Roasted mushrooms, halloumi and cherry tomatoes come together easily in one pan to create a delicious tray bake dinner or side dish. With this flexible recipe you can add in kale, drizzle a tahini sauce over the top, sprinkle with seeds or just enjoy it plain. A filling family meal with bread or rice.
Here’s a One Pan Meal that Doesn’t Need a Lot…
This is shockingly simple considering how tasty it ends up, because your three key ingredients bring so much to the table. Mushrooms, tomatoes and halloumi cheese are such strong, flavorful ingredients and even better together! We roast them with onions, garlic, balsamic, cumin and lemon zest to bring out their very best selves, add some leafy kale and it’s like magic! Cheap, flavorful and an all round perfect weeknight meal.
From there, we can enjoy it in its simple glory or we can add some fun toppings. I love to add a tahini drizzle, fresh chopped cilantro (coriander), and a sprinkling of dukkah or toasted nuts. A packet of microwave rice / mixed grains or a loaf of crusty bread will complete your dinner effortlessly. This pan could also be a side dish for a larger meal!
What to know about your ingredients and cookware
- You want a large pan with shallow sides. A 9×13 lasagna dish is perfect here. You want as much flat surface area as possible – try to avoid roasting pans with very curved sides. The more space you have, the less the veggies will overlap, and the easier they will roast.
- If you don’t have halloumi, you could try this with paneer, bread cheese or any other non-melting cheese. In the UK, inexpensive halloumi is widely available which makes this a very affordable meal, but I know it’s pricey in the US. If you’re in the land of expensive halloumi, feel free to shop around for alternatives and imitations. Some of them might not behave 100% the same way as true halloumi (more on that in my halloumi guide) but I don’t think you can go too wrong with this particular recipe.
- The Best Mushrooms: I make this with chestnut mushrooms, which I find are about the right size for the cook time to match up with cherry tomatoes. If you only have large ones, just slice them and be on your way.
- The Best Tomatoes: Cherry or baby plum work best here. Cherry tomatoes are a little juicier and will disintegrate more as they roast, while baby plums will hold their shape better. If you’re stuck, vine tomatoes cut into quarters should work out OK in a pinch.
- The Best Kale: If you want to use leafy greens in this recipe, I recommend lacinato kale aka dinosaur kale, Tuscan kale, black kale or cavolo nero. It will get a little crisp in the oven but not burn. Whereas curly kale is a little more delicate, it might start to singe before the dish is fully ready.
- Balsamic Vinegar, Garlic and Cumin: add a nice flavor kick here, but if there’s another sauce or herb or spice mix you want to use, go right ahead.
- A lemon is used for both zesting and juicing.
- My simple tahini sauce recipe is included. This is optional but really yummy. On its own, the dish is quite juicy and moist so you don’t need a sauce, but if you serve with rice it’s useful to have a little something extra since the rice will soak up a lot of those juices from the mushrooms and tomatoes.
- Dukkah or toasted nuts make a delightful crunchy topping. This is my go-to easy dukkah recipe.
Need to Know: Oven Times Can Vary a Lot with this Recipe!
Both mushrooms and cherry tomatoes leach moisture as they cook, so the roasting process for this recipe can be a little unpredictable. The variables:
- How large your pan is and how spaced out all your ingredients end up. The closer together they are, the longer it will take, and the juicier the pan will stay.
- How juicy your tomatoes are. Cherry tomatoes are a little juicier than baby plum / grape tomatoes.
- How large your mushrooms are. Smaller mushrooms will roast faster.
- How hot your oven is / whether it’s fan forced / all the usual oven variables.
- The type of cookware you use.
So with that in mind, you’re cooking with your eyes here. Refer to my photos and descriptions more than the clock.
Serving Suggestions
If you want to make a complete meal out of this, I have some very simple suggestions:
- Serve with a pack of microwave rice or grains. Note that if you do this, the rice will drink up a lot of the juices so I do recommend some kind of sauce if at all possible!
- Crusty fresh bread or pita breads.
… and some which require another pan / a tiny bit more effort:
- Baked sweet potatoes (you can bake them in the oven at the same time, or air fry some halved sweet potatoes).
- Mashed potatoes would be a decadent choice, alternatively you could try cauliflower mash or white bean mash.
More One Pan Dinners with Halloumi
One Pan Roasted Mushrooms & Halloumi
Roasted mushrooms, halloumi and cherry tomatoes come together easily in one pan to create a delicious tray bake dinner or side dish. With this flexible recipe you can add in kale, drizzle a tahini sauce over the top, sprinkle with seeds or just enjoy it plain. A filling family meal with bread or rice.
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 10.5 oz (300 g) chestnut mushrooms, wiped clean and de-stemmed
- 9 oz (250 g) cherry tomatoes, whole
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, use a little less if your vinegar is very viscose
- 8 oz (225 g) halloumi cheese, cubed
- 1 lemon , for zesting and squeezing
- 1 handful chopped lacinato kale (cavolo nero)
- 2-3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (coriander) or parsley
- optional – dukkah, toasted pine nuts or another crunchy topping
Tahini Drizzle (optional)
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp honey
- 1 pinch ground cumin
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F.
- Add your mushrooms, tomatoes and onion to the pan. Drizzle with oil and use a spatula to flip everything around and get all of the ingredients somewhat coated. Use just enough oil for a reasonable coating on all of the ingredients. Add the garlic, balsamic and cumin to the pan and mix through to coat the ingredients. Make sure the mushrooms are cap side up and then place in the oven for 20 minutes.olive oil, 10.5 oz chestnut mushrooms, 9 oz cherry tomatoes, 1 small red onion, 3 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp ground cumin
- If you're making the tahini sauce, do that now. Whisk together all of the ingredients and then add warm water to thin it out to a more drizzly texture.2 tbsp tahini, 1/4 tsp honey, 1 pinch ground cumin, 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- Check in on the pan after 20 minutes. You want to see the mushrooms reduced and browning, the tomatoes starting to collapse and the onions browning. The pan should be filling with juices. The ingredients don't need to feel like they're done, but you want them to be on their way. Sometimes this takes closer to 30 minutes – all ovens, pans and individual ingredients will be a little different here.
- Once you're ready to move on, add the halloumi, a few grates of lemon zest and kale into the pan. Toss everything through with a spatula – ideally the kale and halloumi will get coated in oils / juices but if the pan is too dry, drizzle in some more oil and a squeeze of lemon juice if you wish. Place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.8 oz halloumi cheese, 1 lemon, 1 handful chopped lacinato kale (cavolo nero)
- By now, the halloumi should be crisped up and brown around the edges, but it may need another 5 minutes. You don't need to mix or flip the halloumi but you may want to rotate the pan on the oven shelf if one side is cooking more quickly.
- Once it's done, remove from the oven and squeeze a little lemon juice over the top. Add the accompaniments and toppings of your choice, and serve immediately.1 lemon
Notes
Nutritional information is based on 1/4th of the recipe, includes the tahini drizzle but no other accompaniments, and assumes that you used 4 tablespoons of olive oil for cooking.
Calories: 400kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 17g, Fat: 32g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 15g, Sodium: 702mg, Potassium: 593mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 6g, Vitamin A: 1149IU, Vitamin C: 29mg, Calcium: 635mg, Iron: 2mg
My daughter, 18, who is not the easiest to please, said that this was the best meal in ages! They all liked the sauce/juice (which soaked into the basmati rice)