This hearty sausage and chicken casserole is perfect for a family dinner.
It's a little like a French cassoulet - a slow cooked stew from the south of France which usually contains a variety of meats, baked in beans. It makes a really traditional autumn or winter warmer. This version is much quicker and easier. If you don't have any cooked chicken breasts, you can just pop a couple in the oven while the sausages are cooking. Alternatively, it's a great way of using up leftovers from a roast chicken - use the thighs and drumsticks instead of breast meat.
Ingredients
- 6 chunky pork sausages
- 50g diced smoked bacon pieces
- 1 tbsp oil, for cooking
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 stick celery, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 bay leaf
- 2-3 sticks of thyme, a few leaves reserved for garnish
- 400g chopped tomatoes
- 400g tinned butter or cannellini beans
- 2 cooked chicken breasts (or 4 cooked chicken joints)
WEIGHT CONVERTER
Method
- Grill the sausages until they are coloured on one side. You can set them to grill while you are carrying out steps 2-4, but don't forget to remove and set aside when they are cooked on one side.
- In a large, heavy saucepan, gently fry the bacon pieces in a little oil until coloured on all sides.
- Add the onions, carrot, celery, garlic and herbs. Cook for another 2 mins.
- Add chopped tomatoes and raise the heat a little to bring to the boil. Drain the beans and add to the stew. Season well.
- Place the mix in an ovenproof pot. Arrange the sausages on top, coloured side downwards. Cut chicken breasts into half and place into the bean mix as well.
- Bake at 180°C for 25 mins. Remove the thyme sticks and bay leave before serving, and garnish with the reserved thyme leaves.
Top Tip for making sausage and chicken casserole
For an extra crunchy topping: just before serving, sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of breadcrumbs and return to the oven for 5 minutes.
You might also like...
Octavia Lillywhite is an award-winning food and lifestyle journalist with over 15 years of experience. With a passion for creating beautiful, tasty family meals that don’t use hundreds of ingredients or anything you have to source from obscure websites, she’s a champion of local and seasonal foods, using up leftovers and composting, which, she maintains, is probably the most important thing we all can do to protect the environment.
-
Sausage casserole recipe
This easy sausage casserole recipe combines cannellini beans, plum tomatoes, and potatoes into one hearty dinner...
By Jessica Dady Last updated
-
Sausage and bean stew
Our sausage and bean stew is a fail-safe family recipe. It's basically baked beans and sausages, but it's so good you'll never want to eat them out of a tin again.
By Jessica Dady Published
-
Beans and sausage bake
This beans and sausage bake is packed with chunky potatoes, flageolet and kidney beans in a rich, tomato sauce. A perfect sausage supper.
By Octavia Lillywhite Published
-
Stuffed lamb shoulder with feta and apricot
Our stuffed lamb shoulder with feta and apricot is infused with lots of Middle Eastern flavours and it only takes 30 minutes of prep
By Rose Fooks Published
-
Stuffed spring leg of lamb with herby chutney
This stuffed spring leg of lamb with herby chutney is best made the night before so it can marinate and intensify in flavour.
By Jules Mercer Published
-
Easter coconut and lemon cake
This Easter coconut and lemon cake serves 12 and leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to three days.
By Jules Mercer Published
-
5 easy ways to let children take risks (without your anxiety going through the roof)
Here's why allowing children to put themselves in 'healthy' risk situations is actually good for them
By Selina Maycock Published
-
I’m a child psychologist - this 2-step technique will stop your kids answering back… and it sounds so easy
We've spoken to a child psychologist and parenting expert about how to handle kids who answer back, and she shared a simple two-step tip.
By Ellie Hutchings Published
-
Top 10 positive traits children learn from their parents - and #5 is no easy task
Have you passed any of these on to your kids?
By Ellie Hutchings Published