Overhead view of a dutch oven filled with sausages, peppers, and onions.
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Sausage and Peppers

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This simple, classic Italian comfort food recipe makes a perfect weeknight meal and is easily scaled up to feed a crowd. Inspired by my Calabrese father-in-law!

This post may contain affiliate links.

Sausage and peppers is one of the first traditional Italian recipes that I was introduced to back when my husband and I first started dating. At the time, I was an incredibly picky eater, and I did not like sausage at all.

OK, there was one exception. True to my Midwestern roots, I could go to town on a plate of cheddar cheese, crackers, and summer sausage. YUM.

But as for any other type of sausage, I was not a fan.

Sausage and Peppers is a simple, classic Italian comfort food recipe makes a perfect weeknight meal and is easily scaled up to feed a crowd. Inspired by my Calabrese father-in-law!

My Italian in-laws always keep a well-stocked refrigerator (2 refrigerators, actually!). They are stocked with lots of food items that I didn’t grow up with (I’m looking at you, broccoli rabe), and there are always several types of sausage.

Living under their roof when I first moved to New York really got me excited about trying more new and different types of food – even some that were outside of my comfort zone back in 2004.

My father-in-law is a phenomenal cook. He’s originally from Calabria, Italy, and spent most of his childhood in Belgium before moving to New York in 1963. As a toolmaker, his work hours got him back home in the mid-afternoon, so he started cooking delicious dinners as a hobby.

In fact, we used to cook together almost every night after work while I lived there. It was an absolute blast, and we may or may not have enjoyed a hearty amount of wine during that process.

We improvised many meals together, and it really got me comfortable cooking for the family.

He cooks based on his mood and what’s hanging around in that incredibly well-stocked kitchen. He rarely uses a recipe, and you’ll never have a bad meal in his house. You’ll also never get the same exact meal twice.

But me? Improvise recipes every single time? Nope.

I want to be able to make the same thing more than once and be able to share the deliciousness with other people so they can enjoy it with their families as well. I do a lot more improvisation now than I used to, but I do like documenting successes and failures in the kitchen.

My kiddo learning the art of #baking #creampuffs w grandpa. #dessert #kidsofinstagram

A post shared by Ashley Covelli (@bigflavors) on

I’ve been making sure that I spend time cooking with him while measuring ingredients and taking copious notes so that recipes like this classic sausage & peppers can be made for years and years to come.

And I’ve made my version for him several times now, and it got an enthusiastic stamp of approval from him.

Fantastico!

Sausage and Peppers is a simple, classic Italian comfort food recipe makes a perfect weeknight meal and is easily scaled up to feed a crowd. Inspired by my Calabrese father-in-law!

Look for Italian sausage in the grocery store in the refrigerated meat section, usually near the pork chops and roasts. You’ll typically see 2 types of Italian sausage – hot and sweet.

The sweet sausage generally contains fennel, which was initially the reason I wasn’t a fan of sausage, but it has since grown on me. I like using a mix of hot and sweet when I make this dish for my family. The hot is sometimes pretty spicy, and my son prefers the sweet.

A little something for everyone!

You can eat this dish as is, slice it up and put it on top of pasta, or get some nice crusty bread and turn it into sandwiches. Don’t forget to sop up the pan juices – they pack a ton of flavor!

You can even make this on the grill or in pizza form!

Spicy Italian Sausage and Peppers Pizza - Because what’s better than classic Italian comfort food in pizza form?

This dish is super simple and a great way to enjoy a delicious Italian comfort food dinner in your own home.

Looking for more Italian-inspired favorites? Check out these 5-star recipes:

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Sausage and Peppers

★★★★★ 5 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen - Ashley Covelli
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 50 minutes
  • Total Time: 55 minutes
  • Yield: 4 Servings 1x
  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Stovetop/Oven
  • Cuisine: Italian
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Description

This simple, classic Italian comfort food recipe makes a perfect weeknight meal and is easily scaled up to feed a crowd. Inspired by my Calabrese father-in-law!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 6 Italian sausages (hot, sweet, or a mix of both)
  • 1 large white onion, sliced
  • 1 large red bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 large green bell pepper, sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • Crusty bread, for serving

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausages and sear until browned on both sides.
  3. Add onion and bell peppers. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon of oil and season with oregano, salt and pepper. Pour wine over top and give it a stir. Transfer to preheated oven and cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes, or until onions and peppers have cooked down and softened a bit.
  4. Serve sausage and peppers in crusty bread and prepare to meet your new favorite sandwich!

Keywords: Italian sausage, sausage and peppers

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Sausage and Peppers is a simple, classic Italian comfort food recipe makes a perfect weeknight meal and is easily scaled up to feed a crowd. Inspired by my Calabrese father-in-law!

Note: This post includes affiliate links for items that I genuinely enjoy. Big Flavors will receive a tiny commission from purchases made through affiliate links on this site at no added cost to you. This allows us to cover site-related expenses and helps to keep us cooking up a storm!

40 Comments

  • Big Dude

    September 30, 2010 at 9:08 am Reply

    It looks outstanding and is a meal I love. My wife has an issue with sausage as well – although she likes it as a patty, she doesn’t care for it in the casing, even though it’s the same meat.

  • Jhonny walker

    September 30, 2010 at 3:34 pm Reply

    the sausages are perfect…I love sausages. Just love them. There is nothing doing. I have to get these. You know what makes me sad? I want to own a red colored dutch oven. I don’t have one..and they are expensive 🙁

    The images are perfect!

  • Ashley

    October 2, 2010 at 11:16 am Reply

    Jhonny – I hope you like this! It was really easy to put together, and super comforting. As for the dutch oven – I got this one at Target – MUCH less expensive than those Le Creuset ones!

  • Velva

    November 12, 2010 at 6:30 pm Reply

    I have Italian in-laws and sausage and peppers is their go to meal when feeding a crowd or just something easy to prepare that is delicious.

    Your sausage and peppers look wonderful. Awesome!

    • BigFlavorsFromATinyKitchen

      October 3, 2016 at 9:56 pm Reply

      I haven’t tried it with turkey, but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work! You sear ’em well and then they cook up for 45 minutes, so they should cook through no problem. The little bit of liquid from the wine and veggies should keep everything nice and juicy. Let me know how it turns out when you try it!

  • Adrienne Melton

    August 15, 2017 at 11:04 am Reply

    Made this last Thursday, for our first pre-season game using sweet Italian sausages. I don’t own a dutch oven so everything was done in a large skillet. Also because I didn’t have white wine on hand I used chicken broth. Served it with hot dog rolls and my friends ate it up. One friend even commented that this would be great with rice. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

    • BigFlavorsFromATinyKitchen

      November 6, 2017 at 9:36 am Reply

      I somehow missed this comment when you originally left it, Adrienne – I’m so glad it was a hit! I’ve definitely substituted chicken broth before, too. It’s a small amount and shouldn’t make much of a difference. I’ll have to try it with rice sometime – or maybe even cauliflower “rice” since my husband is on a keto diet right now. Hope you have a great week!

    • Ashley

      March 15, 2018 at 1:33 pm Reply

      I’m so glad you love it! It’s one of our family favorites :). I don’t think you’d need to increase the cooking time, but you may need to brown the sausages in batches to make sure they all get nice and golden before you pop it into the oven. I’d love to hear how it turns out with the bigger batch!

    • Ashley

      March 21, 2018 at 5:45 pm Reply

      I think that sounds like a great swap! It’s not too much liquid anyhow – so you could probably use water or stock without noticing too much of a difference as well.

  • Amie

    April 30, 2019 at 1:24 pm Reply

    I love this recipe! I’ve made it many times! I’ve put it on toasted hoagie rolls and I’ve served it over pasta. I don’t have a Dutch oven so I usually brown the sausages in a pan and then put everything in a baking dish. It’s delicious!

    ★★★★★

    • Ashley

      May 2, 2019 at 10:23 am Reply

      I’m so, so glad this has been a hit in your house, Amie! Browning and baking that way is a great idea. If you have a big, heavy skillet that’s ovenproof, you could use that, too. Bonus points if it has a lid – it’ll help keep everything nice and juicy. Thank you for the review and rating!

  • Eddie Hernandez

    August 11, 2019 at 5:50 pm Reply

    I love this recipe! I stumbled upon it by accident because I was searching for a sausage and peppers recipe that didnt use tomato sauce.

    I had all the ingredients already in stock . Esp the white wine lol.
    Absolutely Delicious, served it on ltalian Hoagie Rolls .

    ★★★★★

  • Eddie Hernandez

    August 11, 2019 at 5:50 pm Reply

    I love this recipe! I stumbled upon it by accident because I was searching for a sausage and peppers recipe that didnt use tomato sauce.

    I had all the ingredients already in stock . Esp the white wine lol.
    Absolutely Delicious, served it on ltalian Hoagie Rolls .

    ★★★★★

  • Bess l zaffuto

    September 17, 2019 at 2:46 pm Reply

    Love this way to use Dutch oven recipe!!! Thanks..as for red dutch..my husband got me a white one I made him return for red..I said it cooks better lol .wasn’t expensive about 50 on amazon

    ★★★★★

  • Linda Sullivan

    October 1, 2020 at 9:00 pm Reply

    Made this tonight for dinner and my picky eater husband loved it so it will definitely be a repeater for us! I used house made sweet fennel sausage from a local artisan Italian restaurant that we love. They had a simple but fantastic appetizer on their menu for a while that we loved but unfortunately they removed it. WIth this recipe and some fresh pomodoro sauce we were able to recreate that beloved experience. We served with some crusty Italian bread. Fantastic!

    ★★★★★

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