Some weeknights need dinner to take care of itself. This is that dinner: sausage, sweet potatoes, apples, and onion on one pan, a maple-mustard drizzle over the top, and forty minutes in the oven while you do something else entirely.

Why this one works

The pan does the flavor work. Sausage fat bastes the sweet potatoes as everything roasts, the apples soften into something between a side dish and a sauce, and the maple-mustard drizzle keeps the whole pan from tasting one-note. Cutting the sweet potatoes to even, one-inch pieces is the one technique that matters here, because even pieces cook at the same pace and nothing burns while something else stays hard.

Sheet Pan Sausage with Apples and Sweet Potatoes

Sausage, sweet potatoes, apples, and onion roast on one pan with a maple-mustard drizzle for an easy fall dinner.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 55 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 pound Italian sausage links
• 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 firm apples cored and cut into wedges
• 1 red onion cut into wedges
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper

Method

 

1. Heat the oven. Preheat to 400°F. Line a large rimmed sheet pan with parchment if you like an easy cleanup.
2. Toss the vegetables. Toss sweet potatoes, apples, and onion with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and spread in a single layer.
3. Add the sausage and drizzle. Nestle sausage links among the vegetables. Whisk maple syrup and Dijon and drizzle over the pan.
4. Roast, then flip. Roast for 20 minutes, then turn the vegetables and sausage.
5. Finish and check. Roast for 20 minutes more, until sweet potatoes are tender and sausage reaches 160°F in the center.

Variations and serving

Use sweet or hot Italian sausage, pork or chicken, whichever your table prefers, and keep the rest of the method the same. A firm apple like Honeycrisp or Gala holds up best; a soft apple will melt into the pan, which still tastes good but loses the wedges. For a little more green on the plate, toss a handful of baby spinach over the hot pan when it comes out of the oven and let the heat wilt it.

Leftovers keep in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat them on a sheet pan in a hot oven so the potatoes crisp again, rather than in the microwave, which leaves them soft. Serve with crusty bread if you want to stretch the pan to a second night, or over cooked rice for a heartier plate.

For another one-pan weeknight dinner, try our one-pan chicken and wild rice skillet, which uses the same single-pan logic on the stovetop.