Crispy Zucchini sheet pan with mashed sweet potatoes recipe
This easy dump veggies in a pan crispy zucchini sheet pan with mashed potatoes are a part bowl of delicious roasted veggies, part warm salad, and completely irresistibly tasty. Featuring golden brown roasted Parmesan-crusted zucchini, tender, and crispy chickpeas, and creamy mashed sweet potatoes. All are made in one sheet pan.
Jump to RecipeWe’re talking about the absolute minimum effort here. Just dump all the vegetables on a lined sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, spices, and cheese, and roast for 30 minutes. Then lightly mash the sweet potatoes with a fork, drizzle with a little extra olive oil if needed and you’re ready to serve. This is the shortcut way to make mashed sweet potatoes. And it’s just as tasty as regular mashed potatoes.
What’s great about crispy roast squash with sweet potatoes
- Everything. This recipe is super easy to make
- Delicious flavors – packed with crispy cheese, golden roasted chickpeas, and lots of herbs. Yum.
- No cooking skills are required – just dump all the veggies on a sheet pan and roast in the oven. If you can turn on the oven, you can make this easy zucchini sheet pan recipe.
- Vegetarian
- Can be vegan – just use vegan Parmesan and vegan shredded cheese
- Gluten-free roast vegetables
- Packed with nutrients, vitamins, and just the right amount of protein
Ingredients to make crispy sheet pan roasted zucchini with mashed sweet potatoes
This easy dump-on-a-sheet pan and roast-everything recipe is made with a few simple and easy-to-get ingredients. You can of course add more veggies if you want. Bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes would all be great additions. I’ve included my basic recipe, which is satisfying and delicious just as it is. But you can always add extra veggies.
Here’s today’s lineup of ingredients for easy crispy dump sheet pan zucchini with mashed sweet potatoes:
- Zucchini / squash
- Sweet potatoes
- Chickpeas
- Oil packed sun-dried tomatoes
- Almond flour or meal
- Vegetarian Parmesan cheese
- Vegetarian shredded cheese
- Seasoning
How to roast squash so it doesn’t get soggy
Zucchini has a natural tendency to become soggy even when roasted…but there are two easy ways to prevent your squash from becoming soft and soggy during roasting.
Trick 1 – to prevent zucchini from getting soggy when roasting – The first is to elevate the zucchini from the baking sheet. Elevating the zucchini allows the moisture to evaporate and the air to circulate around the squash. In this recipe, we’re using a base layer of chickpeas to hoist the zucchini and allow the air to flow. You can also use a baking rack to roast your zucchini if you want super crispy golden zucchini slices.
Trick 2 – to prevent squash from getting soggy while roasting – coat/toss the squash slices in olive oil and almond flour or almond meal. The olive oil helps the almond flour stick to the zucchini slices. The almond flour helps the zucchini become golden and crispy as well as soaking up the cheese.
Easy way to roast zucchini in an air fryer
- The first step to crispy roasted air fryer zucchini is to toss the sliced zucchini and veggies with olive oil, seasoning, and almond flour. Next, place the sweet potatoes in the bottom of the air fryer. Top with chickpeas and finish with the final layer of zucchini. Drizzle Parmesan cheese and shredded cheese on top and bake at the highest temperature for 15 minutes.
- Toss the vegetables and continue cooking in the air fryer for 10-15 more minutes or until the vegetable are golden brown.
- Once the vegetables are browned, remove them from the air fryer. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the sweet potatoes and use a fork to mash them (they should be easy to mash). Season with salt and pepper. Scoop a generous spoonful of mashed sweet potatoes into a bowl and top with crispy zucchini and chickpeas. Serve and enjoy.
Variations to easy crispy zucchini and roasted veggies sheet pan
You can add almost any vegetable to this easy roasted vegetable dish. Here are my top 5 best vegetables to make roasted vegetables
Onions – onions are always delicious and roasted in the oven. They become sweet, almost Caramelized in places, and deliciously melty. Cut into wedges and toss with the zucchini slices.
Tomatoes – any type of tomatoes will work when added to this easy vegetable roast sheet pan. Plum tomatoes, wedged beef tomatoes or even tomatillos are all great options.
Bell peppers – peppers are amazingly roasted in the oven. Sweet, peppery, and golden in places, roasted peppers are always a delicious addition.
Whole garlic cloves – garlic becomes almost mushy, sweet, and absolutely irresistible when roasted whole in the oven. Just removed the garlic from the shells before serving.
Olives – adding olives to the sheet pan as all the vegetable roasts creates a wonderful hint of the Mediterranean.
How to make dairy-free vegan Parmesan roasted zucchini and vegetables
It’s actually really easy to make crispy Parmesan roasted squash in a dairy-free and all-vegan version. All you need is two good vegan dairy-free kinds of cheese (such as Violife shredded cheese and Violife Just like Parmesan wedge. You can also use your personal favorite vegan cheeses to substitute regular Parmesan cheese and shredded cheese.
Vegan cheese tip: for extra cheesy delicious flavors (and lots of extra nutrients) season with 3-5 tablespoons of crushed nutritional yeast along with the vegan cheese. The nutritional yeast adds extra vitamins such as vitamin B and gives a nice deep cheese taste to the roasted vegetables.
How to serve easy roasted squash
You can serve this easy roasted crispy zucchini with Parmesan cheese just as it is. Just mash the sweet potatoes (or serve them roasted as is – that’s also very tasty), and plate the sweet potatoes with a generous topping of roasted Parmesan-crusted squash and golden crispy chickpeas. Or serve this easy roasted vegetable sheet pan as a side with
- Grilled pesto portobello mushroom steak
- Easy meatless meatballs
- The best vegan celeriac steak
- Quick homemade 1-hour focaccia bread
Frequently asked questions about roasted zucchini sheet pan
Usually, vegetables are roasted without being covered to allow the moisture to escape and the vegetables to become cooked and crispy.
There are two main ways to prevent zucchini and squash from getting soggy. The first step is to make sure the moisture can escape as the zucchini roasts. That means roasting in one layer or lifting the zucchini slices to allow the air to flow all around it. You can use a baking rack or place the squash slices on a bed of chickpeas to get good airflow and crispy veggies.
One more way to get extra crispy zucchini is to toss the squash in olive oil and almond flour or almond meal. This gives the veggies an extra crispy texture as they roast.
Zucchini or squash should roast for 25-30 minutes at 400F (190 degrees Celsius), or until the zucchini is golden brown on the outside.
Yes. Zucchini and squash are freezer friendly. You can freeze zucchini raw and cook with it once it’s defrosted. Or you can freeze zucchini after cooking and simply reheat it before serving.
Crispy Dump Zucchini sheet pan with mashed sweet potatoes recipe
Ingredients
- 2+2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 4 Sweet Potatoes Sliced or diced
- 2 15oz cans Chickpeas rinsed and drained
- 6 Oil packed Sundried Tomato halves sliced
- 3-5 tbsp Almond Flour
- ½ cup (60g) Vegetarian Parmesan Cheese
- ¼ cup (35g) Vegetarian Shredded Cheese
- 2 tsp Dried Thyme
- 2 tsp Dried Oregano
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Ground Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F (190 degrees Celsius) and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
- Place the rinsed and drained chickpeas on half of the sheet pan as the base layer. Place the zucchini slices on top of the chickpeas. Now, transfer the sweet potato slices to the other half of the empty sheet pan. Drizzle olive oil over the vegetables. Sprinkle almond flour on top of the zucchini, and season with salt, pepper, thyme, and oregano. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and shredded cheese.
- Bake the sheet pan in the oven for 20 minutes, then flip the veggies over and continue baking for 10 more minutes.
- Once the vegetables are browned, remove them from the oven. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the sweet potatoes and use a fork to mash them (they should be easy to mash). Season with salt and pepper. Scoop a generous spoonful of mashed sweet potatoes into a bowl and top with crispy zucchini and chickpeas. Serve and enjoy.
