Easy Dinner Recipes: Italian Sausage & Peppers in the Crockpot
We love Italian food in our house. I am Italian, and my husband lived in Italy for 2 years. Pasta is a staple in our house. We eat it at least once a week. And usually my husband is in charge of those meals – he learned from the best! But this is one of the pasta meals that I make. Don’t get me wrong – this is not authentic Italian, but it is oh-so-yummy nonetheless! And you know what makes it even greater? It is super easy to make – just throw the sauce ingredients into the crockpot all day, and come dinnertime, you’ve got a delicious, hearty sauce simmering away. You will want to add this to your favorite easy dinner recipes! Without further ado, here’s my Italian sausage & peppers recipe..
Italian Sausage & Peppers Recipe
Crockpot Italian Sausage & Peppers
Cook time
Total time
Author: Jamie at A Mom's Take
Recipe type: Dinner
Ingredients:
- 3 bell peppers cut into 1" cubes (mixed colors - I don't use green)
- 1 small onion cut into wedges
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb. hot (or mild, if you're not spicy eaters!) Italian sausage (I like to use ground Italian sausage with no casings...or you can get links and just de-case them and break them up with a spoon)
- 1 c. marinara sauce (you can use a jar of sauce, but I make my own - see note below)
- ¼ c. red wine vinegar (less)
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- 1 tbsp. water
Directions:
- Coat your crock pot with cooking spray. I love to use the crockpot liners - they make clean-up a breeze!
- Place your peppers, onion & garlic in the bottom of the slow cooker. Arrange the sausage over the veggies. Combine pasta sauce & vinegar over the top.
- Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-5 (sausage needs to be cooked through and the veggies tender). Skim off any fat from the liquid.
- Mix cornstarch & cold water in a separate bowl until smooth. Add to crock pot.
- Cook 15 minutes or until sauce has thickened. Serve over pasta. We also love this sauce over polenta, and it would probably make a pretty dang good sandwich on yummy bread, too.
Sometimes people are intimidated by making their own sauce, so they just use a jar. But you can make a really simple sauce for this – there’s so much in this recipe (with the veggies & sausage) that it doesn’t need to be ultra fancy. I just use some tomato sauce, a little water, some basil & oregano, maybe a pinch of garlic powder, & we like to add red pepper flakes too (we LOVE spicy). In this case, I just throw them all into the crock pot, and after it’s cooked quite a while I stir it all up. Once everything’s ok for the taste-testing, I adjust my spices.
Si mangia! (Essentially ‘let’s eat’ – said before every meal in our house!)
easy dinner recipes, italian sausage & peppers recipe, crockpot recipe, crockpot recipes
Thanks for this recipe. I need ideas for things I can make in the crock pot. I like that you used other than green peppers which makes it look interesting.