One Pan Sausage Dinner, served with Fall Vegetables

At a glance

What stands out: This one pan sausage dinner is the reliable 30 minute meal on a night when you want a nutritious meal but you don’t feel like cooking. Straightforward to mix, nutritious, and straightforward clean-up — a reliable dinner!

How long it takes: 30 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: large skillet with lid
Servings: 4

One Pan Sausage and Vegetables

Straightforward to mix. This straightforward sausage dinner is something we just throw together when we don’t especially feel like cooking (which is more often than you might think!), but it’s a satisfying lighter meal that uses up extra veggies in your refrigerator.

Convenient. We usually have a package of pre-cooked chicken sausages on hand. They keep awhile and are great for speedy and straightforward meals like this one. Slice the sausages, sauté over high heat so they get golden brown and caramelized, and add vegetables you happen to have. Dinner, done!

Versatile. For this particular rendition of that one pan meal, we use fall vegetables: red onion, sweet potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts, and apple chicken sausages. Sometimes we add apples or regular potatoes to mix this up a little. It is whatever we have on hand, usually. (This maple Dijon chicken sheet pan dinner has fall vibes, too.)

How it comes together

Start with the longer-cooking vegetables. This recipe is nearly fail-proof but the important thing is to take into account the different cooking times of the vegetables you’re making. Start with the hard vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions which take longer to cook.

Next, add the quicker-cooking vegetables. Once those have a good head start, add the softer vegetables, such as bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and so on.

Add vegetables that cook quickly last, along with the sausages. Mushrooms, asparagus, and spinach cook quickly and you’ll want to add them last to prevent overcooking. Slice the precooked sausages before adding them near the end of the cooking time, too.

Cooking Tip

Use the largest skillet you have (that has a lid) so that the vegetables have lots of space. This will help them caramelize and brown, rather than just steaming from being too crowded in the pan.

Ways to change it

Make it vegetarian

Substitute fried eggs for the sausage. When the vegetables have cooked and you’ve added the sauce, divide the mixture on plates. In the same pan, fry as many eggs as you like. Vegetable hash with an egg – so good!

Add quinoa, beans, or cheese instead of sausage. Another way to boost protein is to add a protein-packed grain like cooked quinoa, or to add canned beans or cheese. All great and tasty additions, with or without sausage.

Make it Whole30 compliant

Choose a compliant chicken sausage (mustard, too) and omit the maple syrup in the sauce.

Add bacon

We recommend cutting the bacon up into small pieces, cooking it first, and then removing it to a paper towel-lined plate. Reserve the grease and use that instead of olive oil to sauté all the vegetables in. Add the bacon back in immediately prior to serving.

Using raw sausage

If you happen to have raw sausage links such as Italian sausage or bratwurst, try baking or air frying it. We love this baked Italian sausage recipe. You can add any assortment of vegetables to the pan or just bake the sausages. Air fryer Italian sausage turns out great, too.

Keeping leftovers

Refrigerate: If you happen to have leftovers, refrigerate them in an airtight container for up to 4 days. You can safely freeze leftovers but the quality won’t be the same.

Reheat: Individual portions can be reheated in the microwave; reheat larger amounts in a skillet on the stove. You can also put leftovers in your air fryer to warm them up.

Free Meal Plan

Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at our Meal Plan #41 or Meal Plan #86. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. Let us do the planning for you this week!

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• Yield: 4
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 15 minutes
• Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ red onion
• 2 large carrots
• 1 large sweet potato
• 8 ounces Brussels sprouts
• 8 ounces mushrooms
• 12 ounces pre-cooked chicken sausages (we like an apple variety for this recipe)
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Chop the red onion. Peel the carrots and cut into ½ -inch thick slices. Peel or scrub the sweet potato; dice it into ¾ -inch cubes. Trim the Brussels sprouts, then slice in half, top to stem. Clean the mushrooms and cut into halves or quarters. Cut the chicken sausages into ¼ -inch to ½ -inch slices.
2. Heat olive oil in a very large skillet (choose one that has a cover available) over medium high heat. When oil is glistening and hot, add onion, carrots, and sweet potatoes. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring once.
3. Add Brussels sprouts, stir, and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, covered.
4. Add mushrooms and sausage; continue to cook uncovered, stirring, until mushrooms are cooked and sausage is browned, about 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, and Dijon mustard. Taste, and if desired, add more maple syrup if it seems too tangy, or more vinegar if it seems too sweet.
6. Pour sauce over vegetables and sausage, stirring to coat all ingredients in the sauce. Taste and season as desired with salt and pepper before serving.

Notes

Choosing a pan: You’ll need a larger skillet than depicted in the photo. Choose a large skillet with a lid. If you don’t have a big skillet, a Dutch oven works fine, too.

Sausages: This recipe is designed for pre-cooked or smoked sausage, that just need to be heated through. If you have raw sausages like bratwurst or Italian sausage, they should be cooked first. Try baked Italian sausage or air fryer Italian sausage, or simply fry them in the skillet first before starting on the recipe.

Mustard: we love the appearance and taste of a coarse ground or stone ground mustard, but any Dijon mustard will work in this recipe.

Vegetables: Feel free to substitute or add any vegetables you like or happen to have in the refrigerator.

Add apples. If you’d like to add diced apples to the mixture (so tasty!), choose a firm apple such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp. We like to add the apples with the sausages and mushrooms so they stay firm but that’s up to you.