Slow Cooker Sausage and Butter Bean Casserole

For about six years now my Slow Cooker Sausage and Butterbean Casserole and been the thing J and I love to make the most in the slow cooker. The sausages come out so juicy and tender it is honestly one of my favourite ways to cook them, with lardons with the sausages always in the freezer, and a tin of tomatoes and can of butter beans usually in the cupboard it is an autumn / winter meal we make just because, or because we know we’re going to be home late and want something tasty and nourishing ready the moment we get in the door.

It started life as a Slow Cooker Cassoulet recipe in an issue of BBC Good Food Magazine but morphed a little as I kept on making it, firstly because the original was definitely not a cassoulet (just compare it to the traditional one I enjoyed in Sarlat a few years ago), because I found the original, even already cut down to serve two a little sharp, and because I learnt some important lessons about the type of sausages and lardons you need to use to make this dish a success. It turns out this is not the place for cheap sausages or sub par lardons because they’ll ruin the dish (use up sub-par sausages in my Sausage Ragu instead!)

Tinned Butter Beans

I know I usually go on about how I prefer to use jarred butter beans in almost every recipe but, actually, here in the slow cooker I think tinned butter beans (or the ones that come in little Italian cartons) work a lot better as they hold up better to long, low and slow cooking. But that is not to say to use worse quality ones. As I mentioned above, this is probably one of the recipes I make the most on this website, so I’ve made it with practically every brand out there and the slightly nicer ones do come out a little better.

Freezing Tinned Tomatoes

If, like me, you buy 400g tins of chopped tomatoes in bulk and you don’t want to get a small tin just for this recipe, you can happily use half a tin in this recipe, then freeze the other half in a plastic tub in the freezer for later.

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Slow Cooker Sausage & Butter Bean Casserole

• Author: Rachel Phipps
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 6 hours 20 minutes
• Total Time: 6 hours 20 minutes
• Yield: Serves 2
• Category: Dinner
• Method: Slow Cooker
• Cuisine: British

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Description

This hearty Slow Cooker Sausage & Butter Bean Casserole is perfect for lazy autumn suppers, served with lots of crusty bread and a generous sprinkling of flat leaf parsley.

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Ingredients

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• 1/2 tbsp light oil
• 4 good quality pork sausages
• 100g smoked bacon lardons
• 1 brown onion
• 1 celery stick
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1/2 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
• 6–8 thyme sprigs
• 100ml white wine
• 100ml chicken stock (made with 1/2 a stock cube if you don’t have fresh)
• 1 x 220g small tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 x 400g tin butter beans, drained
• 1/2 tbsp golden caster sugar
• 1/2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
• small handful roughly chopped flat leaf parsley, for serving
• crusty bread, for serving

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Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium high heat. Alternatively, if you have a sear-and-stew model slow cooker, simply heat the oil in the metal insert. Add the sausages and cook for 5 minutes or so until well browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onion along with the celery stick. Add these to the pan once the sausages have been removed along with the lardons a generous pinch or few grinds of salt. Cook for 8-10 minutes or so until the vegetables are soft, frying rather than sweating, and the lardons have started to brown.
3. Stir in the paprika, the garlic clove, peeled and then grated or crushed, and the thyme sprigs. Cook for a further minute until aromatic. Add the wine, and allow that to reduce by 1/2.
4. Transfer the cooked vegetables to the slow cooker or simply remove the insert from the heat. Return the sausages and stir in the chicken stock, chopped tomatoes, the butter beans, sugar and sherry vinegar. Season well with salt and pepper before setting to cook for 6 hours on low or 3 hours on high.
5. Check the seasoning and fish out the thyme sprigs before serving in two warm bowls, sprinkled with parsley and served with crusty bread on the side.

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Notes

If you can’t find a small tin of tomatoes, you can freeze half of a regular 400g tin not needed for this recipe for later!

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