How to Make Sausage & Peppers That Taste Like the Ones at the Ballpark

If you’ve ever been to a professional baseball game or even a backyard BBQ , you know that nothing beats the smell of grilled onions and peppers paired with some sort of sausage. Perhaps it’s the anticipation of eating the charred, yet softened vegetables with the greasy crunch of the sausage. Whatever it is, it wafts through the air and makes me hungry.

If you want the ballpark taste of sausage and peppers without the actual trip there, we’ve got a solution for you. The folks at America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) created a grilled sausage and peppers recipe that’s supposed to mimic the traditional sausage from the ballpark.

The ballpark food vendors have carts parked out of stadiums , enticing us to buy a hot dog or sausage. Their seasoned grills are filled with rows of hot dogs or sausages on one side and an assortment of vegetables, usually bell peppers and onions, on the other side. When the two meet up, it’s heaven on a bun.

To see if the ATK recipe truly holds up to the game-day experience, I tested it on my charcoal grill. Keep reading to see how if my backyard sausage and peppers were a hit or a swing and a miss.

How to Make Ballpark Sausage and Peppers at Home

The reason ATK decided to take on this recipe is because they noticed a lot of recipes where cooks poked the sausage, which caused flare-ups and released juices, leaving cooks with dry sausages. To make sure everything is done at the same time, the opted to prepare the veggies ahead of time.

Choose your sausages. To make the ATK version, they used sweet Italian sausage , but the chefs note that hot sausage or a mix of both is also a good option. I used 1 pound of sweet Italian sausage. Next, you cut some red bell peppers and yellow into ¼-inch thick slices. Because I was halving the recipe, I used 1 onion and 1 bell pepper (namely because I forgot to buy another pepper to use 1 1/2 half).

Move on to the microwave. And here's the interesting part. They have you cook the peppers and onions in the microwave with some distilled white vinegar, granulated sugar, vegetable oil and salt and pepper. Microwaving the vegetables flavors and softens them. Cook on high for 6 minutes with a ceramic plate on top to steam them. Then transfer the veggies to a 9-by-13-inch disposable foil pan.

Give the vegetables a head start. The chefs preheat their gas grill on high for 15 minutes, then place the foil pan on the hot side for 20 minutes. If you’re using a gas grill, turn off the other two burners, so those sides are cool.

Grill the sausages. Add the sausages to the cool side of the grill for about 8 minutes per side with the lid closed. As the chefs note, grilling the sausages on the cool side allows them to cook slowly so they don't overheat, which can cause the casing to burst and release the flavorful juices. While the sausages are cooking, give the vegetables a stir.

Bring it all together. To add some sausage flavor to the veggies, add the sausages to the foil pan and toss them together a few times. Move the pan to the cool side of the grill and remove the sausages and place them on the hot side for about 3 minutes per side. This step will help brown them and finish the cooking. Once they reach an internal temperature of 160°F, you're ready to dig in.

What I Thought About This Recipe

Since I don’t have a flat-top grill or a gas grill , I tested this recipe on my round charcoal grill, which is about 23 inches wide. I mention it being round because space was an issue when trying to pull off the 2-level cooking method of swapping the foil pan and the sausages on hot and cool sides.

Microwaving the peppers and onions was a new idea for me, and I ended up loving the sweet and salty combination. Plus, once the sausages were added, they imparted more flavor. For the sausage itself, I was expecting a bit more juiciness, although the crunch of the casing was there. My sausages were starting to brown rapidly once I transferred them to the hot side of the grill, so a 3-minute grill time may have been too long.

My biggest takeaway from the ATK video is to start sausages on the cool side of the grill and finish them on the hot side to get the classic ballpark sausage crunch. Other good tips were adding vinegar and sugar to the peppers and onions before partially cooking them in the microwave.

Other Cooking Notes to Keep in Mind

If you make this recipe, you might want to keep some things in mind:

You may need to adjust the cooking times. After the sausages cooked for the initial 8 minutes on the cool side, I had to remove the pan from the grill altogether because the vegetables were starting to burn on the hot side. I returned them after the meat moved to the hot side.

A charcoal grill may not have been the best option. Heat inconsistency can occur when cooking on charcoal grills. Maybe overcooking the vegetables wouldn’t have happened if I had a larger surface or doubled the number of bell peppers and onions.

Baby your buns. Steam or toast your buns for an authentic ballpark experience

Perk up the peppers. Add more pepper varieties like yellow, orange or green bell peppers, or spice things up with jalapeños or poblanos.

Serve it correctly. Don’t forget the mustard (as a Chicagoan, ketchup is a no-no) and a beer!

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