Mary Berry's quick sausage and red pepper hot pot stands out as one of the most effortless and satisfying winter dinner recipes available. This casserole delivers a hearty and comforting experience, ideal for frosty evenings or whenever you crave something deliciously substantial to warm you up.
Why This Recipe Is a Winter Winner
Mary Berry's sausage casserole is a warming dish that excels as a proper comfort feed during the colder months. Packed with succulent bangers swimming in a rich tomato-based sauce, along with onions, garlic, and everyday vegetables, this one-pot wonder is both deeply satisfying and wonderfully straightforward to prepare.
Versatility and Ease for Any Occasion
This casserole works brilliantly as a complete main course, and you can easily add some greens on the side if desired, ensuring everyone at the table leaves happy. It's a doddle of a dinner that Mary Berry describes as "perfect for lazy weeknights or weekend evenings", suiting both large family gatherings and intimate suppers for two.
The recipe is designed to feed four people, but it's dead easy to scale up for bigger groups or stash away leftovers for busy days ahead, making it a practical choice for meal planning.
Ingredients for Mary Berry's Sausage Hot Pot
- One teaspoon of sunflower oil
- Eight pork sausages
- Four rashers of smoked bacon, finely chopped
- One onion, sliced
- One red pepper, deseeded and cut into large pieces
- One large carrot, diced into smaller pieces
- One garlic clove, crushed
- 300ml of chicken stock
- 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- Two tablespoons of sun-dried tomato paste
- Two fresh thyme sprigs
- 250g of baby new potatoes, skin on, thickly sliced into discs
- Salt and black pepper, to taste
Step-by-Step Method
- Begin by using a large, deep frying pan or sauté pan with a lid, or a flameproof casserole dish. Heat the oil in the pan over a high flame.
- Add the sausages to the pan and let them sizzle until they're nicely browned all over, then set them aside. The flavour of this dish depends heavily on the quality of the sausages, so it's worth splashing out on your top picks.
- Toss in the bacon next and let it crisp up for a few minutes before setting that aside as well.
- Now throw the onion, pepper, carrot, and garlic into the same pan and give them a good five-minute fry on a high flame. Tip in the stock, tomatoes, and tomato paste, add the thyme sprigs, and crank up the heat until the mixture is bubbling away.
- Add your potatoes and season generously with salt and pepper. For those looking to beef it up a bit, mushrooms, courgettes, or aubergines work a treat as additional ingredients.
- Lower the flame to a gentle simmer and slide the bacon and sausages back into the mix. Pop a lid on and let it bubble away gently on the hob for around 20 minutes. Do not skimp on the cooking time, as the slow simmer allows the sausages to soak up all that gorgeous tomatoey goodness.
- Remove the lid and keep it simmering for another 10 minutes until the sauce thickens up nicely and everything is lovely and tender. Serve it up in bowls with a side of greens for a complete meal.
Make-Ahead Tips for Busy Cooks
The beauty of this sausage hot pot is that you can prepare it up to eight hours in advance. Simply bring it back to the boil when you're ready to tuck in, making it an excellent option for stress-free entertaining or quick weeknight dinners.
Overall, Mary Berry's recipe offers a foolproof way to enjoy a comforting, flavour-packed meal that brings warmth and joy to any winter table.
