Creamy Slow-Cooker Polenta With Sausages
Updated Jan. 20, 2022
- Total Time
- 6 hours and 5 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2cups dried polenta (not quick-cooking)
- 1(12-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
- 1(32-ounce) jar good-quality marinara sauce
- 5garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
- 2tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the sausages
- Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh oregano or ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1teaspoon garlic powder
- Kosher salt
- 6raw hot or sweet Italian sausages (pork, turkey, chicken or vegan)
- 1(3.5-ounce) jar capers, drained
- ⅓cup drained, pickled sliced pepperoncini, banana peppers or cherry peppers
- ¾cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
798 calories; 48 grams fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 22 grams monounsaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 60 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 30 grams protein; 2216 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Whisk together the polenta, roasted red peppers, marinara, garlic, olive oil, oregano, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon salt in a 6- to 8-quart slow cooker. Whisk in 5½ cups of water. Cook on low for 6 hours. (The polenta will keep very well on warm.)
- Step 2
About 10 or 15 minutes before you want to eat, heat the oven to 450 degrees. Lightly coat an oven-safe skillet with olive oil, and roast the sausages in the skillet in the oven until sizzling and browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the skillet and put it over medium-high heat on the stovetop. Add a little more oil if the pan is relatively dry. Add the capers and pepperoncini to the hot skillet with the sausages, and let the capers pop, 1 or 2 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Step 3
Stir the Parmesan into the polenta. The polenta will continue to firm up as it cools; stir in a few tablespoons of water if you would like it to be looser. Serve the polenta in shallow bowls topped with sausages, capers and pepperoncini. Pass more Parmesan at the table.
Private Notes
Comments
Sounds good, but why on earth would I fire the oven to roast sausages when the skillet is going end up on my stovetop anyway? Just brown them in the skillet before you add the capers etc.
Gooey, flavorful. I used an instapot to slow cook, at the end of six hours, I used the saute function to reduce the mixture a bit; we like a thinker polenta around here.
Forgive me for being maternal, but take care moving a skillet from a 450 oven to your stovetop if the stovetop is glass or ceramic. If the stovetop is cold a big temperature shock like that can crack or shatter it.
Made this without the meat and the pepperoncini, added a tsp of red chili pepper flakes. When I got home from work the texture was great after 6 hours of slow-cooking, but it was slightly bitter. Threw in 2-3 tsp brown sugar dissolved in hot water, some more salt, and a squeeze of lemon, slow cooked some more, and it really, really came together. Also sauteed broccoli and squash in garlic and threw it in. Omitted the parmesan accidentally and it still worked, even though it was vegan and GF.
I used cornmeal. It turned out really well and was flavorful. Nice to leave cooking while you work. Uncooked sausages took about 25 minutes to fully cook.
left it cooking for closer to ten hours because of the length of my work day/commute but the texture was lovely at the end anyway. it was a little bland when i tried it so i added paprika, salt, pepper, and more garlic powder, which with the cheese made it very flavorful. also i agree that roasting the sausage is unnecessary
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