Why I love these sausage and pepper sandwiches
I’ve been making this particular recipe for years now, and even though I’ve tried a few others, I still come back to this one.
It’s also incredibly easy to customize. Use sweet or spicy Italian sausage depending on how much heat you want, swap the pepper colors, or even add extra red pepper flakes to make it extra spicy.
The recipe is forgiving and hard to mess up.
If you end up with leftovers, serve them over some pasta instead of having bread for a change of pace.
More Italian favorites: Italian Bruschetta / creamy Italian Dressing / Italian green beans / penne bolognese
and this southwest chicken stuffed peppers and this quick pickled asparagus.
Ingredients & substitutions
- Italian sausage – Any style of Italian sausage will do here. Sweet, mild or spicy – they all cook the same. We like to use sweet because I love the extra fennel flavor.
- Bell peppers – The recipe calls for one red and one green, but feel free to use any combination. Red, orange, and yellow peppers are sweeter; green is more savory.
- Crusty rolls – You want something firm enough to hold up to the saucy peppers and onions. We have a hard time finding good crusty rolls where we live, but I’ve found that substituting a baguette works perfectly, or you could toast up some submarine/hoagie roll.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Melissa’s tips & tricks
- Browning the sausages first before adding the peppers and onions gives them better color and flavor.
- Don’t rush the peppers and onions — letting them sauté until the onions are soft and translucent makes a big difference in the final flavor.
- Slicing the sausages lengthwise at the end lets them soak up the sauce and makes them easier to eat in a sandwich.
Frequently asked questions
When you are cooking Italian sausages in a skillet they typically take about 10-15 minutes to be fully cooked through. Check the internal temperature just to be sure, you want the internal temperature to reach 160°F.
I prefer to serve these sandwiches on a hard crusty hoagie style roll, though a baguette will work well. You will want something that is long like the sausage. I think it is nice to have a firmer bread to help contain the saucy peppers and onions, plus it gives the dish lots of added texture.
Sausage and Pepper Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 5 Italian sausage links, about 1 1/4 pounds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 green bell pepper, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1 medium sweet onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3/4 cup beef stock
- 1 15- ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 4 rolls, for serving
Instructions
- Sear the sausage. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add sausages and cover skillet. Cook sausages, turning occasionally, for about 7-10 minutes. Remove sausages and set aside.
- Sauté the vegetables. Add peppers, onions, salt and pepper. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add basil, oregano and garlic. Continue to cook for another 2 minutes.Add tomato paste, broth, diced tomatoes and crushed red pepper. Bring to a simmer cook about 10 – 15 minutes.
- Slice and serve. While that simmers, for about 10-15 minutes, slice sausages lengthwise and return to the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes with the sausage to allow the sauce to thicken.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Recipe adapted from Food Network.
Great recipe!! I use Andouille sausage for this recipe and the only thing I do different is to add my sausages back into the pan as soon as I add in my tomato’s and broth. I love to have it all simmer together for about 15 or 20 minutes for all the flavors to blend and “marry”. Yum!!