Other side dishes may come and go, but no holiday meal is complete without stuffing. Sausage Stuffing is the savory companion your turkey has been waiting for. With Italian sausage, apples, and fresh sage, our sausage stuffing recipe is a bold classic for your Thanksgiving meal.
Jump to:
This is a safe space, right? Good. Because I have a confession. I’m not really a fan of turkey. Shhhh! That’s a secret for us friends.
Do you know what I *do* love? I freaking love Thanksgiving side dishes. I love traditional sides like green beans almondine, garlicky mashed potatoes, and creamed corn. I love sides with a twist, like pumpkin risotto, shredded Brussels sprouts, and crab mac n’cheese.
I’ve hosted entire Thanksgiving dinners without a turkey and I’d do it again.
But I really, really love stuffing. I love stuffing (okay fine…dressing…since it’s not getting stuffed into a bird) so much that I often make two variations for Thanksgiving. Traditional stuffing is very tasty, but stuffings with a twist are my jam, and I’m at peak jam on holidays!
The Most Flavorful Sausage Stuffing Recipe
Confession number two. I am always surprised by how many…boring stuffing recipes are out there. I’m not hating on the classic, but we can go beyond white bread, celery, onion, broth, and butter, right? Right.
Sure, those are necessary ingredients for a basic stuffing recipe, but my heart is absolutely breaking for people who may have never experienced the magic of mix-ins. Clearly this is a first world problem, but I feel strongly that we need to ramp it up and, as the saying goes, “Treat Yo Self!”
If you haven’t yet veered from traditional stuffing recipes, take this opportunity to indulge in our favorite – sausage stuffing. The additions of sweet Italian sausage, apples, and fresh sage are a sweet-and-savory flavor combo that will absolutely have you reaching for seconds.
Ingredients
- Loaf bread: we love sourdough, but feel free to use Italian bread, French bread, or your favorite loaf bread. Day-old bread is best, but you’ll dry it out in the oven no matter how fresh it is, so don’t worry too much on that point.
- Italian Sausage: sweet italian pork sausage works best for this recipe. Bulk sausage is easier to work with, but if you can only find links, simply snip away the casings using kitchen shears and crumble by hand before adding to the skillet.
- Butter: opt for unsalted butter so that you can season to taste
- Aromatic veggies: sweet onion, celery, and garlic are the first layer of flavor in any stuffing recipe, including this one.
- Apples: a crisp, thinly sliced apple brings just a bit of sweetness to this stuffing. We like fuji or honey crisp, but any moderately sweet, crisp apple works here; just avoid overly tart apples like granny smith or overly mealy apples like red delicious.
- Herbs and Seasonings: we season our sausage stuffing with dried parsley, fresh sage, kosher salt, and ground pepper. Fresh sage has a very distinct flavor that pairs so well with sausage and apples; if fresh isn’t available, substitute 1 teaspoon of dried sage.
- Eggs: eggs are a binder in this recipe; they can be omitted, but the stuffing will be both looser and dried.
- Chicken Broth: broth keeps the stuffing moist, but not wet. Use low or no sodium chicken broth so that you can easily adjust the seasoning to taste.
- Salt and Pepper
How to Make Sausage Stuffing
If you’re a stuffing pro, there aren’t too many deviations from the classic methodology. I do prefer to make my own bread cubes, but if you’re a store-bought kind of gal or guy, do your thing. Preparing the perfect stuffing recipe is straightforward, but precise: use very dry bread, finely chop the vegetables, and moisten with just the right amount of broth.
- Dry the bread cubes. Slice or tear the bread into 1″ cubes, then spread evenly over a baking sheet. Dry in a 250°F oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the bread is very dry and lightly golden brown.
- Brown the sausage in a large skillet, breaking into small pieces with a wood spoon. Cook until the fat renders out and the sausage is well-browned (browning = flavor!). Remove using a slotted spoon and add to a large bowl with the bread.
- Saute onions and celery. Melt the butter in the rendered sausage fat; add the onions and celery, and saute until the vegetables are soft and just beginning to brown around the edges.
- Add apples and garlic. Saute briefly for 1-2 minutes, just until the garlic starts to become fragrant.
- Season. Add the fresh sage, dried parsley, salt, and pepper, then give the skillet contents a good toss.
- Add the vegetables to the sausage and bread cubes and toss until well combined.
- Whisk eggs with the broth and pour over the stuffing base. Start with 3 cups of broth, and only add more if needed. The goal is to add enough moisture to soften, not saturate, the bread.
- Transfer the stuffing into a greased casserole dish.
- Bake at 400°F, covered with foil for 25 minutes, then uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Essential Notes and Tips
- Use a large skillet – at least 12″ – to brown the sausage and saute the vegetables.
- Thoroughly dry that bread! Dry bread and stale bread are not the same thing. Stale bread can appear dry and crumbly, but often contains trapped moisture. You want the bread evenly dry, without any hints of “squishiness”. The best way to know that your bread is completely dehydrated is to dry in out in the oven.
- Properly prep the produce. A great stuffing recipe has to nail the flavor and the texture. Dice the onion to ½″ or smaller, finely mince the celery, and slice the apples thinly. These proportions will allow for even distribution into the bread and sausage for a bit of every flavor in every bite.
- Feel free to use store-bought stuffing cubes, just avoid the pre-seasoned varieties.
- Chunky or small, it’s up to you! I like chunky-ish stuffing and cube the bread into roughly 1″ pieces. If you prefer a finer texture, dice the bread cubes smaller.
- Sweet (or mild) Italian sausage is the goldilocks ingredient in this recipe. Spicy italian sausage doesn’t quite blend with the sweet flavors in the rest of the dish, and breakfast sausage is (in my opinion) simply too sweet.
- Choose bulk sausage if it’s available; it’s much easier to crumble and brown. If you can only find links, use kitchen shears to remove the casings, then bread the links into small pieces before adding to the hot skillet.
- And using the right amount of broth is the goldilocks step in this recipe. We’ve got more to say about this, so keep reading below!
How Much Broth To Use
*drags out soap box* Ahem…
In my humble opinion, the number one mistake you can make with stuffing is adding too little or too much broth. Too much and you’ve got a soggy mess. Too little, and you’ve got dry stuffing.
If you look at most recipes for stuffing (or dressing), the amount of chicken broth listed is typically a range, and that’s because it’s a flexible measurement that can change based on how dry, or not dry, the bread it.
Drier bread will need more broth. Store-bought stuffing cubes are very dry, while oven dried bread or day-old, air-dried bread tend to be less dry; this is especially true in more humid climates.
The key is to start small, then add a little bit more until you’ve reached the right balance.
Start with 3 cups of broth and add more as needed. After pouring in the broth, give the stuffing a good toss and then set it aside for 5 minutes. The bread should be evenly moistened and should absorb all of the liquid. If the bread is still dry in places, add another quarter-cup of broth, toss, then wait another five minutes. Once you start to see a bit of broth pooling in the bottom of the bowl, you know you’ve added enough because the bread has absorbed all of the liquid that it can.
Make It Ahead of Time
There are several ways to prepare this recipe ahead of time, in parts or in whole. We actually prefer to make the full recipe the day or morning prior to give the bread time to full absorb the broth and take on the flavors of the mix-ins:
- Dry out the bread up to a week in advance. Place into an air-tight container (we use ziplock bags) and store at room temperature.
- Prep the stuffing 24 hours in advance. Prepare the recipe completely and transfer to the greased casserole dish. Cover tightly with foil, then place into the fridge for up to 24 hours until you’re ready to bake.
Shake It Up!
If you’ve never met a recipe you can’t tweak just a lil’ bit, this section is for you! If you change things up, write a comment below and tell us all about it.
- Replace the apples with ½ cup dried cranberries for a tarter flavor.
- For more intense apple flavor, add ⅓ c chopped dried apples in addition to the fresh apples.
- Swap the sourdough for wheat bread, rye bread, or your favorite bread. Just be aware that denser or cakier breads may need to dry out for longer.
- While sweet or mild Italian sausage is a must, pork isn’t. Try chicken or turkey sausage if you don’t eat pork.
Did you make our classic sausage stuffing recipe? I’d love to know how it turned out! Leave a comment and a rating below, or share with your friends and fam!
Sausage Stuffing with Apples and Sage
Description
Ingredients
- 1 loaf sourdough, Italian, or country white bread, see Note 1
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, see Note 2
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
- 1 large sweet (Vidalia) onion, diced to ½”
- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
- 1 medium apple, thinly sliced, see Note 3
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage, or 1 teaspoon dried sage
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- 2 large eggs
- 3-4 cups low sodium chicken broth
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 250°F. Grease a 9” x 13” casserole dish with butter or lightly mist with cooking spray.
- Cut or tear the bread into 1” (or smaller) pieces and spread evenly over a baking sheet. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, or until the bread is very dry (see Notes 4 and 5). Transfer the bread cubes to a very large mixing bowl. If baking the stuffing right away, increase the oven temperature to 400°F.
- Heat a 12” skillet over medium high heat. Break the sausage into small chunks and add to the skillet. Cook and stir frequently, continuing to breakdown the sausage into crumbles with a wood spoon, until the fat renders and the sausage is no longer pink, 8-10 minutes. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and add to the mixing bowl with the bread cubes.
- Reduce the heat to medium, then add the butter and heat until it melts then foams. Add the onion and celery, toss to coat in the fat and saute, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent, 7-8 minutes.
- Add the apples and garlic and toss to incorporate. Saute, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add the sage, parsley, salt, and pepper and and stir until the skillet contents are well combined.
- Scrape the contents of the skillet into the mixing bowl with the bread and sausage, then give it a good toss until the stuffing base is well mixed.
- Combine the eggs and 3 cups broth in a 4-cup measuring cup, then whisk until very smooth. Pour the liquid into the mixing bowl, toss to allow the bread to absorb the liquid evenly, then set aside for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, toss the stuffing again and assess the status of the bread and broth; see Note 6. Add additional broth a quarter-cup at a time until the bread cubes are evenly moistened (but NOT soggy) and very little liquid (less than a tablespoon) remains at the bottom of the bowl.
- Transfer the stuffing to the greased casserole dish; for make-ahead instructions, see Note 7. Cover tightly with foil, transfer to a 400°F oven, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10-15 minutes more, until the top is golden brown. Serve hot or warm, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Note 1. One standard loaf of bread (about 1 pound) will yield approximately 10 cups of 1-inch cubes; substitute an equivalent amount if using store-bought stuffing cubes.
- Note 2. Use sweet or mild Italian sausage and choose bulk sausage. If only links are available, removing the casing using kitchen shears, then break into small pieces.
- Note 3. Choose a sweet-tart apple like Fuji or honeycrisp. To prep the apple, slice in half, peel, and remove the core. Place each half cut-side down and cut lengthwise into quarters. Thinly slice each quarter widthwise to create small, thinly sliced pieces of apple that will seamlessly meld into the stuffing.
- Note 4. The bread is completely dry once is feels firm all over and crumbly around the edges; you should be able to push on the center of the bread cube and meet full resistance. Dry out the bread cubes until they are no longer “squishy” in the center.
- Note 5. The bread cubes can be dried out up to 1 week in advance. Store in a sealed, airtight container (like a ziplock bag with the air pressed out) at room temperature.
- Note 6. The amount of broth needed will depend on how dry the bread is. After resting, if little to no broth remains in the bottom of the bowl and the bread cubes appear evenly moist, you have added enough liquid and not further additions are needed. If all of the broth has been absorbed and the bread cubes still look a bit dry, add a quarter cup of additional broth, toss, and then rest again for 5 minutes. Repeat this process until the bread is moist, but not soggy, and little to no (less than a tablespoon) of broth remains at the bottom of the bowl.
- Note 7. To make ahead, prepare the stuffing through Step 7, then transfer to the prepared casserole dish. Cover tightly with foil and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Bake as directed.
Comments
No Comments