Sheet Pan Chorizo and Prawns is an easy, delicious and flavoursome dinner to turn out with minimal effort and just one pan. This recipe is simple to scale up or down depending how many people will be gathering around the table.
I always thought that as my children got older and mealtimes got pushed back to a time when we could all eat together as a family that I would have more time to cook a feast. What did I know 10, 5 or even 2 years ago? The older my children get, the later their sporting/ social activities occur and the more taxi service I provide. The upshot is that there is less time to cook enticing, nutritious meals for my family than ever before.
So, like most families, I’m always on the lookout for some quick, very easy, flexible and downright tasty meal options. Sheet pan dinners were my saviour for much of the last school year and today I’m presenting a particular family favourite.
Sheet Pan Chorizo and Prawns comes teeming with an army of nutritious vegetables, comforting sliced potatoes and juicy, flavoursome Spanish chorizo, plus an abundance of spices. My kids are not so keen on the prawns, but we adults devour them like crazy. This sheet pan dinner is baked in stages – more and more ingredients get added to the pan as the cooking time goes on. The pan gets quite crowded by the end of cooking time, so everything stays succulent and juicy – perfect comfort food as the nights draw in.
What is Cooking Chorizo?
Chorizo is a highly seasoned chopped or ground pork sausage used in Spanish and Mexican cooking. Mexican chorizo is made with fresh (uncooked) pork, while the Spanish version is usually smoked.
And, whilst the Mexican version is flavoured with chillis and vinegar, Spanish chorizo incorporates garlic and smoked paprika, either sweet or hot. Both serve up a kick of spice, but the Spanish version has a distinctly smokey edge to it.
The most common type of chorizo available to buy is the fully cooked & fully cured variety. This type is ready to eat and is intended to be sliced like salami. Cooking chorizo is semi-cured with a softer texture and needs to be cooked before it is safe to eat.
This sheet pan chorizo bake uses Spanish cooking chorizo.
How to Cook Sheet Pan Chorizo and Prawns
This dish takes around 1 hour to cook, but there is very little hands-on time required. There are really 5 quick & simple stages required to prepare this meal:
- Blend the herbs and spices
- Slice the potatoes, toss in oil with the herbs and spices and bake
- Chop the peppers, lemon, garlic and peppers. Add to the pan and bake a while longer
- Slice the chorizo & courgette. Toss into the pan along with the tomatoes and bake some more
- Finally, scatter in the prawns and bake one more time
Honestly, if a simple-to-prepare, yet hearty, satisfying and veggie-loaded meal is your aim, this sheet pan dinner should satiate your craving.
Can I Make this Sheet Pan Dinner for one?
The beauty of this chorizo bake is than it can be scaled down just as easily as it can be scaled up.
The ingredients listed cook in a large baking sheet (40 x 50 cm). When reducing the servings, use a smaller pan, so the ingredients stay closely packed during cooking and remain juicy.
For a single-serving, I love to use a cast-iron skillet and take it straight to the table without plating up – making this a truly one-pan meal.
To scale up the recipe I recommend splitting the ingredients across several pans.
Can I use Shrimp Instead of Prawns?
Yes you can. Prawns are more readily available than shrimp in the UK but it’s fine to use either for this dish.
What Other Veggies can I use?
Whatever vegetables are selected for this easy sheet pan dinner I recommend testing them with a knife before serving to ensure they are tender. And of course, chop or slice vegetables that take longer to cook into smaller pieces. Try using the following veggies for a little variation:
- sweet potatoes in place of the new potatoes
- red onion instead of white
- green beans or broccoli for a splash of vibrant green colour – allow 15-20 minutes cooking time
However you serve sheet pan chorizo & prawns I’m sure you will enjoy the juicy, smoky, gently spiced flavours of this meal.
Try these simple supper dishes too:
Sheet Pan Chorizo and Prawns
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 tsp Paprika sweet & mild
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp Dried oregano
- 1 tsp Dried thyme
- 1/4 tsp Ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- 450 g/ 1lb New potatoes
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 Lemon
- 1 White onion
- 2 Red peppers
- 1 Yellow pepper
- 1 Courgette (zucchini)
- 24 Cherry tomatoes
- 200 g/ 7 oz Cooking chorizo
- 150 g/ 5oz Raw king prawns (peeled) or shrimp
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/ 350F/ GM4 and line a large baking sheet with baking parchment
- Mix the paprika, cumin, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper together in a small bowl
- Clean the potatoes if necessary, then thinly slice them and lay on the parchment. Scatter the herbs and spices over and toss together with 2 tbsp olive oil. Roast for 15 minutes
- Peel the onion and chop into thick wedges. Crush the garlic cloves with the back of a knife. Deseed and chop the peppers into thick pieces and slice the lemon into quarters. Add these ingredients to the pan once the potatoes have cooked, giving the lemon wedges a quick squeeze to release a little juice before dropping them in. Add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil, toss everything briefly and cook for 20 minutes
- Just before the end of the cooking time, prick the tomatoes with a sharp knife and slice the chorizo & the courgette into 1/2 cm rounds. Add to the pan, toss briefly and cook for 10 minutes
- Finally, rinse and dry the prawns. Devein if necessary and make a slit along the back of each prawn. Add to the pan, toss to pick up the oil and flavours and bake for a final 10 minutes
- Check seasoning, adding a little more salt if desired and serve
Notes
Nutritional Information Per Serving (Approximate)
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