Italian Sausage and Peppers Pasta
30-minute sausage and peppers pasta loaded with fresh bell peppers, onion, and savory Italian sausage. This is a quick and easy dinner idea inspired by traditional sausage and peppers and is full of fresh flavor.
This sausage and peppers pasta dish is a quick-ish recipe, ready in about 30 minutes, and very non-fussy. There’s some chopping involved, but that work is paid back with lots of fresh flavors from bell peppers, onion, and garlic.
Traditional sausage and peppers are just that – whole sausage links and peppers cooked in a pan with olive oil and garlic. My twist includes some pasta and a simple sauce turning the classic into a delicious pasta dinner full of flavor. It’s not authentic, but it has the spirit of the original.
Ingredients
- Italian sausage: I like sweet Italian sausage links, but you can also use mild or hot Italian sausage. If you want to save a step, use ground sausage so you don’t have to deal with the sausage casings.
- Bell peppers: Any combo of bell peppers will work fine. I like the combination of green bell peppers with sweeter red bell peppers or yellow or orange bell peppers.
- Onion: Yellow, white, or red onion – choose your favorite. When I’m short on time, I use frozen chopped onion.
- Pasta: I like ziti but any short pasta shape will work great like penne, cavatappi, rotini… choose your favorite.
- Crushed tomatoes
- Balsamic vinegar
- Seasonings: dried oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and garlic
- Fresh parsley for garnish
How to Make It
☑️ Cook the Pasta
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook it according to the package directions. While it boils, you can prepare the sausage and peppers.
☑️ Cook the Sausage
Heat the oil in a large pan. Remove the sausages from the casings and add them to the pan. Add the oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook the sausage, breaking it up with a spatula, until it’s browned.
☑️ Add the Peppers and Onions
Add the peppers, onions, and garlic. Stir and cook them with the sausage until they’re softened.
☑️ Make the Sauce
Add the balsamic vinegar and, as it simmers, scrape up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes, stir, and simmer for about five minutes or so.
☑️ Recipe Tips
This dish has a very bright flavor because the peppers and sauce aren’t cooked very long at all. The peppers will still have a bit of a bite, and the tomato sauce won’t have that hours-long cooked flavor.
If you have time, feel free to simmer the sauce longer – maybe between 30 minutes to an hour. The peppers will be a lot softer, and the flavors in the sauce will develop even more. I’ve made it both ways and, in both cases, you end up with a delicious pan of pasta.
Italian Sausage and Peppers Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces ziti pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 12 ounces sweet Italian sausages casings removed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or more to taste
- 4 large cloves of garlic chopped
- 3 medium-sized bell peppers any color, sliced into 2-inch-long pieces
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar see note
- 18 ounces crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Boil the pasta according to package directions.
- In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Break the sausage up as it cooks until it’s browned. Add the garlic, peppers, and onions. Stir and cook the veggies with the sausage until they start to soften, about five minutes or so.
- Add the balsamic to the pan and scrape up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes and salt. Stir and bring the sauce to a simmer. Cook the sausage and peppers in the sauce for about five minutes or so.
- Add the cooked pasta to the pan and stir to coat it in the sauce. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
More Recipes with Italian Sausage
- Pesto Tortellini with Sausage
- Creamy Sausage Pasta with Spinach
- Baked Italian Sausage Gnocchi
- Braised Italian Sausage and Peppers
Happy Cooking,
This sausage and peppers pasta post, photos, and recipe have been updated from the archives. The post was first published in April 2016.
This one’s a perfect excuse to open a bottle of wine mid-week (if you even need an excuse!)… a little for the sauce and a glass with dinner 🙂
Thanks so much!
There’s never too much pasta 🙂
For sauce fanatics would it throw off the taste to double the amount of liquid to 2 cans of tomato sauce and 1/2 C of white wine?
If you want it extra saucy you could double the tomato sauce, but I don’t think you need to double the wine since you boil most of it off anyway (doubling it would just take longer). I would also double the amount of Italian seasoning and add extra salt and pepper to taste. I haven’t tried it this way, so these are just my guesses 🙂
What is this about tomato sauce? The recipe calls for crushed tomatoes.
Not sure what you’re asking? A sauce made with crushed tomatoes is a tomato sauce.
Looks lovely
I love pasta in all forms and aspects… particularly if it has something green all over it… thanks for this recipe!
Great recipe April…full of flavor and so easy. I like that the peppers aren’t cooked to death but still have some texture when you eat it. Wonderful.
Thanks, Joe – I like the peppers that way, too. Tastes a whole lot fresher that way 🙂
I don’t know when I’ve been so happy with a recipe I’ve found online. This was quick, easy and delicious!
Oh, that’s so nice! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
This recipe ROCKS!!! My husband and I love it – I probably make this once a month – so easy and uses mostly ingredients you already have in your pantry/freezer. I do use a pasts I get at WalMart “Sam’s Choice” called Trompetti (kind of trombone-shaped) and holds the ingredients beautifully – HIGHLY recommend !!!
Oh, so happy you love it! I’ll have to look for that pasta shape, too!
Flavorful and easy!!!
Easy to make and delicious! Adding this to my list of favorites. Every recipe I’ve tried of yours is top-shelf. Keep them coming and thank you!
So glad you liked it!
This is such an easy recipe. Loved it
So glad you liked it!
Love your recipes! So easy and comfort food. This is one of my favorites with a few variations; I added a peeled and diced apple and omitted the green pepper and added another orange pepper and used blackberry wine, and added a dash of allspice. Topped it off with plenty of freshly grated Parmigiano. Yummm…
I’m so glad you love the recipes!
Really easy and really really good!
I was going to just open a jar of marinara sauce but then did a quick search for Italian sausage pasta recipes with onions and green peppers and found this. I had two packages of Italian sausage and each package was 1.5 lbs. Since I had extra meat, I cooked 16 oz of pasta and used the two green peppers I had and one large onion and then ended up using two large cans of fire roasted crushed tomatoes (due to the extra meat) along with extra spices (garlic, crushed red pepper, oregano, salt) and I used some 12 year balsamic vinegar I had on-hand. It was really good. My son said he couldn’t stop eating. He did finally but it was hard. 😉
Love this! Thanks for letting me know – so glad you enjoyed it.