Recipe Background
American Southwest meets Mediterranean! What a concept! The idea of the Frito Pie has been around for decades, but Italian Frito Pie makes some interesting substitutions. First off, it uses bright and rich marinara sauce and sweet Italian pork sausage as the basis of its sauce layer, which of course is spread under a bed of crunchy, salty corn chips! But then comes the secret weapon: Thai chili sauce! It enhances the heat and sweetness just enough to make each bite memorable. Naturally, Italian Frito Pie isn't complete without a melty cheese topping. It's all the best of delightful home cooking mixed together into a fusion you'll refuse to put down!
American Southwest meets Mediterranean! What a concept! The idea of the Frito Pie has been around for decades, but Italian Frito Pie makes some interesting substitutions. First off, it uses bright and rich marinara sauce and sweet Italian pork sausage as the basis of its sauce layer, which of course is spread under a bed of crunchy, salty corn chips! But then comes the secret weapon: Thai chili sauce! It enhances the heat and sweetness just enough to make each bite memorable. Naturally, Italian Frito Pie isn't complete without a melty cheese topping. It's all the best of delightful home cooking mixed together into a fusion you'll refuse to put down!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian pork sausage meat
- 1 cup yellow onion diced
- 1 cup yellow bell pepper diced
- 1 cup red bell pepper diced
- 1 cup green bell pepper diced
- 1 (24-ounce) jar sweet basil marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
- 4 cups Fritos™ corn chips
- 2 cups mozzarella and cheddar cheese blend shredded
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, cook the ground sausage, while crumbling, until it is almost fully cooked, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add the onions, the yellow pepper, the red pepper, and the green pepper to the pan and cook, while stirring well, until the sausage is fully cooked and the onions are translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the marinara sauce and Thai sweet chili sauce to the meat mixture and cook, while stirring, until all the meat and peppers are coated in the sauce, about 3 minutes.
- Evenly spread the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
- Sprinkle the corn chips on top of the sausage layer.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top of the corn chips.
- Bake until the cheese is completely melted and just starting to brown, about 9-11 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
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