Sausage Casserole in Slow Cooker: Kielbasa, diced frozen hashbrowns, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, cheese, and a few other simple ingredients come together to make one of the best slow cooker meals!
Casserole recipes are a popular favorite dinner recipe here, and when you combine that with our love of slow cooker recipes, you get this hearty sausage casserole and affordable dinner idea!
This slow cooker sausage casserole is a great recipe for dinner, a potluck (think, funeral potatoes or cheesy hash browns with a protein), or even as a side dish recipe for a holiday! I stock up on smoked sausage when I find a deal, which is why I have no shortage of recipes for you.
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Why This Recipe Works
- It’s affordable: Being able to make an affordable recipe can be hard to come by but this one is definitely one that can be made more affordably than some.
- Picky eaters: For those who aren’t fans of vegetables in their casserole, this one should fit the bill! I have a feeling the whole family will love this one.
- Slow Cook: Setting it and forgetting it makes preparing dinner so easy!
- One Pot Meal: Everything gets tossed in to the slow cooker so this makes the sausage casserole in the slow cooker, a one-pot meal with only one pot to wash!
Ingredients Needed
I’ve highlighted a couple of ingredients with some relevant notes. Aside from this, the ingredients needed are pretty basic.
- Sausage – kielbasa is typically cooked before it’s packaged and sent to the store. So you won’t need to worry about cooking this before placing in the slow cooker with the other ingredients.
- Cheeses – I know how tempting it can be to buy pre-shredded cheese, and it’s absolutely ok to do so. However, for best results, if you buy the block cheese and shred it yourself, it tends to be more creamy. (The pre-shredded usually has an anti-caking agent in it, that prevents the cheese from melting as well, when cooking.)
- Spices – We kept it simple by using only salt and pepper but feel free to have fun and add your other favorite spices if you desire!
- Onions – the chopped white or yellow onion in this recipe is delicious, however, if you’re a fan of green onions, you may either use these instead or sprinkle on the top after the dish is finished cooking.
Substitutions
Like many recipes, there are substitutions that can be made for this easy sausage casserole in the crock pot, so here are our suggestions if needed:
- Cheeses – Cheddar and pepper jack cheeses are our favorites but this recipe is definitely versatile enough that you can switch them out with your favorites; such as Swiss, gouda, mozzarella, and Colby jack.
- Sausage – There are a lot of different types of sausage that can be used for this! Polish sausage, turkey sausage, vegetarian sausages, chicken sausage, pork sausages, andouille, bratwursts, or even chorizo! (Just make sure you cook your bratwursts and chorizo – or any uncooked sausage – before adding them to the slow cooker. You can see how to cook bratwursts in the oven, and how we brown chorizo on the stovetop in this chorizo gravy.) I’d even go so far to say if you had to, you could use little smokies in the crock pot, for this recipe!
- Soups – Condensed cream of mushroom soup or cream of celery can be used in place of condensed chicken soup.
- Potatoes – You can use frozen shredded hashbrowns instead if you’d like!
Equipment
You can use a slow cooker, crock pot, or even use the slow cooker setting on your Instant Pot!
How to Make Sausage Casserole
There’s not much to the prepping process in this recipe! It’s very easy, with very few steps and once you put the lid on, you won’t have to do anything until it’s time to eat!
*Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full ingredients list & instructions!*
STEP 1. Add most ingredients to the slow cooker. In a 6 quart or larger slow cooker, add the hash browns, kielbasa, onion, garlic, 1 cup of the cheddar cheese, and 1 cup of the pepper jack cheese (Image 1). Then, add in the salt, pepper, sour cream, whole milk, and chicken soup (Image 2).
Tip: Bacon seems to go so well with dishes like this! Feel free to also add some cooked bacon at this step if you’d like! I just wouldn’t do more than half a cup of chopped, cooked bacon.
STEP 2. Mixing. Mix it all until fully incorporated (Image 3) and then top with the remaining ½ cup cheddar and ½ cup pepper jack cheese. (Image 4).
STEP 3. Cooking time. Cook on HIGH heat for 3 hours or LOW heat for 6 Hours until the potatoes are tender and the cheeses have melted (Image 5).
STEP 4. Serve! Stir and garnish with fresh parsley or chives if desired. Serve and Enjoy!
Top Tip
- Don’t overcook. Slow cooking temperatures can be different for different slow cookers, so it would be a good idea to check your casserole after a little while to make sure it’s not cooking faster than expected. Overcooked potatoes could end up more like mashed potatoes.
Recipe FAQs
It depends on the type of sausage you use. If you use kielbasa, smoked sausage, etc., it’s typically pre-cooked when you buy it at the store. However, if you use raw, pork sausage or even something like Italian sausages or bratwursts, yes, you’ll want to cook those first.
You’ll cook sausage casserole for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
Allow the casserole to fully cool, and then store in an airtight container and place it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Simply reheat it in the microwave or place it in a casserole dish and pop it in the oven to warm back up!
Absolutely! When the casserole has cooled, you can place it in a freezer-safe container and freeze it for up to three months. Either place the dish in the oven to cook through, or back in the slow cooker to thaw and cook through.
More Sausage Recipes You’ll Love
If you love using kielbasa sausage to cook with, then you’ll also love some of our other favorite recipes that I’ve hand-picked for you:
Love slow cooker recipes? These Crock Pot Cube Steaks are so easy to make, and only takes 4 ingredients!
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Recipe
Sausage Casserole in Slow Cooker
Equipment
- slow cooker
Ingredients
- 32 ounces frozen diced hash browns
- 13 ounces kielbasa sliced
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese divided (1 cup + ½ cup)
- 1 ½ cups shredded pepperjack cheese divided (1 cup + ½ cup)
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 10.5 ounce can condensed cream of chicken soup
Instructions
- Add most ingredients to the slow cooker. In a 6 quart or larger slow cooker, add the 32 oz. of hash browns, the sliced kielbasa, onion, garlic, 1 cup of the cheddar cheese, and 1 cup of the pepper jack cheese. Add in the 1 ½ teaspoons of salt, the 2 teaspoons of pepper, the ½ cups of sour cream, 1 cup of whole milk and the one can of chicken soup.
- Mixing: Mix until fully incorporated. Top with the remaining ½ cup cheddar and ½ cup pepper jack cheeses.
- Cook-Time: Cook on HIGH heat for 3 hours or on the LOW setting for 6 Hours until the potatoes are tender and the cheeses have melted.
- Serve: Stir and garnish with fresh parsley or chives if desired. Serve and Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Robin says
How much milk?
Am Ai missing something?
Jessica says
Hi Robin! It’s one cup. But if you scroll down to the recipe card, you’ll see the full list of ingredients and the instructions. I hope that helps!
Nik says
I haven’t made it. What vegetables might work in this? I’d like to make it a more complete meal.
Jessica says
Hi Nik! I think broccoli would be great in this!
Kathy says
Do you thaw the frozen potatoes?
Jessica says
Nope! You’ll just cook from frozen! I hope that helps. 🙂
Vicki says
Very easy to make and was delicious.
Jessica says
Excellent! So happy you liked this casserole!
Erin says
Love this recipe for an easy weeknight meal!
Julia says
Yall, this is the ultimate comfort food! The best part about this casserole is that is doesnt taste like a slow cooker meal! So delicious! Thanks for posting!
April says
Loved this! So creamy and all our favorite things – sausage, cheese, potatoes…what’s not to love? Will definitely be making it again.