Sausages With Caramelised Onions make an easy dinner recipe perfect for any night of the week! Quick, easy and full of flavor this is a meal that you will still have the energy to bring together even after a long workday. Pop some mashed potato on the plate with your sausages and caramelised onions and it is a complete meal!
Recipes like the Caramelised Onion Tarts, Caramelised Onion Sausage Rolls, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Bites and the Caramelised Onion Burger all delight in juicy homemade caramelised onions.
The Quick Caramelised Onions gives us a reference point on how to make these juicy delicious onions in around 30 minutes on the stove top.
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🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Simple ingredients: you will be able to get everything you need to make the recipe from your local grocery store. They are all year round available easy to get your hands on ingredients.
- Budget friendly: sausages are an excellent style of meat that are also cost effective. They can be served casually like for a sausage sizzle or turned into something a little bit more decadaent for dinner.
- Quick and easy: the longest part of creating this recipe is the process of caramelising the onions. This can be done in advance though (if desired) or on the weekend prior and then all you need to do is cook the sausages and heat both through together.
- Comfort food: growing up a high number of us ate sausages at least once at week! They are easy and fast to cook, versatile in a wide range of flavors and flexible lending themselves to a wide range of serving suggestions. This makes them an excellent base for creating a quick and easy dinner recipe!
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the caramelised onion sausages recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Olive oil: we use a little bit of olive oil to cook both the onions and the sausages.
- Butter: a little bit of butter goes into the saucepan with the onions to keep them moist and juicy.
- Salt: to season the onions.
- Brown sugar: for sweet caramelised onion flavor.
- Balsamic vinegar: to enhance the taste profile of the onions.
- Red onions: we need 2 large red onions.
- Sausages: I like to use thick beef sausages like those you see pictured above for the recipe.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the recipe. We start by preparing the onions.
- Slice the onions (Photo 1)
- Seperate the onions onto rings (Photo 2)
- Add oil to a pan (Photo 3)
- Add the onions (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Sausages With Caramelised Onions
To make the sausages with caramelised onions we start by caramelising the onions. To do this place a large sauce pan onto the stove top, add the olive oil and turn the heat to high. From there add the onions and cook for 8-10 minutes using a wooden spoon to stir throughout this time.
After the initial cook time is up, reduce the heat to low and then add the butter like you see me doing in the photos below.
- Add the salt (Photo 5)
- Cook then add the butter (Photo 6)
- Pour in the balsamic vinegar (Photo 7)
- Then add the brown sugar (Photo 8)
After adding the butter pour in the balsamic vinegar followed by the sugar. Now stir the onions occasionally over the next 15 to 20 mins. This helps to deglaze the pan and keep the onions consistently mixed.
- How the onions will look when done (Photo 9)
- Cook the sausages (Photo 10)
- Remove and rest (Photo 11)
- Add both and heat through (Photo 12)
Next add a small amount (1 tablespoon) of olive oil to a large frying pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Then use tongs to transfer the sausages into the pan.
Cook the sausages, rotating regularly for 10 to 15 minutes until browned on the outsides and cooked throughout.
Once the sausages are cooked, use the tongs to transfer them out of the pan and place them onto a paper towel lined chopping board. Let the sausages rest and use a folded piece of paper towel to absorb any excess grease in the pan.
Next add both the cooked sausages and caramelized onions back to the pan as shown in the last photo above and allow to combine and heat through.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
When it comes to serving your caramelised red onion sausages, mashed potato is an easy choice. One option is the Horseradish Mashed Potatoes with a similar textured potato dish being the Garlic Butter Potatoes.
For other potato sides try the Potato And Broccoli Bake, Duck Fat Roast Potatoes, Creamy Garlic Potatoes, Potato And Cauliflower Bake or the Potato And Onion Bake.
For simple roast potatoes try the Skin on Roast Potatoes 😄👍.
Some alternatives to vegetable sides are the Microwave Coconut Rice, Brown Rice Fried Rice or the Basmati Fried Rice. These are also great to freeze and reheat so perfect to meal prep if that is your thing.
A couple more ideas are the Mashed Peas, Roasted Capsicums or the Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Asparagus with either the Crumbed Mushrooms or Air Fryer Breaded Mushrooms providing a little crunch on the side.
I feel that due to the juicy gravy like onions sauce is not essential on the side of these. However! I won't stop you if you want to use tomato sauce, barbecue sauce or your favorite sauce from all homemade sauces on the blog.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Store leftover sausages and onions in a sealed, airtight container in the fridge. They can be kept in the fridge for 3 days and are best reheated before being consumed.
How to Freeze
If you are meal prepping or want to keep the leftovers, simply allow to cool then portion into an airtight container as mentioned above.
How to Reheat
Refrigerated leftovers can be added to a plate with cling wrap and reheated in the microwave on high in 1 minute increments until warmed through.
Frozen portions of the dish are best fully thawed and then reheated following the guide above.
😉 Substitutions and Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't:
- You can use brown onions if you prefer or 1 brown onion and 1 red onion will work also.
- Or want to caramelise another vegetable with the sausages? Try the Caramelised Fennel recipe.
- For the sausages you can use your favorite type. Thick good quality sausages like pork, beef, lamb or chicken will all work well.
- I have seen caramelised sausages at the shops which are usually a beef flavor. As we are making our own caramelised onions I recommend using plain (not store bought caramelised onion sausages) as we don't want to overdo the combination of flavors in the recipe.
- For extra protein you can add some bacon to the pan whilst cooking the sausages be it diced bacon or chopped rashers.
- In place of the dried thyme you can use rosemary or freshly cut parsley.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- You can use 2 seperate pans (I know more washing up!) however, I like a small width when making the onions yet a larger one when cooking the sausages. Besides that is what dishwashers are for 😂👍.
- If you want to repurpose your leftovers in a non 'same, same' way you can add them to hot dog rolls and drizzle some sauce over the top.
- If you love recipes with onions as a key ingredient then you might also like the Slow Cooker French Onion Pork Chops 😉👍.
- Or if it is the sausages that drew you in try the Slow Cooker Curried Sausages, Slow Cooker Sausage And Peppers, Cocktail Sausages or the Honey Mustard Sausages 😄👌.
- Love recipes using caramelised onions? Then you might like to try the Caramelized Onion Brie 🥰.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
It is not necessary to prick sausages before frying. Doing so is a way to stop them exploding however, not piercing them is a way to ensure that the sausage casing helps the meat to steam as it cooks.
No. For a recipe where you want whole cooked sausages it is best to leave the skin on when cooking. If however, you want to use the sausage meat for another purpose like to make sausage rolls you will need to remove the casing.
No. Boiling sausages is an unnecessary step that causes sausages to loose their flavor.
Yes. Add some olive oil to the pan, then add the raw sausages and cook on medium-high heat using tongs to rotate the sausages as they cook.
Caramelising sausages will take longer to cook than frying sausages in the pan. For that reason do the onions first and then the sausages once the onions have already caramelised. You can also do this in separate pans and then add them together once both are cooked through.
You can use a meat thermometer to see if the sausages are cooked. The inside of the sausage should be 160 and 165 °F (71 and 74 °C) with no pink juices.
😍 More Easy Dinner Recipes
If you are always on the lookout for more ideas to answer the daily 'What's for dinner?' question then I have some more ideas that you might like to try. These recipes offer variety through cook times, proteins, tastes and textures:
- Pasta recipes: Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce, Garlic Chicken Parmesan Pasta, Beef Pesto Pasta, Fettuccine Alfredo With Tuna, Fettuccine Alfredo With Scallops.
- More beef: Mince Potato Bake, Slow Cooker Beef Massaman Curry, Slow Cooker French Onion Beef, Savoury Mince Pasta, Savoury Mince Pies.
- Pork recipes: Chorizo Fried Rice, French Onion Pork Chops, Roast Pork Shoulder, Slow Cooker Dry Rub Ribs
- Quick and easy dinner recipes: Chicken Pesto Linguine, Chicken Yaki Udon, Crumbed Lamb Cutlets.
- Slow cooker family meals: Slow Cooker Massaman Lamb Shanks, Slow Cooker Pork Belly, Slow Cooker Beef Massaman Curry, Slow Cooker Dahl, Slow Cooker Savoury Mince.
It is time to get our sausages with caramelised onions on my friend! You can also find all of my quick and easy recipes or family favorite recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
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📖 Recipe
Sausages With Caramelised Onions
Ingredients
Caramelised Onions
- 2 large red onions Note 1
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter unsalted, Note 2
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Sausages
- 6 beef sausages Note 3
To serve
- mashed potato
- thyme
Instructions
- Onions: use a knife and cutting board to peel the skin from the onions and slice them into thin rounds. Next use your fingers to separate the onions rings and push apart any thick chunks of onion.
- Cook: place a large sauce pan on the stove top, add the olive oil and turn the heat to high. Next add the sliced onions and sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring every now and then to ensure that the onions don't burn till the onions soften.
- Butter, sugar and balsamic vinegar: at the 10 minute mark, turn the heat down to medium-low add the butter to the pan, stir as it melts then add both the balsamic vinegar and the brown sugar. Keep reducing the heat to low then stir and let the onions caramelise. Allow the onions to cook for an additional 10 - 15 minutes until they are moist and juicy. Turn the heat off once done and let the onions sit.
- Sausages: drizzle a small amount of olive oil (1 tablespoon) into a large non stick frying pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the sausages and cook for 10 to 15 minutes using a pair of tongs to rotate them regularly throughout this time. Once cooked through turn the heat off, use the tongs to transfer the sausages to a paper towel lined chopping board and then use a folded piece of paper towel to absorb any excess oil in the pan.
- Combine: add both the cooked sausages and caramelised onions back to the pan and heat through.
- To serve: serve the sausages with caramelised onions over a bed of mashed potatoes with thyme leaves sprinkled over the top.
Notes
- Note 1 - Onions: I like to use 2 red onions as I find that they have a sweeter flavor than brown onions. However, you can use 2 brown onions or 1 red onion and 1 brown onion if you wish to.
- Note 2 - Butter: we want to use unsalted butter as we use salt as a separate ingredient to season the onions. During the initial 8-10 minutes the olive oil will be used to cook the onions. This will get absorbed almost entirely during the initial cook phase. From there we add the butter to keep the onions moist and juicy as we continue to cook and caramelised them.
- Note 3 - Sausages: I use beef sausages. You can use beef, pork, lamb, chicken or your favorite flavor. Thick, robust, good quality sausages are best and don't need to be pricked with a fork before being cooked. If your sausages look like they are going to burst as they are cooking, turn the heat down a little and continue to rotate them regularly with a pair of tongs. The easiest way to test that the sausages are cooked through is to remove one from the pan, cut it in half and check that the insides are browned and not pink. You can also use a cooking thermometer.
- Serving size: 3-4 people depending on how many sausages you want each portion to be ie 1 for smaller portions or 2 for larger portion (adult sizes).
Megan P says
Loving this idea and all of the flavours in the dish.
Adrianne says
Thanks Megan 😄.
Heather Smith says
Can I add more onions to this recipe?
Adrianne says
Hi Heather. Yes. for sure you can. If needed you can also increase the balsamic vinegar and sugar to cover the addition of extra onions. Enjoy.