Chicken Sausage and Peppers
Posted Jan 19, 2020, Updated Apr 29, 2024
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This balsamic chicken sausage & peppers recipe is a delicious, quick & easy dinner that’s ready in under 20 minutes. Chicken Sausage is sautéed with garlic, onions, peppers and balsamic vinegar.
This Chicken Sausage and Peppers recipe is a delicious meal that’s ready in under 20 minutes. It’s my go-to nutritious weeknight dinner when I don’t have a lot of time to cook!
Chicken sausage is sautéed with garlic, onions, and peppers and coated with balsamic vinegar. Best served over pasta (or homemade whole wheat pasta), zucchini noodles or rice.
This chicken sausage & peppers complies with many different dietary needs! It can be Paleo, gluten-free and sugar-free! Perfect for just about anyone.
Sausage and Peppers Recipe: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Chicken Sausage. Choose your favorite sausage – I use sweet Italian chicken sausage, but any variety works well.
- Olive Oil. avocado oil is a good substitute.
- Balsamic Vinegar. For the best results, use a premium balsamic vinegar which should be thick, sweet, and pour like molasses instead of water. I recommend this 25-Year Aged Balsamic Vinegar or this Garlic Cilantro Balsamic Vinegar.
- Peppers. Choose your favorite colored peppers, or substitute different veggies for some of the peppers. I have used zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and more with delicious results.
How to Make Chicken Sausage and Peppers
Let’s discuss how to make chicken sausage and peppers, and don’t forget to watch the video.
Begin by cooking the sausage, onion and garlic in olive oil until the sausage is browned. Stir occasionally so the sausage browns evenly.
Once the sausage is browned, add the peppers and 2 additional tablespoons olive oil. Stir until combined. Then, cover and sauté until the peppers are soft and slightly browned, stirring occasionally.
Next, add the seasonings, salt and pepper and balsamic vinegar and stir until combined. Cook, uncovered, until vinegar is thickened and the sausage/vegetable mixture is evenly coated.
As the water cooks off it leaves you with a thick, syrupy balsamic vinegary goodness that coats everything to perfection.
Serve
Once the sausage, peppers and onions are evenly coated and the balsamic vinegar has thickened, it’s time to serve. Choose your favorite method, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and dig in. Here are some of the ways we have served this chicken sausage and peppers recipe:
- Over pasta. Try making your own homemade whole wheat pasta to make it even more special!
- With homemade pesto sauce – this sausage and peppers recipe tastes amazing tossed in our homemade pesto or served with pesto pasta or pesto tortellini.
- Vegetable noodles – make noodles out of your favorite veggie! Zucchini noodles, sweet potato noodles, etc.
- Over rice – if you’re more of a rice fan, this tastes amazing over wild rice, brown rice and white rice!
- On top of a salad – I love enjoying this sausage and peppers recipe over a salad! My favorites include this burrata salad, roasted vegetable quinoa salad, and caprese quinoa salad!
Chicken Sausage & Peppers FAQS
Store any leftovers of this sausage peppers and onions recipe in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days!
I recommend choosing a natural or organic variety for the best quality and taste! My two favorite brands are Applegate Organics and Aidell’s!
An outstanding balsamic vinegar should be thick and naturally sweet. If your vinegar pours like water instead of like syrup and tastes sour then you do not have a quality product and your recipe will not turn out as delicious. My favorite balsamic vinegar is from The Twisted Olive. I have been using their balsamic vinegar exclusively for over 10 years now and am never without it.
If you make and love my recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so I can see your creations!
Balsamic Sausage and Peppers
Ingredients
- 12 ounces chicken sausage (4 links, diced)
- ½ cup onion (diced)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil (divided)
- 1 green bell pepper (diced, 1 cup)
- 1 red bell pepper (diced, 1 cup)
- 1 yellow bell pepper (diced, 1 cup)
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- 3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup parmesan cheese (for serving)
Instructions
- Add 2 Tablespoons olive oil, sausage, garlic and onion to a non-stick skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until the sausage is lightly browned, stirring occasionally (5-7 minutes).
- Add diced peppers and 2 additional tablespoons of olive oil. Stir until combined.
- Cover and sauté until peppers are soft and slightly browned, stirring occasionally (about 5 minutes).
- Add Italian seasoning, sea salt and pepper and stir to combine.
- Add balsamic vinegar and stir until combined.
- Cook, uncovered, until vinegar is thickened and the sausage/vegetable mixture is evenly coated, about 3-5 minutes.
- Taste and adjust salt/pepper and balsamic vinegar, if desired.
- Serve over pasta with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Video
Notes
- Chicken Sausage. Choose your favorite sausage – I use sweet Italian chicken sausage, but any variety works well.
- Olive Oil. avocado oil is a good substitute.
- Balsamic Vinegar. For the best results, use a premium balsamic vinegar which should be thick, sweet, and pour like molasses instead of water. I recommend this 25-Year Aged Balsamic Vinegar or this Garlic Cilantro Balsamic Vinegar.
- Peppers. Choose your favorite colored peppers, or substitute different veggies for some of the peppers. I have used zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and more with delicious results.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe is so delicious. The only thing I added was a few red pepper flakes. Thank you so much for this fabulous recipe. Will be making this dish often!
Made this tonight and it’s very tasty! My changes would be to cut the onion into larger pieces…mine were too small and got burned with the sausage. I’d add the onion and garlic a little later than the sausage so they don’t burn (I had the heat on low/medium). I also didn’t need the extra 2T of oil. Was enough to cook the peppers.
Made this tonight for me and hubby,so adjusted quantities and used balsamic vinegar with balsamic glaze,mixed together. Served over whole wheat spaghetti pasta.
Couldn’t find Italian chicken sausages so used Tescos chicken sausages with herbs.
Loved it 😋
I’m looking to make this recipe this week. Could a balsamic glaze be used? I don’t know which balsamic glaze at the store will be thick.
Yes you could use balsamic glaze!
You note this as being dairy free, but then include Parmesan cheese in the recipe?
It’s a garnish that you can easily omit and not use!
What is the measurement per serving? I see 6 servings bit can you give an measurement?
Made this tonight and we really enjoyed it, a nice change from our usual dinners. I did reduce the amount of Italian seasoning by half and was glad I did as 1Tbsp would have overwhelmed the dish for us. I also wish I had held back on the olive oil some as well. It added to the flavor but was more than needed for a lighter dish. Thanks for a great recipe
This was such a tasty, healthy, and QUICK meal. We don’t do gluten so I served it over wild rice and it was perfect. Thanks for this – it was a perfect weeknight dinner!
Love the idea of serving it over wild rice! YUM!
Could you substitute the sausage with maybe chicken or steak type of beef?
Yep for sure!
Great recipe this is my first time cooking one of your recipes I’m keen to explore the others!
Thank you so much! This is a staple in my house, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Made it tonight with sweet Italian sausage. I always have all colors of peppers cut up in my freezer. I used balsamic that I had available and it was very good. Out of the 6 links, I think there is less than one left. It will be put into list of dinners to have, and quick dinners to have. Thank you for sharing.