Sheet Pan Sausage and Sweet Potatoes with Asparagus

Sheet Pan Sausage and Sweet Potatoes with Asparagus is the dinner I reach for when the day has gotten away from me. Italian sausage, sweet potato, and asparagus all roast on one pan, so there’s almost nothing to wash when dinner is done. It’s ready in under an hour, and most of that time is hands off in the oven. This is a genuine one-pan weeknight dinner, not one that only looks easy on paper.

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The Sheet Pan I Reach For First

I love an easy sheet pan meal for dinner and I’ve made some version of this more times than I can count over the past few years. It’s the meal that shows up on the nights Thomas has an activity after school and I’ve got maybe twenty minutes to figure out dinner before everyone’s hungry and cranky.

What makes this version work is the order things go into the oven. Sausage needs the longest time to render and brown. Sweet potato needs a head start to caramelize. Asparagus only wants about ten minutes, or it turns limp. I learned that the hard way after a few pans of sad, overcooked asparagus, so now everything goes in staggered instead of all at once.

This is actually the dinner that grew out of my Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies, just swapped in sweet potato for the caramelized edge it gets in the oven.

It works just as well on a random Tuesday as it does for a lazy Sunday dinner, and the leftovers reheat well enough that I’ll often make a double batch on purpose.

Key Ingredients for This Sheet Pan Dinner

Italian Sausage: I use raw Italian sausage links here, sweet or hot depending on what I’m in the mood for. Because they roast alongside the vegetables instead of getting browned in a skillet first, I always give them the full 20 minutes on the pan by themselves before anything else goes in. That head start is what gets the casing properly browned instead of steamed. I’ve tested this with chicken or turkey sausage too. They cook a little faster since they’re leaner, so I start checking the internal temperature closer to the 15 minute mark.

Medium Sweet Potatoes: I dice mine into half inch cubes, no smaller. I also like to keep every piece about the same size since uneven cubes mean some will be mushy while others are still firm when the pan comes out. I peel first because the skin can turn tough and slightly bitter once roasted, though that’s a personal preference more than a rule. Russet potatoes work as a swap, but they won’t caramelize the same way. The natural sugar in sweet potato is what gives you those browned, slightly sticky edges. You can also use butternut squash for this recipe.

Asparagus: Go for spears about pencil thickness. Thinner asparagus tends to turn stringy under high heat, and very thick spears can still be tough after ten minutes. Always snap or cut off the woody bottom third.

Pro Tip: bend one spear near the base until it snaps naturally, that spot is roughly where the toughness starts, and you can use it as a guide to trim the rest of the bunch by knife instead of snapping each one individually.

How to Make This Sheet Pan Sausage and Sweet Potatoes

Note before Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400°F and line your sheet pan with foil or parchment. This isn’t optional if you want easy cleanup, since sausage fat and roasted sweet potato sugars will stick hard to a bare pan.

1. Roast the sausage first, on its own. I place the sausage links directly on a large rimmed baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes before adding anything else. Sausage takes the longest of the three to cook through and brown, and starting it alone means it isn’t sitting in a puddle of raw vegetable moisture while it tries to develop color.

2. Add the sweet potato and season. After 20 minutes, I add the diced sweet potato right onto the same pan in a single layer, drizzle with olive oil, and toss with the Italian seasoning, oregano, paprika, salt, and black pepper, then roast for 10 more minutes. Sweet potato needs that extra time because it’s dense and starchy. If it went in at the same time as the asparagus, you’d end up with one of the two wrong, either mushy asparagus or undercooked potato.

3. Add the asparagus last. Asparagus only needs about 10 minutes in a hot oven. It’s thin and holds a lot of water, so it cooks fast and turns from bright green to army green and limp if you leave it in any longer than that.

4. Rest, garnish, and serve. Pull the pan out, scatter fresh parsley over everything, and serve straight off the sheet pan. I check the sausage with an instant read thermometer before serving. It should read 160°F.

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Sheet Pan Sausage and Sweet Potatoes with Asparagus

3.69 from 94 votes

Author: Olivia Ribas

ServingsServings: 4 people

Prep TimePrep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook TimeCook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total TimeTotal Time: 50 minutes minutes

Sheet Pan Sausage and Sweet Potatoes with Asparagus is the dinner I reach for when the day has gotten away from me. Italian sausage, sweet potato, and asparagus all roast on one pan, so there's almost nothing to wash when dinner is done. It's ready in under an hour, and most of that time is hands off in the oven. This is a genuine one-pan weeknight dinner, not one that only looks easy on paper.

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Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 5 Italian sausages
• ▢ 2 cups sweet potato peeled and diced
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ▢ 1 teaspoon oregano
• ▢ ½ teaspoon paprika
• ▢ Salt and fresh ground pepper
• ▢ 1 bunch asparagus trimmed
• ▢ Fresh parsley (chopped) for garnishing

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper.
• Add sausage on the sheet pan. Place the sheet pan in the oven and roast it for 20 mins. After 20 mins, remove it from the oven and add sweet potatoes.
• Pour olive oil on the top of the sweet potatoes and season with Italian seasoning, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper. Toss well to coat. Place it again in the oven and roast for 10 minutes.
• Remove the sheet from the oven and add asparagus. Pour more olive oil over the asparagus and season them with salt and pepper. Place it again in the oven and roast for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and top with and top parsley. Enjoy!

Notes

To store: You can tightly wrap the sausage, sweet potato, and asparagus, once cooled, and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.

To reheat: Reheat in the oven until warmed through. You can also reheat it in the microwave.

To freeze: Tightly wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.

 

 

Nutrition

Serving: 1/4, Calories: 355kcal, Carbohydrates: 23g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 24g, Cholesterol: 40mg, Sodium: 1218mg, Potassium: 518mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 5g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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