I think it’s time I told you about my love for chicken sausage. I don’t know when it started, but it definitely runs deep. This Chicken Sausage White Bean Skillet is made with pre-cooked smoky chicken sausage to save you time and creamy white canned beans to save you money!! And I’m always excited to share a one-pan dinner meal with you, so this is one you’ll want to keep in your back pocket!
Ingredients for Chicken Sausage White Bean Skillet
My goal was to create a quick skillet meal that reminded me of slow-cooked beans and ham. You know the beans that cook for hours in a big pot and soaks up all that delicious flavor from a smoky ham hock bone? Yes, that was the goal. And I think I got pretty close! ;) Here’s what you’ll need:
- Chicken Sausage: You’ll need 4-5 fully cooked chicken sausage links. Currently my favorite brand is Aidells smoked chicken sausage, but you can use whichever brand you like. I’ve heard great things about Trader Joe’s chicken sausage too!
- Onion and Garlic: Diced onion and garlic cooks in the residual fat from the chicken sausage and adds lots of aromatics and flavor to the dish.
- White Beans: I love creamy cannellini beans which is what I used, but you can certainly use a different canned white bean like great northern beans or navy beans.
- Chicken Broth: A little chicken broth helps warm the beans through and creates a light sauce.
- Spinach: I had a half bag of baby spinach leftover from my cheese tortellini and sausage skillet so I decided to add it here to reduce food waste and it gives the dish more color.
- Seasoning: Smoked paprika to help achieve that smoky bean flavor, a little bit of salt, black pepper, and dried oregano. That’s all you’ll need!
Recipe Tips!
- Keep an eye on the chicken sausage as it browns in the skillet. It only takes 1-2 minutes on each side. So make sure to remove it promptly after it browns to keep it from burning.
- I like to use a very large 12-inch skillet when making this recipe so I can quickly brown all of the chicken sausage at one time in an even layer.
- Drain the canned beans but DON’T rinse them. The extra starchy liquid that’s stuck to the beans will help create a light sauce.
- You can replace the spinach with chopped kale if that’s what you have on hand.
- Top this easy one-skillet meal with some freshly grated parmesan cheese or a pinch of red pepper flakes for extra flavor!
CAN I USE A DIFFERENT TYPE OF SAUSAGE?
Yes! You can use any type of smoked sausage for this recipe. I just so happen to love chicken sausage, but beef, pork, turkey, or even kielbasa sausage would work just fine. Just make sure you are getting fully-cooked sausage links.
Storing Leftovers
Although the beans will thicken quite a bit after storing in the refrigerator, it will still taste great the next day. So feel free to store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. Reheat easily in the microwave until warmed through.
Chicken Sausage White Bean Skillet
Servings 4 (about 1.25 cups each)Ingredients
- 4 fully-cooked chicken sausage links (about 12 oz.) ($4.99)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil, divided ($0.08)
- 1 small yellow onion, diced ($0.42)
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 2 15oz. cans cannellini beans, drained ($2.00)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1 cup chicken broth ($0.17)
- 2 cups spinach, roughly chopped ($0.76)
Instructions
- Slice the chicken sausage into round medallions about ¼ – ½ inch thick.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 Tbsp of oil. Add the sliced chicken sausage to the skillet and brown on both sides. It will only take about 1-2 minutes on each side. So be careful not to burn the sausage. Once the chicken sausage is browned, remove it from the skillet onto a separate plate and set aside.
- In the same skillet, add the remaining 1 Tbsp of oil along with the diced onion and minced garlic. Sauté for about 3 minutes or until the onion is translucent and the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the drained canned beans to the skillet (do not rinse the beans, the residual starchy liquid helps create the sauce), along with the salt, dried oregano, smoked paprika, and cracked black pepper. Then pour in the chicken broth.
- Gently stir everything together and bring the skillet up to a simmer. Simmer for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the chopped spinach to the skillet, allowing the heat to wilt the spinach, then add the browned chicken sausage. Gently stir with the beans to combine.
- Serve hot with crusty bread and some freshly cracked black pepper or red pepper flakes on top. Enjoy!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
How to Make Chicken Sausage White Bean Skillet – Step by Step Photos
Currently this is my favorite brand of smoked chicken sausage, but you can use whichever brand you like.
Slice 4 fully-cooked chicken sausage links into round medallions about ¼ – ½ inch thick.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 1 Tbsp of oil. Add the sliced chicken sausage to the skillet and brown on both sides. It will only take about 1-2 minutes on each side. So be careful not to burn the sausage. Once the chicken sausage is browned, remove it from the skillet onto a separate plate and set aside.
In the same skillet, add the remaining 1 Tbsp of oil along with 1 small diced yellow onion and 2 minced garlic cloves. Sauté for about 3 minutes or until the onion is translucent and the garlic is fragrant.
Add 2 15oz. cans of drained cannellini beans to the skillet (do not rinse the beans, the residual starchy liquid helps create the sauce), along with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, and 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper. Then pour in 1 cup chicken broth. Gently stir everything together and bring the skillet up to a simmer. Simmer for 4-5 minutes.
Add 2 cups chopped spinach to the skillet, allowing the heat to wilt the spinach. If your bean mixture has gotten a little too thick feel free to add 2 Tbsp of water at this point.
Now add the browned chicken sausage to the skillet. Gently stir with the beans to combine.
Now all that’s left to do is enjoy with some crusty bread and maybe a quick side salad. A simple one-skillet meal for the win!!🙌
Can I add a can of chopped tomatoes?
We didn’t try it that way, but I think that would be good! You might want to add a little more seasoning to make up for the extra volume though.
This was a delicious easy recipe for meal prep! I added in some zucchini to increase the veggie content and bulk it out a little bit and that worked well.
Made this and it was super good! Thank you so much!
I added cayenne pepper to taste.
It had enough flavor that I didn’t need to add any extra sauces or toppings.
This was a bit underwhelming. I expected more flavor but it was a bit on the bland side. Would be nice to add mushrooms and rice or some potato
Another winner from Budget Bytes! This was super easy and fast (30 min to chop and cook everything). I consider this a healthy meal. I enjoyed the taste.
This was a great weeknight meal. It was quick and easy, very filling, and tasty too. I’m sure I’ll be making it again in the near future.
I want to add long grain white rice or brown rice to this. How would I do this?
Absolutely delicious. I’ll make this again for sure.
We didn’t test it adding it to the actual recipe, so I can’t give you a concrete answer there. I would just cook the rice separately as normal and serve with the sausage and beans spooned over top of it.
Do you know how many dried beans for this reciepe as I cannot eat tinned food..thanks
You’d need roughly 9oz of dried beans to equal the canned beans used in the recipe and they’d need to be cooked prior to using them in the recipe.
Could you use frozen spinach with this?
Sure! We only tried it with fresh but I would go with maybe half of a 10oz package and make sure to drain off the excess liquid.
Yum! I used Italian chicken sausage and ended up using chickpeas instead of white beans because it turns out the can of beans in my pantry that I thought was white beans was actually chickpeas…whoops. Still turned out delicious!
Made this today for meal prep and turned out pretty good. I added a few splashes of liquid smoke and sprinkle of cayenne pepper to spice it up a little.
I’ll bet Aidells spicy mango & jalapeño chicken sausage would be perfect for this. There’s some in the fridge, so this may be dinner tomorrow night.
Looks great, definitely will try this sometime. Quick FYI though! When buying chicken sausage, make sure to check the ingredients, as some brands use pork casing. If you’re like me and can’t eat pork, this is a big deal.
We used parmesan garlic flavored chicken sausage, and it turned out great. Very quick and easy, so it’s perfect for a weeknight dinner!
Big Aidell’s fan here! Tasty low carb meal, too, although I would have used Katie C’s plan to include rice 30 years ago when DH and I could both eat more carbs! I love the chicken sausage, but suspect any smoked sausage would work with this quick and easy recipe.
Is this like… generic smoked chicken sausage or the chicken and apple or some other flavor of chicken sausage? It feels like it would make a significant difference to the flavor profile.
We used chicken and apple, but I really can’t think of a flavor that wouldn’t work with this!
I’m definitely going to try this one. 👍I might also make some rice to have with it. Hmmm …