This sausage sheet pan dinner keeps things simple without tasting like it. Sweet Italian sausage, apples, and fennel roast together while the rice underneath absorbs all the juices, so every bite has flavor. It’s an easy weeknight dinner that doesn’t need much prep and doesn’t leave you with a sink full of dishes.

Sausage sheet pan dinner featuring sliced sausages, apple wedges, and onions baked on a foil-lined tray, garnished with chopped parsley and cracked black pepper. — *Sausage, apples, and fennel roasted together on one sheet pan, with rice underneath soaking up all the flavor.*

The Sausage Dinner I Make When I Want Zero Cleanup

Italian sausage combined with sweet apples and savory fennel creates a flavor combination that feels a little different but still familiar. As everything cooks, those juices soak right into the rice, so you end up with a full meal on one pan.

Sheet pan dinners sound easy, and they are, but only if everything cooks at the same rate. That’s where this one works. The sausage stays juicy, the apples soften without turning mushy, and the fennel mellows so it blends right in.

If you like this kind of low-effort dinner, this is the same idea behind my Ranch Chicken dish or these peach covered pork chops, simple ingredients that cook together and tastes great.

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Use a firm apple like Fuji so it holds its shape while roasting. Softer apples tend to break down too much and disappear into the pan.

Fennel might look a little strange at the store, but don’t skip it too quickly. Once it cooks, that strong licorice flavor softens and what you’re left with is something mild and slightly sweet. If it’s still not your thing, sliced onions work just fine.

The rice is what brings everything together. Since it’s already cooked, it doesn’t dry out, it just soaks up all the flavor from the sausage, apples, and fennel while everything roasts.

This is the kind of dinner you can pull together in the time it takes to slice a couple of apples and a fennel bulb, then let the oven do the rest.

What you’ll need

Ingredients needed for a sausage sheet pan dinner.

Sweet Italian sausage – these provide so much flavor, if you want to make it spicy, you can add hot Italian sausage or any type of raw sausage in casing.
Fennel – this is an odd looking vegetable with a top that looks like dill, the bulb is what you will eat.
Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice – any package of prepared rice will work or you can make a batch of rice ahead of time. It just needs to be cooked when you add it to the sheet pan. You will need 4 cups of cooked rice.

Throw It on a Sheet Pan and Call It Dinner

Step 1: Cook rice

Place a mound of cooked rice in the center of a sheet pan.

Step 2: Slice and bake

Fennel being sliced on a cutting board. — Slice the fennel.

An Apple being cored and sliced. — Core and slice the apples.

A glass bowl of sausage, fennel and apples coated in vinegar and oil — Toss sausage, apples and fennel with oil and vinegar.

A mound of rice on a sheet pan covered in foil. — Add cooked rice to the sheet pan in a mound.

All of the ingredients on a sheet pan before baking. — Cover the rice with the sausage, apples and fennel and bake.

This sausage sheet pan dinner features sliced sausages, apple wedges, onions, and rice baked on a foil-lined tray, then garnished with chopped herbs and black pepper.

This sausage sheet pan dinner is one of those meals you’ll come back to when you need something easy but still want real flavor. Everything cooks together, the rice soaks up all the good bits, and you’re left with a full dinner and one pan to wash. Hard to argue with that.

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Enjoy a sausage sheet pan dinner with sliced sausages, apple wedges, and onions baked on a foil-lined tray with rice, seasoned with black pepper, and garnished with chopped parsley.

Savory Sausage and Sweet Apples Baked Together on a Sheet Pan

Author: Barbara Curry

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin

PREP: 10

COOK: 40

Servings:

Ingredients

▢ ¼ cup olive oil
▢ ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
▢ 1 teaspoon salt
▢ 1 teaspoon pepper
▢ 1 lb sweet italian sausage links
▢ 2 bulbs fennel sliced
▢ 2 fuji apples Sliced into 1 inch slices
▢ 4 cups cooked rice/ Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice

Equipment

Rimmed Baking Sheet

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º.
Cook rice per package instructions.
Whisk together oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, combine sausages, fennel and apples and pour mixture over the top and stir to coat.
Place cooked rice in a mound in the middle of a rimmed baking sheet and cover with sausage and apple mixture.
Bake until sausages are cooked through, and apples slightly browned, about 40 minutes. A meat thermometer will read 160º.

Barbara’s Tips + Notes

You can use 4 cups of cooked rice or an 8.8 oz package of cooked rice.
If you don’t like licorice, leave out the fennel.
You can use any type of raw sausage in casing.
Try to use firm apples or they will get mushy.

Nutrition

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