This Sausage & Apple Casserole is easy to make, is filling and works out at 6 Points on the WW Points Plan.
Serve with mashed potato or this zero point Roasted Butternut Squash Mash and garden peas for a satisfying, comforting & tasty low point Weight Watchers dinner.
Please be aware that this post was written prior to Weight Watchers changing to the WW Points Plan. Scroll down the page to check how many Points it works out on the 2023 - 2024 WW Points Plan, as well as some of the older Weight Watchers plans.
I love sausage casserole, especially on cold wintery days when only comfort food will do!
This combination of sausages cooked in cider with sliced apple & onion has been a popular dish in the UK for years.
Typically, the recipe would use pork sausages rather than chicken or turkey sausages.
However, to make this a low point recipe, I swapped out the pork sausages for some herby flavourful chicken sausages .... and it really works!
What sausages should I use?
I tend to use Heck Chicken Italia Chipolatas in this recipe. They are widely available in the UK and work out at 2 SmartPoints for 2 grilled sausages.
Sometimes I use chicken sausages from the butcher which I am assured are made purely from skinless chicken breast and lots of herbs and spices! Why not check out your local butcher to see if they do low point chicken sausages?
If you are in the US you could try Jones Dairy Farm Turkey Sausage Links or Applegate Natural Chicken & Sage Frozen Breakfast Sausage. The Jones Dairy Farm brand work out at 2 SmartPoints for 4 links and the Applegate brand work out at 2 SmartPoints for 2 links.
Can I use pork sausages instead?
Pork sausages are fabulous in this recipe - pork is a perfect partner for apple and cider.
However, pork sausages work out much higher in SmartPoints than turkey or chicken sausages due to the amount of saturated fat that they contain.
If you do substitute the chicken / turkey sausages for pork sausages be sure to rework the SmartPoints.
Which cider should I use?
The term cider means different things in different places.
In the UK, cider is the name for the alcoholic (usually fizzy) fermented apple drink.
Apple juice is what we call the non alcoholic (generally sweeter) apple juice drink - the one you drink for breakfast! If you drink the harder kind for breakfast, please do reach out to someone - there are plenty of places out there that really can help you! Just saying 🙂 x
In the US it's different. The term cider or apple cider is used for both the alcoholic and non alcoholic apple juice drink depending on where in the US you are.
For avoidance of doubt, I used a hard cider (the fermented, alcoholic drink kind). It is less sweet than apple juice but has roughly the same amount of SmartPoints per 100ml as the non alcoholic kind.
It is up to you what you use in this recipe - both taste great but it may be worth checking the SmartPoints first.
I used a dry cider which worked out at 8 SmartPoints for the whole recipe.
Which apples should I use?
Use sweet eating apples such as Pink Lady, Braeburn, Jazz, Fuji or Gala.
I don't drink cider can I use apple juice instead?
Yes - see above!
Serving suggestions
This casserole is delicious served with mashed potato or mashed butternut squash and garden peas.
I also love it with air - fried new potatoes.
Points in this Casserole
Over the years I have used the official WW recipe builder to work out the Points for my recipes. I have listed the Points for the different plans below.
- WW Points Plan (2023 / 2024) - 6 Points per serving
- Freestyle / SmartPoints - 5 Points per serving
- my WW Blue Plan - 5 Points per serving
- my WW Purple Plan - 5 Points per serving
- my WW Green Plan - 5 Points per serving
More Weight Watchers Casserole recipes
If you like casseroles, you may like to take a look at these Weight Watchers friendly recipes.
- BBQ Sausage Casserole - 6 SmartPoints on Blue & Purple & 8 SmartPoints on Green
- Creamy Chicken Casserole - 6 SmartPoints on Blue & Purple & 8 SmartPoints on Green.
- Chicken, White Bean and Bacon Casserole - 5 SmartPoints on Blue & Purple & 8 SmartPoints on Green
- Chipotle Chicken Casserole - zero SmartPoints on Blue & Purple & 8 SmartPoints on Green.
Sausage & Apple Casserole | Weight Watchers
Ingredients
- 0.5 tbsp olive oil
- 8 chicken / turkey sausages see suggestions above
- 2 medium apples
- 2 small onions
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 sprig Fresh thyme optional
- 2 cups cider (500ml)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180° C / gas mark 4
- Prepare the apples by removing the cores and cutting into eight.
- Prepare the onions by peeling and chopping into large chunks.
- In a large casserole dish heat half of the olive oil over a medium heat.
- Add the sausages and cook for 6 - 8 minutes turning every few minutes till they brown. At this point you are not cooking the sausages through, just browning them.
- Use a slotted spoon to remove the browned sausages from the pan and place them aside.
- Add the remaining olive oil and the chopped onion to the casserole dish and fry for 6 - 8 minutes until they start to soften and brown.
- Add the apple chunks and cook for 2 - 3 minutes until they start to colour,
- Add the minced garlic and cook for a further 1 minute, stirring to make sure that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the cider & stir, making sure that nothing is stuck to the bottom of the dish/.
- Add the sausages back into the casserole dish and season with a little salt and pepper.
- Add the thyme (if using) and give a final stir.
- Place the casserole dish, uncovered, into the centre of the preheated oven and cook for 20 - 25 minutes until the sausages are cooked through, the onions and apples have softened and the juice has reduced slightly.
- Serve and enjoy!
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