Sticky Sausage Traybake

Sticky sausage traybake, a colourful mix of roasted root vegetables with sausages that have been coated in maple syrup. A great one pan dish, with minimal preparation, ideal for feeding the family and a perfect mid week dinner dish.

Sticky sausage tray bake is one of those dishes I turn to when I want something tasty but don't want to slave over the stove. This is low effort cooking as aside from prepping veggies, there is little effort required. I am firmly of the opinion that we all need dishes like this in our repertoire.

I love to roast root vegetables as it really brings out their sweetness. However, if roasted roots aren't your thing then substitute with vegetables that you do like. I've made some suggestions later in the post.

This root vegetable and sausage bake is an assembly job starting with the vegetable and herb base. The addition of potatoes means these can roast alongside the other veggies, avoiding the need to cook them separately.

Why you'll love this recipe

• Everything is cooked in one tray which not only makes this dish simple to prepare, but also saves on the washing up.
• Hands on preparation time is minimal then everything goes into the oven.
• Use gluten free sausages for a gluten free sausage traybake.
• Packed full of colourful veggies which go a long way towards your 5-a-day.

Recipe ingredients

• Flavor base - I start off with a base of red onion, garlic and celery. You could also use shallots or a leek.
• Vegetables - I use a butternut squash along with a selection of root vegetables including carrots, parsnips and beetroot.
• Squash - use any variety of smaller squash, I've opted for a butternut squash as it's available in my supermarket all year round.
• Potato - I used 8 medium sized new potatoes which I leave whole. You can use a larger potato and cut it up, or swap regular potato for sweet potatoes.
• Herbs - I add bay leaves, thyme leaves and fennel seeds to flavour this dish.
• Oil - for the best flavour I like to use olive oil, but you can use sunflower or rapeseed oil in this dish too.
• Sausages - use any variety or flavour of sausage in this dish. I used 8 good quality pork sausages allowing 2 per person.
• Maple syrup - I coated the sausages in maple syrup to make them sticky, you could also use honey.
• Seasoning - seasoning is kept simple with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

How to make sausage traybake

• Preheat the oven at 200C/180CFan/390F.
• Prepare all the vegetables.
• If you want to make hasselback potatoes like I have done here, rest the potato on board and use a sharp knife to slice ¾ way through the potatoes, taking care not to go all the way through. Otherwise, leave the potatoes whole.

TOP TIP: I find it helps to rest the potatoes between 2 chopsticks, which stop the knife from going all the way through the potato (see photo above).

• Place all the vegetables, thyme, bay leaves and fennel seeds in a large oven proof tray with high sides.
• Pour over the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix well to combine. Place in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

• After 30 minutes remove the tray from the oven and give the vegetables a good mix up to stop them sticking to the bottom of the tray.
• In a separate bowl pour the maple syrup over the pork sausages and mix to combine.
• Place the sausages on top of the vegetables and place the tray back in the oven for a further 30 minutes, turning the sausages over mid way through.
• Once the sausages have a nice golden skin, remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Recipe variations

This recipe is easily adapted, here are some suggestions:

• Make a Mediterranean sausage traybake by swapping the root vegetables for Mediterranean vegetables combining bell peppers, aubergine, onion, garlic and courgette. If doing this I would suggest substituting the maple syrup with some runny honey instead. Honey will work better with this selection of vegetables.
• If using peppers, courgettes and aubergine, an Italian style pork sausage would be perfection!
• Swap regular potato for sweet potato instead.
• I have used a good quality pork sausages in this recipe. However, use the variety of sausage you like to eat. A good beef sausage would work just as well, or something like a pork and leek or a Cumberland sausage.
• Maple syrup is great with savoury food, but can be easily swapped for honey.

Useful hints and tips

1. The garlic is cooked in it's skin as it is very easy to burn and burnt garlic really doesn't taste great. By leaving the skin on the garlic, this allows the garlic to soften and become beautifully caramelised. Simply remind your diners to pop the garlic out of the skin before they eat it.
2. Only add the sausages mid way through the cook or you risk them overcooking and burning, particularly as they are coated in maple syrup.
3. Use gluten free sausages and to make this a gluten free sausage traybake.
4. Containing no dairy this side dish is suitable for dairy free diners.
5. Allergy advice: gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions

If you like this recipe then try some of these simple family meals:

• Spicy Baked Chicken Wings
• Cajun Chicken & Vegetable Tray Bake
• Twice Baked Potatoes
• Classic Loaded Hot-dogs
• Lemon & Paprika Chicken Kebabs
• Easy Chicken Tacos
• Spaghetti Bolognese
• Pork & Peanut Stirfry

If you're looking for some new inspiration for mid week family dining, then our Ultimate Guide to Family Dinners is here to help. Full of useful hints, tips and lots of tasty recipes.