Description
Fully cooked cocktail sausages in a sweet, tangy cranberry-cherry barbecue sauce, with an optional stovetop reduction for a stickier glaze.
Servings: 10–12 appetizer portions
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: Approximately 2–3 hours on LOW or 1–1½ hours on HIGH, subject to appliance and package guidance
Optional reduction: Approximately 5–15 minutes
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 packages fully cooked cocktail sausages, 14 ounces each, thawed and drained
- 1 cup Dr Pepper
- ½ cup whole-berry cranberry sauce
- ½ cup cherry preserves
- ½ cup barbecue sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
- Up to 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, optional, to taste
Instructions
- Prepare a slow cooker suitable for the batch size. Lightly grease if needed.
- Whisk soda, cranberry sauce, preserves, barbecue sauce, garlic powder, and optional flakes.
- Add sausages and sauce to the cooker; stir. Cover and cook until thoroughly heated according to the sausage package, approximately 2–3 hours on LOW or 1–1½ hours on HIGH. Adjust time as needed.
- For a thicker glaze, remove sausages temporarily, transfer sauce to a saucepan, and simmer gently uncovered, stirring, until it coats a spoon. Return sausages to warm and coat.
- Taste and add optional vinegar gradually. Serve hot, or hold in a suitable cooker at 140°F or above.
Storage: Refrigerate promptly and use within 3–4 days. Freeze up to 2 months for quality. Reheat leftovers to 165°F before hot holding.
Little tip: A glossy sauce is not necessarily a reduced sauce. Use a wide saucepan when you want the glaze to cling rather than simply pool beneath the sausages.