Fry

Sausage and Apple Pie

by:
March 11, 2021
4
12 Ratings
Sausage and Apple Pie
Photo by Julia Gartland
  • Makes one 9-inch deep-dish pie
Author Notes

Use a favorite pork sausage, a mix of tart and sweet apples, and a flavorful apple cider or juice. The liquid will intensify in flavor, much like boiled cider, when reduced. I like to pair this filling with a cheddar cheese crust either with or without a bottom crust. Don’t worry if there is extra moisture released in the bake from your fresh juicy apples. That bottom crust will soak up the delicious flavor.

Recipes from Art of the Pie: A Practical Guide to Homemade Crusts, Fillings, and Life (The Countryman Press/W.W. Norton 2016) —Kate McDermott-Art of the Pie

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Sausage and Apple Pie
  • 1 recipe Cheddar Cheese Crust (below)
  • 1 pound (454 grams) ground pork sausage, cooked and drained
  • 2 to 3 tart apples (such as Granny Smiths) cored and sliced or roughly chopped
  • 2 to 3 sweet apples, cored and sliced or roughly chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon (a pinch) salt
  • 1 cup (248 grams) apple juice or cider
  • 1/3 cup (73 grams) brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh diced rosemary
  • 1/4 allspice
  • 1 egg
  • Cheddar Cheese Pie Dough
  • 2 1/2 cups (363 grams) all-purpose flour, unbleached (use dip and sweep method), plus additional for rolling out dough
  • 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) salt
  • 1/4 pound (115 grams) Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese or other sharp cheddar cheese, grated and chopped fine with a knife (about 1 cup grated)
  • 8 tablespoons (112 grams) salted or unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
  • 6 to 8 tablespoons (88 to 118 grams) ice water
Directions
  1. Make the Cheddar Cheese Dough: Combine all ingredients but the ice water in a large bowl. With clean hands or a pastry cutter, blend the mixture together until it looks like coarse meal with some lumps in it.
  2. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons ice water over the mixture and stir lightly with a fork.
  3. Squeeze a handful of dough together. Mix in a bit more water as needed.
  4. Divide the dough in half and make two chubby discs about 5 inches (12 centimeters) across. Wrap the discs separately in plastic wrap and chill for an hour.
  5. To make the Sausage and Apple Pie: Place the apples, salt, juice or cider, brown sugar, thyme, rosemary, and allspice in a sauté or fry pan and cook on medium-low heat until you can just start to put a fork into the apples. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside. Reserve the juice.
  6. Pour the juice into a small saucepan. If you have less than a cup, add more juice or cider to make 1 cup, then turn the heat to low and cook until the juice has reduced in amount to about one-quarter its amount and has nearly caramelized. Be careful not to let it burn. This will take about 10 to 12 minutes.
  7. Spoon the sausage into the apple mixture, pour over the reduced cider, and mix well.
  8. Adjust the salt to taste and let the filling cool.
  9. Roll out the bottom crust and place in your pie pan. Add the filling.
  10. Roll out the upper crust and place it on top. Seal the edges, crimp, and vent.
  11. Make an egg wash by beating together the egg and 1 tablespoon of water with a fork. Brush the pie with egg wash.
  12. Bake at 400° F (205° C) for 40 minutes. Give the pie two more egg washes at 10-minute intervals during the first 20 minutes of the bake.
  13. Let the pie cool for 15 minutes or more before serving.
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  • whym
    whym
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    Kate McDermott-Art of the Pie
  • John Buckley-Heath
    John Buckley-Heath
  • toweringinferno
    toweringinferno
  • DMStenlake
    DMStenlake
Kate McDermott-Art of the Pie
Kate McDermott is the author of ART OF THE PIE: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO HOMEMADE CRUSTS, FILLINGS, AND LIFE (The Countryman Press/W.W. Norton 2016). She lives in Port Angeles, WA where she is at work on her next book KATE'S CAN-DO COOKBOOK, EASY AS PIE RECIPES FOR EVERYDAY COOKING to be published Fall 2018. Follow Kate at www.artofthepie.com

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17 Reviews

whym
whym May 23, 2022
This pie was amazing! I didn’t expect how well all the flavors would come together, but they really did. The sweetness, tartness, herbs and savory cheese tasted lovely together. I may have overhandled the pastry, since it wasn’t as flaky as the pictures, but even so it was still incredibly delicious!
 
whym
whym May 23, 2022
Also— I added sautéed onions to the sausage mixture, which I heartily recommend
 
Lamegs
Lamegs March 11, 2021
The pie was absolutely delicious, but very wet. I would suggest adding some flour, like in an apple pie recipe, to thicken it up.
 
Kate M.
Kate M. October 17, 2020
PLease be sure to note that it is 1/4 TEASPOON of allspice in the recipe. That seems to have been left out of my recipe when it was put up. Perhaps the FOOD52 team could update it, please? Thanks so much! Kate McDermott, artofthepie.com
 
John B.
John B. October 25, 2018
The amounts given for the pork, cider, and brown sugar are so specific, even including the weight in grams. Given the often significant difference in apple sizes, is there any possibility of getting more specific information about the total amount of apple needed?
 
Amanda
Amanda November 25, 2017
Great fall recipe. I would only add a dash of sage to the sausage/apple mixture. I paired this with a romaine hearts salad w/ lemon/parmesan dressing.
 
toweringinferno
toweringinferno September 29, 2017
Sounds amazing - making this tomorrow! I have a leek to throw in too. Let's see how this goes!
 
Sandra M.
Sandra M. September 22, 2017
My family has made “sausage and apples” for a comfort meal for over 50 years...however my mother’s version defines “simplicity!” She butters a large soufflé type dish (deep round ceramic), adds in peeled cored thick sliced apples, dots butter on the top, sprinkles with cinnamon and nutmeg, then tops with ground sausage made into patties and cooked before covering the apples below. She then bakes the entire casserole at 325/350 degrees until the sausage is sizzling and the apples are soft! It’s a take on this fantastic recipe and so quick and easy to make,
 
DMStenlake
DMStenlake September 23, 2017
I like this. I'll try my own version with respect to your mother. As an aside, my dad used to top his apple pie with cheddar cheese AND butter! Or one or the other whichever we had. I can still smell it like after mom would warm it.
 
DMStenlake
DMStenlake September 22, 2017
Our weather is more like autumn and I'm so excited about this recipe. I may add sweet potato to it. I'll use fresh breakfast chicken sausage because we don't eat pork often and we just had a pork stew (on polenta) This pie calls for a side dish - creamed spinach or spinach salad with figs and fennel! Yum, okay off to store for ingredients.
 
Betty C.
Betty C. September 22, 2017
This sounds delicious. What side dishes do you think will go well with this ?
 
Robert J.
Robert J. October 3, 2017
Pecan pie.
 
Robert J.
Robert J. October 3, 2017
Pecan Pie, Buttered Acorn squash, a crisp rose' wine
 
Beaux-Arts
Beaux-Arts September 21, 2017
This sounds awesome, but I'm inspired to break it up and make pasties/hand pies. Do you think I'd need to cut down on the filling?
 
Elaine M.
Elaine M. September 23, 2017
I was thinking the same thing. I love crusty pies, but in individual serving portions like hand pies or pasties. Be sure not to fill them to much though. I'm getting ready to make small veggie pies in a light sauce in small pie shaped pans to freeze and stack for winter.
 
Victoria M.
Victoria M. September 20, 2017
This was so so so good!
 
Jane
Jane September 19, 2017
I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a recipe - can't wait to make this!