Sticky sausage tray bake, a colourful mix of roasted vegetables with sausages sticky with maple syrup. A great one tray dish for feeding the family.
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. Aside from preparing the vegetables there is little effort required. I am firmly of the opinion that we all need dishes like this in our repertoire. Recipes for those days when we don’t have time to spend preparing food. However, regardless of time, we still want to put up a dish that the family will happily eat.
This sticky sausage tray bake is one such dish. These kind of tray bake cooks are the ones I turn to after a long Autumn day spent tidying up my garden. Tasty, warming and requiring very little in the way of actual hands-on cooking! But something I can prepare earlier in the day and pop into a hot oven. Warm on the table when I’m ready to come indoors again and are looking for comforting food to heat me up from the inside out.
For those days I do like to cook a one pan tray dish and this sticky sausage tray bake does the job beautifully. This dish is an assembly job starting with the vegetable and herb base. The addition of potatoes means these can roast alongside the vegetables, avoiding the need to cook them separately.
Start by roasting the vegetables for 30 minutes before adding the maple syrup soaked sausages to the pan. Firstly, you don’t want the sausages to overcook and secondly you don’t want all the vegetables covered in maple syrup.
The syrup adds a lovely flavour to the sausages. However, the vegetables are sweet once roasted and don’t require any extra sweetness added. The entire meal cooked in one pot, with the bonus that not only does it save time in preparation but also with the washing up!
What substitutions can I make?
At this time of year, when the days start to shorten and the temperature drops outside, I want to sit down to warming plates of food. I love root vegetables but I reckon roasting them is one of my favourite ways to enjoy them.
However, if roasted roots really aren’t your thing then substitute with vegetables that you do like. For example you could combine, 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.
You could also leave the potatoes off the dish or replace them with sweet potato instead. Just adjust the cooking time to suit.
I have used a good quality pork sausage in this recipe, as that’s what my family like to eat. However you could add whatever type 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.
If using peppers, courgettes and aubergine, I think an Italian style port sausage would be perfection!
Points to note:
It’s worth mentioning that for this dish the garlic has been cooked in it’s skin. It is very easy to burn and burnt garlic really doesn’t taste that great. By leaving the skin on the garlic, this will allow the garlic to soften and become beautifully caramelised. Simply remind your diners to pop the garlic out of the skin before they eat it.
Also you will see from the photos that we have prepared the potatoes a little differently for baking. Rather than roast then whole, we have cut part-way through them, as you would for hasselback potatoes. This gives them a layered look, with each cut going beautifully crispy round the edges.
However, cutting the potatoes in this way is not entirely necessary. If you prefer just leave them whole, or for larger potatoes, cut into chunks.
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Additional recipe suggestions:
If you like this recipe then try some of our other quick and simple family meals:
- Cajun Chicken & Vegetable Tray Bake
- Twice Baked Potatoes
- Classic Loaded Hotdogs
- 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.
Sticky Sausage Tray Bake
Ingredients
- 2 red onions (cut into wedges)
- 6 cloves garlic (skin kept on)
- 2 sticks celery (sliced)
- 1 butternut squash (peeled, de-seeded & cubed)
- 2 medium carrots (peeled & cut into batons)
- 2 medium parsnip (peeled & cut into batons)
- 3 medium beetroot (peeled & cubed)
- 8 medium new potatoes (skin left on)
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 small handful thyme leaves
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 560 g good quality pork sausages (approx 8, allowing 2 per person)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Place all the vegetables, thyme, bay leaves and fennel seeds in a large oven proof tray with high sides. Pour over the sunflower oil and season with salt and pepper and mix well to combine. Place in a pre-heated oven at 180CFan for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes remove the tray from the oven and give the vegetables a good mix up to stop any 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.
- Once the sausages have a nice golden skin, remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Notes
• Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only •
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie
You know how much I like a traybake… especially one as delicious sounding as this! I love your idea to add maple syrup for extra sticky-ness 😀 Eb x
Michelle
Thanks Eb, great praise indeed from another tray bake lover. This is on the plan for Bonfire Night to make sure we are all fed before heading to the cold! And being Canadian – maple syrup is always a staple!:-) Cheers, Michelle x
Claire W
A simple and delicious make! I substituted the sausages for pork steaks, but still used the maple syrup as per recipe. It was delicious, the whole family enjoyed it (a miracle in itself) and because I got carried away chopping all the veg in the cupboard that needed used up there was plenty for seconds… And lunch the following day! Another great, easily adaptable to whatever you have in the fridge, delicious yet simple recipe. Thank you Lesley and Michelle. Definitely will be making this again!
Lesley
Glad you all enjoyed it. This is such an easy recipe and so easily adapted to what you have in the fridge/cupboards. Lesley x
Cat | Curly's Cooking
This sounds delicious! I love tray bakes and I love sausages. Your hassle back potatoes make this look extra special too. Fantastic recipe!
Michelle
Thanks Cat, the hassle backs just make it look a little different, not to mention more space to throw some garlic butter over!:-) Cheers, Michelle
Donna
Yum! Sausages are a big favourite here and I love a big tasty traybake! Sounds delicious.
Lesley
Thank you Donna, me too. The entire dinner ready on one tray – very little effort for a lot of taste! Lesley x
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder
I do love a traybake! It’s such an easy way to put dinner on the table and also include as many different veggies as possible! Yours look super delicious and just looking at it is making me hungry! And those sticky sausages…Yum!
Lesley
Thank you Jo. I’ve been on a crusade to increase the amount of vegetables in my daily diet and this recipe does that perfectly. Of course the sticky maple sausages made sure all the family devoured it!. Lesley x
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food
This is an absolutely beautiful meal—but budget friendly and easy! LOVE IT. Your tips for adapting the recipe are also brilliant!
Michelle
Thanks so much Michelle. I love these kind of meals when its a busy night. My teens are not great with vegetables anymore (peer pressure!) but it means I can load it up and everyone gets something they like. Cheers, Michelle