Sausage Stuffing Recipe
This classic sausage stuffing features staled Italian bread, flavorful mild Italian sausage, and fresh herbs like sage, thyme, and parsley. This is a great holiday side dish that the whole family will love!
As much as I like to switch things up every holiday season, there are some recipes that are always present. This sausage stuffing is one of those dishes! It’s one of the family favorite side dishes that holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas just wouldn’t be complete without!
The medley of flavors in this stuffing is pretty unbeatable. Ingredients like fresh herbs like sage and thyme, plus butter and garlic, compliment the flavors of the bold Italian sausage without competing with it. Maybe because this stuffing is such a tradition in my home, or maybe it’s the blend of comforting ingredients, but something about this it just tastes so cozy.
Another very comforting element of this stuffing is the thick, hearty, and soft consistency! Although the bread is staled, it bakes to a soft, tender perfection when mixed up with all of the other ingredients. This stuffing is hearty and filling from both the sausage and the bread. So make sure you don’t fill up on it instead of your entrée!
How to Make Sausage Stuffing
Start off by staling the bread:
- To do it fast: pop the cubed bread into the oven at 200°F for about 2 hours.
- The easier way: to stale the bread is to simply cube it, spread it in a large baking sheet, and let the bread harden for 24 hours.
- Preheat a pan over medium heat and melt half the butter. Then, cook the onions and celery until they’re softened before adding garlic.
- Add the sausage to the pan, breaking it into clumps as it cooks. Add the remaining butter, continuing to break up any large clumps or sausage.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a casserole dish.
- Combine the stale bread cubes, cooked sausage and veggies, herbs, salt, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and broth. Then pour that liquid mixture and quickly mix everything together.
- Transfer everything to the prepared casserole dish and bake for approximately 40-45 minutes.
Ingredient Substitutions and Tips
- Bread – choose a deli baked Italian bread, it will give the stuffing much nicer flavor and texture. You can also use deli Cuban, French baguettes, or other breads soft on the inside with crusty outside. (Other bread you can use for stuffing recipes include sourdough, sturdy sandwich bread, challah, potato Bread, and plain bagels.)
- Sausage – use mild Italian sausage for the best complimentary flavor. If you wish, you can use spicy Italian sausage as well, Bratwurst, or ground chicken sausage. If all you can find is sausage in casing, you can simply remove the casing and crumble the sausage meat.
Tips for the Best Sausage Stuffing
- Don’t use salted butter! Most people forget just how salty salted butter can be and that there is salt in sausage, so the dish can quickly become overly salty.
- If you’re feeding a bigger crowd, you can easily double this recipe if needed. You just may want to invest in a second casserole dish if that’s what you’ll be serving your stuffing in.
- It’s very important that the bread is staled, so do NOT skip this step! Staling the bread helps to ensure that it actually holds its shape while mixed with the broth, then baked. Fresh, soft bread will turn to mush in this process.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below or share and tag me on social media @willcookforsmiles. DON’T FORGET to subscribe to my newsletter!
Sausage Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb deli Italian loaf
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter divided
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 3-4 full celery ribs diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 lb mild Italian sausage
- 3 cup chicken stock
- 3 eggs
- 4-5 fresh sage leaves, minced (about 3 teaspoons)
- 2 tsp fresh minced thyme
- 1 tbsp fresh minced parsley
- coarse salt
- fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
Stale Bread:
- Fast Way:Preheat oven to 200°F. Cut bread slices into small cubes that are about 1/2-inch in size. Use serrated bread knife to cut easier. Spread bread in two large, rimmed baking sheets in one even layer and place them in the oven. Let them bake and harden for about 1-2 hours. Take them out and you can prepare the stuffing right away.
- Easier Way:Cut bread slices into small cubes that are about 1/2-inch in size. Spread bread in two large, rimmed baking sheets in one even layer and set them aside on the counter to harden over 24 hours.
Prepare Sausage:
- Preheat a medium cooking pan over medium heat and add half the butter.
- Add diced onion and celery and cook until completely softened and add garlic. Sauté until garlic is fragrant.
- (Take sausage out of the casing if needed and break it apart.) Add broken up Italian sausage to the pan and use a spatula to break up the clumps even more.
- Add remaining butter and cook, stirring often and breaking up the sausage clumps, until it's completely cooked. Take off heat.
Stuffing:
- Preheat oven to 375℉. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish. (You can also use a deep 9×9 baking dish).
- In a large mixing bowl (large enough to fit everything), combine stale bread cubes, cooked sausage and veggies, herbs, salt, and pepper. Gently mix everything until evenly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and broth together and season with a little salt if needed.
- Pour the liquid into the bowl with bread mixture and quickly mix everything together as evenly as possible.
- Transfer into prepared baking dish and bake for 30-40 minutes. For 9×9 deep casserole dish, bake the stuffing for 35-40 minutes. For 9×13 casserole dish, bake the stuffing for 30-35 minutes. To tell if the stuffing is done, check the center with an instant read digital thermometer so it reads 165°. If the top is browning too fast, place a sheet of aluminum foil loosely over the top.
Video
Notes
- Make Ahead: You can also prep the whole stuffing recipe and spread it into the baking dish. Instead of baking, cover it air-tight with plastic wrap or a fitted lid and refrigerate overnight. When you’re ready to bake the next day, take off the plastic wrap, set the dish on the counter while the oven is preheating and then bake per recipe instructions. You will want to add about 5-10 minutes to bake time since you’re starting from cold.
- More Flavors to Add: apples, mushrooms, extra herbs, dried cranberries, almonds.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in November 2021.
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.
My favorite stuffing recipe!
Hi, Lyuba Brooke your recpies cooking tutorial are easy to understand and make. Can’t I use another bread instead of Italian bread ??