Not My Mother's Sausage And Peppers

I've never really been a big cook.

I'm not bad at it, the process of preparing food has never exactly been high on my list.

Oh sure, I like to eat. I just prefer it when the food magically appears at dinnertime, like it did when I was young.


I'd come home from work or school and my mom would have a lovely meal prepared.

There was nothing to buy, plan or prep. The fridge was always packed and a hot meal was served every night.

Of course, now I'm the mom...and most of the meal prep falls on me.

So you can be sure that I'm always looking for shortcuts.

For example, my mother used to make the most unbelievable sausage and peppers. Italian cuisine was her specialty, but it's not something I ever added to our menu, because the way my mom made it took all afternoon.

It was also a very heavy meal and we just don't eat that way.

Then recently, my daughter called me, and quite frankly shocked me, when she told me she was making sausage and peppers.

I always have a pack of frozen chicken sausage handy.

Her recipe didn't sound anything like the way my mom used to make it, but it certainly sounded doable so I wrote her recipe down and now it's become a weekly staple in our house.

Now, I almost didn't share this one, because it's so simple, but when I mentioned it in my post about being a homebody a few weeks ago, I received a few emails asking me about it. So here it is.

To be honest, I started cooking it my daughter's way, but now it's become another one of my sheet pan recipes, which is so much easier.

It requires less babysitting, but it's still just as delicious.

How To Make Chicken Sausage And Peppers - The Quick and Easy Way

So I start with two or three peppers and a package of chicken sausages.


You can use any kind of sausage you like, my family prefers the chicken variety.

Then I use cooking scissors to cut the sausage into small chunks.

I wash my peppers and sliced them up.


Then I slice up the onions.


I use my olive oil sprayer and coat the bottom of cookie sheet and spread the sausage, onions and peppers out on the pan.

You can line the sheet with parchment paper if you like, but I've found that it cooks better directly on the metal.

Then I spray the mixture with more olive oil.

THIS OIL SPRAYER IS MY FAVORITE KITCHEN TOOL

And throw it in the oven for about 45 minutes or until the chicken sausage reads 165 degrees on my meat thermometer.

When it comes out, it's a delicious mix of sausage, peppers, and onions.

In fact, it's so delicious that I never get a chance to take a photo of it on a plate. It disappears way too fast.


My husband will load it up on a hero roll. My daughter prefers to eat hers on a plate with salad.

Oh, and me? I usually end up getting a few scraps out of the bowl if there's any left.

It really is that good.

🍽️

Oh and if you're wondering how my daughter makes it?

Well, she does everything the same except she sautés the sausage in a frying pan on the stove and then, adds the veggies and at the very end, she adds tomato sauce to her mixture.

With the addition of the sauce, it's honestly a more traditional way to make it, closer to my mom's recipe...and a nice change if you want to shake it up a bit.

A quick variation that gives you two easy recipes instead of one. 

How fabulous.

☺️

How do you make sausage and peppers?

Here are a few more quick and easy recipes favorites:

• Easy Bolognese Sauce
• Homemade Lasagna For Those Who Hate To Cook
• Super Quick Dinner Quiche
• Meat and Veggie Taco Pies