Our Slow Cooker Sweet Spicy Sausage is the perfect blend of sweet, spicy and smoky and is sure to be your new favorite appetizer!
Slow Cooker Sweet Spicy Sausage
Hi, Jenny from Honey and Birch again! Fall to me means pumpkin everything, and my favorite – football season! I am not one of those so-called “football widows” – you will find me watching the game with my husband or my girlfriends, cheering and yelling with the best of them.
My husband jokes around that part of the reason I love football so much is my obsession with tailgating appetizers… and he may be right. There is something about a table full of finger foods and dips that make me so happy. I love sampling each one and picking my favorites. Don’t even get me started on smorgasbords or potluck tailgating parties – how do you pick which of your favorite appetizer recipes to bring?
If you ever have this same dilemma, this recipe for slow cooker sweet spicy sausages is going to be your new favorite appetizer. It sure is mine! It is the perfect blend of sweet, spicy and smoky and is sure to be a football party favorite.
How to Make Slow Cooker Sweet Spicy Sausage
Start by cooking the sauce in a small pot. Saute the garlic and then add the chili sauce and grape jelly. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently. If the jelly doesn’t completely melt at this time, it’s okay – it will finish melting when in the slow cooker. While the sauce is cooking, slice the smoked sausage (you can usually find it in the deli area of grocery stores near the hot dogs) into 1/2 inch pieces and put it in a 2-quart slow cooker.
Add the spices to the sauce, stir and then pour it over the sausage. Heat that in the slow cooker for 1 1/2 – 2 hours or until the sausage is hot and the sauce is bubbly.
For More Tailgating Recipes, Check Out:
Slow Cooker Sweet Spicy Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
- 12 ounces chili sauce
- 12 ounces grape jelly
- 1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 32 ounces fully-cooked sausage cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Instructions
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Pour the oil in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Then add the chili sauce and grape jelly and mix together. Cook for 10 minutes on medium heat, stirring frequently.
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Place the sausage in your slow cooker. Add the spices to the sauce mixture, stir and then pour it over the sausage. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours on high, or until the sausage is hot and the sauce is bubbly. Stir once after 1 hour.
Lovely recipe, this looks so delicious and easy to prepare! I wonder if this would work with veggie sausages? 🙂 <3
Following on bloglovin' <3
Kay
https://shoesandglitter.blogspot.com
This sausage looks delicious! I’ll have to try this for dinner soon!
Paige
what kind of chili sauce was used?
What heat do you set it, high or slow?
Hi Susie,
Set it to high. Hope you enjoy!
do you cook the sausage before putting it in the slow cooker?
Hi Baylie,
You should use fully-cooked sausage liked smoked sausage for this recipe.
Hiiiiii. Making this delicious looking recipe tomorrow. I have all ingredients except chile sauce. What kind of chili sauce do you use? Thank you for sharing
Hi Tima! I used a 12 ounce bottle of Heinz chili sauce. It should be in the same grocery store aisle as the ketchup/bbq sauce. (for picture reference https://www.amazon.com/Heinz-Chili-Sauce-131120-12/dp/B004I8EUBA)
Could I use boysenberry jam for this recipe in place of the grape jelly?
Hi Tina, I have never made this recipe with anything other than jelly – it may work but the consistency of jam is quite different from jelly so I can’t guarantee it will work. I will try with jam next time I make it and update here with my results.
Amazing! I come from a family of 6 and most of them are picky eaters. My mom and I were worried that the rest of the family wouldn’t like it. Not only were we wrong, but there were none for leftovers. We served the sausage over rice and it was so easy and so good! Thanks for the recipe!
I did use jam and it works great! For anyone who is curious.
Thanks for updating us! I’m so glad to hear your family liked them and I am definitely going to use jam next time too. Sounds fabulous.
Looks great! Here is mine. I am sure it will be good with sausage too. Hot dogs cut into coins, saute in brandy and apricot jam. That’s it. Fast, easy, delicious. : )
I may be the only person who needed to be told this, but you have to REMOVE THE CASING before preparing the sausage. It’s no fun after it’s been sliced and cooked 🙁
I used strawberry jam and it came out fabulous.
I never remove the casing. You should buy the fully cooked sausage links ,brands like Hilshire Farms.
Thanks so much for posting this! I’ve been looking for a recipe with sausage!! Wooooo Hooooo!
I have never removed the casing from the sausage. Does anyone else do that? The whole family is getting together in Gatlinburg, Tennessee in a big cabin for a week. I am going to make this for our poker night. Sounds very good.
Looks Great! Here is mine that I invented in 1980:
Package of hot dogs (We use natural)
Apricot jam
Brandy or sherry
Chop hot dogs into coins, fry in fry pan, when a little browned add apricot jam, then add brandy, stir for a couple of minutes, toothpick the pieces and serve. They are quick and amazing.
Do you think you could mix sausage and meatballs together in the same crockpot. I have found your recipes for both sausage and meatballs.
Hi Karen! I think you could combine the two as long as you are using frozen meatballs. And that’s a great idea – I think I’m going to do that next time.
Try mixing 6 oz jar of Frenchs mustard with 18 oz jar of Smuckers strawberry preserves. Just thin slice polish kabilish sausage or use Little Smokies and put in crock pot. It will not cover sausage. Sausage will cook down and be covered. Do high a couple of hours and turn down.
Delicious recipe. I used 3 different varieties of sausage. Kielbasa, smoked and little smokies. It was very tasty. I especially enjoyed the sweet and spicy flavor. I served it with potato salad and BBQ baked beans. I will definitely make this again. It is very easy to throw together and has great flavor. I found it on Pintrest. Thanks!
If I use a total of 5 pounds of meat (combination of kielbasa and little smokies), would it be adequate to double the sauce recipe?
32 ounces of sausage is 2 pounds – if you can find larger jars of the chili sauce and grape jelly, I would use them because you may find that there isn’t enough sauce by simply doubling it.
Do you think Italian sausage could be used?
If you fully cook the Italian sausage first, I think you could use it instead of Polish sausage.
Apple is a very common and complimentary BBQ flavor. I would like something like apple butter instead of grape would add a more authentic BBQ flavor.
You can also add to the smokey flavor by using smoked spices. It is very easy to smoke things like cayenne, black pepper, white pepper or even salt. It adds another depth of flavor and is complimentary to the spice you smoke.
Great idea, Jamie! Thanks for sharing!
Great recipe! I love making this with regular hotdogs, apricot jelly and a splash of brandy and that’s it. Jelly always seems to work great with sausages and hotdogs too.
I made these a couple of years ago. Oh my!! I had never used the Sriracha before. Man that stuff is H-O-T!
If I was thinking, I would have tasted it first, then adapt what I needed to. I used three different sausage also, and after it was in the crock pot, and was near done is when I decided to taste a few sausage bites. Mercyme I was on fire! LOL I decided not to take it to the party I was supposed to take it to, but it tasted so good I kept them all for myself.
Thank you for posting the recipe.
Great tips!
GREAT RECIPE! I was surprised that my pickiest guest absolutely loved this recipe. I will make this again and again!
So happy to hear that Thomene!
I made this last night for a New Years party and they were a huge hit! I didn’t even get to try 1!! I used regular hot dogs instead of smoked sausage and everyone loved them 🙂 thanks for the recipe!! I tried to rate it 5 stars but the highest it will let me is 4…