These sausage stuffed banana peppers are the perfect appetizer. They only take 4 simple ingredients to make, and they are great when you want a popper without the spice.
Creamy, cheesy stuffed banana peppers are a fun twist on one of our favorite appetizers. While stuffed jalapenos are always tasty, sometimes it’s nice not to have to worry about the heat.
Table of Contents
Using banana peppers gets you a lot of the same flavors without the Scoville units. The sausage and cream cheese filling is hard to beat.
We use the filling to make stuffed mushrooms and yummy sausage stuffed jalapenos. Of course, it works perfectly in banana peppers, too.
They are wonderful on the pellet grill, but they also taste great in the oven. So you can make them any time.
The Filling
As I mentioned, this filling is the same mixture we use to stuff mushrooms. It is one of our absolute favorites.
You can use any kind of bulk sausage that you like. It is great with either hot or sweet Italian sausage.
It is also tasty with breakfast sausage. I can imagine it would be wonderful with some of the bacon sausage hybrids as well.
Whatever kind of sausage you choose, you will want to brown it. Try to break it up into relatively small crumbles as it cooks.
Once browned, drain off any excess grease. Then stir in some garlic salt and cream cheese.
That’s all it takes. Now you are ready to stuff your peppers.
Prepping the Banana Peppers
While your sausage is browning, go ahead and get your peppers ready.
The nice thing is you don’t have to worry about getting the oils on your fingers like you do with jalapenos. So no gloves are necessary, and you won’t burn yourself if you touch your eye.
Once the peppers are washed, you will want to cut them in half longways from the tip through the stem. That will allow you easy access to the inside of the pepper.
If the pepper is curled up a bit, hold the pepper on the cutting board with the curve of the pepper pointing up. Then, cut through the middle of the curve. That way, when you lay the pepper halves down, they will lay flat.
Once the peppers are halved, I find that using a small spoon to scrape out the insides makes it easy to remove all the ribs and seeds. You can use a paring knife or your fingers if you prefer.
Fill each pepper half with plenty of filling and arrange them on a rimmed baking sheet. Once they are all cleaned and filled, bake them until the filling is hot and the jalapenos are cooked to your liking.
We tend to like our peppers on the softer side, but we also have some family members who like a little bit of crunch left. Either way, they are really delicious.
Allow the peppers to cool for a few minutes and then dig in. They are so good when the cream cheese is gooey.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I stuff peppers ahead of time?
Yes, you can go ahead and clean and stuff your peppers several hours ahead of time. Refrigerate them until you are ready to bake them. You will need to add a couple of minutes to the bake time to compensate for the cold filling. But this way you can have the work done in advance.
What if I want more spice?
You can use hot sausage if you would like, or add some red pepper flakes to the filling. You could also use some jalapeno peppers and some banana peppers in order to have some spicier peppers and some mild ones.
It you like these, you are going to have to try unstuffed banana pepper soup. It’s a great way to sit down to a bowl of these yummy flavors.
More Appetizer Recipes With Sausage
Party ryes are one of our favorite sausage appetizers. They are built on the little cocktail rye bread squares and are loaded with cheese and sausage.
If you don’t like peppers, you can make cream cheese sausage squares with crescent rolls instead. They are great as an appetizer, or you could even serve them for breakfast.
Or make some stuffed mushroom dip if you like stuffed mushrooms, but don’t like the effort of stuffing them. It is great with baguettes or crackers.
Check out our full collection of appetizer and snack recipes for more fun ideas!
Sausage Stuffed Banana Peppers
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 large banana peppers
- 1 pound bulk sausage
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium heat and drain the grease.1 pound bulk sausage
- While the sausage is browning, clean the banana peppers and cut them in half lengthwise. Cut them so they will lay flat on a baking tray.12 large banana peppers
- Remove the ribs and seeds from the halved peppers.
- Stir the cream cheese and garlic salt in with the sausage.8 ounces cream cheese, 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- Spoon the sausage and cream cheese mixture into the prepared peppers. Arrange the filled peppers on a rimmed baking sheet.
- When all of the peppers are stuffed, bake for 25-30 minutes or until the peppers reach your desired level of softness.
- Allow to cool for about 5 minutes before digging in.
Karen @karenskitchenstories
Sunday 23rd of July 2023
OMG I could make a dinner (just for myself) out of these things!
Carlee
Monday 24th of July 2023
Oh, I could too. In fact I think my guys would be ok with that too!