Sausage Stuffing Dressing

Last Updated January 4th, 2024 at 11:10 pm by Lisa

Sausage Stuffing is a classic holiday side dish loaded with so much flavor! Choose to make it with a spicier or a mild sweet Italian sausage. It also has boxed cornbread, crunchy celery, soft French bread, sweet dried cherries, and tart dried cranberries all mixed into one heavenly dressing recipe.

The deep rich flavors come from the scrumptious crumbled sausage, it might just become your new stuffing recipe this holiday season. The texture is incredible, there is something different in each bite. Soft, crunchy, crispy, and chewy all in one happy stuffing...

Pin

Sausage Dressing Top Tips

• MAKE AHEAD: If you make this dressing recipe a day ahead, it only gets better. The first day is fabulous, but oh that second day its is unreal!! Mix this stuffing ahead, and freeze for a Thanksgiving side dish. It freezes perfectly in ziptop bags. Then just defrost, fill a baking dish, and bake. A great time saver during the holidays.
• SOFT & CRUNCHY BREAD: It hits all the right notes, cornbread is a classic stuffing start, and the golden toasted cubed french bread adds chunky pieces to soak up all the flavors.
• TART & SWEET: An interesting balance of sweet dried cherries combined with notes of tart dried cranberries is just right.
• GORGEOUS COLORS: Fresh green parsley brings more color and brightness, and the flavors of red dried cranberries and cherries make it so festive for the holidays.
• FAVORITE STUFFING RECIPE: Serve this savory sausage bread stuffing as a side or use it to make a stuff turkey, with classic Roast Turkey, and for Christmas serve it with crown pork roast, Double Smoked Ham, or Beef Roast.
• LEFTOVERS: Have some takeout containers for family and friends, they will want some to take home. I usually pop some in the freezer for fast holiday entertaining. You can also use it in my Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Shepards Pie Casserole! It's so rich that it's a meal in and of itself! Each year, I make two GIANT mixing bowls of this delicious stuffing.

Italian Sausage Stuffing Recipe

Every year my holiday table is complete with this family favorite stuffing mix dressing, a golden brown roast turkey, and mashed potatoes.

One of my personal favorite recipes, this is the best sausage stuffing! Both family and friends have enjoyed it for over 2 decades countless times. Nowadays, readers love it too! Also, known as "a meal by itself", this stuffing is truly one to make a tradition with your family...

Ingredients

• cornbread stuffing
• French bread loaf
• Italian sausage (bulk sausage) - mild and or hot
• dried cherries
• dried cranberries
• butter
• celery
• brown onions
• flat-leaf parsley
• kosher sea salt
• black pepper
• Chicken Stock

Pin

If you want to make your own Chicken Stock, take a look at my recipe and video tutorial. It truly is so much better homemade...

How To Make Stuffing

1. Brown and crumble sausage in a large pan and remove using a slotted spoon. You can drain the grease off if you wish. Scrape all the browned bits with a wooden spoon from the pan, there is a lot of flavor on there! Place the cooked sausage into a very large mixing bowl. You can also use a deep metal roasting pan to mix and bake in. Spray the pan to help with easier cleanup.
2. Slice the French bread into 1" bread cubes. Dice the onion and celery using a good sharp knife. Chop the parsley, and keep in a small bowl.
3. In the same large sauté pan or large skillet pan, melt butter, ½ cup (1 stick). Add finely sliced onion, sea salt, and black pepper. Cook the onion for 5 minutes until translucent over medium heat, add the celery and, cook for 3 more minutes. Add the onion and celery mixture to the mixing bowl with any liquid to the sausage mixture.
4. Now add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. Pour in the bag of cornbread dressing, French bread cubes (sourdough bread is great too!), dried cherries, dried cranberries, and chopped parsley. Now pour in the 3.5 cups of chicken stock or chicken broth. Using a large spoon, mix and stir the sausage stuffing until well combined.
5. Spray a large baking dish or in a roasting pan, the bottom of the pan, coat with a good cooking spray. This helps to release the stuffing, and washing up! Use a coconut oil, olive oil spray, or any non-stick brand you prefer.
6. Oven bake at 375 degrees f for 1 hour uncovered until golden brown, and serve hot.
7. Make Ahead Tips: Spray a prepared casserole dish, put the Italian dressing inside, and cover it with aluminum foil. Or put inside an airtight container, refridgerated up to one day ahead. Pull out about a half hour before baking it for your dinner, remove the foil and bake.
8. Variations and Additions: Some people love chopped mushrooms, apples, pecans, raisins, or walnuts in their stuffing, that is all up to you!

Sausage Stuffing Top Tips

Stuffing Flavor Variations & Additions

PRO TIP: Buy an Italian pork sausage, a bulk sausage in a tube package not sold as individual sausages. Once out of the package, it cooks and crumbles nicely in the pan and is the best way to mix it into the stuffing evenly.

Regular or Italian Sausage

I like to use both regular Italian sausage and a spicy or hot sausage. This is up to you, and you can even save calories and use a turkey sausage! Buy bulk sausage that has no casings if possible to save time removing the casing.

Italian sausage is mild in seasoning and primarily flavored with fennel and garlic.

Hot Italian sausage contains the same spices, but with chile pepper.

Regular Mild Sausage is made from ground meat, often pork, beef, or veal, along with salt, spices, other flavorings, and breadcrumbs, and covered by a casing.

Some sausages are cooked during processing, and the casing may be easily removed. Sausage making is a traditional food preservation technique.

Bread Varieties

Perfect stuffing starts with good ingredients, and that includes a one day old bread! You can use an Italian bread loaf, or even good white bread works really well.

Stale bread that is a bit dry works well in a dressing as the liquid from the cooked ingredients and chicken stock moistens the mixture. You can slice up stale bread, or dry bread into one inch cubes, and freeze it to use in stuffings.

Sourdough bread cut into small pieces, is really good! You can cut the fresh bread and leave it out overnight to save a step for your recipe.

Fresh Herbs

You could add some more chopped fresh sage leaves, rosemary or thyme.

Chicken Stock

Swap in either chicken broth or turkey stock. Try my homemade Chicken Stock, it is great to have in the freezer during the holidays!

More Thanksgiving Recipes

Make one of these delicious Thanksgiving Appetizers! There are over 36 recipes to choose from in this collection of the best holiday party food ideas.

For more sides, you can't beat classics like Southern Sweet Potato Casserole or Coconut-Pecan Sweet Potatoes.

Make perfectly Roasted Vegetables with these cooking tips and techniques. Plus get roasting times and ideas to use seasonal veggies.

Make these Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes with 5 Ways to Reheat them for your holiday party, one of America's favorite holiday side dishes!

Learn how to make your own homemade Chicken Stock, also known as bone broth. This recipe has all the step-by-step top cooking tips plus how to freeze it with 15 delicious new recipe ideas. Save money and have some ready to elevate dinner, soups, and stews.

This tropical Pineapple Orange Cranberry Sauce is a great addition to take or serve at your holiday feast.

Party Dinner Rolls topped with cheese and herbs. So pretty, and people go crazy for them.