This veggie sausage sheet pan dinner is simple to make and full of flavour. Sliced veggie sausages, fennel, cherry tomatoes, olives, and chickpeas are roasted with spices until caramelized around the edges. A simple vegan pesto cream sauce is drizzled over the fully cooked result. Served with crusty bread and a handful of greens, this is an excellent weeknight dinner where all the work is done in the oven.
Recently, I have had a bunch of requests for vegan sheet pan dinner options. Iโm more than happy to oblige. A sheet pan dinner is when everything (the main of choice, veg, some type of starch) gets roasted on one baking sheet with oil, salt, pepper, and a seasoning blend. One and done! With this veggie sausage sheet pan dinner, we combine diced up vegan sausages, chickpeas, fennel, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and olives as our base. All of these flavours work so beautifully together!
My one criticism of sheet pan meals: they can be a โone noteโ in terms of overall flavour. A sauce is key, just like with my sheet pan salad recipe. While the roasted vegetables and vegan sausage roast, we make a simple vegan pesto cream sauce. You just whisk together some vegan pesto (store bought is great!), cashew butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and water. So easy.
Iโm often trying to dream up different meal ideas with vegan sausage like this vegan butternut squash zuppa Toscana or this vegan butternut squash pasta. Theyโre quick to cook and extra satisfyingโespecially if youโre cooking for meat eaters. My favourite vegan sausages are Beyond Meatโs Hot Italian or Field Roastโs Italian Garlic and Fennel. Both options cook up great in the oven.
Itโs important to use a large enough baking sheet so that you can spread everything out. This allows decent browning on the veggies and sausage! When everything is tightly packed in together, you get a bit of a soggy steaming effect, which we donโt want. Use the largest baking sheet youโve got and give all the bits as much space as you can.
The whole thing takes about 30 minutes in the oven. I like to serve this vegan Italian sausage sheet pan dinner on top of some baby arugula and with some ciabatta bread on the side. The caramelized edges of fennel and red onion really highlight the extra robust and savoury flavours in the veggie sausage. Bursts of acidity from the tomatoes and little salty bites of olive mesh beautifully with the pesto cream. And the chickpeas make this weeknight dinner extra hearty.
I hope that you give this one a try soon! Let me know if youโre fully on the sheet pan dinner train :)
Veggie Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner with Pesto Cream
Ingredients
Veggie Sausage Sheet Pan
- 1 (398 ml) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 large fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced
- 1 small red onion, halved and sliced
- 1 ยฝ cups cherry or grape tomatoes
- ยฝ cup pitted olives
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ยฝ teaspoon chili flakes (optional, or to taste)
- 4 vegan sausage links, cut into 1-inch slices
Pesto Cream
- ยผ cup vegan pesto
- ยผ cup cashew butter or tahini
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- ยผ cup water, plus extra
To Serve
- baby arugula
- ciabatta bread (or other bread of choice)
Notes
- Any Italian-style veggie sausage links should work here. I like Beyond Meat (Hot Italianโshown in photos) and Field Roast (Italian Garlic & Fennel) the most.
- If you have a jar of sun dried tomatoes in oil on hand and open, I recommend using some of the oil from the jar in place of the olive oil here. Extra flavour bump!
- You can use homemade pesto or store bought for maximum ease. I love the vegan pestos from Sunflower Kitchen and use them often. The Gotham Greens one is good too!
- I used Artisana cashew butter here. Itโs my favourite!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ยฐF. Set out a large baking sheet (or 2 smaller ones).
- Dry off the chickpeas with a clean kitchen towel as thoroughly as you can. Transfer the chickpeas to the baking sheet.
- Add the following items to the baking sheet as well: sliced fennel, sliced red onion, cherry tomatoes, olives, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried thyme, and chili flakes. Toss everything until all vegetables and chickpeas are coated in oil and seasoning. Spread everything out as much as possible on the baking sheet.
- Place the sliced veggie sausages on top of the chickpeas and vegetables. You can drizzle the sausage pieces with a bit more olive oil if you likeโI tend to use Beyond Meat brand vegan sausages, which do not need the extra oil.
- Slide the baking sheet into the oven. Roast the chickpeas, veggies and sausage for 30 minutes, flipping and tossing everything gently at the halfway point. When itโs done, the fennel and onions should be slightly caramelized on the edges, the tomatoes will have burst, and the sausages should have good browning as well.
- While the chickpeas, veggies, and sausages are roasting, make the pesto cream. In a medium bowl, whisk together the vegan pesto, cashew butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and water. It should be thick and creamy, but also pourable. Add more water if necessary.
- To serve, place a couple handfuls of baby arugula in each serving bowl. Transfer ยผ of the chickpeas, veggies, and sausage over the portions of arugula. Finish each serving with the pesto cream and some bread on the side if you like.
Oh, wow, this was a winner. I added pre-boiled golden potatoes and sliced carrots. I was skeptical about the flavors of the pesto cream meshing, and they totally worked together. The vegan and carnivorous adults loved everything together. The vegetarian kid loved it without the sauce, and the picky kid ate all the sausages and turned her nose up at anything ressembling a vegetable, but thatโs not a fault of the recipe. Should she one day try one of these vegetables, sheโll find it embued with the sausage flavors, so this might become a gateway meal. It came together easily and was mostly hands-off, which means I can plan to make this again and again. Thank you for the recipe!
Yum! This was delicious, and Iโm so pleased with how quick it was to throw together. It tasted great even though I used kroger-brand soy chorizo sausage, which while more affordable than beyond meat, is not as tasty.
Lauraโs recipes always deliver on flavor- but sometimes it takes a chunk of time to get there. This recipe is great because itโs both flavorful and quick!!
This dish was super delicious! It was very quick to make too. I canโt believe I forgot to add the olives. I was rushing, but I will make this again and make sure they go in next time!
Thank you!
Loving the simplicity of this. Weโre about to transition from salad -> roasting szn here in Cali! Do you have a recommendation for a sheet pan? Yours looks like it might have special powers thanks to the texturing.
Hi June,
The sheet pan Iโm using in these photos is by Nordicware. I got a deal on a two pack of them at Costco a couple years ago, and I really like them!
-L
Iโve come back to this recipe a few times, itโs so delicious!
Yum! This is a perfect weeknight recipe thatโs easy to accomplish and get on the table fast. Itโs hearty yet light, totally satisfied myself and my husbandโs appetites with no leftovers! The creamy pesto was a delight and I plan on using the remaining sauce as a spread over sourdough toast and a tofu scramble for breakfasts.
Love this recipe! Iโve made it a few times now and itโs turned out great each time. The pesto cream is simply delicious.
One thing Iโve been wondering is a substitution for the fennel. I donโt find it adds a lot of flavour and itโs a bit pricey at my local grocery store. Is there another vegetable you could recommend instead?
Hi Alex,
You can use strips of bell peppers or zucchini instead!
-L
This was so good!!! My husband is not vegan, so I always look for vegan recipes with the same โmeatyโ impact. Itโs easy and delicious. I will make it again!
This Veggie Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner with Pesto Cream looks absolutely delicious and easy to make. Canโt wait to try it out!
Wow this dinner slaps! I made it tonight and my husband who doesnโt get too excited about anything that isnโt a veggie burger devoured it.
The veggie combo is perfect with the field roast sausages. Iโm a huge fan of roasted fennel, so i loved the flavor profile. I also find that olives in dishes like this carb be overpowering but here they added savory depth.
The real star is the presto cream. I could eat that on anything, incredible!!
This will be added to our rotation! Thanks Laura!
Loved this recipe! So simple and delicious.
Next time I might cut back on the olive oil by about half. I used Tofuttiโs vegan sour cream along with some tahini for the pesto sauce, and it worked great. It doesnโt have a strong sour cream taste so itโs a perfect neutral-flavored thickener to have on hand
Tofutti sour cream is such s good idea! Thanks for sharing!
This sounds so good! I definitely would love more recipes for sheet pan meals. I also appreciate the use of vegan sausages because they are such a good source of protein. This will be going on my meal-planning list for sure. The pesto cream is a great idea too!
Hi, I was drawn in by the description, but now Iโm confused. The description calls out thyme, capers, garlic, shallots, vegetable stock and non-dairy โcreamโ with orzo, basil and balsamic roasted broccolini. Whereโs does this come in? Sounds good too. Can you point me to that dish as well? Thank you! Your dishes inspire.
Hi there,
I messed up the email blast unfortunately, so sorry about that and the confusion. It was a placeholder description in my email subscriber template that I forgot to update for this recipe. Here is the recipe that I was referring to: https://bright-life.today/2022/08/31/tomato-orzo-with-balsamic-broccolini/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> -L
What kind of olives are thoseโฆ? The whole thing looks delish!
They are green Cerignola olives! Had to tear them apart because theyโre so big.
-L