Don’t turn on that oven this summer! Keep the heat outside on your grill. This sausage and peppers recipe is perfect for those hot evening dinners on the grill, for a quick-to-make and delicious meal.

You can cook just about anything on your grill these days —  from main courses to desserts, on your grill. My favorite are fresh grilled vegetables from the farmers market. Nothing beats a grilled veggie – except maybe a grilled sausage.

Create your own variations of this recipe with your favorite sausage and toppings like Basque chorizo sausage with a crunchy coleslaw on top! Or a lighter chicken Santorini sausage with sausage and peppers. We also have spicy sausage flavors to turn up the heat.

For your sausage ingredients, I suggest obtaining lean sausages with no fillers. At Butler Meats, we make our sausages from lean pork shoulder, expertly trimmed, and seasoned. These sausages are also gluten-free, dairy-free, and free of eggs, soy, and nitrates; good sausages don’t need any of those ingredients.

We have a selection of mustards to pair perfectly with our sausages (Dijon, deli, brown, and yellow), or grab your favorite mustard, a good bread roll, and some of our housemade sausage to create this quick, simple, and versatile meal.

Pro tip: I usually scoop out the extra bread in the center to make room for the good stuff! Also, using a corn tortilla instead of a bread roll is a tasty gluten-free option!

Italian sausage

1 sausage per person

Fresh Italian sausage takes a few minutes to cook, so get them grilling at medium heat, turning them three or four times. Don’t poke the sausages, doing so lets the juices out and can cause flare-ups on your grill. Watch for flare-ups. They’re finished when the internal temperature is 160 degrees, don’t overcook the become dry and less tasty.

Peppers and Onions

1 yellow onion

2 bell peppers

Orange and yellow bell peppers are best, but you can use red and green, devein, and slice. For the onion, yellow is best, also sliced in large pieces.

In sauté pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil, peppers and onions, and sauté for about 8 to 10 minutes, dash with salt and black pepper.

I love a good Dutch crunch roll. Hollow out the middle, place sausage in the roll, add mustard, pepper and onion mixture, and serve.

Chorizo sandwich

For the chorizo:

Grill chorizo sausage like the Italian sausage: medium heat, turning 3-4 times. Don’t poke. Cook until the internal temperature is 160 degrees.

For the easy creamy slaw:

Ingredients

5 cups shredded coleslaw mix, cabbage carrots, purple cabbage

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons white vinegar

6-ounce can of pineapple juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

Directions

Combine all ingredients to make the sauce, then pour over coleslaw mix and fold the mixture until completely coated. Cover and store in the fridge for half an hour for the best results.

Assemble the Sandwich

Hollow out some of the bread from center of the roll, place sausage in roll with slaw mixture on top, and add mustard to taste.

And enjoy your summer cooking outside!

Italian sausage

Fresh Italian sausage takes a few minutes to cook, so get them grilling at medium heat, turning them three or four times. Don’t poke the sausages, doing so lets the juices out and can cause flare-ups on your grill. Watch for flare-ups. They’re finished when the internal temperature is 160 degrees, don’t overcook or they become dry and less tasty.

Peppers and Onions

Orange or yellow bell peppers are best, deveined and chopped into large pieces. For the onion, yellow is best, also chopped in large pieces.

In sauté pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil, peppers and onions, and sauté for about 8 to 10 minutes, dash with salt and black pepper.

Use mustard as a condiment. I love a good Dutch crunch roll. Hollow out the middle, place sausage in roll, add mustard, pepper and onion mixture, and serve.

Chorizo sandwich

For the easy creamy slaw:

Ingredients

5 cups shredded coleslaw mix, cabbage carrots, purple cabbage

1 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons white vinegar

6-ounce can of pineapple juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

Directions

Combine all ingredients to make the sauce, then pour over coleslaw mix and fold the mixture until completely coated. Cover and store in fridge for half an hour for best results.

For the chorizo:

Grill chorizo sausage like the Italian sausage: medium heat, turning 3-4 times. Don’t poke. Cook until internal temperature is 160 degrees.

Remove extra bread from center of roll, place sausage in roll with slaw mixture on top, and add mustard to taste.

And enjoy your summer cooking outside!

David Theiss is owner and operator of Butler Gourmet Meats in Carson City.

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Brown the sausage until fully cooked and drain the fat.
  3. In the same pan saute the onions and peppers until the onion is translucent and the peppers are softened.
  4. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
  5. Layer the thawed hashbrowns on the bottom of the dish, layer the sausage, peppers and onions then top with cheese.
  6. Beat the eggs, milk, salt and hot sauce together in a large mixing bowl, pour over all the ingredients.
  7. Bake until fully cooked through the center, about 50 minutes.