We calculate the intensity of photon emission from a trion in a single quantum dot, as a function of energy and gate voltage, using the impurity Anderson model and variational wave functions. Assuming a flat density of conduction states and constant hybridization energy, the results agree with the main features observed in recent experiments: nonmonotonic dependence of the energy on gate voltage, non-Lorentzian line shapes, and a linewidth that increases near the regions of instability of the single electron final state to occupations zero or two. © 2009 The American Physical Society.