The Beans and Sausage Recipe I Swear By for Cold Winter Nights

There comes a point every winter when you have to rally together your arsenal of hot liquid meals. If you have enough recipes—all your hot soups, stews, stoups, and chunky sauces—they can get you through to spring. Much to the chagrin of my friends, I call this Hot Bean Season. One of my favorite meals that fits this category is my Dutch oven beans and sausage. It’s utterly simple, completely satisfying, and you need absolutely no fancy cooking skills to make it.

The reason I come back to this meal again and again is because it uses the Screw It method of cooking—just dump everything in the pot. Well, the initial sausage searing is a must for flavor, but I consider that step part of the Screw It method because it allows me to skip the whole mise en place business: I use the sausages’ sear time to chop the other two ingredients.  

I like to make this recipe in a Dutch oven. (Don’t worry, you don’t need a Le Creuset, any of these cheaper ones will do perfectly.) This meal simmers for a little while, and the heavy cast iron of a Dutch oven keeps the low heat evenly distributed while the domed lid redistributes the moisture back into the sauce. That said, you could make this bangin’ beans and sausage in any heavy-bottomed pot or a big, wide skillet with a well-fitting lid. 

This dish makes me feel like I’m in a cozy tavern on a snowy mountain. That’s never happened to me, but I’m confident a meal like this would be available there. I use the entire can of cannellini beans, including the aquafaba. Don’t drain those beans, even if you elect to use a different variety like chickpeas or red beans. The viscous liquid is full of helpful proteins and starches that will thicken the sauce beautifully. That liquid will also help dissolve the fond that builds from your seared sausage and create a deeply savory sauce. 

In my opinion, this recipe serves two people with two sausages each, but feel free to double for a bigger group or use a little more of any ingredient to make it fit your style. A couple more potatoes won’t harm this dish. If you don’t like kale, replace it with raw spinach, chard, mustard greens, or collards. 

Easy Dutch Oven Beans and Sausage Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 4 sausage links

• 4 ribs of lacinato kale

• 2 red potatoes

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 can cannellini beans (liquid included)

• 1 cup chicken broth

• ½ teaspoon salt (adjustable according to your chicken broth)

1. In a large Dutch oven or heavy duty pot, sear the sausage links in the olive oil over medium heat. Rotate them once or twice while they cook. 

2. Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients. Roughly chop the kale, cut the potatoes into half-inch cubes, peel and smash the garlic clove. 

3. Once the sausages have some color on two sides of each link, toss in all of the other ingredients. Give everything a poke to make sure it contacts the broth a bit. Cover it with a well-fitting lid and simmer over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes. Stir occasionally to scrape up the fond from the bottom of the pan. 

4. About five minutes before it’s finished, smash some of the beans with a wooden spoon to release some of the starches and thicken the sauce even more (if desired). Enjoy with a hunk of crusty bread.