This Balsamic Chicken Sausage and Peppers recipe is a delicious, quick & easy dinner that's ready in under 20 minutes. Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage is sautéed with garlic, onions, and peppers and coated with balsamic vinegar! It's my go-to healthy weeknight meal when I don't have a lot of time to cook, but still want a healthy and delicious dinner for my family!
If you're looking for a weeknight dinner that is quick, easy, healthy and bursting with flavor, then you are in the right place! This Balsamic Chicken Sausage and Peppers recipe is a delicious meal that's ready in under 20 minutes.
Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage is sautéed with garlic, onions, and peppers and coated with balsamic vinegar! It's my go-to weeknight meal when I don't have a lot of time to cook, but still want a healthy and delicious dinner for my family! Serve it over pasta (or homemade whole wheat pasta), zucchini noodles or just eat it by itself!
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. Any sausage variety works! Just be sure to choose a variety that complies with your dietary needs! My favorite is Applegate Organic's sweet Italian sausage - but it's hard to find where I live, so Aidell's is my next chicken sausage of choice!
- Olive Oil. Any neutral oil works well in this recipe! I prefer olive oil or avocado oil! I have also used flavor-infused olive oils and love the results when I do.
- Balsamic Vinegar. I am extremely passionate about balsamic vinegar. Extremely. An outstanding balsamic vinegar should be thick and naturally sweet, and it will cost you more money than seems reasonable to spend on a pantry staple (but it's worth every penny). 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. Read: you will need to spend more than $5 a bottle to get the absolute best tasting balsamic recipes!
- 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.
- Peppers. Any mixture of colored peppers works well! You can also substitute other veggies for some of the peppers! I have used zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and more with great success!
How to Make Chicken Sausage and Peppers
Like I said above, this sausage and peppers recipe is incredibly easy to make, but as always, we'll walk through the steps together to ensure your success. Also, don't forget to watch the video to see how to make sausage and peppers in action!
Cook the sausage, onions & garlic
Start by cooking the sausage, onion and garlic together in some olive oil until the sausage is browned. Be sure to stir occasionally so the sausage browns evenly.
Add peppers & Cook
Add diced peppers and 2 additional tablespoons olive oil. Stir until combined. Cover and sauté until peppers are soft and slightly browned, stirring occasionally.
Add Seasonings & Balsamic Vinegar.
Add 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.
This is where a GREAT balsamic vinegar will stand out against those of lower quality. A good balsamic vinegar is thick and sweet, while a lower quality vinegar is watery and sour. I love this garlic cilantro balsamic vinegar - it's my favorite condiment.
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 - this is our most common way to enjoy this dish! 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!
- Vegetable noodles - go ahead and make noodles out of your favorite veggie! Zucchini noodles, sweet potato noodles, etc. The possibilities are endless!
- 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!
FAQS about Chicken Sausage & Peppers
Here are my answers to some of the frequently asked questions about how to make sausage and peppers!
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.
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Balsamic Sausage and Peppers
Ingredients
- 12 oz Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage 4 links, diced
- ½ cup onion diced
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 4 TBS olive oil divided
- 1 green bell pepper diced (1 cup)
- 1 red bell pepper diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 yellow bell pepper diced (about 1 cup)
- 1 TBS Italian seasoning
- ¼- ½ tsp sea salt or to taste
- ¼ tsp pepper or to taste
- 3 TBS balsamic vinegar choose a high quality, thick, sweet variety of balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Add 2 TBS 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
Ingredient Substitutions
- Chicken Sausage. Any sausage variety works! Just be sure to choose a variety that complies with your dietary needs! My favorite is Applegate Organic's sweet Italian sausage - but it's hard to find where I live, so Aidell's is my next chicken sausage of choice!
- Olive Oil. Any neutral oil works well in this recipe! I prefer olive oil or avocado oil! I have also used flavor-infused olive oils and love the results when I do.
- Balsamic Vinegar. 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.
- Peppers. Any mixture of colored peppers works well! You can also substitute other veggies for some of the peppers! I have used zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and more with great success!
Store
Store any leftovers of this sausage peppers and onions recipe in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days!Nutrition
More delicious recipes
- This Cheesy Sausage Gnocchi is one of our favorite easy weeknight meals too!
- This pasta primavera is bright, fresh, loaded with veggies and so delicious!
- Who wouldn't love this quinoa casserole?
- This sheet pan sausage & peppers is delicious!
- Cozy up with this sausage Tortellini bake!
- This healthy sausage, kale & sweet potato soup will become a new favorite!
The beautiful, styled recipe photos in this post are taken by Jamie from Dishing Out Health!
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Ashley
You note this as being dairy free, but then include Parmesan cheese in the recipe?
Laura
It's a garnish that you can easily omit and not use!
Mandie
What is the measurement per serving? I see 6 servings bit can you give an measurement?
Erin A
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
Kylee Jenkins
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!
Laura
Love the idea of serving it over wild rice! YUM!
Spencer
Could you substitute the sausage with maybe chicken or steak type of beef?
Laura
Yep for sure!
kirsty
Great recipe this is my first time cooking one of your recipes I’m keen to explore the others!
Laura
Thank you so much! This is a staple in my house, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Jean Guarino
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.
Karyl Henry
This sounds really good! I'm obsessed with Lucero balsamic vinegar. The high quality stuff completely knocks the regular stuff out of the park. There is absolutely no comparison. I just use the basic kind, but I think it would work well with this dish. Thank you for sharing!
Laura
I couldn't agree MORE! You are totally right, it doesn't have to be flavored....but it definitely should be high quality! No watery, tart BV for me! 😉 I will have to give the Lucero brand a try! 🙂