It’s chilly here in Denver this week and I find myself looking for recipes that are both easy, comforting, and low ingredient. This Sheet Pan Kielbasa dish checks all the boxes for me and is a great dish to add to your weekly meal plan for December.
While you might think the kielbasa is the star of this recipe, it’s actually just the protein element. In my opinion the real stars of this recipe are the small potatoes, which get lightly crispy and roasted and the fennel which adds a nice herby lightness to the dish. The fennel is my favorite part for sure!
Kielbasa and Substitutes
Looking through the Crunch Time Archives, I don’t use kielbasa much for recipes, which is mostly because my wife doesn’t like it. Personally, I find it an easy ingredient to use that can give a lot of flavor to a dish.
Also, Kielbasa is nice because it’s already cooked so you don’t need to worry about cooking it, but just roasting it to get it warmed through and a bit crispy on the edges.
That said, there are many options for substitutions if you’d like. You could use pre-cooked chicken sausage in any flavor (I like an apple and fennel version in this recipe). Or, to add some big flavor to this recipe, you could use hot Italian sausage which will need more time to cook, but would give a lot of spicy flavor to the dish.
Ingredients in this Sheet Pan Kielbasa
Besides the smoked kielbasa sausage, there are just a few ingredients I like to use in this sheet pan recipe.
- Potatoes. I like to use a new potato for this which are very small and you can just easily half the potatoes and cook them.
- Fennel. Fennel is kind of the star of this dish in my opinion. Don’t leave it out and you can use the fronds on the fennel for garnish at the end.
- Peppers. I like to use baby sweet peppers for my version and just cut them in half.
- Onions. Any onion will work but I like a sweet onion or white onion best.
- Olive oil. You need a good amount of olive oil to make sure these are roasted well.
- Spices. I kept the spices simple for this version including some garlic powder, red pepper flakes, basil, salt and pepper.
How to Stage the cooking
The most important thing for this recipe isn’t actually the exact measurements of ingredients, but the order that you add them to the sheet pan.
Layer one has to be the potatoes. Toss them with olive oil and let them roast on their own for 10-15 minutes.
Next you want to add the sliced fennel, onions, and peppers to the sheet pan. These needs to roast for about 10 minutes before you add the sausage and the potatoes will continue to cook and get crispy.
After those items roast and start to soften, you can add the kielbasa and finish the sheet for for a final 10-15 minutes in the oven. Everything will be smelling delicious at this point!
Ideas for serving this sheet pan kielbasa
You don’t really need to overthink serving this dish because it’s fine with nothing else. I like it piled high in a bowl with some hot sauce on top.
Here are a few other ideas though!
Rice! You could serve these ingredients with rice for a heartier meal. I didn’t do this on this particular day, but it would work well if you wanted to stretch the sheet pan ingredients more.
Salad! Add the ingredients to some hearty greens would make for a really nice salad option.
Cheese! Add some cheese to the ingredients as they roast for a nice switch and cheesy finish to the recipe.
Reheating and leftovers
Leftovers for this sheet pan kielbasa recipe are perfect. They keep really well in the fridge for up to five days and you can reheat them in the oven or in the microwave with great results.
Bonus leftover use: Hash! A little bit of this recipe chopped up and tossed in a skillet with an egg makes a great breakfast!
Sheet Pan Kielbasa with Fennel and Potatoes
Equipment
- 1 large sheet pan
Ingredients
- 1 pound baby potatoes, halved
- 1 bulb fennel, sliced
- 5 small peppers, halved
- ½ medium white onion, sliced
- 1 pound smoked kielbasa, sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- White Rice, for serving
- Hot sauce, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F. Add potatoes halved to a sheet pan and toss with a little drizzle of oil. Roast potatoes for 15 minutes until they start to turn brown on the edges. Meanwhile, you can slice and prepare your other ingredients.
- Add sliced fennel, peppers, and onions to the sheet pan and toss with the potatoes. Return to oven to roast for another 10 minutes.
- Add sliced kielbasa to the sheet pan along with spices and a drizzle of extra oil and return to the oven to roast for 10-15 minutes. Finished dish should have roasted potatoes, softened peppers and onions, and kielbasa with browned edges.
- Serve sheet pan mixture on its own with hot sauce or over rice.
