Comfort Food.
For some it’s a warm bowl of chicken soup. For others, Fried Chicken or Mac and Cheese.
For me, Baked Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions with a side of Cheesy Pasta.
Oh, and maybe Girl Scout Thin Mints as long as we’re being honest.
Here’s what you need:
Italian Sausage Links, Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Pasta, Butter, Flour, Milk, Parmesan or Romano Cheese, Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper.
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UPDATE: 2 little changes since this recipe was originally posted: Add a bit of olive oil to the peppers and onions and adjust the amount of sauce you make for the pasta depending on if you have a full pound box of noodles.
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Grab and extra large onion – cut it in half and then cut in slices across the top.
Break up the wedges of onion as you put them into a large (at least 9×13) baking dish.
Remove the seeds, core and inner membranes from the bell peppers and slice them up.
Add the peppers to the pan with the onions. Toss the peppers and onions in 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and season with a little salt and freshly ground pepper. Top with the links of Italian Sausage. Prick each sausage a few times on the top and bottom sides with a sharp knife.
These little holes will release the juices of the sausage into the veggies causing good things to happen. They will also keep the sausages from blowing up all over your oven.
Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees. After 20 minutes, remove the foil so that the sausages can brown.
When the sausages are nice and golden brown on the tops, turn them over to brown on the other side.
After 1 hour of total cooking time, you’ll have lovely browned sausages and tender peppers and onions full of flavor.
You could totally stop here, grab a crusty roll and load it up with these babies ballpark style.
OR you could make some pasta and serve it with your favorite marinara sauce. Simple and delicious.
OR you could make some pasta and make a quick cheesy sauce. Heck yeah.
By now you know how to make pasta…boil water, salt the water, toss in the pasta, cook for 8-10 minutes, drain the pasta.
UPDATE: It has since come to my attention (thanks Wes!) that I was working with a bag of pasta that was only about 3/4 of a pound. This drives me nuts! I’d rather just pay an extra 25 cents and have a full pound of pasta. If you are using a whole pound, you will want to increase the amount of milk and cheese to have a little more ample sauce on your cheesy noodles.
For the quick sauce, melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a large pot.
Add 2 Tablespoons of flour and stir to make a roux or thickening paste.
Gradually add 1-1/2 cups milk and whisk to remove all the lumps of flour. Cook over medium low heat to thicken.
This is a basic white sauce and also the same way you start to make mac and cheese. To stay with the Italian theme, add a heaping cup of grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese. I’m using my trusty favorite Pecorino Romano.
Stir the cheese into the thickened sauce. Add the pasta and stir it all together. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk to the pasta to thin things out.
Serve the cheesy pasta with the Italian Sausage. Don’t forget the peppers and onions from the bottom of the pan!
My neighbor Liz makes this dish in a sort of German style. Instead of serving pasta, she lays thinly sliced potatoes in a layer in the pan under the peppers and onions. One dish…many great options.
Here’s the recipe:
49 Responses
Oh, I think I’m in the right place! I can’t wait to try some of your recipes. I hope they are as idiot-proof as they sound. 🙂
Hi Courtney! Welcome. Yes, it really is as easy as it looks. One pan for the sausage and onions and right into the oven. Good luck and have fun!
Thanks for mentioning ME on the Worldwide Web!!!
You sure love your Italian Sausage!!!!! I always use the spicy hot one when I make this with the potatoes. A one dish meal……………….
You should try the fresh Bratwurst and Polish Kielbasa from Publix. To me they are even better than the Italian Sausage. Throw them on the Grill and serve with a nice Potato Salad or fry them in the Pan and have some Sauerkraut as a side dish.
Tip: Before frying in the pan, throw the sausages for a couple of minutes in boiling water. This seals them somehow and they will not burst when frying and keeps them nice and plump and all the juices in the sausage! Guten Appetit!
UPDATE: There are 2 corrections/changes to this recipe. #1 – Toss 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil with the peppers and onions. #2 – If you’re using a full pound of pasta (I only had about 3/4 of a pound), you’ll need to add a little extra milk and cheese to the sauce. I’ve updated the reipce here and also on the recipe page. Sorry for the errors. Thanks to Wes for catching them!
iT WAS SO GOOOOOOD! EVERYBODY LIKE IT. i MADE WITH HOMEMADE MAC AND CHEESE. FREASH BROCILLI HOME MADE BREAD AND A SALAD.
I consider myself to be a pretty good cook, and I’ve made sausage and peppers a million times. What I like about this recipe is that it is so easy! I was skeptical about the sausages browning, but they did. Great recipe!
Glad you liked them! This is one of my favorite recipes.
Can I add potatoes or you think they will get to mushy?
You can TOTALLY add potatoes. I do it all the time. Just slice some potatoes about 1/2 inch thick and put them in the bottom of the pan with the onions and peppers. Also, I hope you saw the note in the recipe that you need to toss the onions & peppers (and potatoes) with a bit of olive oil to help them cook. Otherwise they will stick. Now I’m hungry for baked Italian sausage!
thank you so much! I am most definitely making this sometime this week.
Made it for lunch and my 5 year old said he wants it for dinner, too. Thanks for the inspiration!
This recipe is delicious!!
I came across this recipe after doing a Google search for “sausage with peppers and onions in the oven”. I was a little skeptical because it looked so easy and I thought something so easy couldn’t possibly be that tasty. I’m so glad I decided to try it because it was so flavorful! I didn’t make a pasta side, but served it on crusty rolls with marinara sauce poured on top and sprinkled with parmesan cheese. So yummy! My teenage son devoured it. I will definitely make this again! Thank you!
This is probably my most popular recipe which is appropriate since it’s one of my personal favorites. I actually crave Italian Sausage with peppers and onions on a regular basis. Thanks for the nice comments!
Like Jessica, I found this after a Google search. This is fabulous. I cook for one, but like recipes that make a few meals. I’ll cook up some tri-color rotini and a little sauce have lunch or dinner for a few days. Great recipe! I’ll be back for more inspiration. Thanks.
Thanks Teresa. Glad Google led you to Idiot’s Kitchen. This is honestly one of my favorite recipes so I’m glad it’s getting a little love. 🙂
Love love love ur easy recipes….Soooooo glad I found idiots kitchen very
Glad you found us too! You also happen to have landed on one of my very favorite recipes. Now I’m hungry for Italian Sausage!
In the oven as I type this. Smells good already!
Hope you liked it. It’s one of my favorites and the most popular dish on the website by far!
It’s in the oven as I am typing this! Can’t wait to eat it. Going to make a pasta salad as a side dish! Thanks for the recipe. Love this site!
Hope you liked it. It’s one of my favorite meals to make. We never get tired of it. Thanks for the nice comments!
It was great! I did broil it for 3 min a side at the end. I also got some really good Italian Sausage from Whole Foods. Cast the same as my ShopRite. Thanks for the recipe. It’s definitely on the menu from now on!
Oh yeah. I should’ve made more! All 3 of us are still talking about how delicious and easy it was!
Glad you liked it. It’s one of the dishes I crave on a regular basis. Very simple but so good!
Hooray! And yes, it’s really good leftover.
I am about to pop this in the oven; made quadruple the amount for a big family dinner- plan on serving marinara on the side with shredded mozzarella and a big salad! thanks for the great recipe; looking forward to dinner tonight!!
Welcome! Glad you liked the sausages. It’s one of my favorite recipes.
Found this recipe on Pinterest thought it looked yummy so its cooking now almost done! Made the Sausage and peppers and the mac & cheese. Thanks for this recipe!
Welcome to Idiot’s Kitchen! You’ve found one of my favorite recipes. Italian sausage is the first thing I go to for comfort food.
Welcome to Idiot’s Kitchen. You’ve found one of my favorite recipes. Totally what I go for when I need comfort food!
It’s 5:39 a.m. on a Sunday morning & was looking for an easy recipe for sausage & peppers! Gonna try this one…Thanks for a recipe even I can understand! Straight & to the point!!!!!
I add sliced mushrooms to the pan when I turn the sausages to brown the second side. Push them down in the juicy pepper/onion combo and they cook in just a few minutes. I have served this for big groups (think large disposable aluminum pans) on buns with marinara sauce and it was a huge hit. It’s also a great leftover!
I love Italian sausage from the fair! This recipes looks like exactly what I want. Sausages are in the oven now! Can’t wait! Thank you for your easy recipe!!
You’re welcome! I hope you liked them. It’s one of our favorite recipes.
Love this recipe!! Thanks.
You’re welcome! It’s one of my favorites. Comfort food at its best.
I just tried this recipe. It was so delicious. I can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow!! It was also so easy to prepare. I used thin sliced potatoes, and the were awesome! Definitely one of my new favorites!
I make this recipe over and over, it never fails to please my family. As my boys have grown I have doubled the sausage amount and it stills bakes up nicely. I add marinara to the 9×13 pan with the peppers and onions, then serve with crusty rolls on the side. The best!!!!
Adding marinara to the pan is a great idea. This is one of my favorites too. My idea of perfect comfort food!
I know that this is an old thread but I just want to tell you.
I’m a 67yr old Italian born and raised in Brooklyn, NY to emmigrant parents.
I always made this in a big frying pan like my mother used to.
But, it never came out like her’s. All of the items were never cooked right.
Well, I followed this oven recipe and it came out picture perfect.
So tasty, with only a little salt and pepper.
Next time I’m going to add some sliced potato.
!!DELICIOUS!!
Angelo
Thank you so much for leaving such a nice comment. I love this recipe so I’m happy it gets attention even years later.
I love this recipe! It’s so simple and it always turns out great! The first time I tried this I follow the directions exactly and I even made the cheesy pasta. I’ve also substituted peppers and onions with sauerkraut. Thanks for posting!
Ooh, my German grandpa would have been very happy with the sauerkraut addition. Me….well….I didn’t get the sauerkraut gene. 🙂 Great idea!
Love this recipe! It’s delicious. I didn’t do the pasta side but Spanish rice instead. Beautiful flavor combination.
Thanks, Jen! It’s a favorite for sure. I recently made it with roasted potatoes. Hard to go wrong with any side!
Made this dish,absolutely wonderful,it’s a regular in my home now,Thankyou 😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋
Incredible quest there. What occurred after? Take care!