One Pan Roasted Squash, Apple, and Sausage Dinner
Fast family-friendly weeknight meals like this simple One Pan Roasted Squash, Apple and Sausage Dinner are so helpful to have on hand!
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love This One-Pan Squash, Apple and Sausage Dinner
At this time of year, sheet pan dinners, one pan meals and all-in-one recipes are my saving grace. Easy doesn’t mean they have to fall flat on flavor.
You all have been giving me lots of feedback that you agree! You loved my Roasted Potatoes with Apples, Sausage, and Maple Mustard Glaze and this One Pan Chicken, Squash and Mushrooms so much I came up with another variation today.
Trust me, you are going to LOVE the taste of this sausage sheet pan dinner! The sweet, savory and tart combination of maple, apple and squash paired with the rich Chicken Apple Sausage is unbeatable!
It is simple to prepare, but just needs a little trick of timing to get everything to perfect tenderness. The butternut squash gets roasted for a little bit, because it takes longer than everything else. After that, add in fresh kale, apples and sliced organic Chicken Apple Sausage to make it a complete meal.
Ingredient Notes
Chicken Apple Sausage
The lightly sweet flavor of chicken apple sausage is a great pairing with the squash, kale and apples. If you cannot find it, sub in sweet Italian chicken sausage or pork sausage. Breakfast sausage links also work and the spices in it are also good with this combo.
Apples
For the best texture look for crisp, sweet apples such as Ginger Gold, Honey Crisp, Mutsu or Gala. Hard apples such as Pink Lady, Jazz and Pinata are too firm to soften well. Softer apples such as Paula Reds or Macintosh are best suited for applesauce as they break down too much and get mushy. Read more about apple varieties for cooking in my apple guide.
Butternut Squash
You’ll need a small butternut squash about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds. You can also substitute cubed raw butternut squash found in the produce section in plastic trays wrapped in clear plastic. (You’ll need about 1 pound of prepared squash.)
Kale
To make this a complete meal we added in shredded fresh kale leaves. Curly, Russian or lacinato work equally well. Remove the ribs and then finely shred the leaves. Add them to a salad spinner to rinse well. Drain and spin dry.
For The Sauce
The sauce is a combination of 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar, 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup and 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard. If you cannot find sherry vinegar, red wine vinegar is a good substitute. And honey can be used in place of the maple.
How to Make This Sheet Pan Squash and Sausage Dinner
Step 1: Preheat oven and make sauce
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Shake vinegar, maple syrup and mustard in a small jar.
Step 2: Season and Roast squash
Meanwhile, toss squash, oil, smoked paprika, salt, nutmeg and pepper in a large bowl to coat. Spread out on a large rimmed baking sheet.
Transfer squash to the oven and roast 10 minutes.
Step 3: Add Kale, Sausage and Apples
Add apples, sausage and kale and toss to coat. Return to the oven and roast, stirring once or twice until the apples are softened and the squash is tender, about 18 to 22 minutes longer. Remove from the oven.
Step 4: Add Sauce and Serve
Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the roasted mixture and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
FAQs and Expert Tips
This sausage dinner is best enjoyed right away, but leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to three days. You can also meal prep this recipe by chopping the ingredients ahead of time. Store the squash separately and keep the sauce in a jar. Refrigerate up to two days.
Baby spinach can be used instead of the kale but only add it in the last minute or two of roasting.
Menu Pairing Ideas
For an easy fall appetizer, you could make this Pumpkin Pie Dip with apple slices.
This is pretty much a one pan meal recipe, but you could serve it with some Simple Skillet Green Beans if you want to fill out the plate with more veggies.
For dessert, you could make Pumpkin Pie with Chocolate Swirl, or if you are following a gluten-free diet you could make Gluten-free Apple Pie.
More Recipes To Try
Friends, I’m in love with the whole one-pan dinner concept! They’re so easy to make and clean up! So check out this Lemon Butter Chicken from Veggie Balance. It’s another awesome one-pan dinner featuring chicken. I also have been loving this sheet pan salmon dinner with Moroccan Spice and this Chicken Sheet Pan dinner with Broccoli and Honey Sriracha Sauce.
Cranberry Sausage Stuffing and this Apple, Cheddar and Sausage Breakfast Strata are two recipes to keep on hand for the holiday season.
For a lower carb dinner try this Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Sausage Ragu.
More Butternut Squash Recipes
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Print
One Pan Roasted Squash, Apple and Sausage Dinner
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 cups 1x
Description
Fall means busier schedules, so this one pan roasted squash, apple and sausage dinner is a perfect fast family-friendly weeknight meal!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, dark or amber
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 medium-small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (1 1/2 to 2 pounds)
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 3 small apples, cored and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
- 4 links chicken apple sausages, sliced
- 4 cups finely shredded kale
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425ºF. Shake vinegar, maple syrup and mustard in a small jar.
- Meanwhile, toss squash, oil, smoked paprika, salt, nutmeg and pepper in a large bowl to coat. Spread out on a large rimmed baking sheet. Transfer squash to the oven and roast 10 minutes.
- Add apples, sausage and kale and toss to coat. Return to the oven and roast, stirring once or twice until the apples are softened and the squash is tender, about 18 to 22 minutes longer. Remove from the oven.
- Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the roasted mixture and toss to coat. Serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 1/4 cups
- Calories: 365
- Sugar: 15 g
- Sodium: 905 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 13 g
I made this tonight and it’s really tasty! I plan to eat this as a snack in the afternoon!! Great recipe! i’m sharing this one with my mom!
Any options for the sherry vinegar?
Red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar are good substitutes for the sherry vinegar. Hope you enjoy it!
Can you substitute spinach for the kale? I have every thin in house except the kale.
Yes, but because it is more tender than kale I would say do not roast it. Just add it in in step 4 and allow the heat of the hot roasted veggies to wilt it.
We made this today and loved it! It was delicious, fun to do and I had all the ingredients on hand. Thanks
Hi, Katie! Love your blog and your recipes! Made this over the weekend. We tossed it with penne (I know – added carbs – but everyone loved it!). Still enjoying the leftovers – thanks for the recipe!
Betsy, thank you so much for coming back and letting me know. That means so much! And for the record I love the idea of adding pasta to this to extend it a bit. Our family devoured the whole pan and I know left-overs would have been appreciated! Ha ha! Hope you have a great week.
Does the kale need to be in the oven for that long? I am concerned about it getting burnt.
I tested it twice and my cross-tester tested it twice. Neither of us had a problem with burnt kale. The sheet pan is quite full which insulates it a bit. That said, if you’re worried about it you could try adding it in a bit later. Please let me know if you try it. Happy cooking Lauren.
There appears to be a typo at the maple syrup ingredient. How much?
Thank you for pointing that out Marylyn. It is 1 tablespoon. I made the change on the recipe above and updated it as well. Have a wonderful day.
I’ve been ALL about the apples this season as well, and this looks like a perfect fall dinner! And so easy!
I can’t get enough of them! Ha ha!
Oh my goodness, this sounds heavenly!!!
Thank you Lauren.
This sounds like such a great fall meal and a great use of all those apples!
We really loved the final version of this recipe. The flavors are so good together. I will be making it again for sure. We have a ton of apples to get through, lol.
This meal sounds SO satisfying. Love that you used the apples you picked as a family 🙂
There is total satisfaction in using fruit (or any ingredient) that you picked or grew. I think it’s great for the girls to be aware of that too.
Yum! Such nice flavors for fall!
Thanks so much Diane. I get a little squash obsessed every fall. Ha ha.
Squash and sausage are literally two of my favorites! AMAZING dish!
I am totally with you Maria!
Your sweet girls–so precious!! We have a trip planned to the orchard this weekend. I can’t wait to have some apples and will be making this easy meal for sure!
Thank you so much. They melt me. (Most of the time, ha ha.) Have a great time apple picking. I love the tradition every year.
This looks so good, apples go so well with sausage!
Hi Marye, Thank you! Happy fall to you.