Olive Garden Grilled Sausage and Pepper Rustica

By Addie

While dining at the Olive Garden recently, I noticed a menu item was now on their menu that they brought back due to popular demand. Olive Garden Sausage and Pepper Rustica is a fabulous dish to make, it easy to prepare, and makes an inexpensive and filling dinner.

This dish combines Italian sausage, fresh mozzarella cheese, and peppers to make this flavorful dish. I love that there is a hint of spice which really brings out the flavor of Italian sausage. They make their dish with penne pasta, but if you don’t happen to have any of this on hand, I think any pasta that you have will do. If you want to be low carb or gluten free, you can take a pass on the pasta, it makes a hearty dinner all by itself.

For my recipe I used red and yellow bell peppers. This is primarily due to the fact I hate, loathe, green bell peppers. Please feel free to use any type of bell pepper that you and your family enjoy. I have made my dish with spiral pasta.

Ingredients

• 1 pound Italian Sausage
• 2 bell peppers you can use red, green, yellow, or orange
• 1 cup of sliced onion you can use white or yellow
• 1 jar 26 ounce jar of marina sauce (I recommend Barilla Spicy Marina)
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound dry penne pasta

Preparation

Step 1

In a large skillet over medium heat, pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil, slice sausage into bite size pieces and cook sausage until browned. Remove sausage from pan and set aside. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to pan and add sliced peppers and onions and season with salt and cook until onions are transparent, and the peppers have cooked until they are tender. Add browned sausage to pan and stir thoroughly. If you want this to be spicy add red pepper flakes 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon depending on how spicy you want. Add sauce to pan and heat well. Add 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese and stir in melted cheese. Pour this over cooked pasta and mix well.
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COMMENTS:

It's a seasonal dish that Olive Garden brings back every year, but you can get it any time if you ask. It's my husband's favorite and he's going to be THRILLED when I make this!

I made this recipe but used Barilla low carb spaghetti. Added a pound of mushrooms and a can of black olives. Great taste and liked by all.