Sausage and Peppers Recipe

This Sausage and peppers recipe is a classic Italian favorite. There are many ways to make this beautiful dish but the easiest one is to start by searing all the ingredients in a pan. 

Your dinner will be finished within an hour with minimal preparation and clean up. It’s also a one pan meal, making clean-up all the easier. 

You can enjoy this dish with pasta, as in our recipe, or make it an easy add-on for rice, or your sandwich filler… you name it! Now, here are a few things to know before we can kick off fall with today’s recipe.

Is Sausage and Peppers Healthy

Yes, our sausage and peppers recipe is relatively healthy.

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1. Calories

One serving of our sausage and peppers contains 493 calories when served with pasta. This number is not enough for lunch or dinner, so we suggest having the dish with salad or soup to reach our recommended daily intake of calories — 750 calories for lunch/dinner.

2. Carbs

There are 34 grams of carbohydrates in a serving of sausage and peppers, which account for about 12 percent of the recommended daily intake for carbs.

Types of Peppers and Sausage to Use

We recommend Italian sausage for this sausage and peppers recipe for maximum flavor. The regular savory or sweet sausages can both work well in the dish, so choose whichever you prefer. If you want to be creative with meat, beef or turkey sausage are also excellent choices.

As for peppers, there are a variety of options available:

1. Bell Peppers

These big round peppers come in rainbow colors — green, red, yellow, orange, and purple. Red and yellow peppers are the ripened green peppers, resulting in their sweeter flavor.

Having a less spicy flavor than most peppers, bell peppers (or sweet peppers) are great to toss in salads or stir-fry in the sauce. They add more texture and nutrients to the dish.

2. Cherry Peppers

Cherry peppers are red, round, or heart-shaped peppers, sweet, and can be a bit spicy. They taste and smell like their appearance — small red peppers.

3. Serrano Peppers

These long, thin, green peppers offer a slight punch of heat which many people love to have in their pasta. You can chop them up and add to salad, salsa, or sauce for more depth of flavor.

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How Do You Know If Sausages Are Done

With thicker sausages, it can sometimes be challenging to know when they are fully cooked. Generally, a medium link sausage will take about 15 – 20 minutes to cook in a frying pan.

To cook sausages evenly on both sides, you have to keep a close eye on them and turn them over frequently. Cooked sausages should have a nice, even, golden-brown crust on the outside, and a paler color on the inside (but not pink).

When you cut into the sausages, you should expect clear juice coming out of them. There should not be any pink juices or blood.

As for today’s sausage and peppers recipe, we will be cooking them twice: first, by frying and then by simmering with the sauce, so undercooked sausages shouldn’t be an issue.

That being said, having a probe thermometer around to check for internal temperature would be the best way to ensure food safety. The perfect temperature for a cooked sausage link should fall around 160 to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Can You Freeze Sausage and Peppers

This sausage and peppers recipe makes 4 servings but you can easily double it if you prefer and save the leftovers for another meal by simply freezing them. The easiest way to do this is to let your cooked dish cool down completely to room temperature, then freeze it in a freezer-safe food container or zip-top freezer bag.

You can also freeze this sausage and peppers dish before cooking. First, divide the sausage, vegetables, and seasonings into different bags. Then you can throw everything in a hot pan whenever you are craving a hot and hearty dinner.

Whether this dish is frozen before or after cooking, it will last in your freezer for up to 2 months.

What to Serve with

Normally, hot dog buns would be the perfect companion for sausages. However, they are not the healthiest choice and not the friendliest option for many dieters. So here are some healthy alternatives to pair with sausage and peppers:

• Potatoes: we recommend simple mashed potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes. Both offer another level of flavor and texture that would work beautifully with the sausage and peppers.
• Salads: for a hearty recipe like sausage and peppers, we suggest adding a simple salad for some freshness. A healthy broccoli salad to add more vegetables, or a lovely fresh fruit salad for dessert, would be perfect to complete your meal.
• Pasta: the tomato sauce from sausage and peppers goes well with almost any pasta. However, we do recommend whole grain pasta because it contains more fiber, protein, iron, magnesium, and other minerals, making it healthier than your regular pasta.

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Of course, sausage and peppers is a filling dish and you could have it all on its own, but we love to have it with pasta which easily soaks up that tasty sauce to become an earthy, filling dish. It also adds more carbohydrates to the dish that are needed for a well-rounded meal.

If you are in the mood for another healthy pasta recipe, our shrimp scampi is also a great option.

Sausage and Peppers Recipe

5 from 2 votes

This sausage and peppers recipe might take 50 minutes to make, but only the first half of that requires focused effort. After that, you can spend the last 20 minutes preparing dessert or munching on a cheese appetizer, whichever your heart desires!

- by Tuyet Pham, Luna Regina, 2020-05-12

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• cook TIME 40 mins
• prep TIME 10 mins
• total TIME 50 mins

• COURSE Dinner, Main Course
• CUISINE American, Italian
• SERVINGS
  4

  servings
• CALORIES 493 kcal

INGREDIENTS

1x2x3x

• 9 oz Italian sausage
• 8 oz bell pepper (red, green, yellow) (sliced)
• 4 oz fettuccine pasta
• 2 oz onion (chopped)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp garlic (chopped)
• 1 cup homemade tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup unsalted chicken broth
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1.5 oz shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp fresh basil
• 1 tbsp parsley

INSTRUCTIONS

Image instructions

1

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook 4 oz fettuccine pasta until al dente and drain. Set aside.

2

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add 9 oz sausages and cook until they are browned on all sides. Transfer sausages to a cutting board and let them cool at room temperature.

3

Slice sausages into 1-inch rings, and set aside.

4

Add 1 tbsp butter to the same skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tsp garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in 2 oz onion and 8 oz bell pepper. After the vegetables have softened, pour in 1 cup tomato sauce, 1/2 cup chicken broth, 1/4 tsp ground pepper, 1/4 tsp oregano, and 1/2 tsp paprika.

5

Add in sausage. Stir and simmer for a few minutes. Then reduce the heat to low-medium heat. Add in cooked pasta and 1.5 oz parmesan cheese, toss to bring everything together. Remove from heat.

6

Top with parsley and fresh basil. Serve.

NUTRITION

Nutrition Facts

Sausage and Peppers Recipe

Amount Per Serving (1 serving)

Calories 493Calories from Fat 279

% Daily Value*

Fat 31g

48%

Saturated Fat 10g

63%

Trans Fat 1g

Polyunsaturated Fat 3g

Monounsaturated Fat 11g

Cholesterol 59mg

20%

Sodium 561mg

24%

Potassium 663mg

19%

Carbohydrate 36g

12%

Fiber 4g

17%

Sugar 8g

9%

Protein 19g

38%

Vitamin A 3090IU

62%

Vitamin C 89mg

108%

Calcium 173mg

17%

Iron 3mg

17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Keywords: italian recipe, Sausage and Peppers, Sausage and Peppers recipe