Sheet Pan Italian Sausages and Roasted Root Vegetables with Arugula

This Italian sausage recipe is an easy sheet pan dinner that is ready in less than an hour. It's a perfect fall recipe with sweetness from the roasted root vegetables and fresh arugula to give it a peppery bite.

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Recently, our friends Paul and Sarah invited us to dinner at their house. Well, really, I think we might have invited ourselves. It didn't start out that way, you know, the texting about here, there, brunch, dinner, which one, what time, etc.

I think I thought it would be easier to chill at one of our houses than to find a reservation somewhere, and I'm sure I suggested our house, but they just bought a new house with a kitchen right out of a TV design show, so.... maybe I wanted to hang out there. What? Don't look at me like that. I made dessert. I brought liquor. It's fine.

And if you go to Paul and Sarah's for dinner, you can usually bet money on eating something from the Smitten Kitchen. Because, in fact, Paul does all the cooking and he loves her site. Paul is actually the person who first told me about her site. And now I love her site. Who doesn't love Deb? Of course, she is my idol and I want to be her friend. And I'm sure Paul does too.

Bonus - they had just returned from Rome and brought back the most incredible charcuterie I have ever tasted in all my charcuterie eating days - and that's a lot. I think Sarah had to tape it to her body to smuggle it back into the country. I will be forever thankful.

So we had a simple and delicious sheet pan dinner with roasted Italian sausages, potatoes and shallots, tossed with arugula and lemon juice. I've changed it up to use roasted parsnips and carrots instead of potatoes, since that's our usual weeknight vibe around here.

This is a great fall recipe that can carry you all the way through spring. And March and April are still gonna smack us in the face a couple of times before we really get to t-shirt weather. (Like today. Snow! Hello!) So fire up the oven and make some roasted parsnips and carrots while you wait it out.

Can't find parsnips? Substitute beets or yellow carrots instead.

But please, for the love of all that is good and holy, do not use baby carrots. They are not really carrots. Peeling and chopping the carrots is only going to take you about five minutes and can even be very meditative. What you spend in time you will make up in real, actual carrot flavor. Instead of just a roasted hunk of fiber that is orange and tastes like water.

The fat from the sausages is going to render out and coat those roasted root vegetables with fatty goodness, crisping everything up. Which will also save you from needing a salad dressing. Just a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice over the greens will do. And it'll help that cheese stick to everything.

So go ahead - invite some friends over, make this easy sheet pan Italian sausage recipe for dinner, and wait for spring together.

Sheet Pan Italian Sausages and Roasted Root Vegetables with Arugula

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for interesting parsnip recipes. I eat them practically every week when they are in season. That's one of the reasons I love this recipe so much!

What do parsnips taste like?

Parsnips have a milder sweetness than carrots, and take on a creamy texture when roasted. They are very aromatic - slightly anise-like with just the faintest whiff of very mild horseradish.

What can parsnips be used for?

Parsnips are great for roasting as we do in this recipe. They are also great when mashed or whipped like potatoes, they can be added to soups and stews, and they are great for gratins!

Peel and chop parsnips and carrots. If parsnips are on the thicker side, I cut out that woody center stem. It can be unpleasantly hard and chewy. Just slice a 1-inch chunk, then cut into 4 wedges, and nip off that triangular piece of stem. You can also carefully notch it out with a paring knife. This is not needed on the thinner parts.

Divide the vegetables between two sheet pans - I love my Nordic Ware sheet pans, they don't buckle! - and drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and mix together.

Although you could fit everything onto one large sheet pan, the veg and sausages will not brown and caramelize, they will just kind of steam and get mushy. (Guess how I figured that out?) So if you only have one pan, do this in two batches.

Cut each Italian sausage into three pieces. Place on sheet pan with vegetables.

Place in the oven for about 30 minutes, until root vegetables begin to brown. Halfway through, stir them up and rotate the pans.

Just before sausages and roasted parsnips and carrots are finished, place arugula in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and squeeze the lemon all over.

Remove pans from oven, consolidate onto one sheet pan, sprinkle parmigiano over the top and toss altogether. Scoop the roasted root vegetables and sausages on top of the arugula and serve. Voilà! An easy sheet pan dinner on the table in no time.

More italian sausage recipes:

• Italian Sausage with Creamy Polenta and Cannelini Beans
• Oven Baked Italian Sausage with Parsnips, Apples, and Onions

More roasted vegetable recipes:

• Crispy Roasted Cauliflower with Parmesan and Garlic
• Roasted Vegetable Salad with Charred Lemon Vinaigrette
• Roasted Butternut Squash with Red Onion, Tahini, and Za'atar