few minutes while you pile in the rest of the ingredients into your blender. Add your dates a little of the water from soaking the dates, and blend it all up. It’s as simple as that!

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

The Method :: The Veggie Line Up!

This part can truly be tailored to whatever produce is in season near you. It just happens to be summer right now, so in the recipe card, you’ll find summer squash and zucchini. A couple weeks ago I made this with eggplant and green beans. I think this sheet pan dinner will work so great in the winter too for a busy school night, and during that time of year, you’ll just have to swap things out for what you have in the veggie bin – carrots and other root veggies, squashes, and maybe frozen green beans from your summer stash! Give the veggies a quick, coarse chop, and pile them up on the sheet tray.

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

The Method :: Putting it all together on the sheet pan!

Once you season your cubed up chicken, you’ll toss everything with the fruit sweetened Hawaiian BBQ sauce – right on the sheet tray! Don’t get out more dishes to clean, dear momma. Just toss it all on the sheet tray and pop it in the oven. While your dinner cooks, you are hands free for 20 minutes to clean up, help kids with homework, change a diaper, or maybe read a chapter of that book you said you’d get through!

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

How’s the heat level on that sauce?

This sauce is pretty mild as written. In fact one of my girls thought it was “too sweet” on when she dipped her finger in it to taste. Keep in mind my crew hasn’t been exposed to lot of store bought sauces, so take that comment with a grain of salt 😉 My husband wanted more heat, so he added some hot sauce and some red pepper flakes to his bowl. I prefer a bit more heat as well, and wanted more ginger flavor, so I added more ginger to my bowl, but this sauce worked really well for my 2 girls that don’t do heat very well. I’d say it is quite kid friendly.

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

Let’s talk about your little ones!

As I was preparing this dinner the other night, I had a thought about how I probably would have made this sheet pan dinner when the girls were younger. So for those of you with itty bitties at home, I have a couple thoughts for you! You have a couple choices on the veggie/meat sizes. The size that I cut the veggies and chicken in these images works well for my older kids, but if you have toddlers and little ones at home, you’ll have to cut their pieces smaller before serving them. Alternatively, you could cut the veg and meat smaller before you cook the sheet pan, and if you do that, just keep in might that your cook time will be faster, so adjust that. Also keep in mind that some little ones get overwhelmed looking at a big bowl of “mixed up” food – I didn’t have one of these kids, but I do know it is a thing, and if that is the case, just get a plate out and separate the chicken in one spot, the rice in another, and the veggies on another side. Pick your battles, dear momma!

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

Leftovers and meal prep thoughts

This dinner tastes amazing the next day! Save some for your lunch tomorrow! I also think that if you are the meal prep type, you might like to make this as a lunch prep on a weekend for your weekday meal for work or school. Make up a whole sheet tray and divide it up for your week, and you have a delicious, healthy lunch for your work week. My oldest even asked if she could take this to school for lunch this year! Woot!

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

Ingredients

For the Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian BBQ Sauce ::

For the Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner ::

  • ½ purple onion cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 medium zucchini halved and cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 medium yellow summer squash halved, seeds scraped out, and cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 cup broccoli florets
  • 2-3 cups total red & orange bell pepper cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 1 ½ lbs boneless chicken breast rinsed, pat dry, and cut into 1-2 inch cubes
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • ½ cup of the Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian BBQ Sauce from above plus extra for side dipping or drizzling
  • 1 heaping cup of pineapple cut into 1-inch pieces

Instructions

How to Make the Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian BBQ Sauce ::

  • Fill a small bowl with warm tap water and put the dates in the warm water to soak while you get the rest of the ingredients into the blender.
  • Put the rest of the sauce ingredients into the blender, add the soaked dates, and ½ cup of the liquid that the dates were soaking in, and blend until smooth. This takes about 30 seconds in my high powered blender. You may have to blend longer and/or scrape down the container if you are using a food processor or regular blender.
  • Set the sauce aside until you are ready to make the sheet pan dinner. You can make the sauce up to 2 or 3 days in advance to store in the fridge too! Great prep day task!

How to Make the Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner ::

  • Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. You can line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or Silpat, though I tend to like a little caramelization on the bottom so I usually leave it off.
  • Put the cut veggies and pineapple onto your sheet pan. Toss the chicken pieces with the olive oil, salt, and pepper, and then add them to the sheet pan with the veggies.
  • Pour ½ cup of the Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian BBQ Sauce onto the sheet tray of veggies and chicken, and toss to combine. I just use my hands but you can use a spatula or tongs. You can add more sauce if you wish, or save the sauce to add to your bowl later. Stay on the light side first – you can always add more but you can’t take it away!
  • Bake the sheet pan of chicken, veggies, and pineapple at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken juices run clear. (The internal temp of cooked chicken should be 165°F – leaving your chicken out at room temp for 15 minutes before cooking is a good way to ensure even cooking and tender chicken!)
  • Serve your sheet pan dinner over rice, cauliflower rice, or baked potato/sweet potato. You can serve extra sauce on the side or drizzle over the top too!

Notes

  • Change up the veggies to what is in season! When I photographed this recipe, it was summer, so zucchini, summer squash, and even eggplant work really well! Green beans, root veggies like carrot and turnip, squashes, etc all would swap fine – use what you have!
  • You can prep/chop the veggies a day or so in advance if you need the extra prep time on a busy day. Keep the chopped veg in the fridge and you can just dump it onto the sheet tray on the night you want to make it!
  • This dinner makes a great meal prep for your lunches for a week too. Bake it off on a Sunday night and you can divide the meal up into your busy days for the week to warm up for lunch or dinner.
20 Minute Hawaiian Sheet Pan Dinner with Easy, No Cook, Fruit Sweetened Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce!

More real food SHEET PAN recipes you might like! ::

Dinner Ideas Healthy Kids and Teens Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

Sheet Pan Nachos with Slow Cooker Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

January 13, 2021

The most perfect sheet pan nachos with easy slow cooker pulled beef for game day or fun Friday night!

Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

A story about the girls’ first nacho experience

A couple of summers ago my girls had their first experience with a big pile of loaded nachos! We live in a little beach town, and each summer we pick one weekend to play “tourist” – we ride the trolley, go to the touristy shops and attractions, play at the busier beach instead of the quieter beach, and also enjoy dinner at a local restaurant. That year, one of the girls asked what “nachos” were on the appetizer menu, so we decided to give them the experience! These nachos were no ordinary nachos, with plain corn chips and fake cheese. They were loaded with real pulled barbeque beef, green onions, peppers, crispy fried jalepenos, super yummy aoili and guacamole – the works!

Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

A new fun weekend at-home nacho idea!

My kids just adored the family style way of getting to eat the nachos at that restaurant, and they talked about it for days! Every so often my middle one would reminisce about those nachos, and asked if we could try to make them at home. How could I say no to that?! We get a half grass-fed cow each year, and I just happened to have a brisket that I hadn’t decided what to do with yet. We slow cooked the brisket in my taco seasoning mix, let the girls dress up some nachos on a big sheet tray, and a new fun weekend dinner treat was born!

Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

The Method :: Preparing the Beef and Sauce

The ingredients for the pulled beef is very simple. Your favorite taco seasoning mix and an easily whisked sauce – that’s it! The beef cut is really up to you on this one. Any cut of beef roast or brisket will do. (And really you could do a pan of ground beef taco meat if you don’t happen to have a roast around.). I keep a jar of my own taco season blend in my cupboard, so the prep for the beef goes really fast. Over the years, I have discovered that tripling that taco season mix into a jar works best for me, so feel free to do that and enjoy having taco seasoning already made up a lot longer!

Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

The Method :: The Slow Cooked Pulled Beef

Once you season your beef roast with a generous amount of your favorite taco seasoning, take the time to sear the sides. The crust on the meat gives amazing flavor, and that extra 5-10 minutes of prep is so worth it. You get to tuck the seared beef into the slow cooker for the rest of the time anyway so take your time and get a nice flavorful sear on your beef! You’ll slow cook the beef roast for 8-10 hours on low, and boy oh boy will it just fall apart after that. Perfect for pulling apart with a couple of forks for your sheet pan nachos! Whisk some of the juices from the slow cooker with a starch of choice and you have a delicious sauce to mix in with your shredded beef for the nachos.

Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

The Method :: The Sheet Pan Nachos

And now we get to do the fun part! If you want to get the kids involved, prepare a “topping bar” type set up so that they can sprinkle toppings onto the sheet pan nachos to their little heart’s desire! Such a fun way for kids to try new veggies like finely chopped peppers – they make the nachos so pretty and get super sweet once cooked! I like to get the cheese onto the chips first, and then let the girls do the rest. You can let them sprinkle a little extra cheese on top after they get the toppings on too.

Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

A note on the chips and cheese brands

Because I know that there will be questions on chips and cheese brands! I do get the organic tortilla chips from Costco, but there are so many decent brands out there now! Get the best you can afford – this is an every once and a while fun dinner! I also use the manchego cheese from Costco, but any cheese that you love will work. My oldest and I do better on sheep’s milk cheeses so we use manchego which is also super melty!

Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil plus 1 tbsp butter to sear the beef
  • 2-3 pounds grassfed beef brisket or roast I have found any beef roast cut works!
  • 3-4 tbsp of taco season mix divided (I use my own taco season blend. I keep a jar of a triple batch of the seasoning in my pantry, so it is easy to use!)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 tsp coconut sugar honey, maple syrup, or sugar works here – it cuts the acid in the tomato paste.
  • ½ – 1 cup beef broth chicken broth or water would be fine if that is all you have – I also happen to think swapping some of the liquid for a good beer or red wine tastes amazing
  • 1 large onion sliced into strips
  • 4 cloves of garlic minced
  • Sea salt/pepper to taste
  • Tortilla chips of choice
  • Cheese of choice if using
  • Nacho toppings of choice
  • 1 tsp starch of choice *you may not need this if you are using a taco seasoning mix that already has starch or flour in it – this is to thicken the sauce. You can use potato starch, GMO free corn starch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot.

Instructions

  • Warm a skillet over high heat with the olive oil and butter while you season the beef. Pat dry your beef roast and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of taco season ON EACH SIDE of the beef, rubbing it into the beef on each side. (Total of 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning on the beef roast – if your roast is on the bigger side, you might use a bit more than 2 tablespoons)
  • Put the seasoned beef roast in the hot oil to sear. LEAVE the beef in the skillet for a few minutes until a nice crust forms – if the beef is sticking when you pull it up that means it might need a bit longer. If it pulls away from the pan easily, you’ve made a nice crust on the beef! Turn the beef roast to the other side to sear for a few minutes.
  • While the beef roast is searing you can whisk the sauce. Put 1-2 tablespoons of taco seasoning into a medium mixing bowl. Add the tomato paste, coconut sugar, and broth and whisk to combine until smooth.
  • Put the whisked sauce, sliced onion, and minced garlic into the bottom of your slow cooker. Add the seared beef. I like to put the beef into the sauce, then turn it over so that it is coated on both sides. Put the lid on your slow cooker, and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
  • Remove the cooked beef to a cutting board and shred with 2 forks. Strain out about a cup of the sauce from the slow cooker, and whisk a teaspoon of potato starch into the liquid – this will make a thicker sauce for the beef. Mix the shredded beef with the thickened sauce – you can use as much of the sauce as you want to your desired consistency, and you can make more if you want it saucier!
  • To make the sheet pan nachos, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • Line your sheet pan with tortilla chips. Sprinkle the cheese, then the shredded beef, and then the toppings of your choice. You can sprinkle extra cheese on the top if you want!
  • Bake the sheet pan tacos in a 400-degree oven for 15 minutes. Garnish with green onion, fresh herbs, sour cream – whatever you like!
Sheet Pan Nachos with Pulled Brisket or Beef Roast

More real food recipes you might like ::

Dinner Ideas Healthy Kids and Teens Nourishing Staples Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

March 18, 2020

Busy week? This 30 minute BBQ chicken thighs and roasted veggie dinner is a full meal on 2 sheet pans!

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

Product links in this post are affiliate links. It does not cost you anything, and helps maintain the free information on this site, as well as answer the questions of “what brand do you use?” Please know I never personally recommend any product I wouldn’t use on my own family.

So close we can smell it!

You know that feeling when you take a hike and you can just smell spring in the air?! When the kids get warm enough to pull jackets off after hiking and climbing trees for hours? There is just nothing like the feeling of making it through another Michigan winter season. It has thawed out a bit early this year, and I am totally here for it!

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

Quick dinners & more outside time

Sheet pan meals are my go-to for busy days that I am not at home much. Everything for one meal on a couple of sheet pans? Sign. Me. Up. If you pop to the bottom of the recipe in this post, you’ll see just how many sheet pan meals are on the blog, and why I love them so much. And one of my sheet pan goals is always to make sure that everything can go in at the same time and cook at the same temp – I’ve got you covered on the prep time and simplicity, dear momma!

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

The method :: The Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs

The chicken thighs can be prepped in less than 10 minutes *AND* can be prepped in the dry rub ahead of time – even up to 24 hours ahead of time. This means you can prep the meat the night before if you plan to be gone all day, or if you have nappers at home, you can get the chicken ready while babies are sleeping so that when dinner time arrives (aka “the witching hour” for those of you with babies!), all you have to do is toss the meat and veg onto the sheet pans and bake them off while you tend to the kids. Simply whisk the dry rub ingredients into a large dish, toss in the chicken thighs, and you can bake them off from there, or you can wrap the dish up and put it into the fridge until you are ready to bake them for dinner.

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!
30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!
30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

The Method :: The Sheet Pan Roasted Veggies

This is about as easy as it gets – just chop, toss, and roast. You could chop the carrots and broccoli ahead of time, but you’ll want to do the potatoes right before you put them into the oven, or they will brown with air if you chop them too far in advance. The roasted veggies cook right alongside the sheet pan chicken thighs, and everything is done at the same time. The veggies can also be swapped out for whatever is in season or on sale. Once spring hits, you can swap the broccoli for asparagus! In the summer, take advantage of all that great farmer’s market produce! And in the fall, swap the potatoes for sweet potatoes or squash! You can serve everything as is, or add a pile of buttered rice if the kids need a little extra.

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

How spicy is the rub?

This rub is really mild – perfect for kids. If you love extra heat, I would very highly recommend swapping the sweet paprika for another tablespoon of smoked paprika – that is my favorite way to eat this chicken, and I often make a separate batch of extra heat chicken thighs just for me! I love the leftovers sliced over a salad for lunch the next day.

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

Chicken thigh sourcing

If you are lucky enough to grab thighs from a local farmer that keeps their chickens on pasture, that is always going to be the best bet! But, I also am not against the organic chicken thighs I’ve been able to find at Costco. It is a great price point, and it is so nice to have in the freezer for those times when I need a really quick meal for my family, and it will always be 1000% better than choosing take-out for dinner.

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

Ingredients

For the Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken

For the Sheet Pan Roasted Veggies

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees and line a sheet pan with Silpat or unbleached parchment paper. You will need a second sheet pan for the veggies but you won’t need to line the second sheet pan.
  • Whisk the seasonings for the BBQ chicken in a large dish and set aside. Use a paper towel to pat dry your chicken thighs, and then place them into the dish with the BBQ rub. Mix the chicken thighs with the seasoning blend, coating each thigh completely. (You can do this hours or up to a day in advance, wrapping the dish up with plastic wrap and letting it marinate in the refrigerator.)
  • Place the BBQ rub coated chicken thighs on the Silpat or unbleached parchment paper lined baking sheet and set aside.
  • Toss the veggies with the olive oil, sea salt, and all purpose season on the second sheet pan, until coated evenly.
  • Bake both sheet pans in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. If you cut your potatoes too large, that sheet pan might need an extra 10 minutes – be sure to make your potato cubes around ½ – ¾ of an inch.
30 Minute Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken Thighs and Roasted Veggies :: 1 Dinner on 2 Sheet Pans!

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