Struggling for inspiration for family meals and how to use up that odd carrot or chicken thigh that’s about to go out of date? What’s not to love about a traybake?  Simple, quick and hardly any washing up.  Don’t worry if you don’t have all the ingredients for any of the recipes below, improvisation could instantly turn your traybake into your own ‘secret’ family recipe…

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Salmon, cherry tomatoes and veg traybake

Courtesy of Jamie Oliver, this is a great go-to recipe, especially if you have someone that’ll swerve a green bean at all costs!

Ingredients: Salmon fillets, green beans, cherry tomatoes, black olives (pitted preferably), anchovy fillets, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Trim the beans and blanch for a couple of minutes, drain and rinse under cold water.  Pop in a roasting tray along with the tomatoes and black olives and lightly toss in olive olive.  Lay your drained anchovy fillets over the top of the veg and then the salmon fillets on top.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bake in a preheated oven (around 200℃ for 10-15 minutes).  Can be served on its own but if you have a hungry hoard serve with boiled new potatoes.

Tip: Don’t limit yourself to green beans – asparagus, courgette, broccoli – anything goes!

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‘Spanishy’ sausage and chorizo traybake

This is a total winner for all the family and so easy to make with lots of alternatives to include or swap in.

Ingredients: Sausages, chorizo, red onion, red pepper, potatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Chop up all of the ingredients into bite-sized chunks (except the sausages) and throw into a traybake with the sausages.  Lightly drizzle a little olive oil, (you won’t need much) and season with salt and pepper and bake at 200℃ until the sausages are cooked.  It will need a little stir a couple of times through the cooking process.

Tip: There are so many variations to this meal.  Use chicken if you don’t have sausages to hand.  If you are short on potatoes cook all the other ingredients as above, drain off some of the excess chorizo oil and add some cooked boiled rice once everything else is cooked.  And for a little bit of extra spice, sprinkle the traybake with smoked paprika before baking.

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Honey and mustard chicken thighs

The joy of marinading chicken thighs is you can turn your traybake into an Italian, Greek or Chinese inspired all-in-one meal just by changing your sauce.  This recipe is a favourite with the kids and chef (it couldn’t be simpler).

Ingredients: Chicken thighs, potatoes, fresh spinach, peas, olive oil and salt and pepper. Marinade ingredients: honey, wholegrain mustard, garlic and lemon zest and juice.

Put your chicken thighs skin side up in a baking trap. Mix up your marinade ingredients and pour over the chicken. Place the new potatoes amongst the chicken and lightly drizzle with olive oil and season.  Roast at 180℃ for about half an hour (until the chicken is cooked) and then just before serving add the spinach and peas into the tray, stir it gently together and pop back into the oven for a couple of minutes until everything is cooked.

Tip: If you fancy going Japanese, marinate your chicken in a mix of soy sauce, honey, ginger, chilli and sesame oil.  For Greek, Greek yoghurt, lemon juice and zest, garlic, olive oil and oregano.  Just adapt the veggies to go with the dish!

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Tash’s Amazing Butter Biscuits

We couldn’t leave you without something sweet for pudding! Whilst not a typical traybake, they are baked on a tray so technically… These are a firm favourite in SN HQ and a simple recipe for your kids to make.

Ingredients: 50g caster sugar, 100g unsalted butter, 150g self-raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180°C /fan 160°C/ gas 4. Lightly grease two baking trays. Soften the butter. Add flour and sugar. Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a dough. Form the dough into balls and place spaced well apart on the prepared baking trays. Mark with a fork. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until a very pale golden. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Tip:  The addition of some choc chips or Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips works a treat!

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Looking for more cooking inspiration?  Check out some of our other delicious recipes