Slow cooker sticky sausages with marmalade
With just six ingredients, this mustard and marmalade sausage casserole is sure to become a weeknight go-to. Browning the sausages first is more about appearance than flavour, so feel free to skip that bit if you don’t mind what the finished bangers look like.
This recipe is part of a budget slow cooker meal plan for four. In March 2023, it was costed at an average total of £3.44 when checking prices at four UK supermarkets. It is designed to be made in conjunction with a low-cost store cupboard.
Ingredients
- 150²µ/5½´Ç³ú marmalade
- 85g/3oz wholegrain mustard
- 200g/7oz dried cannellini beans, soaked and boiled (400g prepped weight, see Tip)
- 2 red onions, cut into wedges
- 550g/1lb 4oz carrots, peeled and cut into long, chunky batons
- 8 pork sausages
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Place the sausages in a non-stick frying pan (or in a normal frying pan with a splash of vegetable oil) over a high heat and fry until browned all over.
Mix the marmalade and mustard with 500ml/18fl oz water until combined. Add the ingredients to the slow cooker in even layers: the partly cooked cannellini beans, then the onions, then carrots and finally sausages. Pour the mustardy-marmalade sauce all over (don’t mix). Season with salt and pepper, cover with the lid and turn the slow cooker to low.
Cook for 6 hours, stirring after about 4 hours if you’re home, until the beans and carrots are tender. For a stickier finish, balance the lid so the pot is partly uncovered and turn the slow cooker to high for the final 30 minutes of the cooking time.
Season with salt and pepper and stir before serving.
Recipe Tips
Any leftovers can be frozen for up to 2 months.
We've used dried cannellini beans as they're better value than tinned. However, some beans contain a protein called lectin, which can cause illness if not cooked at high temperatures. For safety, we've soaked the beans (at least 5 hours is good but overnight is ideal) and boiled them in a pan of water for 10 minutes before slow cooking. You can do this in large batches and freeze what you don't need right away.
If you've already boiled your beans, you'll need 400g of them (prepped weight) for this recipe.
Alternatively, if your budget allows, use 1½ tins of cannellini beans and you can skip the soaking and boiling.