The Absolute Best Uses For Your Roasting Pan

Roasting pans are a vital type of cookware for your kitchen — for Thanksgiving and beyond. The roasting pan is the perfect pan for novice and professional cooks alike, regardless if you use it for roasting. Roasting pans can have small to moderately tall walls, which are normally thicker than those of a baking pan. If you are considering purchasing a roasting pan, you should first assess the size and material you can work with. Carrying a hefty ceramic roasting pan may not be practical for your kitchen, while a glass roasting pan is not suitable for broiling. If you plan on entertaining, you might opt for a more upscale pan from Le Creuset or Staub. 

You can purchase many accessories to outfit your roasting pan. Xtrema notes that home chefs who use roasting pans for turkey, tenderloin, or ham should invest in a roasting rack to keep the meat from touching the bottom of the pan and allow the air to circulate and cook all sides of the meat. Purchasing an accompanying lid for your roasting pan, Xtrema notes, is optional (since you can use aluminum foil for the same effect) but may make your roasting pan more versatile in trapping steam inside the pan — similar to the mechanics of a Dutch oven. For ease of simplicity, the uses for a roasting pan listed here do not require a lid or a roasting rack, but some recipes would benefit from one or both if you decide to purchase accessories.

Casseroles are another creative way to use your roasting pan. The deepness of the baking pan makes using the cookware for deep-dish recipes ideal. Luckily, casseroles come in many different forms that can satisfy any palate, cuisine, or experience. The midwestern tater tot casserole, for example, starts with a layer of bacon, cheese, canned soup, onion, and ground beef. Then, the casserole is sealed with a layer of frozen tater tots. It's uniquely easy and allows you to cook a kid-friendly dinner in less than an hour. If your roasting pan is stove-top safe, you should consider cooking the ground beef and the onions, removing them, and then roasting the bacon in your oven. It's much less work to clean up than using several different cookware pieces! 

Lasagna and your roasting pan are a match made in heaven. If you're looking for a non-stick roasting and lasagna pan, we recommend checking out Wilton's 14-inch by 11-inch pan. Its sides are two inches deep, making it the perfect depth for a family-sized casserole. You'll also love that the pan is easy to clean and can go right in your dishwasher. 

Sweet dreams are made of — roasting pans? Yes, you can use a roasting pan for baking your favorite type of fruit crisp or cobbler. While you can make a fruit crisp in a typical baking dish, the size of the baking dish limits how many apples and streusel you can use. Most fruit crisp recipes bake from 350 to 400 F, so you should be able to use glass, cast iron, or non-stick roasting pans. If you're cooking for a crowd, consult your roasting pan before you worry about making several small desserts in the miscellaneous baking pans you have hanging around your house.

You'll want to layer the fruit and top with a coating of streusel before baking in the oven. If you're making apple crisp (or another fruit) in a large portion, you can cover the roasting pan with a layer of aluminum foil (or the lid) and reheat the pan in your oven when you're ready for a sweet leftover treat. 

If you've ever been personally victimized by sputtering oil from cooking bacon, your roasting pan might just become your new best friend. The tall sides of the roasting pan can limit how much fat can escape and scald you, thus making a stovetop-safe roasting pan a safer way to cook bacon. Among the mistakes you're making when cooking bacon, using too high of heat is probably the most common. If you prefer to bake your bacon, make sure to cook it low and slow. Moreover, if you have a rack for your roasting pan, you can drape the bacon off the wires so that the grease drips down into the dish for an easy collection.

According to Made In Cookware, you can also use your roasting pan as a makeshift griddle to cook eggs or pancakes. The website notes that carbon-steel and no-stick roasting pans tend to be best suited for this purpose. And, if your roasting pan is big enough, you can cook it across two burners to make separate breakfast foods that never end up touching. How's that for a one-pot wonder? 

Roasted fish is a staple in many different cuisines — and a perfectly roasted fish is within your (and a roasting pan's) reach. You should consider roasting your fish because it requires less preparation time than pan-searing and less direct attention than grilling. Plus, the size of your roasting pan makes cooking an entire fish, like red snapper or a seabass, practical. 

Gimme Some Oven notes that cooking an entire fish in the oven preserves its juices and keeps the filets tender, soft, and succulent. For beginners, she recommends sticking to white-flesh fish like mahi-mahi or branzino. 

For roasting, you'll want to cook the fish for 15 to 20 minutes at around 450 F. The exact roasting time for your fish will depend on the size and the type. You should also be sure to brush the cavity and the flesh of the fish with a generous coat of oil to prevent burning. You can also use the roasting rack to drain the oil from the dish as it roasts.

Much to our avail, the French ratatouille was not just named after the movie; the ornately organized dish was originally called a tian. Instead, the ratatouille is a cross between a vegetable soup and vegetable stew. Fresh ingredients you will see in a ratatouille include thinly sliced eggplant, onions, peppers, and squash.

The roasting pan is the perfect vessel for ratatouille because of its wide surface area. To make a roasted ratatouille tian (spiral-shaped), you'll want to alternate layers of zucchini, yellow squash, and Roma tomatoes on top of a bed of onions. Drizzle the vegetables with enough olive oil and salt to prevent burning before roasting the vegetables for about 20 minutes. If you're looking for a satisfying crunch on top of your ratatouille, you may consider adding a breadcrumb-and-cheese bake on top. Serve the ratatouille as a side dish at a family dinner, or enjoy it as a no-frills main dish for a satisfying dinner date at home.

It's unreasonable to expect that you'll have time to make an elaborate dinner every night of the week. Instead, we recommend pulling out your roasting pan and preparing a whole chicken for the week ahead — in fact, roasting is one of the best ways to cook chicken for meal prep plans. You can cook several pounds of chicken at once and use that meat for multiple portions of the same dish or as a pre-cooked ingredient for different recipes. If you don't want to roast an entire chicken, you can use your roasting pan to cook several smaller chicken cuts at once. Whatever style you choose, be sure to preseason your chickUsing use a wire rack in your roasting pan, you can soak up the juices dripping from the bird to make a gravy. 

Although meal prepping may be an easy use for your roasting pan, you should avoid meal prepping too far ahead of time. Information from food safety agencies like the USDA notes that meal-prepped chicken should only stay in your fridge for a maximum of four days. Chicken left for more time may spoil, make you sick, or result in a waste of time in preparing so much meat at once. 

Christmas ham tastes more like home when made in a roasting pan. The shape and rack of a roasting pan make easy ham glaze recipes, like our apple cider and mustard coating, much more simple and flavorful. Before you start to add your glaze, you'll want to score the top of the ham in a lattice pattern so that the glaze can soak deep into the meat. Once the glaze is added, you can insert the roasting pan into the oven. To prevent dryness, you should set a timer every 20 minutes to baste the ham with its juices. Tenting the ham after the baking process is completed will prevent browning. According to Livestrong, the correct tenting technique does not actually touch the meat. Instead, it forms a loose barrier around the exterior of the ham that slows moisture from leaking from the ham. 

Once your ham is finished cooking, don't forget to let the meat rest on your counter and take an internal temperature reading of at least 145 F (via Southern Living).

There might not be a more classic use of your roasting pan than the Thanksgiving bird. One of our favorite tricks to cook a perfect turkey is to make a DIY rack by lining the bottom of the roasting pan with carrot rounds, celery, and bay leaves. As the vegetables cook, the steam will keep the turkey juicy and prevent the turkey from overcooking and drying out. Alternatively, you can also use your leftover bread heels for a makeshift rack for your turkey. Simply butter the bread heels, line the bottom of your baking pan, and gently place the turkey breast down on the "bread bed." The butter from the bread will melt down in the pan and flavor your basting juices as well.

As with other meats, you should give your turkey proper time to rest after removing it from the oven. The resting period allows the turkey to soak up juices and finish internally cooking. You should avoid tenting the turkey while it is resting to prevent the skin from steam exposure and resulting sogginess.