Italian Chicken Sausage and Peppers Skillet (with Trader Joe's Chicken Sausage)

Italian Chicken Sausage and Peppers Skillet and Trader Joe's Chicken Sausage is a quick and easy skillet meal. Perfect for busy nights. I almost always keep some chicken sausage on hand in the freezer. I love Trader Joe's all natural chicken sausages, and have tried most of the flavors they make. 

Walmart also carries an excellent flavored chicken sausage...it has smoked mozzarella in it for 3 points + a piece. And locally, I love Dirusso's turkey sausage, it's not chicken, but it also comes in at 3 points+ per sausage. Any 3 point+ per sausage/serving would work in this recipe without altering the point+ value.

I have been making this recipe for years, and it is a tried and true family favorite. Probably one of my husbands top favorite things I make. 

I found the peppers on sale last week, so I used all the colors...but if you can't find the orange and yellow peppers on sale, just use the red and green ones, which tend to be more economical. 

Bell peppers are a great source of vitamin C and sausage and peppers were made for each other. To complete your meal, serve with a veggie salad and some garlic bread! Serving size is 1/6th of recipe which roughly comes out to about 2 cups per serving.

 Italian Chicken Sausage and Peppers Skillet from the kitchen of MKA

Servings - 6   Serving Size - 1/6th of dish   Points Plus per serving - 9 points +

Calories - 359   Total Fat - 11.4g,   Carb. - 35.6   Protein - 23g,   Fiber - 4.6g

16 oz. Italian ( flavored) chicken sausage ( I used Trader Joe's Spinach, Fontina, & Roasted Garlic flavor)
2 tsp. olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, rough chopped
1 green bell pepper, rough chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, rough chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, rough chopped
1/2 yellow bell pepper, rough chopped
3 cloves garlic, diced
salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 - 14.5oz. can of diced tomatoes 
3/4 cup dry white wine ( I used Pinot Grigio)
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
12 oz. dry penne pasta or pasta shape of your choice ( I used cavatappi )
fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish ( optional )

 

1.  Cook pasta according to package directions, but undercook about a minute, drain and reserve.  

2.  In a large skillet, add 1 tsp. olive oil and heat on med high heat until warm.  Add sausages and brown on all sides.  If you are using fully cooked sausages, like the Trader Joe's brand or Walmart ones, you only need to slightly brown them for color or skip this step all together.  If you are using raw sausages, such as the Dirusso ones, cook them until they are almost cooked through, then remove from pan to cutting board. It's ok if they are still pink on the inside ( the raw ones ) they are going back into the pan to finish cooking later.

3.  Add remaining  1 tsp. olive oil to the pan and add onion, cook about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes.  Than add peppers, Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper.  Cook until the peppers are crisp tender.  ( you may want to cover skillet to get them to cook faster )

4.  While pepper mixture is cooking, cut sausages into bite sized pieces.  Then add back to skillet when the peppers are just about done.  

5.  Add tomatoes and wine and let come to boil.  Turn down to simmer for 5 minutes, uncovered.  Stir in cooked pasta.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and parsley.  Serve immediately.  

Some info about the sausages I used in this recipe:

Just one of the many varieties of chicken sausages TJ's carries and yes, I used about one and a half packages in this recipe, then just gave my husband the rest of the sausages from the second package on his serving...I weighed out the meat so it came to 16 oz total in the recipe.



How can you not LOVE the simple ingredients in this processed food?

Don't you wish everything was like this??



Stats calculate sausages as 3 p+ per serving

If you find yourself at Trader Joe's sometime, I encourage you to give their chicken sausages a try!

Sadly, my cheap little camera is giving me woes....and since I do have a birthday coming up in the next few months, I am thinking about asking for a new one. What do you all suggest? Does anyone have a wonderful camera that they LOVE? I am not skilled in photography AT ALL...a total amateur, so it would have to be incredibly easy to use! Thanks!