This air fryer sausage and peppers recipe is the ideal quick weeknight dinner! It’s healthy, gluten-free, sugar-free, Whole30 and low carb (keto)! Beyond that, it’s just simply delicious and something that the whole family will love without requiring much prep work. Done in under 30 minutes, this dinner is sure to be a repeat!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe:
- This air fryer sausage and peppers recipe is healthy! It’s made with fresh, simple ingredients and is low carb (or keto), Whole30, paleo, gluten free and sugar free (depending on the sausage you use!).
- It comes together with prep plus cooking time in under 30 minutes, making it an ideal quick weeknight dinner.
- The leftovers are delicious! It makes a great breakfast, lunch or dinner when reheated, and it can even be frozen.
- This recipe is under 10 ingredients and doesn’t require heating the house with the stove or oven. It really is so simple to throw together that it’s a staple in our home, and is sure to be in yours too!
Air Fryer Sausage & Peppers Ingredients
One of the things that makes this recipe so great is that it doesn’t require many ingredients. The fresh items you’ll need include Polish sausage (or your choice of a ringed smoked sausage or kielbasa), a yellow onion and a few bell peppers. For the bell peppers, you can use any color or mixture of colors you’d like.
The pantry items needed to make your air fryer sausage and peppers include olive oil or avocado oil, and a few spices which include dried parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. That’s all you’ll need, and you’ll quickly see why this is such a common easy weeknight dinner in our house!
Cooking Steps
Step 1
Chop up the peppers and onions into about 1-inch pieces. Try to make them as uniform as possible so they cook evenly. Add them into a large bowl. Then, slice the sausage into rounds that are about 1/4-inch thick, again trying to keep them about the same size so some don’t cook much faster than others. Add them into your bowl with the vegetables.
Step 2
Add all of the spices into the bowl and drizzle over the olive oil or avocado oil you’re cooking with. Then you can use tongs, or two large spoons to toss the sausage and veggies with the seasoning and oil to coat. Keep tossing until everything is evenly combined.
Step 3
Add the sausage and peppers into your air fryer basket or onto the air fryer rack. They don’t need to be in a single layer, but it shouldn’t be too overcrowded and piled up super high. Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may need to do this in two batches.
Cook on 400 for 12 minutes, using tongs to toss the sausage and peppers halfway through cooking. If you want the peppers or sausage to be more crisp, add two minutes at the end. Then you can remove them carefully from the air fryer and season with any additional garlic, salt or pepper if you’d like prior to serving.
Substitutions and Additions:
There are many ways you can customize this sausage and peppers recipe to your preferences, or to use up what you already may have on hand! For protein, you can use diced chicken breasts instead of sausage, or shrimp instead of sausage. For the shrimp, you will only want to add it into the air fryer during the last 4 minutes of cooking.
For vegetables, you can add or substitute ingredients like diced potatoes or sweet potatoes, broccoli or cauliflower, squashes or zucchinis, mushrooms or asparagus. You could also change up the seasonings and add a cajun seasoning, or red pepper flakes and cayenne to make it spicier, or a fajita or taco blend to change the flavor profile entirely.
How to Store Leftovers and Freeze:
Once cooked, you can store your air fryer sausage and peppers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Make sure to store the leftovers in an airtight container. This recipe is a great meal prep recipe for lunches! It can also be frozen for up to 3 months. You will want to let it cool completely, and then place it in an airtight freezer-safe container or bag. You can reheat your leftovers (once thawed) in the microwave, or in oven or in the air fryer to give it back it’s crisp texture.
FAQ
What type of sausage can I use with this recipe?
Italian sausage and kielbasa sausage are the types of sausage that’s most commonly used in sausage and peppers. They are easiest to get most often being they are readily available at almost all grocery stores. However, you can use any type of rope sausage or sausage links that you prefer.
Are there sugar free sausage options to use?
Yes! To keep this recipe Whole30, paleo or as low carb as possible, you may opt to use a sugar free sausage. There are several great options available. My favorite is the no sugar kielbasa from Petersons Farm. For a full list of Whole30 compatible (sugar free) sausage options, please check out this post for a more complete list and locators.
How do I serve sausage and peppers?
Air fryer sausage and peppers can be served a many number of ways. In my home we eat it on it’s own with some diced avocado because it’s delicious as is, but you can serve it over rice or cauliflower rice, on hot dog or hoagie buns, with eggs for breakfast with hash browns or breakfast potatoes as well.
What type of bell peppers can I use?
This recipe calls for 3 bell peppers, and you can use any color combination of them that you’d like to. You can opt for 3 of all the same color, such as 3 green bell peppers, or you can do one of each green, yellow and red. Use what you have on hand, or which you like best and skip a color if you don’t like one in particular!
Is this sausage and peppers recipe spicy?
No, it’s not spicy at all. If you use a kielbasa, smoked sausage or Italian sausage the sausage and peppers will have a very mild taste. If you’d like a spicier dish, you can use chorizo sausage, andouille or cajun sausage, or something like a spicy Italian sausage. You can also add cayenne, red pepper chili flakes, or a cajun seasoning blend into the spice mixture to spice it up that way.
Other Air Fryer Recipes You’ll Love:
Air Fryer Sausage and Peppers
This air fryer sausage and peppers recipe is the ideal quick weeknight dinner! It’s healthy, gluten-free, sugar-free, Whole30 and low carb (keto)! Beyond that, it’s just simply delicious and something that the whole family will love without requiring much prep work. Done in under 30 minutes, this dinner is sure to be a repeat!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
- Category: Pork
- Method: Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 16 ounce Polish sausage, kielbasa or your choice of rope sausage or link sausages
- 1/2 large yellow or white onion, sliced in 1-inch pieces
- 3 bell peppers, any color combination, seeds and stems removed and chopped in 1-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- Pinch of salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Add the sliced sausage, chopped peppers and chopped onions into a large bowl. Add the seasonings and oil into the bowl and use tongs or two large spoons to toss everything together until the sausage and peppers are coated evenly
- Add the sausage and peppers into your air fryer basket or air fryer rack. Depending on the size of your air fryer you may need to do this in batches. The sausage and peppers don’t need to be in just a single layer, but it shouldn’t be stacked up very high either
- Cook on 400 for 12 minutes, using the tongs to toss halfway through the cook time. If you’d like the sausage or peppers to be more crisp, cook for two additional minutes
- Once done, carefully remove from the air fryer. Season with any additional garlic, salt and pepper if desired before serving
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Liz says
This was the easiest and most delicious sausage, peppers and onions I have ever made. I had the whole thing done from start to finish in 30 minutes. And they were just fantastic.
Debbie says
I don’t have an air fryer so I pan fried everything and it turned out delicious!
Jenna says
This has become a favorite and it’s on repeat at our house! Such a simple and tasty dish!
Danielle Green says
This recipe was great! The flavors were delicious and it was so nice to prep and cook a meal in under 20 mins! Your recipes never disappoint!
Julie says
Wow! This was soooooo good! And SO easy! Thank you so much!
Erin says
So good and so easy to make!
paleobailey says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! Thank you so much for taking the time to come back and leave a review – I really appreciate it! <3 - B