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A rustic spicy Greek dish made with thick country sausages and peppers in a rich tomato sauce.. Perfect over a glass of red wine or tsipouro! Paired with salty kefalotyricheese or tangy feta, lots of crusty bread, to dig in all the delicious sauce, it is guaranteed to warm you up during the cold winter’s days.
Spetsofai is a Greek dish, one can find in many variations.The famous spetsofai from Pelio contains aubergines, while in most areas, it is prepared with green or multicoloured mild bell peppers, or spicy peppers hot enough to make your eyes tear!
Tip: If using mild sausages, spice it up with some red hot chilli peppers and hot paprika and be generous with the seasoning. If using spicy and salty sausages, then use mild peppers and watch out the seasoning. Enjoy!
Traditional Spetsofai (Spetzofai) Recipe – Spicy Greek Sausages with Peppers and Tomato sauce
(570 votes, average: 4.89 out of 5)
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- Author: Eli K. Giannopoulos
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 5 portions 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Stew
- Cuisine: Greek
Description
Looking for an authentic Greek Spetsofai recipe? Find out how to make this rustic, spicy Greek meze the traditional way, perfect with some salty feta…
Ingredients
Scale
- 4 medium spicy country sausages, sliced (approx. 95g each)
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 green pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 yellow pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 sweet red pepper, roughly chopped
- 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- a cup of water
- 4–5 tbsps olive oil
- a glass of red wine
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 bay leaf (optional)
- 2 chili peppers (optional)
- a pinch of paprika
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper
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Instructions
- To prepare this delicious Greek dish, place a saucepan over high heat, add one tbsp of olive oil and sauté the sausages, until nicely coloured. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on some kitchen paper and leave them aside.
- Into the same pan, add the rest of the olive oil, the chopped onion and season with freshly ground pepper; sauté for a minute. Add the garlic and tomato paste and sauté for one more minute. Add the peppers and continue sautéing.
- Deglaze with the red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan, with all the delicacies, and wait for it to evaporate. Then add the sugar, the canned tomatoes, a cup of water, the herbs and spices, turn the heat down to medium and cook for 25-30 minutes with the lid on, until the peppers tenderise.
- Add the sausages and cook a little bit longer, until the sauce thickens. Check for seasoning; if you’re using too spicy or salty sausages, you’ll probably won’t need to add any salt or pepper.
- Serve while still hot with some crusty bread aside or as a main dish with basmati rice. Enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 portion
- Calories: 437kcal
- Sugar: 5.1g
- Sodium: 1069mg
- Fat: 35.4g
- Saturated Fat: 10.2g
- Unsaturated Fat: 23.3g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 10.5g
- Fiber: 2.6g
- Protein: 12.2g
- Cholesterol: 57.8mg
Keywords: Greek spetsofai recipe, How to cook Spetzofai, Greek sausages dish
Recipe image gallery:
8 Comments
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October 16, 2014 at 01:38 ·Reply
What specifically are “Spicy Country Sausages”? What brand would I look for?
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Eli K. Giannopoulos
October 16, 2014 at 19:21 ·Reply
Depends where you are shopping at. In Greece these are branded as traditional Greek sausages and are flavoured depending on their origin (Ipiros etc). Abroad, your best bet would be a local greek deli to get the original saucages – alternatively you can try any sausage that you really fancy, but be mindful that it needs to be spicy (not in the hot sense but with a lot of spices) to bring out the flavour on this dish
Love
Eli
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Maria
August 17, 2016 at 19:39 ·Reply
I know it’s a little late but I just found this recipe. The only place I could find country sausages in the UK is here http://www.sageandrelish.com
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mags
January 5, 2022 at 13:42
hi im in the uk and was wondering which sausages to buy i might speak to my butcher as him to prep me some I am loving all these recipes Eli i am making moussaka today but cant wait to try more of your recipes through the months
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O Kyrios Don
August 27, 2016 at 16:18 ·Reply
I usually use hot, mild or sweet Italian sausage and throw the zest of half an orange into the sauce then jazz it up with some crushed red (pizza) pepper and a pinch of oregano. If you’re doing this in the US where sugar is generally added to canned tomatoes at the factory, I suggest leaving out the sugar, you can always add it later if you like.
Leftover spetsofai also makes a KILLER sandwich on a toasted, hollowed-out, crusty, French roll or baguette! Be careful to not make it too sloppy with too much of the sauce, though. -
Wendy Allmark
June 18, 2017 at 12:56 ·Reply
My family love this recipe.
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Mike
February 4, 2022 at 13:25 ·Reply
This is my go to recipe for my favourite Greek dish. Love it!
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Jg
October 1, 2023 at 20:28 ·Reply
Just wondering what a “tin of tomatoes” would translate to in the US. Not sure how much that is. Can I use fresh Tomatoe? Canned whole or crushed tomatoes? How much?
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