If you like potatoes and sausage anything...you are gonna LOVE our version of crock pot pierogies and sausage casserole. They turn into a warm cheesy, creamy potato dumpling dish that's different from most anything you've tasted.
Slow Cooker Pierogies Casserole Freezer Meal- 20 servings in 10 minutes!
Another exceptional thing about this recipe is it's a freezer meal too! It literally took 5 minutes to dump together 4 bags of this recipe for future use. No, they didn't all stay here. I've never tried to keep them longer than 6 weeks. I have no idea how long they keep once they are assembled but I know 6 weeks works out fine...so this batch was split up like this.
- 2 quart sized bags for my friend that helped me work on my freezer meal day. These were stuffed to the brim and made her 3 servings. So that's six freezer meals for her.
- 2 gallon sized bags for here. One for us for later and another for another friend to take to work. I froze it instead of making it immediately because I didn't have an empty crockpot that day! The gallon bags weren't as full as the quart bags but they still made us 2 full meals each plus 2 smaller lunches each (I'm averaging the lunch as one "meal"...I don't know if that's the "right" way to do it or not). So 5 meals for each bag, times two is 10.
- And though I wasn't there to eat it, I'm told 8 people eat a full meal off what I made. I have no idea if there were leftovers so I'm not counting that....Nor do I know how big of meals each ate. Just that's 8 meals there...
So, all in all, we assembled 24 freezer meals in 5 minutes. That was two of us so 10 minutes if you are solo working. You sure can't beat that!
Also, in the pic above...it says "2 cups of water"...you'll see in the printable recipe below you can use water or chicken stock. Chicken stock is better but I wasn't the one writing and she was helping a LOT. So no arguments from me 😉
Printable Crock Pot Pierogies Recipes (with several options)
For the sake of cooking for a wide variety of folks AND 'cause you can make up so much of this so easily...there are 3 printable versions below. Just scroll down to take your pick.
Enjoy & Rock That Crock!
8 to 10 Servings Printable
Recipe
Crock Pot Pierogies and Sausage for 8 to 10 people (freezer meal directions too)
Ingredients
- 18 ounces frozen pierogies
- 1 pound sausage
- 1 can cream of chicken soup (10.5 oz)
- 1 can cheddar cheese soup (10.5 oz)
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup shredded cheddar for topping
Instructions
All Methods
- Mix the soup and the chicken stock. Set aside.
Slow Cooker
- Butter or oil the insert.
- Layer as follows: 1/2 pierogies, 1/2 sausage, 1/2 soup mixture, 1/2 cheese. Repeat.
- Cover and cook: Low 6 to 8 hours; High 3 1/2 to 4.
Instant Pot
- Place pierogies and sausage in insert with 1 cup water. Manual high 2 minutes, quick release. Drain.
- Turn Instant Pot to saute. Add soup-broth mixture, 1/2 the cheese and stir gently until combined. Add sausage and pierogies. Heat and stir until hot and bubbly.
- Turn hot off. Add remaining cheese to top. Place lid on top and allow to rest 10 minutes.
Oven
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Defrost overnight or place pierogies in a covered dish with 1/2 cup of hot water and microwave for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Repeat until defrosted.
- Butter a 9x13 casserole dish. Layer: pierogies, sausage, sauce, cheese.
- Cover and bake 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 5 to 10 minutes to lightly brown as desired.
Freezer
- Pour the soup and chicken stock into a 1-quart or 1-gallon freezer bag. Close and knead until well combined.
- Place pierogies bag, soup bag, and cheese in a stack and tape together using the method from crockpot chicken pot pie.
- Freeze up to 6 weeks. Defrost before using.
Notes
If you seperate the meals for the 8-10 serving into seperate bags how long would u cook each for on low?
I need to cook mine about 7 to 8 hours for that amount. It does vary by slow cooker a bit, so I'd start watching it about the 7 hour mark.
I can’t find pierogies anywhere! Is there something to substitute ?
Oh my. Wow. I found them in the frozen section as Walmart and Kroger. Maybe, maybe, maybe a cheese ravioli would substitute. That is completely and totally a guess. But it's the closest thing I'd try myself. Best of luck.
A little confused with the 2-3 servings variation. Do you omit the cheddar cheese soup completely? The step-by-step says to mix soups (plural) with broth, but only cream of chicken is listed in the ingredient section. Should I do a half can of each?
Sorry about that. I'll update that recipe. You can go either way. But I would use 1/2 and 1/2. You can freeze the leftovers of the canned soup if you won't be using them anytime soon.
I would go with 1/2 and 1/2 personally. But either would work. You can freeze the canned soup for later as well if you'd like. It won't hurt it.
What size of cans of cream of chicken and cheddar soup do you use for the 8-10 serving size? 10.5 oz or 26 oz?
Hey Sherri! They are 10.5 oz cans. Sorry about that. I'll update the recipe. Hope you enjoy it!
This was a big hit in our house. The only complaint was all the cheese. So I think next time I make it I’m going to use all cream of chicken soup and add chicken instead of sausage and it will be more of a chicken and dumpling casserole. And the left overs taste even better the second day!
Do you brown the sausage 1st?
You absolutely can. I don't, but it can be done if you like.