I’m still finding the oven to be my favourite cooking method because I can set and (almost) forget. These sausages are a big favourite. But if bangers aren’t your thing see the variations below. Or think about trying a new butcher who takes pride in making their own sausages. Quality is key here!
Slow Baked Bangers
Ingredients
- 4 onions peeled & quartered lengthwise
- 4 thick sausages
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup stock or water
- a few sprigs of thyme optional
- 3-4 handfuls baby spinach to serve
Instructions
- Turn your oven on to 150C (350F).
- Pop onions, sausages, wine, stock or water and thyme (if using) in an oven proof pot.
- Bake for about 2 hours turning the sausages about half way if you get the chance to.
- Serve on a bed of baby spinach.
Variations
short on time? – crank your oven to 220C (450F). Should be done in 45 mins.
REALLY short on time? – Make a quick sausage ragu. Remove sausage meat from the casings and brown in a pan. Add in a tin of tomatoes and a good hunk of butter and simmer for a few minutes. Serve on baby spinach.
vegan / vegetarian – replace sausages with vegetables such as a sweet potato, parsnip, carrot, beets, potato, eggplant or mushrooms. You may need to adjust the cooking time. Serve with shaved parmesan and some nuts for extra protein and crunch.
different meat – chicken thighs or drumsticks work well and will cook in about the same amount of time. Osso buco or lamb shanks would be my red meat choices. They’ll need a lot longer, 4-5 hours. And you might need to add more liquid if it’s drying out.
alcohol-free – just replace the wine with extra stock, water, tomato purée or a can of tomatoes.
onion-free – replace onions with a mixture of other aromatic veg such as celery and carrots.
different herbs – thyme is my fav here but rosemary or sage or a few bay leaves will be lovely too.
more summery – make the ‘REALLY short on time’ version.
carb lovers / more substantial – serve with mashed potatoes.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
onions – will keep in the pantry for months.
sausages – freeze.
red wine – pantry. Although it tends not to last very long around here 🙂
stock – packaged stock in the pantry or home made stock in the freezer. If you have defrosted stock, just bring it to a rapid boil and let it cool before refreezing.
thyme – will keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for weeks. Freezes well.
baby spinach – use for another meal or freeze.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
This recipe was the true test of the whole ‘5 ingredients 10 minutes’ approach. I arrived home at 4:50pm on that Tuesday. I had a phone meeting at 5pm and was quite determined to have supper in the oven before my meeting. Took of my shoes, shoved my computer bag, and off to the kitchen. Sausages, onions, wine, herbs, wham, bam, thank you ma’am. I started my meeting at 5:02pm. Alas, I was 2 minutes late BUT I had a glass of water and went to pee before pressing ‘call’ – all with a deeply grateful thought for Jules and the mealplans…
Wonderful Marina!
Thanks for sharing this story. Love it!
Could this be done in a crock pot? I love the idea of it but it’s hot here in Philadelphia and I’m not sure if I want to run the oven for so long in the late afternoon. 🙂
Absolutely Ellie! Just reduce the liquid by half for the crockpot
I wish it was hot here 😉
I did do it in the crock pot, but didn’t see the note about reducing the liquid in time. As I used eggplant and mushrooms instead of sausage it tasted good but was very soupy. Would have been fine over pasta or couscous, but will make a note to reduce liquid if I do this recipe again. 🙂
Thanks for sharing Ellie!
Yes crock pots don’t have anywhere near as much evaporation as cooking in the oven so it’s really easy to end up with too much liquid.
Glad to hear the eggplant and mushies tasted good anyway 🙂