It’s only Monday and you’re already feeling underwhelmed by the options in your kitchen. What to do? Make this sheet pan meal with shrimp.
About Sheet Pan Meals
A sheet pan meal is the oven equivalent of a one-pot stew. Everything goes onto one pan that is popped into the oven. More complicated recipes have ingredients added in stages (for example, tender vegetables for the last five minutes).
Sheet pan meals have some advantages:
- quick cooking times,
- less mess (one cookie sheet!),
- much of the preparation time is hands off.
Disadvantages are also a consideration: you do have to
- pre-heat the oven take time
- limited in volume of food that fits on a baking sheet,
- losing the quick cooking times if you choose the wrong protein.
Many of the sheet pan meals using chicken pieces can take as long as an hour. That’s why we’re starting with shrimp. The speediest option is pre-peeled, pre-deveined shrimp. Peeling and deveining is always an option– but it takes longer.
Easy Peasy Shrimp and Sugar Snap Peas
1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, and defrosted*
5-6 oz sugar snap peas
1 Tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Dry the shrimp as much as possible. Toss the shrimp and sugar snap peas in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread evenly, in one layer, on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-14 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked through (they start out translucent and end up opaque). Serve over leftover rice (gluten-free), microwaved couscous, or salad greens (gluten-free and low carb).
Variation: Other vegetables can easily be traded in for the shrimp. Asparagus, broccolini, radishes, or sliced summer squash would all work well. Just slice or dice them into pieces small enough to cook in 10 minutes. Changing the vegetable to a vegetable low in FODMAPs can make this a low FODMAPs meal.
*For the best texture, defrost shrimp in a bowl under running cold water. Placing the shrimp in a sealed ziplock bag with as much air removed as possible helps retain flavor. Alternatively, adding salt to the running cold water can also help keep the shrimp from getting too soggy if you prefer to avoid the plastic. But that adds extra sodium, if you need to watch that.