Let’s think autumn for a minute: crisp air, apples, beautiful leaves, cozy sweaters, bonfires, corn mazes, hayrides, football games, pumpkins, and, best of all, comfort food! We don’t know about you, but we get excited about the change fall can bring to our kitchens: the smell of cinnamon wafting from a fresh-baked apple pie, the earthiness of spices such as sage and thyme, and the warmth of heartier foods like soups, roasts, potatoes, etc.
With the perfect blend of savory spices and the sweetness of apple, this recipe of Sausage and Apples with Sweet Potatoes makes a wonderful, filling mixture that pairs perfectly with the warmth of the baked sweet potatoes!
What you’ll need for this recipe:
6 to 8 medium sweet potatoes, baked
3 Tbsp. butter, divided
1 medium onion, diced
2/3 cups celery, diced
Pinch of salt
Black pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme (or 1 tsp. dried thyme)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried sage
1.5 lb. Stoltzfus Meats loose sausage
2 medium apples, diced
1-2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese, grated
You can purchase Stoltzfus Meats loose sausage at our retail locations. You may have noticed that sage is not included in the photo of the ingredients. This is because our retail locations sometimes offer sage sausage. I opted to purchase the sage sausage and omit the additional sage from the recipe.
How to make Sausage and Apples with Sweet Potatoes:
Before jumping into the heart of this recipe, you’ll need to bake your sweet potatoes. After washing the potatoes, line a baking sheet with foil (optional for easy clean-up), poke holes in the potatoes, and bake in a preheated 425° oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until tender. Let cool slightly before handling. If desired, you can add a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper while they bake, but this is not absolutely necessary. After all, the main flavor of this dish is going to come from the sausage and apple mixture!
To make the sausage mixture, begin by melting two tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Once melted, add the diced onion, celery, salt, pepper, thyme, and sage. Cook for 7-8 minutes, until the onions and celery are tender. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for just about one minute, or until the garlic is fragrant.
Add the sausage to the pan and cook until the sausage is no longer pink, about 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat.
While the sausage cooks, you’ll want to get the apples started. Start by melting one tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Add the apples and sauté lightly before covering with a lid for 3 to 5 minutes. Once the apples are tender, add the maple syrup, and crank the heat up to high for one minute to allow all of the sweetness from the syrup and the tartness from the apple to melt together. Remove from heat.
In a two-quart serving dish, pour the sausage mixture, followed by the apple mixture. Top with the grated cheeses and garnish with fresh thyme, if desired.
Serve a generous scoop of the mixture over your baked sweet potatoes and enjoy!
We hope you find this meal to be tasty and comforting! If you make this meal, we would love to hear about it. Please let us know in the comments or be sure to tag us on social media! Thanks for joining us for Stoltzfus Eats… where feeding you is our pleasure!