Pork · Slow cooker

Cheap Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole (Budget Recipe)

A budget Lidl-and-the-freezer slow cooker casserole built from a £1.25 packet of bangers, two onions, button mushrooms and a packet of sauce mix. Two hours on High and the gravy comes out tasting like a tenner.

R By Richard · Adapted from butlersempire · Published 7 June 2026
👁 83.3k source views ❤️ 2.8k source likes
⏱Prep 15 min
🍽Serves 2
Is This Cheap Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole Any Good?

Source video by butlersempire on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

This is a cheap and cheerful slow cooker sausage casserole for a midweek dinner. Eight pork sausages are browned in an air fryer for colour, then dropped (whole or chopped) onto a base of two onions, mushrooms and a pepper. A packet of sausage casserole sauce mix is whisked with 300 ml of water and poured over the top. The pot goes on High for around two hours, and dinner lands on plates with mustard mash and steamed veg. It is the kind of recipe that proves a slow cooker, a packet sauce and a £1.25 pack of bangers can punch well above their weight.

Slow cooker notes: Source is already a slow cooker recipe, no adaptation required. Low setting timings not stated.

Ingredients

Main
  • 8pork sausages, browned in an air fryer (optional)
Veg
  • 2onions, peeled and chopped
  • button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1yellow bell pepper, chopped
Gravy
  • 1 packetsausage casserole sauce mix
  • 300 mlcold water, for mixing with the sauce sachet

Method

  1. Brown the sausages in an air fryer at 200°C for 8 to 12 minutes until coloured (optional, just for the look; they will finish cooking in the slow cooker).

    ~12 min

  2. Chop the onions, mushrooms and pepper, then tip them into the slow cooker dry, no liquid yet.

    ~5 min

  3. Lay the sausages on top of the veg, whole or chopped into bite-size chunks as you prefer.

    ~2 min

  4. Whisk the packet of sausage casserole sauce mix into 300 ml of cold water until dissolved, then pour over the sausages and veg.

    ~2 min

  5. Lid on. Cook on High for about 2 hours.

    ~120 min

  6. Serve with mustard mashed potato and steamed veg.

    ~2 min

Frequently asked

Do I have to brown the sausages first?
No. The cook flags it as optional, just for colour. The sausages can go into the slow cooker raw and finish cooking through on High in around two hours.
Can I cook this on Low instead?
Yes, but Low timings are not stated in the source. A safe guess is 4 to 5 hours on Low for browned sausages; use a meat thermometer if going from raw to be sure.
Can I leave out the mushrooms or pepper?
Yes. Both are bulkers, not core ingredients. The cook says either or both can be left out without changing the dish.
Why is there no extra stock?
The 300 ml of water mixed with the packet sauce mix is the only liquid added; the veg and sausages release more juice as they cook.
What goes with it?
Mash, especially wholegrain mustard mash, and any steamed mixed veg you have to hand (broccoli, sprouts, carrots, cauliflower).
Extraction notes (transparency): Mushroom and pepper quantities described loosely ('some mushrooms', 'one bell pepper'). Cook says sausages can finish from raw in the slow cooker too, so browning is presented as optional. Low-setting time not stated.