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This quick and tasty Chicken Sausage, Apple, and Sweet Pepper Skillet is a long-time favorite at my house. It’s a healthy, delicious, one-dish dinner that kids and adults both love!
Chicken Sausage, Apple, and Sweet Pepper Skillet – Picky Eater Approved!
Every family has a picky eater. In ours, it was my middle son.
Apart from corn dogs and macaroni and cheese, nothing I cooked met with his approval. It was so frustrating! Especially because I was working so hard to create healthy meals for our family.
However, one reasonably healthy dish that I could coax him to eat was a skillet fry-up I pulled together with chicken sausages, apples, sweet peppers, and onions. Though he never really complimented the food, he ate it. At the time, it felt like a big win.
But I didn’t truly realize how much he liked that meal until years later.
After graduating from college, he spent two years abroad in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, sharing cleaning and cooking duties with his roommates. It wasn’t until he called up to ask for the Chicken Sausage, Apple, and Pepper skillet recipe, that I realized just how much he liked it!
What Do You Need to Make Chicken Sausage, Apple, and Sweet Pepper Skillet?
The ingredients are basic and easy to find at any supermarket.
- Aidell’s All Natural Chicken and Apple Smoked Sausage
- Granny Smith Apple
- Green Peppers
- Red Onion
- Optional Herbs of your choice (parsley, cilantro, thyme, etc.)
- Olive Oil
- Apple cider vinegar or apple juice
- Salt
- Pepper
Aidell’s brand chicken apple sausage seems to be available everywhere these days. I’ve used it for years and like it a lot. But you can also substitute another brand of chicken and apple sausage if you prefer. Just make sure it is pre-cooked.
This is a pretty flexible recipe, so you can easily add more apples, peppers, and onions if you want to stretch the meal or are trying to get the family to eat more fresh fruits and veggies. If you’re feeding bigger appetites, definitely add the maximum amount of apples and vegetables suggested in the recipe.
My favorite herbs for this dish are parsley and thyme. They’re a nice compliment to the savory flavor of the sausage. But kids sometimes have strong adverse reactions to herb flavors, so you can leave them out if you want to.
These days, I like to use apple cider vinegar to finish the dish and create a bit of a sauce. It gives the dish a nice bite without being overwhelming. But when I was cooking for kids, I used apple juice instead. The sweeter taste was very appealing to little palates.
Either way, it’s delish!
Simple, Hearty, and Fresh
One of the things I really love about my Chicken Sausage, Apple, and Sweet Pepper Skillet is how simple it is to make.
Once you’ve sliced the sausage, apples, and veggies, all you’ll have to do it fry everything in a skillet until the vegetables are nice and soft, add the liquid ingredients, then cook for a few more minutes and – voila! Dinner is served.
Even with prep time, you should be able to finish the whole thing in less than 30 minutes.
You can certainly eat this as is, but I generally serve it over rice. The rice stretches the meal a bit and soaks up the sauce.
A green salad makes a nice accompaniment, but since you’ve already got quite a few fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs, you don’t necessarily need a side.
Over the years, Chicken Sausage, Apple, and Sweet Pepper Skillet has appeared on our table countless times, both for family dinners and casual company meals. This is a recipe that both kids and adults will truly enjoy. Give it a try soon!
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Chicken Sausage, Apple, and Sweet Pepper Skillet
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 package (4 links) Aidell’s All Natural Chicken and Apple Smoked Sausage, sliced
- 1–2 Granny Smith Apples, cored and sliced thin (can peel if you like)
- 1–2 Green Peppers, diced or sliced
- 1–2 Red Onion, diced or sliced
- 1–2 T Olive Oil
- 2 T chopped fresh herbs of your choice – parsley, cilantro, thyme, etc. (optional)
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar or apple juice (can also mix the two)
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and peppers, stir and fry until the vegetables just begin to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add sliced apples to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until apples are very soft, another 3-5 minutes.
- Add sliced sausage to the pan and cook, the mixture another 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until sausage is warmed through.
- Sprinkle herbs over mixture (if using). Add salt and pepper. Add vinegar or apple juice to pan. Bring liquid to a boil for 1-2 minutes, until slightly reduced.
- Spoon unto plates, either alone or over rice, and serve.
