This sweet Italian sausage bake is the perfect one pan weeknight dinner! It's a 30 minute skillet casserole that combines Italian sausage, bell peppers, onions, marinara sauce, and melted mozzarella. Our low carb, keto, and high protein recipe is made with no pasta!
This Italian Sausage Casserole is the best!
Italian sausage bake is the perfect way to get all of the flavors of a sausage pizza without the crust, gluten, or carbs!
This easy baked Italian sausage dinner is a spin on our super popular crockpot sausage peppers and onions recipe. The Italian sausage bake gets cooked in the oven with sauce and cheese, which is more casserole like than our easy baked Italian sausage in the oven.
You can even make this casserole with Italian chicken sausage for a lighter version. Think of it like a sausage and peppers recipe but in casserole form, yet without the pasta.
We're obsessed with Italian sausage and meal prep it every week for the fridge. When I say obsessed, we have over 20 Italian sausage recipes on our website! You honestly can't make an easier protein for dinner and it cooks up beautifully whether you're air frying the sausage or cooking it in a skillet.
Main ingredients
The recipe quantities are included in the recipe card at the very bottom, but here's an overview of what type of ingredients you'll need.
- Italian sausage links - Use fresh, whole sausage links, either sweet Italian sausages or hot sausage. Italian chicken sausage works great too.
- Bell peppers - Any mix of colored bell peppers will work as will any variety of onion such as red, white, or sweet.
- Onion -We used a red onion, sweet onions or yellow taste great also.
- Olive oil
- Garlic salt - or a mix of garlic powder + salt
- Ground black pepper
- Italian seasoning
- Chunky marinara sauce - our favorite brand is Rao's
- Mozzarella cheese - shredded
Cutting back on some of the veggies and substituting other quick-cook vegetables like mushrooms, cabbage, or zucchini is a great option.
How to make an easy Italian sausage casserole
Preheat the oven to 375F.
Step 1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil to the pan. Sear the Italian sausage on each side until browned, which will be about 2-3 minutes on each side. The sausage will NOT be cooked through at this point. Set is aside.
Step 2. Saute the veggies. Add more oil to the pan if needed and then saute the bell peppers, onion, garlic salt, and black pepper until they're mostly soft.
Step 3. Assemble the casserole. Add the sausage back to the pan and nestle it around the onion and peppers mix. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the top. Spread the marinara sauce over the Italian sausage casserole and then sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.
Step 4. Bake for 15+ minutes until the sausage is cooked through and the cheese is melted. You can broil it for 1-2 more minutes to get a crispy cheesy appearance. Enjoy!
More helpful tips
- Serve the baked Italian sausage over pasta, such as ziti or over polenta if you are not worried about carbs or gluten.
- Serve over zoodles or cauliflower rice if you need to keep the meal low-carb and gluten-friendly.
- Using a cast-iron skillet makes this an easy one-pan dish since it's stovetop to oven, but you can just as easily use any skillet and then transfer the ingredients to a baking dish to finish baking.
- If you're on a specialty diet like low carb/keto be sure to use a sugar-free marinara sauce like Rao's and also check the sausage labels to make sure hidden fillers aren't in the sausage which will increase the carbs.
Reader questions
You can easily freeze the Italian sausage casserole. Simple leave off the cheese and store it in your freezer for up to 3-months. When you are ready to enjoy your sausage casserole, simply defrost, add the cheese, and bake at 350F until cooked through.
To make 10 sausages, cook in batches on the stovetop. Place all ingredients in a 9x13 pan to bake. Cook until the cheese is melted and 165F+.
More Italian sausage recipes
Looking for more Italian sausage recipes? We're the source!
- Italian chicken sausage stuffed zucchini
- Stuffed Italian sausage with string cheese
- Air fryer frozen Italian sausage
- Boiled Italian sausage (to use in other recipes)
- Crock-pot sausage tortellini soup
- Italian stuffed peppers (the rice can be swapped for cauliflower rice)
- Casseroles with Italian sausage
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Recipe
Easy Italian Sausage Bake (No Pasta)
Ingredients
- 1 lb Italian sausage links cutting each sausage into 3 pieces. Mild, sweet, or spicy. or Italian chicken sausage.
- 2 bell peppers sliced. Any color.
- 2 cups onion sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 cups chunky marinara sauce Raos is great
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the oil to the pan.
- Sear the Italian sausage on each side until browned, which will be about 2-3 minutes on each side. The sausage will NOT be cooked through at this point.
- Remove the sausage from the pan and set it aside.
- Add more oil to the pan if needed and then add the bell peppers, onion, garlic salt, and pepper to the pan. Saute until mostly soft, which took about 5-6 minutes.
- Add the sausage back to the pan and nestle it around the onion and peppers mix.
- Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the top.
- Spread the marinara sauce over the Italian sausage casserole and then sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 15+ minutes until the sausage is cooked through and the cheese is melted. To get the crispy cheese appearance, broil the dish for 1-2 more minutes.
Video
Notes
- You can use a cast iron skillet to make this a stovetop to oven recipe, otherwise you can use any skillet then transfer the ingredients to a baking dish.
- Keep the carbs down: Use a sugar-free marinara like Rao's. Shred mozzarella instead of using pre-shredded which coats it in starch.
- Make it lighter: You can make this a lighter recipe by skipping the cheese (or using less of it) and using Italian chicken sausage instead of pork.
- This is a saucy dish! We recommend serving it over something like pasta or cauliflower rice.
Nutrition
Brends says
What size pan does this go in?