Easy Sausage, Pepper and Rice Skillet

This Easy Sausage Pepper and Rice Skillet is super easy to make, full of flavor, hearty and a simple dinner recipe perfect for any weeknight.

Sausage and Peppers Skillet

This easy Sausage, Pepper, and Rice Skillet is one of my favorite budget-friendly meals. Not only is it easy on your pocketbook but it's an absolute delight for your tastebuds as well. 

If you love comfort food, this is the sausage and white rice recipe for you. The flavors of the sausage, peppers and rice combined make the perfect hearty dish. 

This is one of those recipes that I make when I'm getting ready to hole up at home for the weekend and hunker down, ready to eat and enjoy food. The added rice does a great job of making it hearty and delicious and I love how it soaks up and holds the flavor, too. 

Perfect for just about any time of the year, but especially when the family is craving some good “comfort” food, this one-skillet recipe will fit the bill.

With smoky kielbasa, rice, sizzling sweet bell peppers, and ranch beans, this meal is not only filling but will make people think you slaved away at the stove all day just to make them happy, not knowing that it just took a few minutes!

This sausage and rice recipe is fast and fabulous!

Easy Sausage, Pepper and Rice Skillet

The great part about this skillet sausage and white rice recipe is that it's really, really easy to do. Like super simple. Like make it with your eyes closed simple...okay, maybe don't go that far but you get what I mean.

I love the ease of this recipe so much because it really helps me make certain that I'm filling my tummy full of great food with minimal time and effort on my end.

This recipe is also fun to make seasonally as well if you're fortunate to have your own garden and are able to grow your own peppers and onions also.

Sausage and Rice Skillet

The flavor of fresh peppers and onions is one that can't be topped. And I often find myself heading to the local farmer's market in search of those homegrown options.

Just because I love cooking one pot meals and recipes with sausage and peppers.

There's just something delicious about cooking up food in a cast-iron skillet as well. If you have one that is properly seasoned, you know exactly what I mean.

There is minimal seasoning that you really have to do if you have a properly seasoned cast-iron skillet.

Variations to this Sausage Skillet Recipe

If you love the idea of this sausage and peppers recipe but don't care for all the ingredients in it, change it up! It's really as simple as that. I love everything about it which is why I make it all the time but that doesn't mean that you can't alter it to fit your tastebuds as well. 

That's what is amazing about sausage dinner recipes. You can always use a different kind of sausage. Don't hesitate to try an Italian sausage and peppers dinner too.

The possibilities are truly endless.

Adding Vegetables

One of the easiest ways to enrich this recipe is by adding even more vegetables to the mix. This is a great way to add more health benefits and if you have kids, an easy way to get them to eat their veggies, too. 

Some other vegetable additions could be mushrooms, shredded cabbage, sliced jalapenos, and more. To be honest, any veggie that you would normally stir fry, you can easily add to this recipe without worry. 

Meat Substitute

And if you're not a fan of sausage, it's totally okay. I just love adding it in because it adds a salty, smokey flavor but you can easily swap it out for another type of meat or leave it out altogether as well.

Switching up the type of meat that you want to use is a great way to make this dish unique and different every time that you cook it. 

Ingredients needed to make this Easy Sausage, Pepper, and Rice Skillet

• Polska Kielbasa
• White Rice or Brown Rice
• Ranch Style Beans 
• Olive Oil
• Red Bell Pepper 
• Yellow Bell Pepper 
• Yellow Onion
• Garlic 
• Cloves
• Ground Sea Salt
• Ground Black Pepper
• Smoked Paprika
• Tomato Paste
• Chicken Broth
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Parsley Flakes
• Green Onion

How To Make This Easy Sausage, Pepper, and Rice Skillet

In a small saucepan, cook the rice according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the rice is cooked, place it in the refrigerator until it is time to add it to the skillet. Chilling the rice will keep it from clumping.

As the rice is cooking, slice the red and yellow peppers, the onion and the sausage and set aside.

Just after you put the rice in the refrigerator, place a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat on top of your stove.

Once the skillet is up to temperature, spread the olive oil in the skillet and add the slices of Polska Kielbasa. Cook the sausage or Kielbasa until it is brown on both sides and remove it from the skillet and set it aside.

Sauté the peppers and onion in the now empty skillet for 4-5 minutes. Add the salt, pepper, and garlic to the sautéed peppers and cook for an additional 1-2minutes.

As with the Kielbasa, remove the sautéed peppers from the skillet and set aside.

Having removed the sautéed peppers from the skillet, add the tomato paste and about ¾cup of the chicken broth and combine. Allow things to simmer for around a minute and then add the smoked paprika and red pepper flakes.

Finally, add the rice, Kielbasa, pepper, onions and ranch style beans to the skillet and stir until combined.

Cover the skillet and let simmer at medium heat for 5 minutes.

Garnish with chopped green onion and parsley flakes. You're going to love this smoked sausage skillet dinner recipe!

How do you know if you've overcooked rice? 

Many people fear cooking rice because they feel like it's hard to do. But in all reality, cooking rice isn't hard at all. All you need to do is follow the steps as outlined on the container and pay close attention to it while you're cooking.

One of the biggest indicators that you've overcooked your rice is that it is sticky and lumping together. The texture may also be a bit mushy as well. 

If you happen to overcook your rice, don't fret. You can still eat it and once you mix it with the other ingredients, you likely won't even realize it's been overcooked. Just learn from your mistake and correct it for the next time. 

Is Polka Kielbasa a spicy sausage?

It's not. It's actually a pretty mild sausage and white rice recipe. You can absolutely add in a spicy sausage if you want to make this dish spicy but the recipe as written below does not have a spicy sausage added to it. 

How do you clean a cast iron skillet?

Just because I love cooking with a cast iron skillet, I also think it's important to educate you on the proper way to clean your skillet. So many people think that they can just wash it like a regular skillet but that's not the case! 

The best way to clean your cast iron skillet is to clean it with hot water, that's it. Because if you use soap on it, you just might be scrubbing away that seasoning that you've worked so hard to get. 

Another important detail to remember is that when you clean your cast iron skillet, you need to dry it as well. It's just good practice to wash it in hot water and dry it so that it doesn't get any rust spots or corrosion. 

Can you reheat dishes that include rice?

You can but there is a good chance that your leftover rice is going to turn quite hard in texture. If this is the case, just add in a little bit of liquid to the dish and soften that rice up.

Then, once you reheat it, the moisture will help to fluff back up that rice and make it soft and tender at that point in time. 

Can you cook this recipe is a skillet that isn't cast-iron?

Of course! I'm just a big fan of cast iron skillets so this is my personal choice to use it. But if you don't have any cast iron, you don't have to run out and buy any.

You can literally use whatever skillet you have in your house to make this delicious recipe of sausage and white rice any time you want! 

Skillet Dinner Recipes

• Cast-Iron Skillet Cookie
• Best Skillet Pork Chop Recipes

If you're wondering What to Serve with Sausage and Peppers you need to see this!

Easy Sausage, Pepper and Rice Skillet Video