Sausage Casserole with Beans & Kale

If you are craving a cosy dinner, this no-fuss dish is for you, and might just become your new cold weather favourite. I love one-pan dishes like this one as you keep all the flavour in the dish.

What's great about this dish is that's it's easily adaptable. You can use any variety or flavour of sausage and pair it with your favourites veggies. I've made some suggestions later in this post.

Recipe ingredients

Find the full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card below.

• Bacon - I like to use smoked streaky bacon which adds great flavour to the casserole.
• Oil - I like to use regular olive oil to sauté the sausages.
• Sausages: I used 8 good quality pork sausages (90% plus pork meat) in this recipe, which allows 2 per serving.
• Vegetables: I add onion, celery and garlic for the base flavours in this casserole, then add in courgette and any colour bell pepper to increase the veg count.
• Wine: I add red wine to the casserole which adds great flavour. Just cook it down to reduce it and burn off any alcohol.
• Tomatoes: I use both a can of plum tomatoes and tomato puree in this recipe.
• Worcestershire sauce: I add Worcestershire sauce to the casserole, it adds great depth of savoury flavour to the dish.
• Fresh herbs: I added a couple of springs of fresh thyme along with a couple of fresh bay leaves (dried works just fine too).
• Stock: I added a little chicken stock to the casserole, a stock pot of stock cube works just fine.
• Beans: You can use any variety of canned bean in this recipe, I opted for cannellini beans.
• Seasoning: I kept the seasoning simple with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Kale: I like to use cavolo nero kale and its got lots of flavour without being too chewy. However, you can use any variety of kale in this recipe.

How to make sausage casserole

• Add the small strips of bacon to a dry non-stick frying pan and place over medium high heat. Dry fry the bacon for 2-3 minutes.
• Now add the olive oil to the pan and add the sausages, cook for 2-3 minutes until browned on the outside. Turn the heat to medium and add the onions to the pan and cook for 5 minutes until the onions start to soften.
• Add the celery and garlic to the pan and stir through for 1 minute.
• Increase the heat to high, pour in the red wine and cook for 2 minutes, using the wine to de-glaze the pan and allow the wine to reduce.
• Now add the courgette, pepper, tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and chicken stock to the pan. Allow the ingredients to come the the boil, then turn down to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

LESLEY'S TOP TIP: Take time to properly render the bacon fat and also to brown the sausages. This caramelisation will add great flavour to the finished dish.

• Add the cannellini beans to the sausage mixture, salt and black pepper and stir to combine. Then add the kale and stir through again. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the beans have warmed through and all the kale has wilted.
• Take the pan off the heat and serve immediately.

LESLEY'S TOP TIP: The tough stems need to be removed from the cavolo nero. The easiest way to do this is to hold the base of the stem with one hand, running the fingers of your other hand along the length of the stem to strip away the leafy part. Then take each strip and cut into 2-3 pieces.

Recipe variations

• Sausages - I used regular, good quality pork sausages. You can also use flavoured sausages if you prefer, or an Italian pork sausage.
• Beans - I've opted for cannellini beans, but you can add any variety of canned bean to this recipe. Try borlotti beans, red kidney beans, butter beans, black beans, or even chickpeas.
• Vegetables - you can use any variety of veggies in this recipe, try some diced carrot, squash or sweet potato, garden peas, green beans.
• Leafy Greens - feel free to use any variety of leafy green in this recipe. I like to use cavolo nero kale, but regular kale, baby kale, chard, spinach or collard greens.
• Fresh Herbs - I've gone with thyme and bay, but you could also add rosemary, parsley, or some dried oregano to the sauce.
• Spices - you can add whole or ground spices to this casserole, try whole fennel seeds, chilli flakes (red pepper flakes), chilli powder, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning.

Serving suggestions

This is a hearty one pot dish, filled with sausages, lots of veggies and protein dense beans, so I don't tend to add any additional sides. If you want you could serve some toasted bread, to help mop up any leftover sauce.

Useful hints and tips

1. Allow the bacon fat to render down before adding any other ingredients as this adds great flavour to the casserole.
2. For the best flavour I recommend using sausages with a high meat content, opting for 90% pork or 97% if you can find it.
3. Ensure you properly brown the sausages, it's the caramelisation on the sausages that will add the flavour to the finished dish.
4. When you add the red wine stir it around and use it to de-glaze the pan, picking up any bits of flavour in the bottom of the pan.
5. For gluten free diners ensure you use a gluten free pork sausage.
6. Suitable for dairy free diners, as this dish contains no dairy products.
7. Allergy advice: gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soya free and nut free. For comprehensive and detailed allergy advice go to Allergy UK.

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Additional recipe suggestions

If you like this recipe then try some of these family friendly recipes:

• Sausage Traybake
• Lemon & Paprika Chicken Kebabs
• Cajun Chicken Traybake
• Twice Baked Potatoes
• Classic Loaded Hot-dogs
• Easy Chicken Tacos

If you're looking for new inspiration for mid week family dining, then my Ultimate Guide to Family Dinners is here to help. Full of useful hints, tips and lots of tasty recipes.