Vegan summer palak paneer | Easy sheet pan dinner

I’ve been on a mission recently: to find vegan sheet pan dinners that can save me on weeknights. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be. There’s plenty of chicken sheet pan dinners, plenty of taco ones and plenty of nacho ones, but very few are vegan, and more interesting than roasted vegetables.

Sometimes I make the marinade from this recipe and turn it into a veganised palak paneer, which is what I started doing last week when I realised I could turn it into an easy sheet pan dinner. The first attempt wasn’t so great – I undercooked the mushrooms, burnt the marinade and added too much coconut milk. But every attempt since has been simply delicious. And guess what? It only takes 35 minutes.

This palak paneer is probably quite different to what you’ve seen and eaten. My take on the Indian classic is light, fresh and vibrant – the perfect food to enjoy on a hot summer’s day. The umami and saltiness of the marinade meets the sweetness of the red onion and cherry tomatoes.

Vegan summer palak paneer
Serves 2

200g organic, non-GMO tofu, sliced into rectangles
4 tbsp + 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes, divided
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 lemon, juiced
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup filtered water
1 red onion, halved and sliced
12 cherry tomatoes
100g baby spinach
3-4 tbsp coconut milk

Heat oven to 200 degrees C.

Place the tofu in a shallow bowl and add 4 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes, garlic powder, lemon juice, salt and water. Mix until combined well and tofu is coated.

Place the tofu on a greased oven tray. Add the red onion and cherry tomatoes, and place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove tray from the oven and add baby spinach to the pan. Don’t mix it through yet as it will wilt down in the oven.

After 10 more minutes of cooking time, remove tray and mix everything around. Gently push your spoon on the tomatoes – they should be soft enough that their juices ooze out.

Drizzle the coconut milk onto the pan and the ingredients, then sprinkle additional 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes and return the pan to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve atop some fresh spinach on a bed of steamed basmati rice.