Sausage, Peppers and Onions is a delicious dish that’s easy to make and produces amazing leftovers. Italian sausages are cooked with a medley of peppers and onions and finished with a tomato sauce flavored with wine. Serve it at dinner over pasta or at lunch on a hoagie roll. Either way, you won’t be disappointed.
Why You Should Make This Recipe
- Easy: Making this sausage, peppers and onions recipe is super simple.
- Quick: In addition to being easy, this recipe takes less than 40 minutes to put together.
- Delicious: Sausage, Peppers and Onions is amazing. Its flavors perfectly complement one another.
- Versatile: You can serve the sausage, peppers and onions over whatever pasta you desire. It’s also delicious over polenta or served on a hoagie roll. You can keep the Italian sausage whole, or cut it into slices before serving.
- Amazing Leftovers: The leftovers from this recipe are just as good, if not better than the original dish.
Here’s What You’ll Need For This Recipe
- The Sausage: I used hot Italian sausage in this recipe because that’s what I had on hand. However, mild or sweet Italian sausage also works well.
- The Vegetables: I used red, yellow and green bell peppers in this dish primarily for color. However, you can use whatever peppers you have on hand. Also, I used a sweet onion, again because that’s what I had on hand. Finally, I used fresh garlic.
- The Tomatoes: Canned petit diced tomatoes work well in this recipe. Also tomato paste adds to the richness of the sauce.
- Dry Marsala: Dry Marsala rounds out the flavor of the sauce.
- The Seasonings: This recipe uses typical seasonings – salt, pepper, dried basil and dried oregano.
- Bringing up the rear: Finally, I used a bit of olive oil for browning the sausages.
The Prep
The preparation of ingredients for this dish were minimal.
First, I sliced the red, yellow and green bell peppers. Next, I cut the onion into thin slices. Finally, I minced the garlic.
I told you that the prep was minimal!
Here’s How I Made This Recipe
The steps in making this recipe were simple.
- First, I browned the Italian sausage in a little bit of olive oil over medium heat. This took about 10 minutes. Then, I drained the sausage well.
At this point, I didn’t worry about the sausage being fully cooked because it cooked more in the sauce later.
- Once I removed the sausage from the skillet, I added the onions and peppers. I cooked the onions and peppers over medium heat for about 7 minutes.
- Next, I added the garlic, salt, pepper, basil and oregano. I stirred the ingredients together and cooked the mixture for about 30 seconds until the garlic was fragrant.
- I added the Marsala wine, petit tomatoes and tomato paste to the skillet with the onions and peppers. I stirred to combine all ingredients, scraping up the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits.
- Once the Marsala/tomato sauce started to boil, I added the browned sausage. I reduced the heat to medium low and cooked the mixture for about 20 minutes until the sauce thickened a bit.
During the 20 minutes, I occasionally spooned the sauce over the sausages.
I served the Sausage, Onions and Peppers over angel hair pasta and included a loaf of crusty French bread on the side for a restaurant quality meal. Yum!
Frequently Asked Questions
I used angel hair pasta initially, but then used rotini with the leftovers. Really, any pasta will work with this dish.
There are several substitutes for the Marsala wine that will work. You can use Madeira, dry sherry, a good red wine or a good white wine.
If you don’t want to add alcohol to this recipe, you can omit the Marsala wine and replace it with a cup of chicken broth. The flavor will not be as complex, but the dish will still be good.
Marsala wine is a fortified Italian wine. As the name suggests, sweet Marsala is a sweet fortified wine that is best used in desserts or as an after dinner drink. Dry Marsala is best suited for savory dishes.
Sweet Italian sausage is a mild sausage that is a bit less spicy than mild Italian sausage. Sweet and mild Italian sausage can be used interchangeably.
Other Recipes that Use Italian Sausage
If you’re a fan of Italian sausage like I am, you should check out these delicious recipes:
Recipe
Sausage, Peppers and Onions
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound Italian sausage links (See Tip 1)
- ½ red bell pepper, seeds and membrane removed and sliced (See Tip 2)
- ½ yellow bell pepper, seeds and membrane removed and sliced (See Tip 2)
- ½ green bell pepper, seeds and membrane removed and sliced (See Tip 2)
- 1 large onion, sliced (about 2 cups)
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cup Dry Marsala wine (See Tip 3)
- 14.5 ounce can petit diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat. When hot, add sausages. Brown on both sides, about 10 minutes total. Remove sausage and drain well.
- Add peppers and onions to the same skillet. Cook over medium heat until tender, about 7 minutes.
- Add garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Cook for 30 seconds or until garlic is fragrant.
- Add Marsala wine, petit diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Add browned sausages and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
- Correct the seasonings. Serve over pasta prepared according to package directions.
- Yield: 5 servings.
Notes
- You can use sweet, mild or hot Italian sausage in this recipe. You can also use turkey Italian sausage.
- Feel free to use whatever combination of bell peppers you have on hand.
- You can substitute Madeira, dry sherry, red wine or white wine for the Marsala wine. You can also omit the Marsala wine and use instead 1 cup of chicken broth.
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