Sausage and bean casserole
40 min · 30 g protein · 408 cals / serving
A one-pot winter dinner: reduced-fat sausages browned until sticky, then simmered with peppers, smoked paprika and thyme in a rich tomato sauce with creamy cannellini and butter beans. A splash of balsamic at the end sharpens it, and spinach wilts in for colour. Ready in about 35 minutes, and even better the next day.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp canola oil
- 8 reduced-fat pork sausages (400 g) reduced-fat sausages
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- 2 red bell peppers, red or yellow, in chunks
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tsp paprika, smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp fennel seed, lightly crushed
- 2 tbsp tomato paste, tomato purée
- 1 tin (400 g) diced tomatoes, chopped tomatoes
- 1 tin (400 g), drained cannellini beans
- 1 tin (400 g) butter beans, drained lima beans
- 250 ml beef broth
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 100 g baby spinach
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- a small handful fresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- Heat the oil in a large casserole or deep pan over a medium-high heat and brown the sausages all over, 6–8 minutes, until sticky and dark in places. Lift them out and cut each one into 3 pieces.
- Add the onion, carrot and peppers to the pan and cook for 6–8 minutes, until softened and catching at the edges. Add the garlic for the last minute.
- Stir in the smoked paprika, thyme, fennel seeds and tomato purée and cook for 1 minute until it darkens.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, both beans, the stock, Worcestershire sauce and the sausages. Bring to the boil, then simmer, partly covered, for 15 minutes, until the sauce is thick and the sausages are 165°F inside. Squash a few of the beans against the side of the pan to thicken it further.
- Stir in the spinach until it wilts, then the balsamic and pepper. Taste for salt (the sausages and stock may bring enough) and scatter with parsley.
Good to know
Which sausages?
Any reduced-fat pork or chicken sausage works. Full-fat Cumberland or Toulouse sausages give a richer pot with much more fat, at about 51 instead of 69; pour off what renders out after browning.
What to serve with it?
It is a full meal on its own. A slice of crusty bread for the sauce, a jacket potato or a pile of steamed greens all fit.
Slow cooker?
Brown the sausages and soften the vegetables first, then cook everything except the spinach and balsamic on low for 6 hours. Stir those in at the end.
Per
- Calories
- 80
- Protein
- (30%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (22%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (49%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 3 g
- Sodium
- 241 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1634 kcal goes into the pot and 2233 g of ingredients comes out as about 2040 g of food: 80 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.