These Italian sausage sandwiches have become somewhat of a tradition in our house around New Year’s and the Superbowl. I make a nice big batch of them and let them slow cook either on the stove or in a slow cooker, ready to eat at any time. Perfect eats for watching football games, specially college bowl games. Spicy sausage with a flavorful tomato sauce loaded with peppers, onions, and mushrooms. All topped (of course) with ooey-gooey cheese.
I’m not sure I’ve ever made my Italian sausage sandwiches exactly the same way each year. Sometimes I go the spicy route, sometimes I use sweet sausages. Sometimes I add more bell peppers, sometimes I just add more mushrooms. It just kind of depends on how I feel that day. If you don’t mind spicy, add more red pepper flake and a good amount of hot sauce.
I highly recommend that you shred or grate your own cheese at home. Don’t buy the pre-shredded or pre-grated stuff. It has stuff added to it to keep it from sticking together. That ‘stuff’ affects how the cheese melts. Shred it yourself and use the good stuff.
Also try my other version of Italian sausage sandwiches, all fantastic:version 1.0 and version 2.0.
Italian Sausage Sandwiches Version 3.0
Ingredients
- 4 cups pizza sauce
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- vegetable oil
- 10 Italian sausages in casings
- 1 large green bell pepper sliced
- 1 large red bell pepper sliced
- 1 large yellow bell pepper sliced
- 1 large orange bell pepper sliced
- 2 medium sweet onions sliced
- 8 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- kosher salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon dried red pepper flake more or less, to taste
- 2 loaves French bread
- 2 cups Mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Place the pizza and tomato sauces into a large pot over medium heat.
- In a large Dutch oven, heat a splash or two of oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the sausages, browning on all sides. Transfer browned sausages to the pot of sauce.
- Add more oil to the Dutch oven and add all of the vegetables. Saute until just starting to get soft, then transfer to the pot of sauce along with the sausages.
- Season with salt and pepper, Italian seasoning and red pepper flake.
- Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Slice the bread in half. I prefer to do this by cutting a ‘V’ down the top of the bread, making a trench for the sausages and sauce. I find that the bread doesn’t split so easily this way. I also remove some of the bread inside just to make more room for the great toppings.
- Cut bread into lengths a tad shorter than the sausages.
- Add meat and top with sauce and a little bit of the vegetables.
- Top with cheese and place on a sheet pan under the oven broiler just long enough to melt the cheese.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
