This post was sponsored by Hood as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
Air Fryer Smoked Sausage and Potatoes with Peppers is a great weeknight meal with just a little prep. Serve it with a delicious creamy chimichurri-style sauce to kick it up a notch.
This is one of those super tasty meals that everyone in the family loves. Serve with a side salad and dinner is ready in less than an hour. I like to use the air fryer because it cuts down on heating up the house in summer and requires a bit less clean-up. If you don’t have an air fryer or need to make more than will fit in the air fryer, don’t leave quite yet! Check out the directions for making it in the oven below.
The trick to keep super simple everyday dishes like this from getting too boring is to jazz them up with a twist using high quality ingredients like Hood Sour Cream. Actually, this is my trick to making everyday dishes holiday ready too – like roasted green beans get topped with homemade mushroom soup for Thanksgiving. I think adding a dollop of sour cream to that will be just the thing this year.
But, back to today’s dish. What really makes this smoked sausage and potatoes with peppers meal stand out is the creamy chimichurri-style dipping sauce made with sour cream that I serve on the side or drizzled over top.
Why Hood Sour Cream?
Hood Sour Cream is an ingredient I feel confident serving my friends and family. Here’s why.
Local. Hood started out as a local company right here in New England in 1846 and is now a national company. Their farmers – some of them right here in my area – also pledge not to use artificial growth hormones (rBST) and deliver high quality milk that gets bottled up or turned into other tasty products like cottage cheese, ice cream, and eggnog.
Ingredients. I love looking at a label and seeing a short list of ingredients and their sour cream is made with real Hood Milk and Cream as well as enzymes that make it, well, sour cream.
Convenience. You can buy Hood Sour Cream in a 16 oz. tub or an easy-to-use squeeze bottle with convenient and flexible packaging. I love those squeeze bottles! Hood Sour Cream Squeeze is perfect for topping baked potatoes, tacos, baked potato pizza, and less mess. Especially if you have younger kids who like to serve themselves. The tub of sour cream gets destroyed and ends up in a mess everywhere. Condiment squeeze bottles are the best thing since sliced bread.
What kind of smoked sausage should you use?
Smoked sausage is a super easy protein that everyone in our household loves and many of my readers and friends happen to love also, like this Smoked Sausage and Pepper Potato Bake. It’s an affordable way to add protein to a meal and change things up a bit from our fallback chicken or ground turkey. I generally use a smoked beef ring or chicken sausage but you can use your favorite smoked sausage/kielbasa.
What kind of potatoes should you use?
White potatoes, red potatoes, sweet potatoes…four. (Don’t tell me I’m the only one who singsonged that to the old rhyme). You can use whatever type potato you’d like but right now it’s summer and I’m all about less work so I used cute little baby potatoes. They just need washed then halved or quartered. If I make a bigger batch or am watching the budget (usually the story), I use regular-sized sweet potatoes or white potatoes and cube them into 1-2 inch pieces.
Can you make this lower carb?
Trying a no potato diet? Say what?! Okay, okay. Cauliflower is my go-to when I swap out potatoes. It has a nice hearty texture and while cauliflower does have a different flavor it plays nice with smoked sausage and peppers.
Don’t like peppers? Swap ’em out.
This is sausage and peppers so you do need to use peppers. Actually, no you don’t. Maybe someone in your household doesn’t like peppers or maybe you just realized your peppers went bad or maybe you forgot to buy them. Whatever the reason, you can use veggies (or fruit) that cooks in a similar amount of time like pineapple, green beans, onions, grape tomatoes, or broccoli. Just don’t call it sausage and peppers at that point, k?
Now how ’bout that sauce?
Chimichurri is this summer’s favorite condiment around here. I’m obsessed with it. In fact, I’m pretty sure I was making it for dinner when I was thinking about recipe ideas that feature Hood Sour Cream. And just like that I had the idea to make this creamy chimichurri dipping sauce.
First, you make a delicious tangy chimichurri. I like to make the cilantro version. Then you mix in some sour cream. It’s so good! You’re going to use it on eeeeeverything. Like tacos.
Adding fresh herbs to recipes can be a little tricky. Like, how exactly do you measure them? I loosely chop them then shove them into a measuring cup and push it down as best as possible until full. A little less. A little more. No big deal. What’s a big deal is making sure you wash the cilantro well so there’s no grit in it.
What if you don’t have an air fryer?
Buy one. If you need a recommendation, I have the Instant Vortex Plus and LOVE it. However, you can also make this dish in the oven on a sheet pan or as an oven bake. Here’s how you can make it both ways.
Sheet Pan Method
You can follow the steps for this Andouille Sausage, Potato, and Pepper Bake. If you want to cook it faster you can bump the oven up to 425°F and lower the cook time to about 20 minutes.
Oven Bake Method
If you want to throw it in the oven and walk away, you can follow the basic steps in this Smoked Sausage and Pepper Potato Bake.
No matter which way you prepare it, be sure to serve creamy chimichurri sauce on the side!
Air Fryer Smoked Sausage and Potatoes with Peppers
Air Fryer Smoked Sausage and Potatoes with Peppers is a great weeknight meal. Serve it with a delicious creamy chimichurri sauce to kick it up a notch.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 lb. potatoes
- 2 bell peppers
- 2 Tbsp. oil
- 2 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 8 oz. smoked sausage
Creamy Chimichurri Sauce*
- 1 cup loosely chopped cilantro
- 1/2 cup loosely chopped parsley
- 1 shallot or 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1 small jalapeño, seeded and deveined
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup Hood Sour Cream
Instructions
- Wash and cut potatoes into 1-2 inch cubes.
- Cut bell peppers into 1-inch pieces.
- Preheat air fryer to 400°F and set time to 35 minutes.
- Toss potatoes and peppers with oil, chili powder, and salt.
- Put them in the air fryer and cook, shaking the basket or switching the trays after 12 minutes.
- Cook an additional 10 minutes then shake the basket or switch the trays again, adding the cut up smoked sausage before putting back in the air fryer.
- Cook for an additional 12 minutes. Check for doneness. If the potatoes aren’t quite done, add an additional 5 minutes.
- Serve with creamy chimichurri sauce on the side.
Creamy Chimichurri Sauce
- Either chop all ingredients super fine or use a food processor to process them. If using a food processor, I put them in this order: cilantro, parsley, shallot, jalapeño, garlic, oil, red wine vinegar, and seasonings.
- The easiest way to incorporate these ingredients well by hand is to put them in a sealed jar and shake it to emulsify. In a food processor, pulse the ingredients a couple seconds then check to make sure everything is combining well and continuing pulsing, stopping every couple seconds to allow everything to settle.
- Add the sour cream and whisk in or pulse 3-4 times in the food processor to incorporate without over blending.
Notes
*Note that you will only need about 1/4 this recipe of chimichurri sauce for this meal.
How to make this recipe without an air fryer:
Sheet Pan Method
Using the sheet pan method you will preheat the oven to 425°F then bake for 20-30 minutes, moving around every 10 minutes. At 20 minutes check for doneness.
Oven Bake Method
If you want to throw it in the oven and walk away, you can preheat the oven to 375°F. Put all ingredients in a 9×13 baking dish and cover. Then bake for 40 minutes. Check for doneness at that point. Take cover off and bake an additional 5 minutes to lightly brown the top if cooked through or 10 minutes if not quite done.
Be sure to check out the Hood website for more great recipes.
Doing it tonight. Ive discovered the issue is what type of oil you are air frying with.
Most people probably want to use olive oil. It smokes at 375. Recipe calls for 400. I used Canola Oil which has a smoke point of 400.
Because of that, I put the cook temp at 390. It appears its not burned. Finishing up here shortly. Ill have an update on taste and textures later. I think people need to check the smoke point on the oil they are putting into the sausage, peppers and potatoes.
Thanks for sharing your tips!
I also followed this recipe and my food was scorched. I have a vortex air fryer. I even cut down some of the time.
Hi Richard. I’m sorry to hear this. Is yours the Vortex with the racks (kinda like a mini oven) or the one with the basket? I’m trying to pinpoint the specific style a little better because I am guessing there may be a difference in how the 2 cook food.
I followed directions for an air fryer exactly and everything came out scortched.
Hi Cy, I’m very sorry this didn’t turn out for you. Burnt food is always a disappointment. I tested this recipe multiple times in my air fryer and never had an issue with it burning. I’m wondering what type air fryer you have and if it’s possible the temperature was a little too hot for whatever size/space your air fryer has from the heating element.