Slow Cooker Sausage and Peppers

We love to eat this slow cooker sausage and peppers dish because it feeds a crowd or you can get two meals out one batch. It is an easy and versatile dish that takes just minutes to prepare. Eat the Italian sausage on a bun one day and or over pasta the next day. It freezes well too!

You might also like these homemade keto Italian sausages in the air fryer.

(Updated 10/9/21) This slow cooker sausage and pepper recipes is one that we eat all the time and I thought it was time to update this post. I always say this is my recipe but now that I’m thinking about it might be my husband’s.

Regardless it’s the perfect easy recipe for feed a crowd or one that does double duty. We often eat it on a hoagie bun on days when there is a Steeler game and we might have friends over. 

Then the next day we use the tomato sauce to make pasta so I get two dinners out of one big batch!

It’s a great slow cooker weeknight dinner during the fall and winter because it’s a nice warming and also because of football season. It’s just football food to us.

Recipe ingredients I used.

There are only a few ingredients in this dish: Italian hot and sweet sausages, yellow onion, garlic, sweet bell peppers, salt, black pepper and crushed tomatoes. I like to use sweet bell peppers but we used to use only green peppers. Either way I would suggest using a bit of green pepper.

My Italian brother in law told me one of the secrets to good sauce is using a bit of green bell pepper. I have to agree with him, it does add something. So here I used a bit of green, red, orange and yellow.

How to make slow cooker sausage and peppers.

Step 1: Chop the peppers and onions in equal sized strips or pieces. Place in the slow cooker. As you can see below I like to use both green bell peppers and colored bell peppers. I like both the flavor and appearance of using both.

Step 2: Place the raw sausage links on top of the vegetables. I make quite a few because if you have leftovers you can use it with pasta the next night. You can use as many sausages as you want. Typically I use 2 lbs – one sweet and one hot.

Step 3: Mix the garlic, salt and pepper into the crushed tomatoes and then pour over top and place the lid on the crock pot. Note if you wanted to add more heat, sprinkle in some red pepper flakes. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours. You want to make sure the vegetables are super soft.

Step 4: Serve the cooked sausage as is, in a bun as a sandwich or over pasta. Store leftovers in an airtight container or freeze for another day. This dish makes a great marinara sauce. (Please scroll down and print the recipe card.)

So that is all there is to it. Just put it all in your slow cooker and cook all day. When it’s done (and you will smell that delicious aroma all through your house) you are ready to eat.

What to eat with these sausage and peppers.

We like to eat these Italian sausages with hoagie rolls. You might call them something different where you are from. You could use hot dog buns too I suppose. And you could also add some melted mozzarella cheese on top.

Then we like to eat leftover tomato sauce or even just the sausage with cooked pasta the next day along with a nice green salad. It would also be good with rice.

To lower the carbs I tend to just eat the sausage and peppers as is or over zucchini pasta or cauliflower rice.

So if you make this, and I really think you should, make sure to make a lot of it. As I mentioned above it freezes great.

And when you are in a rush to make dinner you can thaw this and grab a loaf of Italian bread and you are set.

I hope you like this crockpot sausage recipe. It’s a family favorite because of the simplicity and because it just tastes so good. Enjoy!