This delicious Slow Cooker Apple Sausage in Onion Gravy recipe is a classic British dish served in a giant Yorkshire pudding.
This dish perfect on its own or served with a side of Best Ever Mashed Potatoes for the ultimate comforting meal.
As an American blogger (living in England) with a mainly American following, this is a recipe I wasn’t sure about adding to Erren’s Kitchen, but it’s so good it needs to be shared!
I serve it in giant Yorkshire puddings and before moving here, I wasn’t quite sure what Yorkshire pudding was. It’s made with English apple pork sausage and I’m not quite sure how American Sausage will work in this dish. That said, this is a delicious slow cooker meal so I’ll offer some suggestions for Americans…
If you can’t find apple sausages, I’d use a sweet sausage and add chopped apple to the recipe when you add the potatoes or you can omit them completely.
Why This Recipe Works
- Slow cooking this dish ensures a deeply flavorful dish.
- Adding sugar to the onions gives a delicious caramelized depth of flavor.
- Apple sausage gives this dish a wonderful sweet tang that can’t be beat.
For those of you who don’t know, Yorkshire puddings are made from a batter consisting of eggs, flour, and milk and are usually made in a muffin-type pan.
They are served in place of dinner rolls. I buy ready-made giant Yorkshire puddings. I know they aren’t available in the US so here is a recipe from Tyler Florence. Tyler uses pan drippings from roast beef, but here they often just use vegetable oil in the pan. The Yorkshire puddings are really a great component of this dish so I hope you find a way to serve it the same way I do.
How to Make Slow Cooker Apple Sausage In Onion Gravy
- Fry the sausages until browned. Transfer to the slow cooker
- Add onions to the pan and cook until soft.
- Add sugar to the onions and caramelize in the pan
- Stir in tomato paste.
- Stir in the flour, add the cider then stock. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Bring to the boil and keep stirring.
- Pour the mixture over the sausages, cover, and cook for 6 to 8 hours or until the sausages are tender.
- Serve in Yorkshire puddings. Enjoy!
Other Great Comfort Foods
Did you make this?
Stay Updated
Receive new recipes & dinner ideas straight to your inbox!
Let’s Make Slow Cooker Apple Sausage in Onion Gravy
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 apple sausages if you can’t get them, use a sweet sausage and add 2 chopped apples along with the potatoes
- 4 medium red onions quartered
- ¼ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup cider the alcoholic kind
- 2 cups beef stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- salt & pepper
- 8 – 10 baby potatoes cleaned
- 4 large Yorkshire puddings ready made or see recipe link in post
Instructions
- Preheat the slow cooker on low.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the sausages, and fry over a medium-high heat until browned. Transfer the sausages to the slow cooker.
- Add the onions to the frying pan and cook over a medium heat for about 3-4 minutes until slightly softened.
- Add the sugar and fry, stirring, for 3 more minutes until the onion slices are caramelized around the edges.
- Stir in the tomato paste.
- Stir in the flour, then gradually add the cider followed by the stock. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Bring to the boil, still stirring.
- Pour over the sausages, cover and cook for 6 to 8 hours or until the sausages are tender.
- Serve in Yorkshire puddings.
Ang says
Love this, so tasty!
Katy says
Which type of brown sugar is best please?
Erren Hart says
That depends where you live. What country do you live in?
Lexie says
I’m making this today. My husband is English and when I described the meal to him, he looked at me and said “Lex, that’s toad-in-the-hole.” I found chicken and apple sausages so I used chicken stock. Smells sooo good.
Erren says
Awesome! I hope he liked it! 🙂
Carrie says
I am assuming the potatoes go in with the last ingredients into slow cooker, correct? I am making the recipe now.
Erren says
Yes, that’s right. Hope you like it!
Carrie says
I will let you know. The sausages are bratwurst with caraway and marjoram so added granny smith apples (tart) to balance the sweet from brown sugar, apple cider, fresh bay leaves from my garden.