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This 3 ingredient grape jelly little smokies recipe is sweet, savory, and made in the crockpot. Grape jelly and chili sauce make the perfect sticky sauce for game day.
Little smokies with jelly sounds weird, but trust me.
If you’ve ever been to a potluck or event in the Midwest, you’ve probably seen the crockpot full of little smokies with grape jelly and chili sauce.
If it was your first time, you were probably frightened. I’ll admit – the combo does not sound appetizing, but oh man. This is midwestern cuisine at it’s finest.
Our Grape Jelly Meatballs have been a fan favorite for years and years now. It’s time we shared the lil smokies version!
Just 3 ingredients and you end up with this sweet, sticky, tangy sauce that clings to the little weenies and makes for the perfect appetizer or snack.
Pile them onto small plates and dig in or make them for lunch and serve over mashed potatoes!
Why You’ll Love This Grape Jelly Little Smokies Recipe
- Just 3 ingredients. Little smokies, chili sauce, and grape jelly are all you need for a sweet and savory party favorite everyone asks for.
- Almost no hands-on time. Dump everything in the crockpot and let it do the work. You’ll have about 5 minutes of prep.
- A crowd-pleaser at every party. These disappear fast at holiday gatherings, potlucks, and game day spreads. I always make a double batch or pair them with our Crockpot Mississippi Meatballs for variety.
Ingredient Notes:
Lil Smokies Sausages – These are also known as cocktail sausages or little weenies and most grocery stores will carry them. Any variety is fine too: pork, beef, chicken. Some use a variety of meats.
Chili Sauce – I’m using the Heinz brand – our preferred brand here, but you can use what you like. This chili sauce is not spicy hot, it just adds a little kick!
Grape Jelly – Jam or jelly both work well here.
Crockpot Recommendation!
In the market for a new slow cooker? We love this 7 quart Crockpot. It’s simple to use, cooks evenly, and is very budget friendly. Plus, it has a 4 1/2 star rating with over 5,000 reviews on Amazon!
How to Make Crock Pot Lil Smokies:
Sausages: To get started you’ll want to drain any liquid from the package of Lil Smokies. Add the whole (28oz.) package of sausages to the crockpot.
Sauce: Add the grape jelly and chili sauce to your crockpot with the cocktail sausages. Stir it up until it’s all well combined.
Slow Cook: Place the lid on your crockpot and cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours! Stir it up well before serving! The sauce will thicken up a bit as they cool if you transfer them to a serving dish, or you can serve these warm right out of the crockpot!
These grape jelly lil smokies are the perfect party snack! I like to serve them with toothpicks for easy mess free snacking. Try them at your next holiday party or game day gathering.
Another favorite recipe featuring Lil Smokies are these Keto Lil Smokies – wrapped in bacon and tossed in spices!
Helpful Tip!
Do yourself a favor and use some crockpot liners for this recipe! It makes cleanup a breeze.
Stove Top Method:
We think it’s easiest to just dump this recipe into a slow cooker and go about our day, but you can also make these on the stove!
Add all of the ingredients to a large pot and cook over low heat, stirring often, until warmed through.
Be sure not to let the sauce burn in the bottom of the pan, but otherwise this is pretty simple!
Variations:
Many people prefer to use cranberry sauce in place of the grape jelly! It does add a nice tang to the recipe. Just use an equal amount of jellied cranberry sauce.
You could easily skip the jelly and chili sauce and just use your favorite BBQ sauce in this recipe. They won’t be the same, but they’ll still be tasty!
FAQs:
The Lil Smokies brand is by Hillshire Farm, and it’s what most people are probably familiar with. They’re just cocktail sausages, or cocktail weenies. Basically these are mini smoked sausages!
Chili sauce helps balance out the sweetness of the grape jelly. We would not recommend skipping the chili sauce.
If you somehow don’t eat every last one of these addictive grape jelly sausages then you can keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge with some of the sauce. They’ll last for about 4-5 days.
Grape Jelly Lil Smokies
Ingredients
- 28 ounces Lil Smokies sausages
- 12 ounces chili sauce
- 1 ½ cups grape jelly
Instructions
- Drain any liquid from the package of Lil Smokies and add the sausages to a crockpot.
- Add the chili sauce and grape jelly to the crockpot and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.
- Stir to coat the sausages in the sauce.
- Serve hot with toothpicks.
Mary Helen Forrester says
A real favorite when we gather
Karly says
Love to hear that!
Sue Buzard says
Love these, our family makes they with Red Currant Jelly, which isn’t always easy to find.
Karly says
Sounds delicious!