Sheet Pan Meal: Chicken Sausage, Delicata Squash and Kale ~*Recipe ReDux*~

I am a member of a community of health and dietitian bloggers called The Recipe Redux. The Latin “redux” means to revisit or reinvent, and the aim of The Recipe Redux is to reinvent the idea of healthy eating with a taste-first approach.

On the 21st and 22nd of each month, members of this community receive a unique recipe challenge. This month’s challenge is: Sheet Pan Meals. We love throwing ingredients together on a sheet pan and roasting for a simple sheet pan dinner. They make busy weeknights a bit more manageable. (And clean-up isn’t bad either!) Show us your healthy take on a sheet pan meal.

September is here, fall is upon us, and we can all start to use our ovens again without overheating the entire house.

This sheet pan meal uses a quick source of protein (chicken sausage), a hearty starchy vegetable (winter squash), and a leafy green (kale) to create a balanced meal that goes from oven to table in 30 minutes.

Roast the sausage and squash first, then at the halfway point, toss the mixture and add in the kale for the second half of roasting.

To jazz up the flavors, finish the squash off with a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar and sprinkle nutritional yeast on the kale.

*Note: The chicken sausage in this recipe can be high in sodium, so if you need to watch your intake of sodium, swap out the chicken sausage for chicken breast or thigh, or keep the meal vegetarian and use slices or cubes of tofu or a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas for protein (can season with lemon slices and/or spices like paprika and black pepper or za’atar or fresh basil or parsley).

Sheet Pan Meal: Chicken Sausage, Delicata Squash and Kale

Serves 4 

Ingredients:

1 delicata squash, halved, seeded, and sliced into half-moons

1 large shallot, thickly sliced

1 package already cooked chicken sausage (~5 sausages), sliced in half

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

salt and pepper, to taste

1 small bunch (or 1/2 large bunch) kale, curly or lacinato, leaves taken off the stems and roughly chopped

1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes

1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Heat oven to 350F.

Spread the delicata squash “half-moons” onto half of a baking sheet and sprinkle the sliced shallots over the top. Add the halved cooked chicken sausages to the other half of the baking sheet. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil over everything and toss with a sprinkle each of salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Take out of the oven and toss the mixture. Push the squash to one end of the baking sheet and the sausage to the other. Pile the kale in the center of the baking sheet, drizzle the remaining olive oil over the kale and rub it into the leaves. Bake for another 15 minutes.

To finish, sprinkle the nutritional yeast over the kale and drizzle the aged balsamic vinegar over the squash.

Approximate Nutritional Information:

Per serving: 

Total Calories: 345; Total Fat 25 g; Saturated Fat 5 g; Cholesterol 150 mg; Sodium 734 mg; Carbohydrate 14 g; Dietary Fiber 3 g; Protein: 18 g