Don't Throw Away Charred Baking Sheets. Use Them To Brown Veggies Instead

You take out an oven baking sheet to bake some cookies and you instantly realize it won't work — the pan is too brown and charred! Brown cookie sheets can lead to burned cookies, so you decide to spend some time trying to clean them up in order to have a nicer surface for baking sweet treats. To clean charred and stained cookie sheets, you can use baking soda and vinegar, then some elbow-grease and scrub the sheet sparkling clean. You can also use hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, salt and vinegar, and even commercial oven cleaner to get those baking sheets spotless.

If those don't work, you may need to toss the oven cooking trays out and get new ones for your cookies. Of course, these little flat pans can be used for more than cookies and bread. You can also keep those charred and brown cooking sheets and use them for browning vegetables in the oven.  

Roasted vegetables in the oven can be a great side dish for dinner, and they're easy to make, too. You simply chop the vegetables you want to roast, toss them in a few tablespoons of olive oil and seasoning until they are evenly coated, then spread the vegetables out in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast them in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until they are tender and lightly browned. If you like your vegetables more brown, though, the charred and stained baking sheet are perfect for your cooking needs. 

A blackened baking sheet allows for deep browning when you are roasting vegetables because the darkened surface helps with caramelizing whatever food comes in contact with the pan. This helps you to get the edges of your vegetables a nice, deep brown, and it can even blacken them some, while leaving the bulk of the vegetables tender. It also give the vegetables a charred, slightly smoky flavor, which is usually something you only get from a grill.

The other good part about using these baking sheets for roasting vegetables is that you don't have to use aluminum foil, because the idea is to have the vegetables come in contact with the brown spots on the surface of the pan, which will allow your vegetables to get a deeper roast. Additionally, you don't have to worry about the vegetables messing up your pans, because they are already blackened and charred. This means that clean-up can be a breeze and you can simply wash the pan! You won't have to worry about scrubbing off the stains, because you can use the pan for vegetables another time. 

Once your baking sheets start to thin, warp, or show holes, though, you should throw them away because they're not good to use. Food cooked on warped pans won't cook evenly, and baking sheets with holes can pass small metal shavings onto your food. Additionally, you risk burning your food if the sheet pan is too thin from lots of use. Until then, though, feel free to use those charred pans to your heart's desire.