17 Tasty Meals You Can Make in One Pan

Chicken quarters roasted with golden squash and sage are nice for a chilly autumn evening. To help the squash brown evenly, be sure to spoon off the fat from the roasting pan after removing the breasts. This is a case where less is more: A thin layer of fat will brown the vegetable better than a quarter-inch of it.

For the perfect cold-weather weeknight dinner, Food & Wine's Justin Chapple makes this one-pan dish, roasting sweet sausages with potatoes and shallots and tossing them with brightly flavored arugula and lemon before serving.

For this hearty one-pan dish, chicken legs are roasted on a bed of potatoes and kale so the meaty juices keep the vegetables moist. Prep takes just 10 minutes and the resulting meal serves eight or makes for excellent leftovers.

"The dish is so simple," says author and television star Nigella Lawson. "Just add one or two lemons if you like — it doesn't matter. I put sage in some days, but other days I use thyme or parsley."

"I got this recipe from an ancient French farmhouse cookbook and have tweaked it over the years," says chef Andrew Zimmern. "I make this dish all during the cold-weather months, which include everything but July here in Minnesota."

This mixed seafood roast is simple, luxurious, and takes just 45 minutes to make. Lobster, oysters, shrimp, and scallops are coated with an elegant vinaigrette featuring crème fraîche, shallot, and fennel, then broiled together until lightly browned.

"Halibut is one fish that roasts up really nicely," says 2004 F&W Best New Chef Melissa Perello, who cooks the firm-fleshed fish on top of vegetables in a casserole. Because this dish is so simple and ingredient-driven, be sure to make it with the very best olive oil.

For this sheet-pan pizza, bring the dough to room temperature before shaping to ensure the gluten is relaxed and the dough doesn't shrink from the pan edges. Bake until the pizza is browned and crispy on the bottom and edges, then top with fresh herbs or greens and a light drizzle of your favorite olive oil.

Food & Wine Culinary Director-at-Large Justin Chapple's roast chicken legs drip meaty, delicious fat onto a smoky, peppery bed of potatoes, red onion, and crispy sourdough croutons.

In this recipe, cookbook author and food writer Klancy Miller pairs salmon with three vegetables: brussels sprouts, red bell pepper, and red onions. Everything is drizzled with a simple, flavorful hoisin-based sauce, then baked to perfection on a single sheet pan.

Red wine pan sauce is an amalgamation of fond (those browned bits left in the pan after searing meat), shallots, broth, good-quality red wine, and a few pats of butter to bind it all together and thicken it to a syrupy consistency. A perfect interplay of acid from the wine and sumptuous fat, the sauce is an ideal accompaniment to a peppercorn-crusted rib eye steak.

"The brilliant thing about this recipe is that you can cook it all in one skillet," says Klancy Miller. "The key is adding each ingredient at the right time so that everything cooks without burning."

A stellar homemade spice blend amps up the flavor of this super simple one-pan meal. You cook the pork chops in a cast-iron skillet until they're blackened, then remove them from the skillet to cook the beans and spinach.

This brothy, aromatic seafood dish from chef Vivian Howard of Chef & the Farmer in Kinston, North Carolina, weaves steamed clams with traditional New Orleans creamed oysters. It's hearty but not heavy, and the winter greens make it a full meal. Crusty bread is a must for sopping up the coveted broth.

With whole pink peppercorns and fennel seeds, this simple, aromatic braise is gently perfumed with lovely spring flavors. Use a fresh, spicy sausage here to complement the creamy bean puree and sweet fennel.

The secret to this casserole is the layer of creamed spinach in the middle. It adds richness to the dish, as well as a nice contrast to the crispy, crunchy Tater Tot top.

Shrimp are seared and glazed in chipotle-honey butter in this warm seasonal salad from chef JJ Johnson. He serves the shrimp over gently sautéed radicchio and endive, which mellows the chicories' bitter edge without losing their color or delicate crunch.