Air-Fryer Harissa Sausage & Veg Traybake
Italian sausages glazed in rose harissa, butternut squash and red pepper roasted underneath, kale tossed in at the last minute for crisp green flecks. North-African heat applied to the British traybake template. One basket, twenty minutes, dinner.
The traybake is the great British weeknight invention — protein and vegetables on the same sheet pan, slid into a hot oven, dinner ready in under 45 minutes. The air-fryer version compresses the timeline further: same one-pan logic, half the cooking time, faster preheat, no oven warming the kitchen on a summer evening.
Rose harissa is the ingredient that transforms this from "tray of roasted things" into "tray of roasted things with serious personality." It's harissa paste with dried rose petals added — slightly floral, deeply smoky-spicy, the colour of dried tomato. A spoonful tossed with the sausages glazes them with reddish-orange lacquer; a smaller spoonful in with the vegetables ties everything together. If you can't find rose harissa, regular harissa works (just add a teaspoon of honey to mellow it).
The photo shows the finished plate, plated rather than tray-served: two harissa-glossed sausages laid across a bed of roasted butternut squash chunks, red bell pepper, red onion wedges, and crinkled bits of kale that have crisped at the edges. Coral-pink ceramic plate underneath, which makes the colour palette of the dish even more intense.
Method
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01
Season the vegetables
In a large bowl, toss the butternut squash, red pepper, and red onion
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02
Glaze the sausages
In a separate bowl, rub the sausages all over with the remaining 1
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03
Layer in the basket
Heat the air fryer to 400°F (200°C). Add the seasoned vegetables to
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04
Cook
Cook 18–22 minutes, shaking the basket at 10 minutes (the vegetables;
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05
Crisp the kale
While the cooking finishes, toss the kale with 1 tbsp olive oil and
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06
Plate
Move everything to a serving platter (or 4 individual plates).