Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Sausage and peppers with onions. This is one of those classic Italian-American street food, lunch cart dishes.
I used to order sausage, peppers, and onions at a hole-in-the-wall lunch counter in Burbank.
You know the type of place—where the big loud guy behind the counter works fast and furious, takes your order (you better know what you want!), and barks back “Sausage, Peppers, and Onions!” to the guys on the line, and within minutes you have a huge roll in your hands, loaded with more sausage and peppers with onions than you think you can possibly eat.
But eat you do, because that sausage and peppers with onions are so so good. And then you have a food coma for the rest of the afternoon, and you eat steamed broccoli for dinner because after that lunch, you just don’t need much for dinner. Yum!
This dish is typically made with a several different colors of bell peppers—usually one green, one red, and one either yellow, orange, or purple. That said, use whatever color bell peppers you like! If you don’t like a color, skip it and just use more of another color.
As for sausages, in this recipe we are using a combination of sweet and hot Italian sausages, but if you want a milder dish, use only the sweet sausages and reduce the amount of chili pepper flakes in the recipe. Likewise, if you would like it spicier, use all hot sausages and/or bump up the amount of chili pepper flakes.
Ingredients
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
2 bell peppers, sliced
2 yellow onions, sliced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup Marsala wine (or chicken broth)
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
How To Make Italian Sausage Peppers and Onions
Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausages and cook until brown on both sides, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and drain.
Keeping the pan over medium heat, Add the Italian seasoning, basil, and garlic and cook 2 more minutes.
Add the Marsala wine, tomatoes, tomato paste and stir, add chili flakes, if using.
Add the peppers, onions, salt, and pepper and bring to a simmer.
Return sausage to skillet with the vegetables. Reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.
Serve over mashed potatoes, noodles, polenta, cauliflower rice or, if serving as a sandwich, split the hoagie rolls in half lengthwise. Hollow out the bread from the bottom side of each roll, being careful not to puncture the crust. Fill the bottom half of the roll with sausage mixture.