Who doesn’t like sausage, peppers, and onions? It’s one of my favorite Italian dishes. I was recently at a work teambuilding event and they had a catered lunch for us. I have been following an 80/20 grain-free rule over the past couple of months and all I could eat at this catered lunch was sausage, peppers, and onions! Everything else was grain- or pasta-based! So I just filled up a plate with some sausages and the peppers and onions and ate with a knife and fork (instead of on a roll) and it was actually VERY delicious. Everything appeared to have been simmered in a tasty tomato-based broth or sauce. There were chunks of tomato in it, and it was seasoned very well with all your typical Italian flavorings.
It kicked off the wheels in my head and off I went to Pinterest looking for a similar dish, thinking maybe I could find something that could cook in the slow cooker all day and be ready for us when we got home. And that’s exactly what I found in this recipe! It’s exactly what I wanted. I ate it that night without a roll, but I did top it with some provolone cheese and stick it under the broiler to melt for a bit (as pictured above). It was just as satisfying as if I’d eaten it on a roll!
We used a mix of mild Italian sausages and hot Italian sausages, and found that we preferred the hot sausages. Why? Even though we browned the sausage links in a pan before slow cooking them, they still softened up enough that they didn’t have much of a ‘bite’ to them when you bit into them. We found we didn’t miss that ‘bite’ as much with the hot Italian sausages, because the spice made up for it. But it’s also something that maybe could be fixed by letting them brown a little longer in the pan before slow cooking them.
Either way, I was really happy with this recipe and will definitely make it again!! You can find the original recipe //here//.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
2 Tbsp oil
2 lbs sweet and/or hot Italian sausage links
2 bell peppers, sliced
2 onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
15 oz can tomato sauce
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp onion powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Hoagie buns
Provolone cheese slices
Directions
1. Add oil to a large skillet over high heat. Brown the sausages well on all sides. Remove the sausages to the slow cooker. Add the bell peppers and onions to the same skillet and cook for about 5 minutes, getting them a little bit brown as well. Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic to the veggie mixture for the last minute.
2. Add all remaining ingredients, except hoagie buns and provolone cheese, to the slow cooker. Stir to combine. Cook on LOW for 5 hours.
3. When you are ready to serve, toast your hoagie buns on both sides, then add the cheese to the inside of the buns and place back in the oven to broil until the cheese is melted. Add the Italian Sausage & peppers & onions to each hoagie roll. Serve with some of the tomato sauce on the side for dipping.