Slow cooked cheddar sausage, shredded cabbage mix, potatoes and apples is a hearty and flavorful stew that warms the belly and the soul. Personally I love an easy crock pot recipe, and this sausage and cabbage recipe makes prepping and cooking dinner incredibly easy.
While a similar recipe may include heavy pieces of potatoes, large chunks of carrots and onions, this particular recipe has a more complex pairing of flavors that include apple. If you haven’t included a slow cooker sausage and apple into your slow cooker recipes rotation, I firmly believe this is a great balance of that sweet and savory taste we all love at dinner.
Now if you are looking to try out cabbage soup, that is also amazing and here is our original recipe for that complete meal. This isn’t a slow cooker cabbage soup but is a very similar and delicious comfort meal with great flavor.

Ingredients
- Coleslaw Mix – This is often referred to as a shredded cabbage slaw mix and its fine to use straight shredded cabbage or the cabbage with shredded carrots as seen here. It is also fine to simply shred down cabbage on its own as a substitute.
- Sliced Carrots – Personally I buy what is known as “carrot chips” and cut any large ones down. This keeps the carrots pretty thin for slow cooking. You can also cut down baby carrots or large carrots into slices if you prefer.
- Red Apple – Cut one large red apple without removing any skins.
- Cheddar Sausage – I love the cheese taste in the cheddar sausage, but this easy recipe can also use any flavor of fully cooked sausage
- Apple Juice & Chicken Broth
- Spices – Black Pepper, Salt
Enhancing the Apple Flavors
There are many flavors of sausage available at your local market. If you want to enhance the apple flavors of this soup, opt to use an Andouille Apple sausage, apple and chicken or apple and gouda.
How to make Slow Cooker Sausage Cabbage Stew
Make sure to check out the printable recipe card for full step by step instructions and ingredients.

- Dump 16 oz. bag of coleslaw mix in a large 8 quart slow cooker. The bagged mix will be very full in the slow cooker until cooked.
- Add sliced carrots, chopped red apple (with skins), chopped red potatoes and sliced cheddar sausage on top of cabbage mixture.
- Pour in chicken broth and apple juice.
- Season with salt and black pepper.
- Place lid on slow cooker and cook for 7 hours on LOW or 3.5 -4 hours on HIGH heat.
FAQS
Kielbasa is the German word for a polish sausage and its the same thing – so yes. Andouille, Italian, Turkey and pork sausages can all be substituted or mixed as a medley.
Potatoes go amazing in a slow cooker, just make sure to use smaller bits or cut into quarters or halves to make sure they finish at the same time. We recommend using smaller varieties like baby reds or creamer potatoes.
You wont need much more of a side with this dish. It’s SUPER FILLING Just add a bit of golden brown and crusty garlic bread if you like, but its filling enough to serve on its own.
When it comes to soup and stews, there really are a variety of ways to season the dish. I kept the sausage and cabbage super simple because I enjoy the fresh flavors the vegetables bring, but feel free to season with garlic powder, onion powder or even a seasoned soup mix like Italian Seasoning to really liven up the soup.
Other bright and bold flavors often include fennel seeds or caraway, but I personally find those ingredients quite large and generally leave them out of my recipes.
Is Sausage and Cabbage Keto Friendly?
In some cases, yes it can be.
But in this particular recipe I have added a few hearty carbs, including apple and apple juice. In order to make this recipe keto and low carb friendly, remove the apple juice, sliced apple, and potatoes.
In case of alterations to meet other nutritional or diet needs, here is a simple break down of this soup/stew.
- Apple Juice – Not keto Friendly
- Potatoes – Not keto friendly
- Chicken Broth – Bone broth is keto friendly
- Cabbage/Coleslaw – Keto Friendly/Low Carb
- Sausage – Keto friendly
- Spices – Keto Friendly
- Carrots – In MODERATION only
Related Recipes
- Beef Cabbage Soup
- Slow Cooker Black Bean and Sausage Soup
- Wendy’s Copycat Chili Recipe
- Andouille Smoked Sausage Skillet

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