Creole Shrimp, Chicken and Vegetables

This isn’t your average one pan heat in the microwave meal. This recipe is for Creole Shrimp, Chicken, and Vegetables made in one pan that you will happily serve to company and even more happily clean up with a quick toss of aluminum foil in the trash. But better than that – it’s absolutely delicious. I knew my guys wanted to watch Thursday night sports – and I wanted something simple to cook that they would both get excited about. We are missing a trip to New Orleans this fall so I thought maybe we could enjoy a little bit of The Big Easy right here in Music City. This dinner did the trick. They loved it! A great plus for this recipe (as if one pan isn’t enough!) is that it can be prepped hours ahead – not that much prep is involved, but that means you can chop the onion and peppers, cut the chicken and sausage into bite size pieces, and mix up the spices. Go ahead and line the sheet pan with foil and store everything in containers on it in the fridge. Then you can get on with enjoying your day until dinner time.  Pull the pan out of the fridge 40 minutes before you want to serve dinner and the ingredients you need are right there. It’s perfectly acceptable to buy Creole seasoning, but this one tastes so much better and you will likely already have everything you need in the spice cabinet.

Make extra to keep for roasting chicken or pork tenderloin or – even better – making this recipe again. You can jazz it up with rice and a salad. I just tossed a little arugula and a lemon wedge on the plate for color. You could get extremely fancy and serve some French bread. It was a New Orleans night – so crumbled pralines on ice cream was the perfect dessert. There it is – a dinner so simple you’ll want to make it all the time, so delicious company will want you to make it all the time, and so easy to clean up you’ll want to pat yourself on the back. Do that and a little happy dance. You deserve it! Enjoy!

Creole Shrimp, Chicken and Vegetables

Ingredients

3 bell peppers – a mix of colors, chopped in 1” pieces

1 onion, chopped in 1” pieces

2 cups cherry tomatoes

3 ears of corn, cut into 2” pieces

1 lb chicken breast, cut in bite size pieces

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

8 oz package chicken sausages, sliced

3 Tbsp olive oil

Spice mix

2 Tbsp paprika (smoked paprika is good if you have it)

1 Tbsp dried basil

1 Tbsp dried oregano

1 Tbsp dried thyme

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp dried minced onion

Shake it all up in a jar.

Directions

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.

Put baking sheet in the oven and begin preheating to 425.

Mix peppers, onions, tomatoes, corn, and sausage with 1 Tbsp oil and 2 Tbsp spice mix.

When the oven is pre-heated remove sheet pan and spray with cooking spray.

Add vegetables and sausage to the pan return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

While the vegetables bake, toss chicken and shrimp in 1 Tbsp oil and 1 Tbsp spice mix.

Add chicken and shrimp to the pan and bake for 10 more minutes or until chicken is cooked through shrimp are firm and pink.

Serve immediately. A lemon wedge is a nice touch!