It’s hard to beat sheet pan meals for convenience. Roasting proteins and vegetables side by side in the same pan is a fuss-free path to a complete meal. Well, almost complete—where’s the sauce? A sheet pan is still a pan, so why do we reserve pan sauces for skillets?
Even though I use a very similar method whenever I roast ingredients for stocks and soups, the concept of a sheet pan sauce didn’t click for me until I saw Alison Roman’s vinegar chicken with crushed olive dressing everywhere on Instagram. It’s a genius idea: roast meats and/or veg on a sheet pan, remove to a plate, and pour stock, cream, booze, vinegar, or even plain old water straight into the still-hot sheet pan. Scrape up the browned bits with a spoon just like you would in a skillet, season with salt and pepper, and pour over everything. If the sauce looks too thin, set the pan back in the hot oven for about five minutes to reduce.
I decided to try it on my favorite sheet pan meal: the roasted Italian sausage, potatoes, and onions from Matty Matheson’s cookbook. After roasting, I piled the goods on a plate and deglazed the pan with half a cup of homemade chicken stock, plus 2 tablespoons each of cider vinegar and smooth Dijon mustard. It was the kind of dish you can’t stop eating: hearty sausages, crispy potatoes soaked in sausage juices, and an addictively tangy pan sauce to top it all off. I’m never skipping sheet pan sauce again, and I can’t wait to see what it can do for roasted vegetables.