Slow-Cooker Cassoulet Recipe (2024)

What a delicious dish! Highly rated by my family and friends!
To me, it is crucial to brown the meats before you add the beans and liquid. Otherwise you just have stewed meat, which I find rather bland. My slow cooker has a browning feature, which makes it easier. I had a lot of chicken thighs in the freezer, so I used them instead of duck. I browned them in duck fat and, gosh! They tasted pretty ducky! I also added red wine, because I had an open bottle. I think that deepened the flavor a lot.

The first time I made this, it was truly a culinary treat. The next time I made it, I swapped the duck legs for chicken thighs (which are easier to find in rural Maine), and the result was slightly different, but equally delicious.

This is a company-worthy dish! My observations:
1. The two "optional" steps -- browning the meat before putting into slow cooker, and decanting the concoction into a pan to roast with breadcrumbs for 15 minutes -- are both well worth doing. They add a LOT to the flavor.
2. This recipe, as written, generates quite a bit of liquid. That's another advantage of the final step: one can remove meat, beans, and vegetables with a slotted spoon, leaving that extra liquid for delicious soup the next day.

I also came up with a slow cooker recipe that more closely approximates an authentic cassoulet, if anyone is interested. It is divine and takes me back to a visit to Carcassonne. I use a Tarbais like bean available from Rancho Gordo website and duck confit.

I asked a simple question 21 days ago--whether to leave the sausages and pork intact or to cut them up--and no one has deigned to answer; well, one person, sort of. Everyone is too intent on crowing about his or her own tweaks--most of which make Bittman's point, about how easy this is, irrelevant--or on talking about that legendary meal in France, or about having labored through Julia Child's five-day cassoulet recipe. So much for Sifton's imagined cooking community.

Do you put the sausages and pork shoulder--after browning--into the slow cooker in one piece? Or do you slice the sausages and cube the pork? Thanks.

Yes, cut up the sausages, the pork will acquire a pulled-pork type consistency, so you should plan on shredding it up after the cooking is complete. Cut the pork into larger chunks to ensure more even cooking.

I used 1/4 pound of diced pancetta, and used chicken Italian sausages, pork boneless country-style spareribs, and chicken thighs. I browned the sausages, pork and chicken thighs first, (from which I removed the skin), which really helps. I also used chicken stock, which makes a big difference. I also recommend the final step of putting the cassoulet into a casserole, covering it with breadcrumbs, and roasting until the breadcrumbs brown. The parlsey garnish is also important. A winner!

Very flexible recipe, & very good. Read a lot of the comments and then went my own way--used boneless chicken thighs (no duck), pancetta (no bacon), & a pork loin roast cut into four chunks (no shoulder). Browned each meat in a skillet that I deglazed with some red wine. Used a whole pound of beans, dry right into the crock pot. It's more work this way than one would usually expend on a crock pot recipe, but worth the result. Thank you, NYT for another wonderful meal!

Pls share!

This dish does release a lot of liquid. You can serve with a slotted spoon. Alternately, feel free to reduce the water or stock to cover 1-inch above (instead of 2). Just keep an eye on it. You'll want to add more liquid if it gets too dry.

Browning the meat is a must to reduce the fat content of the cassoulet. I also made the meal in its entirety and refrigerated it for a day. That allowed the congealed fat to be easily removed from the top before being reheated. Definitely use more beans.
Consider substituting a smoked sausage (possibly kielbasa) in lieu of the sweet italian sausage.
I used chicken legs instead of duck (apparently everyone was making cassoulet last week and the butchers were all out) and it worked out fine.

This was very tasty. The beans were done without a presoak in 6 1/2 hours on low. I browned all of the meats and used turkey drums instead of duck. I also sauteed the onions and garlic before adding to the pot. I cut the sausages in 3 pieces to brown and then sliced them later into smaller pieces. The pork does indeed just shred easily when it is done. It was a little bit of work to do but the browning made a big difference and it was delicious.

I cook dried beans in my slow cooker all the time without soaking them beforehand. Navy bean soup, 15 bean soup, pinto beans -- never had a problem. I haven't made this recipe yet, but I wouldn't hesitate to try it with dried beans based on my experience

I love my slow cooker, but sometimes I want the good reduction that comes from the stove top. I browned the meats in duck fat (chicken thighs, a kielbasa, and a ham hock) but otherwise followed the recipe on the stove, removing the meats after one hour and continuing to simmer and reduce until the Tarbais beans were creamy (another hour) before adding the meats back. There was minimal broth by the end, but it was intensely flavorful. Much less work than “long form” cassoulet and delicious!

This is delicious on a cold winters night. Freezes well also.

I cooked this in a hurry last Sunday and it turned out brilliantly. Within 30mins I had browned my meats and had everything in the slow cooker. As many suggested, I went with 3/4 lb of dried cannellini beans, and was glad I did. I took the breadcrumbs suggestion a bit further and made a small amount of bread stuffing which I then layered over top of the cooked cassoulet and browned in the oven. It was a great move, soaking up some of the leftover liquid, and gave a nice crust to the dish.

I also couldn’t find duck so seared chicken legs in duck fat which was great. Make sure you do not use dried cannellini or white kidney beans!! They do not cook in this preparation and actually contain a gastrointestinal toxin if not cooked properly. I learned this fun fact afterwards, and I’m lucky we all just had tummy aches and not something more serious.

Soak the beans overnight! Without the soaking, the beans were a bit tough even after 7 hours of slow cooking.

Delicious! Mixed it up with the meat, which I browned (ground lamb, lamb stew meet, bacon, kielbasa). Didn’t add all of the stock as noted by others and there was plenty of wonderful broth!

I made a kosher version of the recipe. I used a package of Jack's Gourmet Kosher "Facon"instead of the slab bacon, and a package of Jack's Sweet Italian Sausage (fully cooked -- added near the end of cooking). Instead of pork shoulder, a duck breast). I used Rancho Gordo Buckeye Beans; will use a whole pound of them next time. I browned the duck parts before cooking. I did without the extra garlic at the end and didn't miss it. EXCELLENT!

I was dubious, but weather swung cold this weekend and I wanted the comfort of cassoulet. I've tried a lot of recipes looking for the "best" (very subjective) - and this one actually came through! Used duck confit and browned all the meats. I sauteed the onion in the fat left from the meat and added the whole mess to the pot before pouring in warm chicken stock. When beans were done, transferred the meats to a baking dish and defatted the liquid which I added back. Toasted bread crumbs on top.

Made this according to the recipe. Very good but not perfect. Sausage+bacon=no salt needed in the cooking. Am curious to try on the stovetop with soaked beans, for 2-3 hours at a very low simmer.

Brown all meat; I used pork loin (1lb) chicken thigh (1.5lbs), 2 fresh pork apple sausage (left whole to cook) and 4oz pancetta. Cook off fond with wine or broth and add. 3/4lb beans2x garlic and carrots; parsnips and butternut squash would be nice. Forgot bay leaves. All stock to cover by 1-1.5 inches. Baked brioche cubes from freezer into croutons to serveNot authenticate but tasty, easy (45 minutes to prep) and warming

How the heck do you serve (and eat) this? I've got 3 full-size Italian sausages, big chunks of pork shoulder, and one large chunk of what amounts to unsliced bacon in an absolutely full slow-cooker pot of very liquid broth. It might taste good, but I'm kind of standing here scratching my head and wondering "now what do I do?"

Agree this was pretty good. I mostly followed the recipe, browning the meat before putting it in the slow cooker. Also doubled the beans, and at the end put the liquid through a fat separator and reduced it along with a glug of red wine. With a pound of beans it was at least 8 servings. One thing I would do differently is to cook the sausages completely separately and then cut them and add in when I served it. The texture of the sausages after that long in the slow cooker was a little mealy.

This is a great dish, for what it is….easy and almost like real cassoulet. But, I feel it lacked a depth we wanted so will increase thyme and definitely salt and freshly-ground pepper….probably putting the s & p in the last hour when I put in the chopped garlic. We used Rancho Gordo Tarbais beans but they must have been a bit old because they really didn’t get as soft as I would like after seven hours on “normal” in our IP. Definitely should have soaked them first. Will serve six.

agreed on the browning, recipe generates a lot of liquid - separate liquid, add garlic and S+P to it, then boil it down to get 3x thicker and then add it back in and ready to serve in casserole dish with some parmesan cheese on top.

Making again per husbands request for his birthday and it’s been a good 3-4 years. I don’t recall making in the slow cooker, so did stove top (browned it all), used pancetta, threw in the over at 395° for two and a half hours. Delicious, but had I not simmered the liquid down, I would have ended up with a soup!