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Home » Dinner » Bangers and Mash

Bangers and Mash

Created: February 7, 2020 Updated: March 1, 2023 by Lyuba Brooke 3 Comments

1.6K shares
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Bangers and Mash is a comforting and simple dish of homemade mashed potatoes topped with pork sausage and onion gravy. It’s a comforting British and Irish dish made with simple ingredients but it’s so rich and heartwarming. A great dish to serve with a pint of cold beer and maybe a few veggies on a side. 

closeup of sausages in gravy over mashed potatoes.

What Is Bangers and Mash?

Bangers and Mash is a British and Irish classic that is widely popular. Homemade fluffy mashed potatoes, pork sausage, and delicious onion gravy can’t get much more comforting. This dish has all the key elements of a cozy dinner at home… or at a pub? There is not an Irish restaurant or a pub around me that doesn’t offer it on the menu. 

This dish has been around for decades and carries its intriguing name from the World War era. During that time, they had to make sausage cheaply so they added higher amount of bread and breadcrumbs. That created a lot of extra moisture inside the sausage casing so the sausage would pop while it was cooking. That’s how “bangers” got its name, because the sausage would “bang” while cooking. 

Even though sausage doesn’t explode in a pan anymore, it still carries the whimsical name. I get a kick out of telling my dinner guests the name of this dish and watching their reaction. After they are done laughing for about 5 minutes, I offer the actual explanation. Bangers and Mash is a fun conversation starter and delicious, comforting dinner all in one. 

ingredients to make bangers and mash with gravy.

Cooking Instructions:

mashed cooped potatoes in a silver bowl.

Mashed Potatoes

It doesn’t get much more homey that soft and fluffy mashed potatoes. You can prepare potatoes the day before or at the same time as the sausage. Preparing it before can save you quite a bit of time. 

Cut potatoes in half or fourths, place them into a pot, and add cold water. Cook potatoes with some salt, pepper, and a couple of bay leaves until fork-tender. Strain off most of the water but save about 1/4 cup of cooking water to mix into the mashed potatoes. Discard bay leaves through.

Add butter, milk, some more seasoning and mash it until smooth. (Unless you like you potatoes chunky, then leave some chunks behind.) If potatoes look a little too thick, add a little more milk and mix. 

pieces of butter melting in the pan.
sauteed onions in butter in the pan.

Sausage

Saute sausage over medium-high heat until it gets a browned on the outside and then lower the heat to medium-low. Cook until sausage it just done and take it out of the pan. Set it aside while you prepare the gravy.

sprinkled flour over the sauteed onions in the pan.
adding beef stock to the pan with gravy.
stirring the gravy with a wooden spoon.
sausages simmering in gravy in the pan.

Onion Gravy

In the same pan, add a couple of tablespoons of butter and saute onions and garlic until browned. Sprinkle flour over the onions and mix until onions are evenly coated. Continue to stir the onions slowly and pour in the beer. Keep stirring and slowly pour in beef stock. Stir until the gravy is smooth and starts to thicken. 

Add Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper and let the gravy come to a simmer. Once it’s thickened, nestle the sausages back into the gravy. Cook sausage and gravy together for a couple of minutes, flip each sausage and cook for another minute or so. 

Serve sausage and gravy over mashed potatoes.

adding gravy on top of the sausages and mashed potatoes.

Serving Suggestions:

If you want to see a little green on your plate full of comfort food, these vegetables will be great:

Peas

Sauteed Green Beans or Haricots Verts

Sauteed or Roasted Asparagus

Broccoli

Fried Cabbage

sausages in onion gravy over mashed potatoes in a plate.

Make Bangers and Mash Gluten Free

Bangers and Mash can be very easily made gluten free. First of all, check the sausage packaging and make sure it’s gluten free. Second, use gluten free all-purpose flour to thicken the gravy. As far as the beer, you can use gluten free beer or just omit that and use more beef stock.

Note, some brands of gluten free all-purpose flour don’t thicken as well, so you may been to use an extra tablespoon or two.

More Irish Recipes To Make:

Colcannon – Irish Mashed Potatoes

Oven Baked Corned Beef

Instant Pot Corned Beef

Reuben Sandwich

Shepherd’s Pie

Irish Beef Stew

two sausages with gravy and mashed potatoes.

PIN THIS RECIPE FOR LATER

closeup of sausages in gravy over mashed potatoes.

Bangers and Mash

Bangers and Mash is a comforting and simple dish of homemade mashed potatoes topped with pork sausage and onion gravy. 
5 from 2 votes
Print SaveSaved! Rate
Course: dinner, Main Course
Cuisine: Irish
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 1191kcal
Author: Lyuba Brooke

Ingredients

Mashed Potatoes:

  • 3 lbs Yukon or Idaho potatoes
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/4 cup cooking water
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 cup whole milk little more if needed
  • salt
  • fresh cracked black pepper
  • 1 tsp garlic powder

Sausage:

  • 8-10 pork sausages (other raw sausage if preferred but not Italian or flavored)
  • 2 tbsp canola oil for cooking

Onion Gravy:

  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 large Vidalia onion
  • 3 garlic cloves pressed
  • 3 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup red ale
  • 1 1/2 cups beef stock
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • salt
  • fresh cracked black pepper
US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Mashed Potatoes:

  • Wash potatoes and cut them in half or fourths and add it to a pot. Pour in cold water to fill the pot with enough water to cover potatoes comfortably with about 1-inch over potatoes.
  • Cook potatoes with some salt, pepper, and bay leaves until fork-tender. Drain off most of the water but save about 1/4 cup of cooking water to mix into the mashed potatoes.
  • Discard bay leaves.
  • Add butter, milk, garlic powder, and mash it until smooth. (Or leave potatoes a little chunky is you wish.) Taste potatoes to see how much salt and pepper to add and mix well.
  • (If potatoes look a little too thick, add a little more milk and mix.)

Sausage:

  • Preheat a large cooking pan over medium-high heat and add oil. Saute sausage until it gets browned on the outside and then lower the heat to medium-low.
  • Cook until sausage is just done and take it out of the pan. Set it aside while you prepare the gravy.

Onion Gravy:

  • In the same pan, add a couple of tablespoons of butter and let it melt. Add onions sauté until browned. Mix in pressed garlic and sauté until fragrant.
  • Sprinkle flour over the onions and mix until onions are evenly coated. Continue to stir the onions slowly and pour in the beer.
  • Keep stirring and slowly pour in beef stock. Stir until the gravy is smooth and starts to thicken.
  • Add Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper and let the gravy come to a simmer.
  • Once it’s thickened, nestle the sausages back into the gravy. Cook sausage and gravy together for a couple of minutes, flip each sausage and cook for another minute or so. 
  • Serve sausage and gravy over mashed potatoes.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 1191kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 47g | Fat: 85g | Saturated Fat: 32g | Cholesterol: 209mg | Sodium: 1857mg | Potassium: 2303mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 719IU | Vitamin C: 46mg | Calcium: 177mg | Iron: 14mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @willcookforsmiles and tag #willcookforsmiles
collage of two images of bangers and mash with title.

LYUBA

ABOUT LYUBA

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read more...

1.6K shares

Filed Under: Dinner, Potatoes, Sausage, St. Patrick's Day

All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.

Comments

  1. Ray says

    March 22, 2023 at 12:22 am

    5 stars
    I made this for my husband and some friends on St. Patrick’s Day and everyone loved it!

    Reply
  2. Paul says

    February 10, 2020 at 7:04 am

    5 stars
    I added boiled broccoli in the recipe, it was tasty. Thank you for sharing the recipe and tips to add veggies too.

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      February 11, 2020 at 9:28 am

      Thanks, Paul! Broccoli does sound good with this recipe! 🙂

      Reply

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Well, hey there!

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read More.

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