Sheet Pan Sausage with Peppers, Fennel, and Olives
Sheet Pan Sausage with roasted peppers, fennel, and olives is a simple yet flavorful one-pan meal. This Mediterranean-inspired recipe is perfect for busy weeknights, delivering bold taste with minimal cleanup!
Sheet Pan Sausage with roasted peppers, fennel, and olives is a simple yet flavorful one-pan meal. This Mediterranean-inspired recipe is perfect for busy weeknights, delivering bold taste with minimal cleanup!
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of with Safeway and Niman Ranch. All opinions are 100% mine.
I have a very distinct memory of making sausage and peppers on a weeknight several years ago when, after dinner, I had to go to a school meeting for my daughter. As I sat in the meeting, I was wildly distracted by the lingering scent of smoky sausage and sweet pepper on my clothes and my hair, and I wondered if everyone smelled me. From then on, I was much more careful of what I cooked if I had an after-dinner school event! I will say I am comforted by the fact that it was an incredibly delicious aroma from an equally tasty meal. As far as smells go, I would hardly call it offensive. It still smelled amazing!
Lately, I’ve favored making sausage and peppers as a sheet-pan dinner. One reason is the cooking is contained in the oven, leaving me less fragrant, haha! However, the true beauty of sheet-pan meals is that they minimize the hands-on cooking time and the number of dishes required for cooking and serving. I love that I can toss the vegetables and let them roast while preparing other parts of the meal, like toasting a rustic baguette or whipping together a simple dessert. My favorite part of hands-off cooking time, however, is that it allows me to clean up the kitchen. Having a tidy kitchen by the time we eat is a significant win.
And as far as flavors go, this version of sheet-pan sausage with peppers, fennel, and olives is my way of elevating a classic.
Roasted Sausage in the Oven
For this recipe, sausages are roasted in the oven with a blend of my favorite Mediterranean-inspired vegetables. There are peppers and onions, of course, but I also add cherry tomatoes for that sweet burst that only comes when they’re roasted, whole, smashed garlic cloves, wedges of onion and fennel, and Castelvetrano olives. The fennel and olives, in particular, impart a flavor that reminds of the Mediterranean sun, adding fragrance and brininess to each bite. The vegetables are kissed with Zaatar spices for depth of flavor, and I deglaze the whole pan with some dry white wine to create a little more sauce, perfect for dipping a crusty baguette after each bite. This is my idea of the ideal weeknight meal when dinner is just a punctuation mark in an already busy day, and perhaps we need to a hearty meal to fuel up for what’s left!
As for the sausages, I was excited to partner with Niman Ranch to bring you this recipe! For many, many years, I have always turned to Niman Ranch for natural, sustainable, and humanely raised meats — in particular, if I am making a pork chop recipe, it is always made with Niman Ranch! They also have incredible sausages, including the Apple Gouda Uncured Sausage, which I love in this dish. The apple gives it a touch of sweetness, the sausage is seasoned impeccably, and the gouda adds richness to each bite.
But what I appreciate most of all is how these pork sausages are made with pork that has been raised humanely, and there is no added sugar whatsoever. The sausages are also gluten free and made without any added nitrates or nitrites. For lack of a better descriptor: it tastes clean.
When you eat these sausages, they are not overly greasy – they are lean while still having that balanced mouthfeel you look for in a sausage! And since they’re already fully cooked, we just need to heat them up in the oven, which means dinner comes together faster.
How to Make Sheet Pan Sausage with Peppers, Fennel, and Olives
To make the sheet pan sausage with peppers, fennel, and olives, let’s first talk about the equipment. You will need a sheet pan that has ample room for your ingredients to breath to roast properly. I use a half sheet pan, but you can also divide the ingredients between two quarter sheet pans. Whatever you choose, just remember: don’t overcrowd your ingredients.
We start with the vegetables since this will take longer to roast. Toss the peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onion, and fennel with 3 tablespoons olive oil, Za’atar, salt, and pepper, until the vegetables are evenly coated. Then spread them on your sheet pan(s) and roast them for 15 minutes.
While they roast, toss the sausage and olives with a touch more olive oil, and when the vegetables are ready, add them to the pan. Return the pan to the oven for just a few more minutes, until they begin to brown, and they are nearly warmed all the way through. At this point, I like to kiss the sausages and vegetables with a touch of heat from the broiler. I also add a drizzle of dry white wine to the sheet pan to deglaze it, which gives us a bit more sauce. Once the sausages are a deeper color and heated to about 165°F, it’s ready for a final garnish of fennel and parsley.
I like to serve the roasted sausages and peppers with toasted baguettes, or you can also serve it in buns for a classic take on sausage and peppers.
More Sausage Recipes
Avocado Pesto Pasta with Chicken Sausage
Roasted Chicken Sausages with Brussels Sprouts, Fennel and Potatoes
Chicken Sausage and Four Cheese Frittata
Swiss Chard, Leek, Potato, and Sausage Soup
Disclosure: This post was created in partnership with Safeway and Niman Ranch. Thank you for supporting brands that matter to me; sponsored posts such as this help behind the scenes at Kitchen Confidante. All opinions in this post are, as always, my own.
Sheet Pan Sausage with Peppers, Fennel, and Olives
Ingredients
- 16 oz mini sweet peppers halved or about 2 medium bell peppers, seeded and sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices
- 16 oz cherry tomatoes
- 6 garlic cloves peeled and smashed
- 8 oz fennel bulb (about 1 medium bulb), trimmed, halved and cut into 1-inch sized wedges, fronds reserved for garnish
- 6 oz yellow onion (about half large onion) peeled and cut into 1-inch sized wedges
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil divided
- 1 teaspoon Zaatar seasoning or substitute Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 12 oz Niman Ranch Apple Gouda Uncured Sausage
- 1/2 cup Castelvetrano olives
- 3 tablespoons white wine for deglazing pan
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
- Baguette or hearty bread toasted, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F with one rack placed in the center and another in the upper half, about 5 inches from the broiler.
- In a large bowl, toss the peppers, tomatoes, garlic, onion, and fennel with 3 tablespoons olive oil, Za’atar, salt, and pepper, evenly coating the vegetables. Spread the vegetables on a half-sheet pan (or two quarter-sheet pans), giving the vegetables as much space for even roasting. Reserve the large bowl for later prep.
- Place the sheet pan on the center rack, and roast the vegetables for 15 minutes or until peppers are just tender when pierced with a sharp paring knife.
- While the vegetables are roasting, toss the sausage with the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the large bowl used for the vegetables. Place the sausages and olives on top or nestled among the vegetables in the sheet pan, and continue roasting, turning sausages once, until nearly warmed through, and they start turning golden, 5 minutes.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven, drizzle in white wine, and give it a quick stir to deglaze the pan. Turn on the broiler and return the sheet pan to the oven on the upper rack. Broil until the sausages are browned with an internal temperature of 165°F, 2 to 4 minutes. Adjust seasoning if necessary with salt and pepper.
- Garnish the dish with fennel fronds and parsley. Serve immediately with hearty bread or a toasted baguette.
Notes
Nutrition
COOKBOOK
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