Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions Recipe

Name: Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions and Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2-3 green peppers chopped; 1 package sausage (depends on how much you want to make); olive oil; 1 onion chopped in large chunks

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This Italian sausage, peppers and onion recipe is easy, simple, and absolutely delicious. This Italian recipe is from my mother and is always a hit for parties, family get togethers, and holiday meals.

I’m sharing this sausage peppers and onions recipe with you so you too can use it as a must-have in your go-to stash of recipe favorites.

The flexibility of this recipe makes it a great accompaniment to larger meals such as a pasta bake, lasagna, or even with eggplant cutlets (one of my favorite recipes)!

It can also be a main meal with its own side dishes.

how to make italian peppers sausage and onion recipe

We still use this recipe in our family today, and it will certainly satisfy any meat lover. It’s one of those dishes that smells so delicious as it cooks the sausage, onions and peppers all together.

What’s in an Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions Recipe?

Everything for this recipe can be bought at a store. It only takes 45 minutes from start to finish with most of the time being in the oven cooking.

Here are the three main ingredients below, but there are many variations – just check out my reader’s comments!

Italian Sausage

Italian sausage can be bought in a variety of flavors. You typically have the option of sweet Italian sausage or regular Italian sausage. Either one is fine to choose so don’t fret if you’re wondering which one is best, they both are winners.

Green Peppers

The recipe I grew up with uses mostly regular green peppers, onion and sausage together. You can add in yellow, orange or red, but keep in mind these peppers are sweeter than green peppers.

The green peppers compliment the sausage best in my opinion, but adding some extra other peppers can help with variety and certainly add a nice splash of color in the presentation!

My recommendation is simply to have more green peppers than others.

In the end, it’s totally up to you. Some people don’t like green peppers at all, in which case don’t use them. This recipe is so flexible as you’ll see in the many comments below as people share their own variations.

Onion

Nothing earth-shattering here with the onions, just basic yellow onions. If you try vidalia onions, they will be sweet which some people love. I prefer the yellow onions personally as I think it blends perfectly for a sausage peppers and onions recipe.

How to Cook Italian Sausage, Peppers, and Onions

My family recipe has a step that some people like to skip, and that’s frying the sausage, peppers and onions on a stove prior to cooking them in the oven.

You can jump straight to my recipe steps here if you’re all ready to get started. If you prefer to skip the frying, make sure to read the next section since the cooking requirements will change.

In a nutshell, following my initial recipe which includes frying, you chop the ingredients fairly equal in size.

First add in the peppers and fry in a hot frying pan in olive oil over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes, then remove the peppers and add the onion and sausage which you cook until the sausage is thoroughly cooked through. You can cook the sausage whole or cut them up into smaller chunks.

Then you transfer everything to an oven proof baking dish and bake at 375F for 10 minutes until evenly heated and cooked through.

How to Cook Sausage, Peppers and Onions in the Oven with No Frying

I’m not going to fault anyone who prefers not to fry the ingredients. In this case you simply drizzle with olive oil (don’t need a lot) enough to lightly coat the ingredients, and bake everything at 375F for about 45 minutes or until the internal temp of the sausage reaches 165F.

I do think you lose a little bit of flavor without frying, but honestly, it will still taste and smell amazing.

Sausage and Green Pepper Substitutions/Alternatives

Green peppers, sausage, onion, and olive oil are all you need for this recipe. But you can make some substitutions if you’d like. For example, you can use both green and red peppers. Many people like the sweetness red peppers have.

You can also opt out of pork sausage.

If you are concerned with using pork sausage, I can relate. Although I love the taste of regular sausage, that doesn’t change the fact that it is really hard on the digestive system and loaded with saturated fat.

Italian sausage peppers and onions recipe

So what I’ve done in the past is make a simple variation/substitution which is slightly healthier by using chicken sausage or turkey sausage. However, make sure to still go with organic brands to avoid the unnecessary use of chemicals, nitrates and the like.

Regardless, this recipe holds its own with its easy preparation, simple ingredients, and quick cooking.

The steps are below for you to follow. I grew up with my mother making this sausage peppers and onions recipe and there were never any leftovers!

I’ll bet it will be the same with you!

5 from 11 votes

Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions and Recipe

Here's one of our Italian family recipes for sausage, peppers and onions. It's so easy to make and is great for parties, side dishes, and holidays. Goes great with pasta and has lots of flavor!

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Italian

Keyword sausage, peppers, onions

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

2-3 green peppers chopped
1 package sausage depends on how much you want to make
olive oil
1 onion chopped in large chunks

Instructions

Wash peppers thoroughly.
Cut peppers in strips.
Fry in olive oil 5 – 10 minutes over medium high heat.
Add onion.
Remove peppers.
Add sausage and fry until brown and cooked through.
Mix everything together in oven proof baking pan.
Bake at 375F for 10 minutes or until meat reaches an internal temp of 165F.

Recipe Notes

Tips:

This is a great recipe for cookouts and picnics. It is magnifico!
Side dishes for this are Italian breads, macaroni salad, pasta salad, tomatoes and olive oil, bruschetta, salad, spinach, grilled vegetables with balsamic vinegar (yum!), roasted potatoes, potato salad.

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