These sautéed peppers and onions are tender, lightly browned, and ready in 25 minutes. Rosemary, red pepper flakes, and a splash of dry white wine give this easy one-skillet recipe a savory Italian-style flavor.
Serve them as a vegetable side or use them as a topping for Italian sausage, hoagies, steak sandwiches, pasta, grilled chicken, burgers, or eggs. Cook them for the shorter time when you want the peppers to retain some bite, or continue cooking until they are soft and silky.
Recipe Overview: Sautéed Peppers and Onions
- ⭐Difficulty: Easy
- 🕒 Total Time: 25 minutes
- 👥 Serves: 8 side servings
- Method: One skillet
- Texture: Tender with lightly browned edges
- Flavor: Savory, lightly spicy, and Italian-inspired
- Best served with: Italian sausage, hoagies, steak, pasta, chicken, or eggs
- ✅ Gluten-free: Yes
- Dairy-free and vegan: Yes
- Make ahead: Refrigerate for up to 3 days
- ⚠️ Most important tip: Cook them for the shorter time when you want the peppers to retain some bite, or continue cooking until they are soft and silky.
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FEATURED REVIEW ★★★★★
"This was exactly what I was looking for in a peppers and onions recipe. We made these really quick as a topper for hoagies, and put the leftovers on pasta the next night! Great simple recipe that we will be adding to the weekly rotation."
- Janna
Jump to:
- Recipe Overview: Sautéed Peppers and Onions
- Why This Recipe Works
- What Makes This Recipe Italian-Style?
- Key Ingredients
- How to Make Sautéed Peppers and Onions
- Expert Tips
- Sautéed Peppers and Onions for Sausage
- Other Ways to Serve Sautéed Peppers and Onions
- Variations
- Recipe FAQs
- More Easy Bell Pepper Recipes
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Why This Recipe Works
- A large skillet helps the vegetables brown. Giving the peppers and onions enough room allows moisture to escape instead of trapping steam around them.
- Medium-high heat creates lightly browned edges. The vegetables soften while developing more flavor than they would over low heat.
- Red onion balances the sweet peppers. I tested this recipe with red and yellow onions and preferred red onion with the rosemary and white wine.
- White wine deglazes the skillet. It loosens the browned bits from the pan and adds acidity to balance the sweetness of the vegetables.
- You control the final texture. Stop cooking sooner for peppers with some bite or cook them longer for a softer topping for sausage and sandwiches.
I am a gluten-free recipe developer who lives with celiac disease. This vegetable mixture is naturally gluten-free, but I also include guidance below for choosing sausage and sandwich ingredients when cross-contact matters.
What Makes This Recipe Italian-Style?
This version is seasoned with rosemary and red pepper flakes, then finished with dry white wine. The wine loosens the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet and complements the sweetness of the bell peppers and onions.
It is a quick, tomato-free sauté rather than a traditional long-cooked peperonata. That makes it especially convenient as a weeknight side or topping for Italian sausage, hoagies, pasta, and grilled meats.
Key Ingredients
Bell peppers
Use one red, one yellow, and one orange bell pepper for a colorful mixture with a naturally sweet flavor.
You can replace one of the sweet peppers with a green bell pepper for a slightly more savory and less sweet result.
Slice the peppers into similarly sized strips so they cook evenly.
Red onions
I tested this recipe with red and yellow onions and preferred red onion with the peppers, rosemary, and wine. Compared to other varieties, red onions are lightly sweet and compliment many flavorful side dishes like my Broccoli Raisin Salad with Bacon and Arugula Quinoa Salad.
Yellow or white onions will still work when that is what you have, but the flavor will be slightly different.
Slice the onions thinly so they soften in approximately the same amount of time as the peppers.
Dry white wine
Dry white wine deglazes the skillet and adds acidity without making the vegetables taste strongly of wine.
For a wine-free version, use a small splash of vegetable broth or water. Finish the cooked vegetables with a squeeze of lemon juice or a small drizzle of balsamic vinegar if they need additional acidity.
Olive oil
Olive oil helps the vegetables brown and reinforces the Italian-style flavor.
Use a large skillet so the vegetables have room to cook. If the pan becomes dry or the vegetables begin sticking before they soften, add another small drizzle of oil.
Rosemary and red pepper flakes
Rosemary gives the vegetables an Italian-inspired flavor. Red pepper flakes add gentle warmth without making the finished recipe particularly spicy.
For less heat, reduce or omit the red pepper flakes.
See the recipe card for the complete quantities.
How to Make Sautéed Peppers and Onions
- Peppers and Onions: Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced bell peppers and onions and toss to coat them in the oil. Leave the vegetables undisturbed for approximately 3 minutes.
Continue cooking for another 2-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften and develop lightly browned spots. - Seasonings: Add the salt, rosemary, red pepper flakes, and dry white wine. Scrape the bottom of the skillet to loosen the browned bits. Continue cooking for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the wine has evaporated and the peppers and onions reach your preferred texture.
Taste and add additional salt if needed. Serve warm as a side dish or topping.
Hint: Use medium-high heat to cook peppers so the vegetables brown correctly. Cooking over low heat will steam them instead of sautéing them.
Expert Tips
Use a large skillet
A 12-inch skillet is ideal. Crowding the peppers and onions traps moisture and makes them steam instead of developing browned edges.
Let the vegetables cook undisturbed at first
Do not stir continuously. Leaving the vegetables alone for the first few minutes allows the bottoms to make direct contact with the hot skillet and begin browning.
Slice the vegetables evenly
Keep the pepper strips reasonably consistent in size. Slice the onions slightly thinner than the peppers so both vegetables become tender at approximately the same time.
Adjust the heat as needed
Medium-high heat encourages browning, but stovetops and skillets vary. Reduce the heat slightly if the vegetables begin darkening before they have softened.
Choose the texture for the meal
For a standalone vegetable side, stop when the peppers are tender but retain some bite.
For Italian sausage, hoagies, or pasta, cook them toward the softer end of the range.
Sautéed Peppers and Onions for Sausage
For Italian sausage, cook the peppers and onions until they are soft enough to sit easily on top of the sausage.
Serve them over grilled, roasted, or pan-seared sausage links. For a sausage hoagie, place the cooked sausage in a gluten-free roll and spoon the peppers and onions over the top.
You can add mustard, marinara, or provolone according to your preferences.
The peppers-and-onions mixture itself is naturally gluten-free. If you have celiac disease, check the sausage, sauces, seasonings, and roll labels for gluten-containing ingredients and cross-contact according to your needs.
Other Ways to Serve Sautéed Peppers and Onions
These peppers and onions also work well:
- over steak or steak sandwiches
- on burgers
- alongside grilled chicken
- with Dairy-Free Shrimp Scampi
- tossed with gluten-free pasta
- folded into scrambled eggs or omelets
- spooned over creamy polenta
- alongside Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes
- inside a Gluten-Free Baguette
- on pizza
- in grain bowls
Variations
Mexican-style peppers and onions
Use a combination of red and green bell peppers.
Omit the white wine, rosemary, and red pepper flakes. Season the peppers and onions with salt and dried oregano, or use your preferred fajita seasoning.
Serve them with taco meat, carnitas, burrito bowls, or Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice. For a complete sheet-pan meal, make my Baked Chicken Fajitas.
Balsamic peppers and onions
Omit the white wine and deglaze the skillet with 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar.
Begin with the smaller amount because balsamic vinegar has a concentrated flavor. Taste the vegetables before adding more.
Peppers, onions, and mushrooms
Add sliced mushrooms after the peppers and onions have cooked for approximately 3 minutes.
The mushrooms release additional water, so the mixture may need a few extra minutes for the moisture to evaporate and the vegetables to brown.
Recipe FAQs
Store leftover peppers and onions in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
You can add the peppers and onions to the skillet at the same time when the onions are sliced more thinly than the peppers.
If your onion slices are thick, add them one or two minutes before the peppers.
Yes, although they will be softer after freezing and reheating. I personally do not enjoy the texture after freezing, so I cannot recommend it.
Olive oil works especially well in this recipe because it complements the rosemary, red pepper flakes, and white wine.
Butter can be used for a richer flavor, although the recipe will no longer be dairy-free or vegan.
This recipe is a quick, tomato-free skillet sauté.
Peperonata is generally a softer Italian pepper-and-onion dish that cooks longer and commonly includes tomato. Recipes vary by region and household.
More Easy Bell Pepper Recipes
When you make this recipe, please leave a review and comment below. I always appreciate the feedback ❤️
📖 Recipe
Sautéed Peppers and Onions
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 large bell peppers , thinly sliced
- 2 medium red onions , thinly sliced
- ¾ teaspoon salt , plus more to taste
- 2 tablespoons dry white wine
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced bell peppers and onions and toss to coat them in the oil. Leave the vegetables undisturbed for approximately 3 minutes.3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 3 large bell peppers, 2 medium red onions
- Continue cooking for another 2-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften and develop lightly browned spots.
- Add the salt, rosemary, red pepper flakes, and dry white wine. Scrape the bottom of the skillet to loosen the browned bits. Continue cooking for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the wine has evaporated and the peppers and onions reach your preferred texture.¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon dried rosemary, ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, 2 tablespoons dry white wine
- Taste and add additional salt if needed. Serve warm as a side dish or topping.
Pia says
Yum! Thank you, Jamie! I make this all the time and in a large batch so I have extras to use. I serve this with Italian sausage (my favorite!), but also use it on burgers and as a topping for steak sandwiches. I add mushrooms if I have them. Amazing!
Cara says
These were so good on my Italian cold cut! Thanks for the recipe.
Jamie says
Sounds like a perfect combination! Thanks for the review 🙂
Janna says
This was exactly what I was looking for in a peppers and onions recipe. We made these really quick as a topper for hoagies, and put the leftovers on pasta the next night! Great simple recipe that we will be adding to the weekly rotation.
Jamie says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it Janna!
Rina says
Love how flavorful these are! The spices and wine are in perfect balance. Also they were so easy to make I could cook the main at the same time (I’m a new home-cook).
Jamie says
Thank you for the review Rina! I'm so glad you enjoyed them.