Melt-In-Your-Mouth Sausages

These slow cooker Italian sausages spend five hours braising in a thick tomato sauce until they’re so tender they practically fall apart. The trick is simmering the sausages in water first for 10 minutes. This renders out excess grease so the final sauce isn’t swimming in fat.

After that quick pre-cook, everything goes into the slow cooker: jarred spaghetti sauce, tomato paste for body, sliced green peppers, onions, Parmesan, and parsley. Four hours on low melts the onions and peppers into the sauce. That final hour on high concentrates the flavors and thickens everything up.

You’ve got two ways to serve these. Pile the sausages into crusty hoagie rolls with the peppers and sauce spooned over the top for proper sausage subs. Or slice them into rounds and toss with spaghetti for a hearty pasta night. Either way, the sauce does all the work.

Pro Tips

• Use hot Italian sausage if you like heat, sweet if you don’t. Mixing both gives you the best of both worlds.
• Simmering in water first is key. Skipping this step leaves you with a greasy, oily sauce.
• The tomato paste thickens the jarred sauce so it clings to the sausages instead of being watery. Don’t leave it out.
• These hold well on the “warm” setting for a couple of hours, making them ideal for game day or parties.

Variations

• Sausage and peppers sub: Add sliced provolone on the buns and broil until bubbly.
• Spicy version: Toss in red pepper flakes and swap the green pepper for a mix of hot cherry peppers.