A hearty Sausage Casserole is always a family favourite and total comfort food. A great way to add some extra vegetables to your family's diet and easy to make a vegetarian version too. This Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole is quick and simple to prepare and great for batch cooking and freezing.
This is the ultimate rainy day dish. Just add your favourite sausages to the slow cooker with some crunchy vegetables, tomatoes, beans and seasoning and let it cook away. We put it on before we head out for a walk on a Sunday walk and it's the perfect dish to come home to.
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Why should you try it?
- Family friendly comfort food
- Just 475 calories per portion
- Easy to adapt
- Freezes well, so great for batch cooking
What you will need
- Sausages - We used 97% pork sausages as they have a high meat content and low sodium. Any sausages will work though.
- Chopped tomatoes - Try to use a good quality chopped tomato as cheaper ones can be a bit watery.
- Baked beans - Either use a tin of baked beans for convenience or use some of our Slow Cooker Baked Beans.
- Vegetables - We used shallots, leek, celery, carrot and bell pepper.
- Worcestershire sauce - This can be left out but it really does add a nice depth of flavour.
- Stock - Beef, chicken or vegetable stock can be used.
- Tomato puree - Used to thicken the sauce.
Step by step
One: Put the oil in a frying pan and add the sausages. Brown them for 2-3 minutes, turning often.
Two: Set the sausages aside and then add the carrot, shallot, celery, leek and bell pepper to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.
Three: Put the sausages and vegetables in the slow cooker bowl.
Four: Deglaze the pan with 100ml boiling water then add the stock and tomato puree. Heat and stir. Add to the slow cooker with the chopped tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce. Cook on high for 3 hours.
Five: Add the baked beans and stir them in. Cook on high for a further 1 hour on high.
What sausages to use
Whether they are pork, chicken or vegetarian/vegan, you want to go with the best quality you can get as they really are the star of the dish here.
We used 97% pork sausages as they are nice and lean, but you can use whatever your favourite sausages are. If you are using meat sausages, go with a high meat percentage and look out for the sodium levels.
What vegetables to add
The beauty of a sausage casserole is that you can use any vegetables you have in your fridge. It's a great way to reduce food waste and use vegetables that are starting to look a bit sorry for themselves.
Dishes like this are a great opportunity to add loads of extra vegetables. We kept it classic with some carrot, celery, onion and leeks, but this is really easy to adapt. You want to stick with chunky vegetables, so peppers, courgette and aubergine would all work well.
Make sure you chop the vegetables fairly small to make sure that they are cooked through.
If you want to give this dish a green veggie boost, then stir in some spinach or frozen peas about 30 minutes before it is ready.
What to serve it with
There are a few options here when it comes to side dishes. Mashed potatoes and sausage casserole are a match made in heaven, so why not try The Best Creamy Mashed Potatoes. If you want even more veggies in this meal, then pair it with our Vegetable Mash.
Fancy something a little less traditional? Our Baked Polenta Fries, Easy Cauliflower Cheese, and The Best Air Fryer Fries are all delicious side dishes.
You could also serve this on top of pasta, rice or a baked potato. It's a really versatile dish.
How to adapt it
Apart from mixing up the vegetables you use, there are lots of other ways you can adapt it. You could swap the tin of baked beans for another canned bean like pinto or cannellini.
You could also add some small chopped up potatoes, rather than serving it on mash. If you like spicy food, add a little chopped red chilli for a kick or heat and play around with the dried herbs and swap oregano for thyme.
Can this be prepared in advance?
Yes, if you are going to put it on in the morning before you head out for the day, then you can do some prep work the night before. Simply brown the sausages and precook the vegetables the night before and then keep it in the fridge. Then, in the morning you can just mix it all together in the slow cooker and put it on.
Can it be frozen?
Yes, this is a great batch cook meal and we always make extra so that we can portion it out to keep in the freezer for an easy week night meal.
Make sure the let the casserole cool completely and then portion it out in to freezer safe containers and put in the freezer (with some mashed potato too). It will keep in there for about 3 months.
Let it defrost fully and then pop it in the microwave for a couple of minutes to reheat.
FAQs
If it is looking a little bit watery just before you are ready to serve it, then take the lid off and then stir in a couple of teaspoons of gravy granules. Try to use the best quality that you can, and it will add lots of flavour. You could add a spoonful of Marmite too.
If you use really good quality tinned tomatoes, then you shouldn't have to thicken it as there is not much liquid added to this dish. However, cheap tinned tomatoes are really watery and might mean this needs thickening at the end.
I love an easy slow cooker meal, and not browning the meat does make it quicker and easier, but I do think it is worth browning the sausages first.
Not only does it lock in the flavour (this is true for browning all meat before slow cooking), but with sausages I think that it really helps with the texture. Frying them a little first helps them to get nice and crispy. If you just put them in the slow cooker, they get a little mushy.
Extra tips
- You don't have to brown the sausages first, but it really does make a big difference to the texture and it locks in the flavour.
- Give this dish a veggie boost by stirring in some spinach 30 minutes before it is cooked.
- Make sure you chop the vegetables fairly small to make sure that they are cooked through.
- To make this gluten free, make sure you use gluten free sausages and Worcestershire sauce
- Make this a more indulgent dish by cooking some chopped bacon with the sausages and adding that to the slow cooker too.
- If it is too watery once it has finished cooking, then add a couple of tablespoons of gravy granules to thicken up until the desired consistency.
More slow cooker recipes
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Recipe
Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 pork sausages
- 4 shallots diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 1 celery ribs diced
- 1 leek finely sliced
- 1 red bell pepper
- 400 g chopped tomatoes canned
- 410 g baked beans
- 100 ml beef stock
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 100 ml boiling water
Instructions
- Put the oil in a frying pan and add the sausages. Brown them for 2-3 minutes, turning often.
- Set the sausages aside and then add the carrot, shallots, leek, bell pepper and celery to the pan and cook for 2 minutes.
- Put the sausages and vegetables in the slow cooker.
- Deglaze the pan with 100ml boiling water then add the stock and tomato puree. Heat and stir. Add to the slow cooker.
- Add the chopped tomatoes and Worcestershire sauce. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
- Add the baked beans, mix well and cook for a further 1 hour on high or 2 hours on low.
Notes
- You don't have to brown the sausages first, but it really does make a big difference to the texture and it locks in the flavour.
- Give this dish a veggie boost by stirring in some spinach 30 minutes before it is cooked.
- Make sure you chop the vegetables fairly small to make sure that they are cooked through.
- To make this gluten free, make sure you use gluten free sausages and Worcestershire sauce
- Make this a more indulgent dish by cooking some chopped bacon with the sausages and adding that to the slow cooker too.
- If it is too watery once it has finished cooking, then add a couple of tablespoons of gravy granules to thicken up until the desired consistency.
Rickie Whitaker
made this for tea for friends on Saturday night it was a big hit and they asked for the recipe. It was easy to follow the recipe and very tasty.
England won as well so the night was a big success. i will try more of your recipes Thank you
Dannii
So glad you all enjoyed it. Maybe it was the key to England winning. We must all eat it on Wednesday to ensure their success!
Chris
Total comfort food! I'll definitely be making this for a midweek meal :)
Kate
Ahh, perfect winter comfort food, and great to use the slow cooker at this time of year. Might try this with veggie sausages too. Thanks for another great recipe!