WEATHER ↗A–Z
Air-fried first for proper golden skin. Then into my little 1.8-litre Crock-Pot with sweet onions, a splash of the black stuff and a gravy worth mopping up with mash.
There are few things more satisfying than good pork sausages and proper onion gravy. But I wanted to give this one the NIX treatment: the air fryer does the browning, Stewbert does the gentle simmering, and just 125 ml of Guinness gives the gravy a deep, roasty backbone.
It’s straightforward home cooking, scaled to my little 1.8-litre Crock-Pot CSC080. No huge batch, no need for a full can of Guinness, and absolutely no pale, floppy slow-cooker sausages.
Tap an ingredient to tick it off. These quantities suit a 1.8-litre cooker.
4–5pork sausages1 largeonion, thinly sliced125 mlGuinness Draught75 mlhot beef stock1 tspWorcestershire sauce1 tsptomato purée1 tspdark brown sugar½ tspEnglish mustard, optional1 tspcornflour + 1 tbsp cold waterTo tastefreshly ground black pepperA littlebutter for the onionsOptional finishing touch: 1 tsp cider vinegar or 1 tbsp apple cider, added to taste.
Get the colour from the air fryer, the flavour from the pan, and let Stewbert do the rest.
01Air-fry 4–5 sausages at 180°C for roughly 12–15 minutes, turning halfway, until browned and cooked right through. Check the centre reaches 75°C.
An air-fried sausage starts with the colour and texture we want; the slow cooker takes care of the gravy.
02While the sausages cook, soften the sliced onion in butter in a frying pan for 8–10 minutes, until it turns golden at the edges.
This little extra job makes a big difference: sweet onions balance Guinness’s roasted bitterness.
03Preheat Stewbert in line with its instructions. Mix 125 ml Guinness with 75 ml hot beef stock, then add the hot onions, Worcestershire sauce, tomato purée, brown sugar, mustard and pepper. Nestle the hot, cooked sausages into the sauce.
Do not put refrigerated sausages into the slow cooker for reheating; this recipe uses sausages transferred straight from the air fryer.
04Cook on LOW for around 2–3 hours until thoroughly hot throughout. For the last 20–30 minutes, stir in the cornflour mixed with cold water and switch to HIGH if needed to thicken.
Taste first. For a sharper finish add a teaspoon of cider vinegar; for a thinner gravy add a splash of hot stock.
Serve over buttery mashed potatoes with garden peas or steamed greens. Spoon that glossy Guinness-onion gravy over everything. A crusty slice of homemade NIX bread wouldn’t go amiss either.
Stick to 125 ml stout, keep the brown sugar and taste before adding more Guinness. A teaspoon of cider vinegar at the end brightens the whole dish.
Do not overfill Stewbert. Four or five average-sized sausages should fit; if they are particularly chunky, cook four. The liquid only needs to come partway up the sausages.
Transfer the sausages straight from the air fryer while hot, and use hot stock. Check the sausages are thoroughly cooked before transfer and the finished dish is piping hot throughout. Cool leftovers promptly and refrigerate.
This is the kind of recipe I love the idea of: a few simple ingredients, some smart shortcuts and loads of flavour. Stewbert may be small, but there’s no reason for his dinners to be.