Sheet Pan Fish and Chips

Easy dinner solutions at my house always include a sheet pan. Prep and clean up are quick! Crispy Sheet Pan Fish and Chips gets a meal on the table in 40-ish minutes.

Catching your own fish is optional.

Fishing Charters

My husband recently got to do something he enjoys: charter fishing. He, along with some other hardy souls, caught a boat out of San Diego and spent two days fishing off the California and Mexico coasts. The bunks were hard but the fishing was good.

What did he come home with? Yellowfin tuna and Dorado.

Four fillets of yellowfin on ice. Yes, in my kitchen sink.

San Diego waters are plentiful with fish like Albacore, Bluefin, Dorado (also called Dolphinfish or Mahi-mahi), Rockfish, Yellowfin tuna (sometimes called Ahi), Yellowtail, and Wahoo. Some folks like to process their fish themselves, but my hubs was happy to let the charter crew gut, clean, and pack his catch in ice for the drive home.

My job? Divide the fish into meal-sized portions and prepare them for the freezer. It’s the DIY version of buying frozen fillets at the grocery store.

I love having wild-caught fish for easy weeknight meals like sheet pan dinners.

Sheet Pan Dinners

Sheet pan dinners are the same concept as one-pot meals. It’s everything being prepared in one go. Easy to prepare, easy to clean up.

The first time I made a sheet pan meal, I totally messed it up. I added chicken, veggies, and potatoes to a pan and shoved it in the oven. Things were too crowded together, everything cooked at different rates, and it came out bland.

I hated it.

But! I discovered there is a formula to making sheet pan meals a success. Once I started using the method, all was well in the weeknight dinner world.

Russet potatoes being cut into wedges for the sheet pan.

What’s the formula?

Cut vegetables roughly the same size so they roast evenly.
Coat everything lightly with oil or some type of fat.
Start cooking with whatever takes the longest time. Bone-in chicken and pork chops take around 40 minutes. Dense veggies like squash and potatoes can take nearly 45 minutes before becoming tender.
Add quicker cooking items towards the end of the cooking time. Things like fish, asparagus, and broccoli cook in less than 15 minutes.
Don’t crowd the pan! Everything needs space to properly brown so it doesn’t steam and get soggy. Use two pans if needed.

Of course you will want to add whatever spices, seasonings, or garnishes depending on the flavor profile. NYT Cooking has a very helpful sheet pan guide that covers things in more detail.

Ingredients for the panko topping: panko, butter, lemon zest.

Lessons Learned

You can use any fish here. I used what I had on hand, but cod or some type of white fish would be perfect.
A traditional green veg with fish and chips: green peas. Throw a cup of frozen peas on the sheet pan when you add the fish. Or make this zingy salad instead.
Just because you can cook things on a sheet pan doesn’t mean you should. Sheet pan meals make sense when ingredients taste good roasted or require baking. In other words, sheet pan fettuccini isn’t a thing.

Hat Tips

Many thanks to Real Simple for their sheet pan fish and chips recipe.