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Enjoy a hassle-free meal with our easy Crock Pot Sausage and Peppers recipe. Juicy sausage and colorful peppers simmered to perfection. It’s a true dump-and-go recipe.
What You’ll Love About Crock Pot Sausage and Peppers:
- Comfort Food: Sausage and peppers are full of flavor and are the perfect recipe because the whole family enjoys them. This recipe provides a satisfying and cozy comfort food experience.
- Easy Recipe: This slow cooker recipe requires minimal prep time and cooks throughout the day, perfect for busy nights.
- Customizable: This recipe is a great base, but you can easily customize it to your preferences.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
- Crushed tomatoes – The tomatoes are the base for the sauce the sausage and peppers are cooked in. Instead of crushed tomatoes, you can use diced or whole tomatoes, but you’ll need to puree them.
- Chicken broth – The broth gives the sauce a subtle layer of flavor. You can use chicken stock, beef broth, or vegetable broth.
- Fennel seeds, dried oregano, and dried basil – These herbs and seasonings give great flavor. If you don’t have one, you can use Italian seasoning.
- Garlic powder – Instead of garlic powder, use one clove of garlic, either chopped fine or passed through a garlic press.
- Red pepper flakes – If you don’t like a little bit of a kick, then omit.
- Italian sausage links – Feel free to use hot, sweet, or mild links.
- Yellow onion – It not only adds flavor to the sauce but also adds delicious bulk to your sub sandwich.
- Green bell pepper – While green is traditional, you can use any color.
- Fresh basil – You can omit the basil, but we love the freshness and pop of color it brings to the dish.
- Sandwich rolls – Use your favorite sandwich roll. We highly suggest brushing the rolls with butter and toasting them before serving.
How To Make Crock Pot Sausage and Peppers:
***This is just a teaser! To see the full ingredient list and complete instructions, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
- Combine and stir all sauce ingredients (crushed tomatoes, broth, fennel seeds, oregano, garlic powder, basil, red pepper flakes) in your slow cooker.
- Add sausage links, sliced onion, and sliced pepper to the slow cooker.
- Stir everything together.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Once cooked, stir in chopped fresh basil.
- Serve over pasta or on buns.
Top 3 Tips For Success:
- Choose Quality Sausage: Opt for high-quality Italian sausage to enhance the dish’s flavor.
- Toast the Rolls: Toasting the Italian sandwich rolls adds a delightful crunch and prevents them from becoming soggy when served with the sausage and pepper mixture.
- Check for Doneness: Ensure the sausage is fully cooked by checking its internal temperature with a meat thermometer. For safe consumption, it should reach at least 160°F (71°C).
Make It A Meal
We love serving these sausages and peppers over an Italian sandwich roll. If we have extra time, we toast the rolls. If you make a quick salad, too, you will have a delicious meal perfect for an easy weeknight dinner.
Serving & Storage:
Serve: For optimal food safety, refrigerate leftovers within two hours of cooking.
Store: Leftover cooked sausage and peppers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Freeze: Cooked sausage and peppers can be frozen in airtight containers or a freezer bag for up to 6 months.
Recipe FAQs:
What do you eat with sausage and peppers?
Serve it over rolls for a filling option. You’ll want to use a hearty roll to hold everything. Some examples include hero rolls, ciabatta, or hoagie rolls. Alternatively, you can serve this dish over rice or your favorite pasta.
Do you have to peel casing off sausage before cooking?
You do not need to remove the casing before casing. It will become soft during the slow cooking process.
Is it better to cook on high or low in a slow cooker?
While you can cook things on high in a slow cooker for 3-4 hours and have the meal ready sooner, we prefer to cook on low and let it cook all day. This is the beauty of a crock pot recipe, especially if you are gone all day. It allows the flavors of the ingredients to meld together. The slow cooker does the heavy lifting by creating a delicious meal with only a few minutes of prep.
More From The Cozy Fork:
Crock Pot Sausage and Peppers
Equipment
- Crock Pot
- measuring cups and spoons
- Chef’s knife
- Cutting board
- Mixing spoon
- instant-read thermometer
Ingredients
SAUCE:
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, 28oz can
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
SAUSAGE MIXTURE:
- 8 Italian sausage links
- 1 large yellow onion, sliced
- 1 large green bell pepper, sliced
GARNISHES & SERVE:
- ¼ cup fresh basil, chopped
- 8 Italian sandwich rolls, toasted
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Combine the sauce ingredients in the slow cooker and stir.
- Add sausage, yellow onion, and bell pepper, stirring to combine.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
- Check the sausage's internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer to ensure it is safe for consumption. It should reach at least 160°F (71°C) fully cooked.
GARNISH & SERVE:
- When done cooking add in the chopped basil, and stir to combine.
- Serve over Italian sandwich rolls and enjoy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This dish feed it for three meals!! It not only smells great it tastes even better. I prefer to cut the sausages in slices rather than leave them whole.