This Maple Walnut Crusted Sheet Pan Halibut with crispy sweet potato chips and tender asparagus is the simplest dinner you’ll make all week. Great with any white fish.
Have you tried Sheet Pan Dinners yet? This easy Sheet Pan Halibut dinner is a one-pan paleo meal that cooks in only 10 minutes. It’s topped with a crunchy crust, lightly flavoured with lemon and dill, that helps to keep the fish tender and moist, just the way halibut should be served.
With the Christmas holidays behind us, I’m glad that the cookies, biscotti, nut mix, and cheese balls are gone. I’m more than ready to make a fresh start and resume my clean-eating habits for the next 365 days! December was a wonderful month, filled with lots of fun family dinners and gatherings with friends, all of which, of course, involved overloaded platters of fabulous food.
As the New Year begins, I’m striving to simplify my life. Finding tasty, easy meals that are quick to prepare is high on my list of things to do (right after cleaning out my clothes closet and finally making those photo books.)
This Halibut Sheet Pan dinner met all the criteria. It’s one of the quickest meals I’ve ever made. My recipes for Sheet Pan Chicken and Roasted Harvest Vegetables and Thai Chili Sheet Pan Salmon are some of my favourite meals to make when I’m in a hurry, so I decided to try a similar method using white fish.
We loved the result! A delicious, healthy meal and only one pan to clean.
Have you tried making sheet pan dinners? They’re just so easy and they seem to miraculously turn out with everything perfectly cooked at the same time . . . as long as you follow some simple guidelines.
5 Tips for making sheet pan dinners
- Consider the type and cut of meat and pair it with vegetables that will take about the same length of time to cook. For example, when I made the Sheet Pan Chicken and Roasted Harvest Vegetables, I used bone-in chicken thighs which take longer to cook than boneless chicken breasts. I paired them with chunky, dense root vegetables, like potatoes and sweet potatoes. Or, you can start slower-cooking items ten minutes earlier so everything will be ready at the same time.
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or foil for easy clean up.
- Season the protein part of your dinner and toss the vegetables lightly with olive oil.
- Turn once, halfway through cooking time. Don’t keep opening the oven door to check or you’ll lose heat.
- Consider contrasting flavours and textures. I chose orange sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes to cook with halibut to provide more interest. White on white is not very appealing, and we eat with our eyes first!
Fish cooks quickly, so in the recipe I’m sharing today, I made sure to use vegetables that would cook at the same time. I chose thin spears of asparagus and I sliced the sweet potatoes very thinly, using my mandolin slicer.
Halibut is the king of white fish to me, but this recipe would be good with other white fish like cod, snapper, haddock, tilapia, or whatever is most commonly available where you live. Dijon mustard acts as the “glue” that holds the crunchy walnut topping on the fish. I tossed asparagus and sweet potato wafers with olive oil, spread them on a sheet pan, and arranged the fish on top.
Ten minutes in a hot oven was all it took to have perfectly cooked halibut and crisp tender vegetables.
- 4 4 oz fillets halibut skin removed
- 1 1/2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp dried dill
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 2 cups sweet potatoes thinly sliced
- 1 bunch bunch asparagus spears, 6 - 8 spears per serving, ends trimmed
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 lemons, sliced
- Heat oven to 400°F.
- Line a sheet pan with foil and either spray it lightly with cooking spray or brush with olive oil.
- Trim tough ends from asparagus. Toss with olive oil.
- Peel and slice sweet potatoes very thinly (1/8th inch). Toss with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Chop walnuts, transfer to a small bowl and combine with lemon zest, maple syrup and dill.
- Remove skin from halibut pieces, spread opposite sides of each with 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard. Press walnut mixture on top.
- Arrange asparagus and sweet potatoes on baking sheet and top with halibut.
- Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes. Let stand for 5-7 minutes. Serve.
I baked this on convection setting at 400°F.
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So if you haven’t tried a Sheet Pan Dinner yet, you may want to give one of these a try. Easy clean-up. One pan!
Hoisin Orange Sheet Pan Chicken
Sheet Pan Chicken and Roasted Harvest Vegetables
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kathi @ laughingspatula says
Huge fan of sheet pan dinners and this one looks fabulous! Eager to see the new recipe format you are using!
Happy New Year Elaine!