Slow Cooker Sausage and Peppers
15 Comments Jun 06, 2023
Updated Oct 30, 2023
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If you’re looking for the perfect summertime dish, then you’ll love this Slow Cooker Sausage and Peppers recipe. It’s made with just a few popular ingredients such as Italian sausage, bell peppers, marinara tomato sauce, sweet yellow onions, and seasonings. This is an easy recipe for quickly making a main course dish.
Another delicious meal to try with sausage is my Slow Cooker Sausage White Bean Soup or Slow Cooker Red Beans with Rice. And for breakfast, go for a helping of Sausage and Green Chile Breakfast Casserole.
Table of Contents
Why you should try this sausage and peppers recipe
Having a quick meal on hand that doesn’t require a lot of ingredients, a large skillet, or heating up the oven is an instant win. And when it comes to something versatile that will serve a crowd, it’s even more important to have a recipe like this on hand.
I love the taste of the sausage mingled with the peppers and onions and the marinara sauce tops it all off. Check out my serving suggestions to see the many things this delicious meal can be paired with.
Recipe Ingredients
- Italian Sausage: I like to use sweet Italian sausage to add a bit more flavor, but you can use whatever brand and flavor you prefer. Hot Italian sausage is a great choice if you want a little spice.
- Bell Peppers: You can’t have too many peppers in this dish so don’t hesitate to use a green bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, and red pepper all deseeded and sliced into strips.
- Sweet Yellow Onion: I recommend using two small onions both sliced and chopped to give this sausage and peppers dish some heartiness.
- Marinara Sauce: You’ll need a large jar (at least 24 ounces) of any brand of marinara sauce you prefer.
- Seasonings: Salt and black pepper add the final touch of flavor.
- Garlic: The more garlic the better the flavor, which is why I use 4 cloves in this recipe.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – Slice and deseed the bell peppers and slice the onions. Mince the garlic.
Step Two – Add all ingredients to the crock pot. Cover and cook the sausage peppers and onions on LOW for 6 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours).
Step Three – After the cooking time is complete, remove the sausages from the crock pot and slice into bite size pieces. Then, add back to the crock pot and stir.
Step Four – Then, add back to the crock pot and stir. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve and enjoy!
How to serve
- One of the most popular ways to serve this pepper recipe is over mashed potatoes, white rice, or cauliflower rice.
- A drained helping can also be put onto a hoagie roll or hoagie buns.
- Turn it into a pasta dish by mixing it with cooked penne pasta. This would also be great served with a size of garlic bread or garlic sticks.
- If you are looking to add even more flavor, dried basil, dried oregano, red pepper flakes, and Italian seasoning would be absolutely delicious additions.
- As for sides, you can’t go wrong by serving this alongside a small side salad.
Recipe FAQs
You will need the following ingredients: Sweet Italian sausage, marinara sauce, red, yellow, and green bell peppers, onions, garlic and salt and pepper. You will need the following supplies: a slow cooker (6 quart or bigger).
Once the sausage and peppers dish has cooled completely, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
This recipe will freeze well. Store in a freezer safe container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
They cook perfectly in the crock pot. If you prefer the charred texture on the outside, you could quickly brown them before adding them to the crock pot. This is just personal preference and is not necessary.
Sure! If you choose to use crushed tomatoes only then I recommend adding more seasoning such as olive oil, minced garlic, fire roasted tomatoes, and Italian seasoning.
Turkey sausage, spicy Italian sausage, hot Italian sausage, ground sausage, or beef sausage would all be great substitutions.
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Slow Cooker Sausage and Peppers
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. sweet Italian sausage
- 24 oz. jar marinara sauce
- 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and sliced
- 1 green bell pepper, deseeded and sliced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, deseeded and sliced
- 2 yellow onions, peeled and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice and deseed the bell peppers and slice the onions. Mince the garlic.
- Add all ingredients to the crock pot.
- Cover and cook on low for 6 hours (or high for 4 hours).
- After the 6 hours are up, remove the sausages from the crock pot and slice into bite size pieces. Add back to the crock pot and stir.
- Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve over mashed potatoes or rice.
Sarah’s Notes
- Turkey sausage, spicy Italian sausage, hot Italian sausage, ground sausage, or beef sausage would all be great substitutions.
- Once the sausage and peppers dish has cooled completely, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- This recipe will freeze well. Store in a freezer safe container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More Slow Cooker Sausage Recipes
- Slow Cooker Spicy Sausage Dip
- Slow Cooker Mississippi Sin Dip
- Hot Tub Beer Brats
- Slow Cooker Kielbasa and Beans {grown up beanies and weenies)
My husband loves sausage, peppers, and onions, so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it for him because it was so quick and easy just had everything to the crockpot. Me and my husband work different shifts, so this is perfect to have for the nights that I am working, I did tweak the recipe a little bit. Instead of using two onions, I used one, I use mild Italian sausage, chicken sausage, and I added just a little bit of roasted garlic sauce mix everything together and turn on the crockpot.
Love it!!
Fan favorite in my household!! Made it several times with people fighting to make sure they get some for lunch the next dayThanks for sharing this easy and delicious recipe
Great recipe! Tasty weeknight meal for me and hubby!
Everyone was singing my praises with this recipe. I made with 24 oz. jar Rao marinara sauce and hot Italian sausage. Next time will make with half hot, half sweet Italian sausages. Either way, it will be part of the family meals rotation. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
What about adding pasta to the pot?
The slow cooker doesn’t get hot enough, fast enough to properly cook pasta.
I often add pasta to many slow cooker dishes including this one! Just add a bit extra liquid such as water, broth, beer, wine, etc. And add the pasta during last 30 minutes or so of cook time. Might help to increase temp to High.
Can i use chicken jalepeno sausage instead? Do I need to tweek the recipe? Trynibg to find a crockpot pot luck recipe for the chicken jalepeno sausage
I don’t see why not. You would use a recipe just the same as regular sausage.
Why not slice the sausage before cooking? Save a whole step, and less mess
You can do it either way!
Can I brown the sausage first, then Cook in crock pot for the same amount of time?
Yes, that will work well.
I used frozen hot Italian sausages and served them whole on sausage/brat rolls. Ridiculously easy and delicious. The mashed potato option looks really good, looking forward to trying that too.