Sweet Italian sausage cooked with colorful bell peppers and onions with Marinara sauce is great with eggs, on sandwiches, or as is! A tasty and easy 30 minute skillet meal or an even easier sheet pan meal!
No respectable Italian-American home would be without a version of sausage, peppers and onions. My mom cooked Italian sausage and peppers with sauce and served it on crusty Italian rolls for dinner. It made a hearty sandwich and meal!
Nothing transports me back to my childhood like my mom’s meatballs, zucchini bread, or carrot cake, but the smell of sausage and peppers cooking in a skillet takes me back, too.
Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions
This easy dish of sausage, peppers and onions with sauce can be cooked two ways: in a skillet on the stove or on a sheet pan (rimmed baking sheet) in the oven on a sheet pan. (400 for 40 minutes).
Although Italian sausage is traditional, you can use any kind of flavorful sausage. I’ve used turkey sausage and several varieties of Aidell’s sausage to change things up and sometimes I add mushrooms.
Traditional Skillet Method: To cook in a skillet cook the sliced sausage until browned, remove the sausage, then cook the peppers and onions. I slice the onions and peppers while the sausage cooks. This is my favorite way. (See below on how cut a bell pepper quickly.)
When the peppers and onions have softened, I add the sausage back to the pan then add Rao’s Marinara sauce - it’s the lowest in carbs that I have found and has a wonderful flavor.
Sheet Pan Method: Toss the ingredients with 1 tablespoon of oil and bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes until browned, stirring halfway through. Put into a bowl and add warmed Marinara sauce.
How to Cut A Bell Pepper - The Easy Way
Have you ever wondered the easiest way to cut a bell pepper? You can make quick work of slicing bell peppers with this easy technique.
Stand the bell pepper on the cutting board with the stem end up. Slice the sides off of the pepper from top to bottom, 4 or three sides depending on how many lobes the pepper has. Cut off the bottom. Discard the top which has the seeds and most of the pithy veins attached. You’re done!
Now, slice the peppers the long way or short way depending on the recipe. I cut the short way for Chinese stir fry and the long way for this Italian sausage and peppers recipe.
[pepper photo]
This tasty Sausage, Peppers and Onions with Sauce is net 6.5 carbs per serving.
Italian Sausage, Peppers and Onions with Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage links
- 9 oz mixed color bell pepper, sliced into strips (about 2 large peppers)
- 2 oz sliced onion (about ½ cup)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (or more to taste)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ cup Rao's Marinara Sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Traditional Skillet Method
- Grill sausages and slice into rounds. Alternately, slice sausages and cook in a large skillet over medium heat with 1 ½ teaspoon oil, to brown (about 8-10 minutes). Remove sausage from the pan.
- While the sausage is cooking, slice the peppers and onion. Mince the garlic.
- Heat the oil over medium heat until it is hot. Swirl to coat the pan. Saute the vegetables with the garlic until softened (about 10 minutes). Add the sausage and any accumulated juices back to the pan to re-heat. Add the Marinara sauce and stir to coat. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve.
Sheet Pan Method
- Slice the sausage into rounds. Slice the peppers and onions. Mince the garlic.
- Toss the ingredients with 1 tablespoon of oil and bake at 400 degrees F for 40 minutes until browned, stirring halfway through. Put into a bowl and add warmed Marinara sauce. Divide and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Easy Sausage and Cabbage Dinner
Jean Wadle
This recipe is so simple and full of flavor! I used the oven method and added medium sliced zucchini just because I had it in the fridge and wanted to use it. I used a tomato & basil spaghetti sauce but I'm sure this would be good with any preference you may have. I also mixed it into penne pasta. Next time I will use bowtie.
This recipe went into my 'SIGNATURE RECIPE " file.
Mesa Mike
Stir fried this in my wok and added a few Thai chilis. Pretty tasty even though I forgot the marinara sauce after a couple of martinis.
Shawn Tripp
This was so easy to make and DELICIOUS too. Thanks for sharing.
Kylee
For the sheet pan directions - does the sausage have to be cooked prior?? Let me know thanks!!!
Kim Hardesty
No, it doesn't, Kylee. -Kim
Deanna
This was absolutely delicious. I used a can of tomato sauce and half of the can with water. Seasoned with Italian spices salt pepper and adobo. Will be making this again.
Kim
Is this recipe keto friendly???
Kim Hardesty
Hi Kim. Low Carb Maven is a low carb blog sharing recipes that fit keto macros. Almost all recipes are 10 NET CARBS or less. Some recipes are "clean" and others are "dirty". This recipe uses whole food ingredients except for the pasta sauce but you can make your own homemade sauce following any of the recipes on my keto tomato sauce post. The total carbs per serving is 8g and the NET CARBs per serving is 6.5. The number of servings and nutritional info is included for every recipe. Explanations about ingredient choice and great tips are included in the posts. To learn more about low carb diets and keto read my Low Carb Keto Beginners Guide. -Kim
Mary
By mistake, I had received some Italian Chicken sausages in a box of food I had ordered. My husband took one out & just heated it a microwave & did not like the taste. I was looking for a recipe that would provide more flavor & this hit the mark. We love peppers & onions so I had more than the recipe called for. I also used regular spaghetti sauce since that is all I had & I used more than double because my husband likes anything tomato based. It really was delicious & the sausage wasn't bad either.
Ann Siekmann
super easy and fast.
Desirae
Omgoodness! I made this for my family tonight, and it was amazing! That Raos Marinara.. i don’t know what that has been my whole life. So flavorful! Last minute, I made the decision to double the amount of Raos due to my plan to put this over rice/pasta. So good, thank you so much for sharing!
Paige
Can i male the sausage and peppers ahead and freeze it?
Kim
Hi Paige. You could probably undercook the peppers and freeze the dish. Sometimes peppers get mushy when frozen. I honestly haven't tried freezing this recipe as it feeds the four of us perfectly. -Kim
Michelle Filler
Made tonight, but added some baby spinach leaves too, and topped with some mozzarella cheese. Delicious, and keto friendly!
Ana
This recipe is easy and delicious! I will be making this again. I was worried 1/2 cup of sauce was not going to be enough for this dish, but it turned out perfect!
Cathy Sharp
Made this tonight and it was so good. Trying to do low carb to help my husbands blood sugar go down.
He loved it! And it was so easy. Thanks
Kim
I'm so happy you enjoyed it, Cathy! Enjoy your week. -Kim
Nicole Foster
This was delicious! I've never added sauce to sausage and peppers and loved the addition! I made it using the skillet method but am looking forward to trying it using the sheet pan method next time.
New2Jax
What is the serving size under Nutrition Facts?
Kim
This recipe card doesn't let me add customized wording on the nutritional label for serving size and I do not weigh or measure my cooked food. This recipe is for four, so 1/4 of the recipe is a serving. I just divide the recipe visually as I serve it to my family. -Kim
Kathy
Served this over zucchini "noodles." So easy and delicious. Everyone loved it. Can't wait to try the meatballs with the Rao sauce.
Love your recipes. Thanks so much!
Kim
I love the idea of serving this over zoodles, Kathy. Thanks for the great idea! Enjoy. -Kim
Kim
Yes, I love this recipe. Have you read Bacon and Butter CookBook?
Kim
HI Kim, I don't have the cookbook but I have looked through it on Amazon. I could dive into the bacon on the cover! -Kim
Danzzle
Great post and recipe