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A super quick-to-prepare and delicious recipe, this Italian inspired vegan sausage traybake makes the perfect midweek meal. Chuck everything into a tin, shove it in the oven and get on with whatever else you need or want to do. Sticky sausages, potatoes, peppers and onions, what’s not to love?

A one pan vegan sausage traybake with peppers and potatoes in roasting tin. Striped cloth, navy napkins and a pile of knifes and forks in the background.

What Is A Traybake?

A traybake also known as a sheet pan dinner in the US, is pretty much what it says on the tin. It’s a meal, or sometimes a cake, baked in a lipped tray or roasting pan in the oven. Essentially it’s a one-pan meal, which reduces washing up and simplifies preparation.

Vegan Sticky Sausage Traybake

My traybake is a one-pan meal with sticky sausages, semi roasted potatoes, caramelised onions and peppers. The bake is Italian-inspired, though I use vegan sausages, rather than Italian ones and maple syrup rather than honey.

The sausages and veg are roasted in a mix of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. This creates a lovely sticky coating to everything and the longer it cooks, the stickier it will get. Within reason, of course, cook it too long and you’ll end up with cinders.

If you feel it needs some extra veg, serve with some sort of greens on the side. Steamed green cabbage or kale is good, as is a green salad. For convenience, we usually enjoy it just as it is. But I do like to include a green pepper so I can kid myself that I’m getting the green portion of my five-a-day. Some chopped parsley scattered over the finished dish helps too.

If you’re feeling hungry, turn part of your portion into a wrap. You can get two sausages and a good load of veg into one wholemeal tortilla wrap. We love it this way. Just make sure you don’t burn your fingers.

Vegan Sausage Traybake: Main Ingredients

The ingredients for this simple vegan sausage traybake are few. In essence all you need are vegan sausages, vegetables and seasoning. The seasonings are all store cupboard staples.

Vegan sausages – go with your favourite brand.
Onions – red or yellow are good, though red helps to keep things colourful.
Sweet peppers – try for a mix of colours so the traybake looks interesting.
Potatoes – waxy, new or all purpose potatoes are the best ones to use for this recipe as you don’t want them to fall apart or go mushy.
Dried herbs – oregano, thyme or an Italian mix all work well in this recipe.
Fresh herbs – a sprig or two of fresh herbs, whilst not essential, gives a certain freshness to the bake. Rosemary or thyme are best.
Garlic – always makes one-pot meals taste better.
Chilli flakes – a pinch provides flavour and keeps the dish mild. But if you like a little more fire, add up to a teaspoon.
Olive oil – go with the best flavoured extra virgin olive oil you have. It will make a difference.
Balsamic vinegar – gives the essential sweet and sour notes to this traybake that make it so delicious. It also helps to give a gorgeous sticky quality.
Maple syrup – balances out the sour vinegar notes and contributes towards the stickiness.

Vegan Sausage Traybake: Step-by-Step

As already stated, this vegan sausage traybake is really easy to make. But as always, there are a few things worth noting. Cooking times will depend on how large your roasting tray is.

Step 1. Choose Tray

You’ll need a large roasting tin or baking tray for this recipe. The larger it is, the quicker everything will cook. Mine measures about 33 cm by 25 cm (13 inch x 10 inch). This works fine but a larger one is better for overall even cooking.

The other thing to bear in mind is that the lower the sides, the more the air will flow and the crisper the potatoes will be. The downside of that is, it’s harder to stir and pieces are likely to fall over the edges.

Feel free to line the tray with baking paper for a less messy clean up. Personally, I try not to use it if I don’t really need to.

Top Tip

Once the pan has cooled, soak it in water for a couple of hours and you should find it easy to clean.

Step 2. Prepare Veg

Cut the onions, lengthways. Into eighths if they’re large and quarters if they’re small. If you do it this way, the onions will hold together in chunks rather than falling apart. Transfer to the pan.

Scrub the potatoes, but there’s no need to peel them. Skins are good, both in terms of flavour and nutrients. Cut them into small chunks. The smaller they are, the quicker they’ll cook. But don’t make them tiny as it’s good to get a proper mouthful. Transfer to the pan.

Remove the stems, membranes and seeds from the peppers. Then cut into bitesize chunks. Transfer to the pan.

Step 3. Add Flavour

Crush or grate the garlic into the pan, then pour in the olive oil. Add the herbs, chilli, balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. Sprinkle the salt over everything. I like to go fairly lightly with salt, but add more if you don’t think it’s enough. Sausages are usually already quite salty.

Step 4. Stir It Up

In my experience, vegan sausages are a little fragile, so I give all the veg a good stir before adding the sausages. I then move the veg up to one side and give the sausages a quick turn in the seasoned oil. Then I move the veg back to cover the pan and nestle the sausages on top.

But if your sausages are a bit hardier, just mix everything together. Then fish them out and place them on top.

If your pan is large enough, spread everything out into a single layer. It will cook faster if you do this. Otherwise lift out the sausages with tongs or your fingers and place on top of the veg.

Step 5. Cook Traybake

Pop the pan onto the top shelf of your oven and leave it to cook for 25 minutes.

Take the pan out of the oven, turn everything over or give it a good stir, ensuring the sausages go back on top. Depending on whether you have a single layer or multilayers, cook for a further 15 to 25 minutes. The sausages should be nicely brown and the veg cooked through and somewhat sticky.

Step 6. Serve

If you like, scatter some chopped fresh parsley over the top. Place the pan directly on the table and get everyone to help themselves. Alternatively portion it up onto plates before serving.

As there are only two of us, we have half one day and half the next. This makes a double win as not only is the washing up minimal, but I don’t need to cook on day two.

Leftovers

Cover the pan with reusable wrap and place it in the fridge or a cool place. To reheat the next day, uncover the pan and pop it back in a hot oven for fifteen minutes. Alternatively transfer everything to an air-fryer basket and reheat.

Reheat at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) and make sure that everything is piping hot before removing from the oven.

Simple Swaps

I rarely make exactly the same dish twice. I like to ring the changes. It’s easy to do with this vegan sausage traybake. You can vary the sausages you use for a start. If you like to improvise too, here are a few ideas for simple swaps you can make.

You can use whatever veg you like, though it’s nice to keep it colourful. Carrots works well for this, as does squash.

Fennel, if you have it, is a nice vegetable to add to the mix. Once cooked, it has subtle aniseed tones that make a lovely contrast to the sweet stickiness of the dish.

Swap the onions for shallots. No need to slice these, just keep them whole.

Instead of crushing the garlic, slice it instead. Alternatively add the garlic cloves unpeeled, then squeeze the cooked garlic out of its skin and mix in just before serving. If you do this double the quantities.

Try using date syrup instead of maple. Or, if you’re not vegan use honey.

Other Easy Midweek Meals You Might Like

Keep in Touch

Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this simple vegan sausage traybake, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.

For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?

If you’d like more vegan recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Vegan Sausage Traybake. PIN IT.

Vegan Sausage Traybake – The Recipe

Print Pin

5 from 16 votes

Vegan Sausage Traybake

Prep Time10

Cook Time50

Total Time1

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: balsamic vinegar, onions, peppers, potatoes, sausages, simple, traybake

Servings: people

Calories: 396kcal

Author: Choclette @ Tin and Thyme

Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
8 vegan sausages
600 g potatoes waxy, new or all purpose – scrubbed and cut into small chunks (no need to peel)
3 large sweet peppers deseeded and cut into chunks (I like to use a red, an orange or yellow and a green)
2 onions (or 4 small ones) – peeled and cut into eight pieces (I like to use a red onion and a yellow)
2 clove garlic peeled and crushed
1 sprig fresh rosemary or thyme (optional)
1 tsp dried oregano or thyme or Italian herbs
1 pinch chilli flakes or more, if liked
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup*
¼ tsp sea salt (or to taste)

Metric – US Customary

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200℃ (180℃ fan, 400℉, Gas 6)
Whilst the oven’s heating up, prepare your veg.
Take out your largest roasting tin and pile everything in.
Give it all a jolly good stir ensuring that all of the veg and sausages are covered with both oil and seasonings. You can do this with your hands, a spoon or a spatula. Just be careful not to break up the sausages.
If your pan is large enough, spread everything out into a single layer. It will cook faster if you do this. Otherwise fish out the sausages with tongs or your fingers and place on top of the veg.
Pop the pan onto the top shelf of your oven and leave it to cook for 25 minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven, turn everything over or give it a good stir, ensuring the sausages go back on top. Depending on whether you have a single layer or multilayers, cook for a further 15 to 25 minutes. The sausages should be nicely brown and the veg cooked through and somewhat sticky.
Serve straight away, on its own or with greens of some kind.

Notes

If liked, scatter some chopped fresh parsley over the top.

Makes an excellent wrap. Just be careful not to burn your hands.

Please note: calories and other nutritional information are per serving. They’re approximate and will depend on exact ingredients used.

Nutrition Estimate

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below letting us know how you got on and do share a photo on Instagram. Tag @choclette8 or use hashtag #tinandthyme.

Sharing

I’m sharing this recipe for a vegan sticky sausage traybake with #CookBlogShare, which is hosted by Carrie’s Kitchen this week.