Sausage Stuffing

My husband would pick this sausage stuffing over every other side on the Thanksgiving table. It’s made with my homemade sage sausage, a good crusty loaf of bread, butter, onion, celery and fresh herbs.

I call it stuffing, but I never actually stuff it inside the turkey. I do not stuff my turkey with anything other than aromatics. Ever. So technically, this is a sausage dressing baked in its own dish.

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Why You’ll Love This Sausage Stuffing

• Real bread. Fresh bread soaks up all the flavor from the sausage, broth, vegetables and butter.
• Crispy and soft. It’s crispy on the top and bottom and soft in the middle. A little bit of each.
• It’s a make-ahead side. I make most of my Thanksgiving sides the day before, which leaves you with a clean kitchen on Thanksgiving Day. This one preps ahead too (see below).

Homemade Sage Sausage (Why I Don’t Buy It)

We’ve made our own sausage for my country sausage gravy for years, and it’s always a favorite at breakfast. The sausage in this stuffing is the exact same recipe as my homemade sage breakfast sausage.

It takes a couple of minutes to mix (use your hands), and I know exactly how it’s going to taste. Store-bought sausage changes from brand to brand, and whatever’s in it ends up in the whole pan of stuffing.

Short on time? Use 1 pound of bulk breakfast sausage or mild Italian sausage instead. Taste a crumble once it’s cooked before you decide on any extra salt.

Stuffing or Dressing?

Stuffing is cooked inside the bird, and dressing is baked in its own dish. What you call it mostly depends on where you grew up.

Baking it in its own dish also makes it easy to check that the center is fully cooked, which is much harder to do inside a turkey.

Ingredients for Sausage Stuffing

Here’s what to know about each ingredient. Full amounts are in the recipe card below.

For the sausage:

• Ground pork: plain ground pork, not sausage. The seasonings turn it into sage sausage.
• Seasonings: sage, kosher salt, brown sugar, black pepper, red pepper flakes, marjoram and a pinch of ground cloves. The cloves are subtle; leave them out if you’re not a fan.

For the stuffing:

• Bread: a 16-ounce crusty loaf, cut into 1-inch cubes. My favorite is The Essential Baking Company’s rosemary take-and-bake loaf. When I can’t find it, I use their plain loaves, which are easy to find at Costco. Take-and-bake loaves are a little dry before they’re baked, so they soak up the broth without turning to mush. Sourdough or French bread work too.
• Unsalted butter: a stick for cooking the vegetables, plus 2 tablespoons to dot on top.
• Onion and celery: one large yellow onion and about 8 small stalks of celery, diced.
• Fresh herbs: 4 tablespoons of minced fresh sage, rosemary and thyme in total, not 4 tablespoons of each. Using dried? See the FAQs below.
• Parsley: 1/4 cup, minced.
• Chicken stock: store-bought or my homemade pressure cooker chicken broth. Turkey stock is great if you have it.
• Egg: one large egg holds everything together.

How to Make Sausage Stuffing

Cook the sausage and the vegetables first, then put it all together in one big bowl.

Step 1: Cube the bread

Cut the loaf into 1-inch cubes. Set them aside while you cook the sausage and vegetables.

Step 2: Make and brown the sausage

Mix the ground pork with the sausage seasonings. It’s easiest with your hands. Cook it in a skillet over medium heat, breaking it into crumbles, until it’s browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Let it cool.

Step 3: Sauté the vegetables and add the broth

Melt the stick of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery and the 4 tablespoons of mixed herbs (save the parsley for the next step). Stir to coat them in the butter and cook until the vegetables start to turn golden, about 10 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock, bring it to a simmer, then take the skillet off the heat. Let it cool until it’s cool to the touch.

PRO TIP: Don’t skip the cooling. If the broth mixture is hot when it hits the bread, it starts cooking the egg before the egg can coat the bread and hold the stuffing together.

Step 4: Toss the bread with the egg

Beat the egg with the minced parsley in a large bowl. Add the bread cubes and toss to coat.

Step 5: Add the sausage and broth

Pour the cooked sausage and the cooled broth mixture over the bread. Toss until every cube is moistened.

Step 6: Spread it in the baking dish

Spread the stuffing in a buttered baking dish and dot the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. It goes straight into the oven; see the make-ahead section for what to do the day before.

Step 7: Bake covered, then uncovered

Cover and bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until the top is golden and crispy, about 30 minutes more. The center should reach 165°F on an instant-read thermometer.

KRISSY’S RECOMMENDATION: In my opinion, the best stuffing is extra crispy, so I use a larger baking dish and spread the stuffing out in a thinner layer. It bakes a little faster and gets a lot more crispy edges. If you like it softer, use a smaller, deeper dish.

How to Make Sausage Stuffing Ahead (Safely)

Here’s the one thing not to do: mix everything together and refrigerate it unbaked. USDA advises against refrigerating uncooked stuffing, because moist bread with raw egg in it is an easy place for bacteria to grow while it sits. You can still do almost all of the work the day before.

• The day before: cube the bread and keep it in a covered container at room temperature. Brown the sausage, and make the vegetable and broth mixture. Refrigerate the sausage and the broth mixture in separate covered containers.
• On Thanksgiving: warm the broth mixture just until the butter melts, then let it cool to the touch. Beat the egg with the parsley, toss everything together and bake right away, as written.
• Or bake it the day before: bake it completely, then store and reheat it the way I describe in the storing section below.
• To freeze it unbaked: USDA says uncooked stuffing can be frozen as soon as it’s mixed. Spread it in a freezer-safe baking dish, cover it tightly and freeze. Bake it straight from frozen (don’t thaw it first), allow extra time, and bake until the center reaches 165°F.

★★★★★

“We loved the addition of sage and red pepper flakes! Everyone loved this and had seconds!”

Jamie, reader review

Variations

• Half cornbread: a reader’s grandma made her dressing with half bread and half cornbread. I haven’t made it that way yet, but it’s a great compromise when half your table wants cornbread dressing and the other half wants traditional bread dressing. Use 8 ounces of crusty bread and 8 ounces of my skillet buttermilk cornbread. If your family is all in on cornbread, make my Southern cornbread dressing instead.
• Bacon: another reader’s grandma added a few slices of chopped bacon, fried with the sausage, celery and onion.
• Meatless: make my wild mushroom stuffing with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

Refrigerate leftover stuffing within 2 hours in a covered container, and eat it within 3 to 4 days. The microwave works for reheating, but I like the oven or toaster oven (325°F or higher) to keep it crispy: cover it until it’s hot, then uncover it for the last few minutes to crisp the top. Either way, reheat it to 165°F. For longer storage, freeze it.

Can I cook this stuffing inside the turkey?

I don’t, and this recipe is written to bake in its own dish. If you do stuff your turkey, USDA says to mix the stuffing right before it goes in, pack it in loosely, roast the turkey right away, and make sure the center of the stuffing reaches 165°F.

Can I use dried herbs?

Yes. Fresh herbs taste better here, but dried work. Use about a third as much: roughly 4 teaspoons of dried sage, rosemary and thyme combined in place of the 4 tablespoons of fresh.

Can I use a boxed stuffing mix instead of fresh bread?

You can, but the result is different. Boxed stuffing mix is basically seasoned croutons, so it’s drier and saltier than a fresh loaf. If you try it, taste before adding any salt.

Can I make this sausage stuffing gluten-free?

Yes, with a gluten-free loaf. Check the label on your chicken stock too, since not every brand is gluten-free. The homemade sausage is just pork and spices.

How many people does this serve?

About 12 as a side dish. To feed a bigger crowd, switch the recipe card to 2x and bake it in two dishes.

Holiday Meal Recommendations

If you’re looking for more recipes for your Thanksgiving table, here’s what I serve every year.

Thanksgiving Turkey

Homemade Turkey Giblet Gravy

Homemade Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potato Casserole

The turkey always gets my apple cider turkey brine first, and the table isn’t complete without homemade cranberry orange sauce and a basket of homemade dinner rolls.