Italian and firecracker sausages cooked low and slow on the grill with beer-soaked peppers and onions, served together on a potato bun!
**Post written by The BBQ Brothers. For all meat prep, grill set up, temperature and humidity control, recommended tools, and techniques for The BBQ Brothers recipes, check out The BBQ Brothers Beginner’s Guide To Grilling first, then get to cookin!
If I had to make a list of my favorite foods, sausage and peppers would definitely be at the top! Now I love the old school way of cooking Italian sausage and peppers in the oven on a winter night, making your living room smell delicious, but it's summer so we need to give this dish a BBQ spin!
SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS
For this recipe, we used two packs of Johnsonville sausages, but you can use any sausages or brats of your choosing. I LOVE the Firecracker flavor that Johnsonville sells in the summer, as it is a little spicier than the original.
This is going to be a really simple prep, as the sausage is already seasoned, so we really just need to prep the peppers and onions. We'll first put a jar of mixed roasted peppers and 2 sliced large vidalia onions into a foil pan (they were in season when we made ours but sweet onions would work just as well). Next, we'll add about 2 cans of beer to it to fill it up. Don’t be scared to fill almost to the top, as this pan is going to be directly over the heat, so some of it will evaporate. And it's ok to add more beer as this cook goes on (can't have too much beer, right?!?!)
Now we want to fire up our kettle for indirect heat with some hickory wood chips, and get to a temp of about 220-250 for a low and slow cook. Place the sausages on the indirect side of the grill and the pan of onions/peppers/beer directly over the heat. The direct heat under the pan will create a “hot tub” for our peppers and onions, allowing them to cook down. We will allow the sausages to go low and slow for about an hour.
You will know when they are done as you will start to hear them “singing”--yes, that’s right, you read that right, they will sing! By "sing," I mean you will hear them sizzle, making almost a whistling sound which is the casing of the sausage popping as the meat has cooked through.
Once you hear them sing, throw them in the hot tub to “relax” for about 30 minutes to allow the beer to soak into the holes in the casings. The nice part about this is you can leave them in the hot tub for a while so if you are having a party, you can just slide the pan to the indirect side of the grill and they will stay nice and warm for a few hours as your grill cools down.
You can eat these with a fork or be a man and serve them on buns. We used potato buns, as they are my favorite, but feel free to use any buns you like. Just make sure they aren’t super thin as the best part to me is the beer/pepper/onion liquid soaking into the bun!
That’s it! Super easy 5 min prep time, 1 ½ cook time and you're done! Super delicious and something everyone will love! Serve this along with our smoked mac and cheese or smoked corn on the cob for a full meal!
Recipe Card
Sausage and Peppers
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Italian and firecracker sausages cooked low and slow on the grill with beer-soaked peppers and onions, served together on a potato bun!
Ingredients
Meat Used: 2 packs of Johnsonville Sausages
Other Ingredients: Jar of mixed peppers, 2 large sliced vidalia (or sweet) onions, 2 cans of beer, potato rolls for serving
Wood Used: Hickory
Grill Temperature: 220-250
Meat Temperature: Cook til they sing!
Smoke time: 1 ½ hours
Instructions
- This is going to be a really simple prep, as the sausage is already seasoned, so we really just need to prep the peppers and onions. We'll first put a jar of mixed roasted peppers and 2 sliced large vidalia onions into a foil pan (they were in season when we made ours but sweet onions would work just as well).
- Next, we'll add about 2 cans of beer to it to fill it up. Don’t be scared to fill almost to the top, as this pan is going to be directly over the heat, so some of it will evaporate. And it's ok to add more beer as this cook goes on (can't have too much beer, right?!?!)
- Now we want to fire up our kettle for indirect heat with some hickory wood chips, and get to a temp of about 220-250 for a low and slow cook. Place the sausages on the indirect side of the grill and the pan of onions/peppers/beer directly over the heat. The direct heat under the pan will create a “hot tub” for our peppers and onions, allowing them to cook down. We will allow the sausages to go low and slow for about an hour.
- You will know when they are done as you will start to hear them “singing”--yes, that’s right, you read that right, they will sing! By "sing," I mean you will hear them sizzle, making almost a whistling sound which is the casing of the sausage popping as the meat has cooked through.
- Once you hear them sing, throw them in the hot tub to “relax” for about 30 minutes to allow the beer to soak into the holes in the casings. The nice part about this is you can leave them in the hot tub for a while so if you are having a party, you can just slide the pan to the indirect side of the grill and they will stay nice and warm for a few hours as your grill cools down.
- You can eat these with a fork or be a man and serve them on buns.
Notes
We used potato buns, as they are my favorite, but feel free to use any buns you like. Just make sure they aren’t super thin as the best part to me is the beer/pepper/onion liquid soaking into the bun!
So let us know what you think….did this recipe smoke the competition or go up in flames? Leave a comment below! 🙂
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