Baked Sausage, Peppers and Onions with Orzo

5 stars from 1 review

Baked Sausage, Peppers and Onions with Orzo

This Sunday I bring you Baked Sausage, Peppers and Onions with Orzo. It is absolutely fabulously flavorful and so good I have made it 3 times in the last 2 weeks.

Author: Donna Elick

Servings:

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Total Time35

Ingredients

Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
1 pound Italian sausage casings removed (I used 1/2 sweet & 1/2 spicy chicken sausage)
4 cloves garlic minced
4 red peppers sliced about 1/4" thick
1 large onion sliced about 1/4" thick
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
29 ounce reduced sodium chicken broth 2 - 14.5 ounce cans
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 pound dried orzo pasta
1/2 cup Italian cheese blend
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese grated
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a sauce pan over high heat add chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Add salt and orzo. Boil 7 minutes or until just shy of al dente. Place a sieve over a bowl in your sink. Drain orzo into sieve, reserving the cooking liquid.
While the orzo is cooking, in a large skillet over medium heat drizzle olive oil. Once pan is warm, add sausage and fry until almost cooked through.
Remove sausage and put in a covered bowl, leaving drippings in pan. Return skillet to medium heat and add onions, garlic and peppers to the pan drippings.
Cook until onions are translucent. Turn heat down to med-low and return sausage to pan, add Italian seasoning, stir to combine and warm until orzo is done.
Add cooked orzo to a 9x13 baking dish, add sausage mixture. Add reserved cooking liquid to make very moist, approximately 1/2 - 1 cup. Add Italian cheese blend and stir to combine.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs to cover completely. Drizzle olive oil over bread crumbs.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is browned and breadcrumbs are slightly crisp.
Remove from oven and serve.

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