Sheet Pan Sticky Sausages {With Sweet Apples & Maple Syrup}

Kids Favorite: Sizzling sticky sausages, baked potato wedges, sweet roasted onions and apples with a finger lickin' sweet sticky sauce. Yep, I'll take that! This warming Fall dinner recipe's an old favorite, I serve it with some simple steamed vegetables.

Sticky Sausages

Where I live you know it's bonfire night or the start of the really cold right around the start of November. Those nights start to drawn in where the coldness in the air is too much to ignore (to be fair this often happens during October too!) and a hot Winter dinner is the only thing that does the trick to heat you up. And what better way than sausages!

We sued to eat sausages a lot, they were my 'go to': They're cheap, fast to cook and the kids all liked them, as dod the adults. But I couldn't find a Clean enough version, so we hardly have them at all these days. Until now (read below what I use these days).

This is an oven baked one pan sheet of deliciousness. It's got it all, the meat, the potatoes and the apples. I add some veg for god measure to this usually but you don't need to. One sheet, in the oven and dinner's ready in 25 minutes.

You do have a little prep to do: Browning the sausages and while this isn't essential for the taste and flavor of the recipe, pale sausages are not 'coo'l and so I like to brown them first. The oven will brown to tops, but for a good all round colored sausage, brown them first before they go into the roasting tin!

Are Sausages Clean Eating?

Sausages are a hotly debated issue when you're clean eating :)

Many people, me included, believe sausages are so over process that they don't belong on a Clean eating diet. And for the most part, this is true. However, I've recently discovered that it's possible to find sausages that are not heavily processed, that's to say they're 100% meat.

The typical ingredients list of sausages and this list is from a good quality (re:fancy!) shop:

Outdoor Bred Pork (90%), Water, Gluten Free Crumb (Rice Flour, Chickpea Flour, Cornflour, Salt, Dextrose), Sea Salt, Ground Spices (White Pepper, Coriander, Nutmeg), Dried Onion, Stabiliser: E450, Preservative: E223 (Sulphites), Antioxidant: Ascorbic Acid

While these are among some of the 'better' sausage available to buy, I've resisted buying them even though sausages have been one of the things my kids have missed the most, because 90% meat isn't really good enough and I'm looking for 100%. Or thereabouts.

So. I've found that my local butchers sell almost 100% meat sausages. The not quite (2ish %) is made up of herbs and spices, which works for me. These sausages are delicious, really delicious. I'd recommend looking at the ingredients of all the sausages available to you. There are none in my supermarket i'd be prepared to buy, but the local butchers came good.

They're more expensive, for sure. Quite a lot more expensive to be honest and while they're not something I'll be adding to my shopping list as a regular, they're really good to have once in a while. And this recipe was something I used to make years ago and so when I saw these sausages in the butchers, I knew exactly what I was making for dinner that night!

*If you can find good Clean cocktail sausages, feel free to use those as they're better for smaller kids. 

Vegetarian Sausages

If you're finding it impossible to get Clean sausages, I hear ya! An alternative it to look for vegetarian sausages and see what's in the ingredients for that. I haven't looked myself, but it's on my list as it would open up a whole load of recipes, and I'd be keen to hear what you've been able to find.

DIY Sausages

I have made my own sausages before. Yep, I tried and failed. But...I didn't have one of these sausage stuffers and I'm seriously considering buying one. This dish was such a hit that I think it might be worth the cash so that I can make my own.

You can buy natural sausage casings to make these. It's a bit icky to read into what they're made of, just to say they're 100% natural :)

I'm going to be posting a sausage recipe shortly so i'll post it here as soon as I do, or sign up for my mailing list and I'll shoot you an email when the homemade sausage recipe is up.

Sweet Sausages

The maple syrup (you can also use honey) gives this recipe it's stickiness. It coats everything as it cooks, so the sausages become sweetly juicy. There's something about sweetness with sausages isn't there. It's a flavor combo that goes together very well indeed.

Baked Potato Wedges

This wouldn't be right without some baked potato wedges. I peel the potatoes here, I often don't when I'm making wedges and feel free to leave the skin on, but my kids prefer this without the potato skin on.

I tend to use half a potato per person or even a quarter for smaller kids and i like to use small-ish potatoes so the cook quickly in the oven. Nothing says yuk to my lot like an under cooked potato :) They'll get coated in the sticky sauce and give the potatoes a little crunch too for added yum.

Seasonal Fruit

Using seasonal fruit in cooking not only adds good flavors and textures and gets the kids used to eating a variety of ingredients in a variety of recipes, but seasonal often equals cheap, or at least cheaper. And cheaper equals good. Lots of people have apple trees in their back yard or know someone who has and so if you're lucky enough to have your own, or a neighbour who gives you baskets of fresh apples, this is a great recipe to help use them up.

How To Keep Leftovers

Sticky sausages can be kept in the fridge, covered, for up to 2 days. This recipe is fine when kept cold. The stickiness will become harder as it gets colder but dissolves back into a sticky deliciousness as soon as you reheat this.

You may not get the crispiness of the potatoes back when you reheat this. I always recommend reheating this in the oven and not the microwave. Although the microwave will give you hot food, the oven reheats this better and crisps up the sausages again, if not always the potatoes.

I don't freeze this. When fruit is frozen the water content becomes to heavy and it ruins the sticky nature of this recipe.

More Clean Eating Dinner Recipes

• Clean eating butter chicken
• Chicken Piccata
• Honey ginger chicken
• Oven baked Italian chicken
• Family sized meatloaf

How To Make Sticky Sausages

Ingredients

• 8 Sausages See post for the sausages I use
• 2 Apples Peeled and cored and cut into chunky wedges
• 1 Onion Peeled and cut into wedges
• 3-4 Smallish Potatoes Peeled and cut into chunky wedges
• 2 tbsp Olive oil To brown the sausages
• ¼ Cup Maple syrup 100% pure
• ½ tsp Salt I use rock salt
• ½ tsp Dried sage
• ½ tsp Mace
• 2 tbsp Cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp Coconut sugar

Instructions

• Heat the oven to 190° and get your sheet pan ready
• In a frying pan heat the olive oil over a medium heat and brown the sausages all over
• Arrange the potatoes, onions, and sausages on the baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes taking the sheet out of the oven once half way through to toss the food around the tray . Make the sticky sauce while this is cooking and then take the tray out of the oven after 25 minutes. Turn your oven up to 220°
• To make the sticky sauce: In a bowl add the water maple syrup, spices, vinegar, salt and coconut sugar. Whisk well so that the mixture is fully combined
• Add the apple wedges to the baking sheet and pour over the sticky sauce, making sure everything is covered. Pop it back in the hotter oven for another 15 minutes or until the apples are tender and the recipe looks golden brown
• Serve with a little mustard if it's liked!

Sticky Sausages Recipe