The best weeknight dinners use one pan and wash up in two minutes. Traybakes and one-pot meals do exactly that — the oven or the pan does the work while you do something else.
The traybake formula
Pick one from each line and roast at 200°C (180°C fan):
- A protein: chicken thighs, sausages, salmon, chickpeas or halloumi.
- Two vegetables: peppers, red onion, courgette, squash, broccoli, cherry tomatoes or green beans.
- A starch (optional): new potatoes, sweet potato chunks or gnocchi.
- A flavour: olive oil plus garlic, smoked paprika, harissa, pesto, lemon and herbs, or a curry paste.
Timing is the trick
Not everything cooks at the same speed, so add things in stages:
- 40–45 minutes: potatoes, squash, chicken thighs and sausages.
- 20–25 minutes: peppers, onions, courgettes and chickpeas.
- 12–15 minutes: salmon fillets, cherry tomatoes, green beans and halloumi.
Spread everything out in a single layer. A crowded tray steams instead of roasting, so use two trays if you need to.
Five combinations to try
- Chicken thighs, potatoes, peppers and chorizo with smoked paprika.
- Salmon, new potatoes, green beans and lemon, finished with dill.
- Sausages, squash and red onion with a drizzle of honey and mustard at the end.
- Halloumi, chickpeas, courgette and cherry tomatoes with harissa.
- Gnocchi, peppers and red onion with pesto — shop-bought gnocchi crisps beautifully in the oven.
One-pot pasta
Cook the pasta in the sauce itself. Gently fry garlic and onion, add a tin of tomatoes, about 500ml of stock and 300g of short pasta. Simmer, stirring often, for 12–15 minutes until the pasta is cooked and the sauce has thickened. The starch from the pasta makes it silky — and there’s no colander to wash.
Little tricks
- Line the tray with baking paper and the washing-up almost disappears.
- Finish with something fresh: herbs, a squeeze of lemon or a spoon of yoghurt.
- Make double and you’ve got lunch tomorrow.
Not sure what to throw on the tray? Snap your fridge with AI Cook and it’ll suggest dinners built around what you already have.