Why You Need a Sheet Pan in Your Kitchen (and How to Pick One)
In our house baking trays or baking sheets have been around forever. They were the things that you stuck stuff into them oven cook them. Or cover them with greaseproof (parchment) paper and used them to cook things like homemade sausage rolls. It wasn’t until I started using Pinterest more that I learned the baking tray had another identity – the sheet pan – and that there are lots of meals you can cook just in the tray alone!
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What is a sheet pan?
Not only do baking trays have a secret identity as sheet pans but they also come in different types. And while bigger can seem better, the idea with cooking meals in sheet pans is that you find the one that best suits the meal you are cooking. That way all the food fits in but stays together so it doesn’t try out. Here are the main types of sheet pans:
Full sheet – a full sheet normally measures 26 x 18 inches and has sides around one inch high. These tend to be favoured by industrial kitchens, caterers and chefs because they are too big for most ovens.
Half sheet – exactly half the size of a full sheet, these pans are 18 x 13 inches and are still around one inch high. These are the classic sheet pans that are used for things like sheet pan meals but are also ideal for those tray bakes like brownies or flapjacks. They also work well for roasting vegetables as you can space the veg out a little to let it brown.
Quarter sheet – you guessed it, half the size of the half sheet, this means 13 x 9 inches and is ideal if you are cooking smaller meals for two. It is also handy if you want to defrost or dry out ingredients in the fridge before cooking as it will fit on to most fridge shelves.
Jelly roll – these sit between a half and a quarter sheet, measuring around 15.5 x 10.5 inches. They are named for a type of cake (we called it a Swiss roll here in the UK) that you bake flat, add jam then roll up. The cake made in this sheet pan is just a nice size to roll up but will also do most of the jobs of the other sizes too.
Cookie sheet – this is a sheet pan with one raised side that slants outwards and three flat edges. The design lets air circulate when cookies are baking, ensures they cook evenly and make it easy to lift the cooked treated up with a spatula. They are relatively specialist and not ideal for jobs such as roasting meat or vegetables.
Why you need a sheet pan
Now I’m the first to admit, I love kitchen gadgets, appliances and equipment but I always try to make sure we need an item before buying it. Because we don’t have the biggest kitchen yet, space is at a premium. So if we didn’t already have a couple of them, why would we need a sheet pan?
Dinner
Let’s start with dinner time. Top of the list is all of those sheet pan meals you see online. The idea is you can make a tasty meal in a single tray, cut down on the washing up and create meals from scratch without too much cooking time.
They are also ideal for parts of meals such as roasting vegetables. Add a little olive oil, some seasoning and pop the veg in the oven on the sheet pan for a tasty and easy way to add vegetables to a meal.
Baking
Sheet cakes or tray bakes are designed specifically to be cooked in sheet pans – hence the name! And there are loads of variations including ones where you cut them into half and stack them so not all sheet pan cakes are flat.
Cookie sheets fall under the sheet pan heading and we all know how important cookies are in life (or is that just me?) The right sheet pan will help make the best cookies and also ensure it is easy to lift them when they are cooked.
Other Uses
Metal wire racks are something you can easily pick up and add to your sheet pan which makes it an ideal way to cook meat or breaded foods such as onion rings. By lifting the food off the tray, you can let it brown or avoid it going soggy.
If you need to carry food from the kitchen to the dining room, a sheet pan makes it easy. Just pop a heat-proof mat on your table and everyone can serve themselves from the sheet pan on the table. It also helps to keep the food warm for longer.
For freezing things like fruit, you can add greaseproof paper to the sheet pan, pop the fruit on it and sit it in the freezer until the fruit is frozen. Then just pick it off, pop it in freezer bags and you are done.
How to pick a sheet pan
When it comes to how to pick a sheet pan, there are a few approaches you can take. Obviously, the budget you have plays a part on which one you choose. Another factor is the size of your oven – no point investing in a full sheet when your oven only holds a quarter sheet!
Reviews are definitely your friend when it comes to choosing the individual sheet pans. For example, Taste of Home did some testing on various sheet pans and they looked at four main areas:
- Roasting – did it handle roasting vegetables at high temperature? Were the vegetables cooked or did they stick to the pan? Did the pan get easily stained or discoloured?
- Baking – did the pan handle baking cookies on a medium high temperature without being greased? Did the cookies brown and were they easy to lift?
- Shape – did the pan retain its shape even after using on high temperatures? And if it did, did it go back to the original shape when it cooled down?
- Price – is it an affordable and good value for money?
Top rated sheet pans
Let’s take a look at a few examples of sheet pans that are highly rated, well tested and offer good value for money.
Nordic Ware Natural Aluminium Commercial Baker’s Half Sheet
This half sheet uses natural aluminium so there’s no risk of rusting and the metal is known for being a great conductor of heat – which means food cooks evenly. It is 18 x 13 inches and just over one inch high. This isn’t a non-stick sheet pan, but reviews show it is easy to clean It does recommend hand wash only and there is a steel rim to stop it from warping.
Rachael Ray 47576 3-Piece Cookie Pan Steel Baking Sheet Set Grey/Agave Blue
This is a set of three sheet pans that have a long-lasting non-stick coating on them. They also have grippy handles that make it easier to lift in and out of the oven as well as carry to the table to serve. They are made from steel, so they are warp-resistant. The set contains three sheets with the largest being 11×17, then 10×15 and the smallest 9×13 inches.
Farberware purECOok Hybrid Ceramic Nonstick Bakeware Baking Sheet & Cookie Pan
This is a sheet pan that is a little different because it is made from nonstick ceramic and steel – and comes in two cool colours! The pan is made with PFOA-free and PTFE-free hybrid ceramic nonstick so there’s no concerns about anything nasty leeching into your food. It also has a quilted surface to allow for air flow and to make it easy to pick up the cooked food. It is 11×17 inches and suitable for high oven temperatures – hand cleaning is recommended.
What to make with your sheet pan
The final thing to consider is what you want to make in your nice, new sheet pan. There are loads of ideas!! In fact, there are so many that a friend of mine, Ruthy from Percolate Kitchen, wrote an entire cookbook filled with them. You can check that out here https://amzn.to/2IATBKn.
And to get you started, here’s a tasty beef fajitas recipes to try too.
Sheet Pan Beef Fajitas
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Instructions
