A deliciously easy to make Sausage & Herb Stuffing recipe, perfect for the holidays!
Our stuffing recipe is soft and buttery on the inside with crispy, golden edges and vibrant flavours. Onions, celery, garlic and herbs are sautéed in butter, tossed with bread and baked in a full flavoured stock.
A classic stuffing is the quintessential Thanksgiving side dish. Easy to make for your holiday dinner table and unlike plenty of other stuffings out there, this recipe isn’t stodgy and overbearing.
STUFFING RECIPE
The perfect accompaniment to Crispy Turkey and Gravy, Creamy Mashed Potatoes, Apple Bacon Salad, Green Bean Casserole, Soft Dinner Rolls, and our Sweet Potato Casserole, this stuffing can carry both salty and sweet notes thanks to the combination of sausage and cranberries (which are optional) mixed throughout.
HOW TO PREPARE STUFFING
- Pan fried sausages — casings removed. You can use chicken, beef, pork or turkey sausages. We love to use sausages with spicy Italian flavour.
- Bread — white, wholewheat or grain bread all work well.
- White wine — YES! If you’ve never tried white wine in your stuffing before, try it! We reduce it down before adding it in, and the flavour is incredible! Of course, you can swap it out with extra chicken broth or leave it out all together.
- Herbs — I use fresh sage, parsley and rosemary. If you don’t like these, you can also use basil, oregano, thyme or any other herbs.
HOW TO MAKE STUFFING
To get the best stuffing with those irresistible crispy golden edges, it’s best to use dry bread. You can dry fresh bread out in the oven until it just begins to toast, or use day old bread.
I usually prefer to dry day old bread in the oven to ensure the best result.
Any bread is fine, however we prefer using a French stick or baguette torn or cut into 1-inch pieces.
SAUSAGE STUFFING
While your bread is drying out in the oven, quickly brown the sausage, breaking it up with a fork or the end of a wooden spoon while cooking.
Mix the browned sausage through the bread cubes. We always add the pan drippings for extra flavour!
The rest comes together in minimal steps:
SAUTE veggies and herbs in butter.
ADD the wine
MIX in the stock
POUR over bread
BAKE until browned.
The cranberries are an optional ingredient, as mentioned above. You can leave them out all together, or substitute with raisins or carrots!
FAQ’S
Leftover stuffing? Perfect! Leftover stuffing can be just as good, if not better than fresh stuffing and can be adapted into a bunch of different meals. Think Ross from Friends with his famous Moist Maker sandwich made with Thanksgiving leftovers. A hot three-tier turkey sandwich with stuffing and gravy… we’re drooling.
If you have a lot of stuffing leftover, refrigerate in air tight containers for up to 2-3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
To reheat, thaw it out first, then bake at 350°F (175°C) for roughly half an hour. You may need to add ¼ – ½ cup stock to prevent drying it out.
LOOKING FOR MORE SIDES? TRY THESE!
Loaded Thanksgiving Cheeseboard
Scalloped Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts
Garlic Mushrooms
Mac And Cheese
Sausage Herb Stuffing
Ingredients
- 16 ounces bread cut into 1-inch pieces, day old bread if possible
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 pound sage pork sausage or sweet or spicy Italian sausage, casings removed
- â…“ cup unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups yellow onions finely chopped , from 1 large onion or 2 small onions
- 1 cup celery chopped from 2-3 stalks
- 5 large cloves garlic minced, or 1 ½ tablespoons minced garlic
- ½ cup flat-leaf parsley chopped
- 1 ½ tablespoons fresh sage chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary chopped
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ cup dry white wine optional — sub with ¼ cup of broth
- 3 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 1 egg lightly whisked
- ¾ cup dried cranberries optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Place the bread cubes in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake for 7-10 minutes, or until dried and toasted. Transfer the bread cubes to a very large bowl.
- Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the sausages over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until browned and cooked through, breaking up the sausage with a fork while cooking. Add to the bread cubes.
- In the same pan, melt the butter and add the onions, celery, garlic, parsley, sage, rosemary or thyme, salt and pepper. Saute over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are softened. Add the wine (if using) and allow the wine to reduce down to half (about 4 minutes).
- Take off the heat and mix in the stock to combine all of the flavours. Add the beaten egg and cranberries, and pour into the bread, mixing really well with a wooden spoon until all the liquid has been absorbed.
- Pour the bread stuffing into a 9×12-inch baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, until browned on top and hot in the middle. Serve warm.
Notes
- Don’t forget to dry out your bread before using it. Dry it out in the oven or toast it.Â
- Choose whichever sausage flavour is your favourite.
Emily Romero says
My dad’s favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is stuffing, and I took on the challenge this year. He said this was the best he’s ever had and ate it with breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 3 days. Everyone else loved it too! And it was surprisingly easy to make. 12/10 recommend!
Den M. says
Hello, I’m new to your site, so glad I found it. I am making a delayed Thanksgiving dinner and my family requested bread stuffing with sausage. I read so many and yours is a stand out. It would be helpful if you could offer an approx volume that the 1 lb loaf yields. I may need to double. Even the the type of bread affects the volume as some crusts might need to be removed if a french loaves are used. Any input on this would be appreciated. Thank you.
Denyel says
I found this recipe about 5 years ago and I’ve been making it ever since. It is a must have in our home for the holidays!! I usually make a double batch for just 6 of us because we want lots left over for the week. I’ve shared this recipe with so many people. It’s just amazing!!
Karina says
Hi Denyel, thank you so much for sharing this! I’m so happy to hear that. Happy holidays to you and your family Xx
Sarah says
I’ve been making this recipe for years it is so good!
Kelly says
What is the best way to make this the night before? Mix together and throw in the fridge? Or cook thoroughly and heat up the next day?
Karina Carrel says
Hi Kelly,
My recommendation is to pre-make all the dry ingredients, including the sausage; just keep the wet ingredients (the wine, egg and broth) separate. On the day of serving, mix the wet and dry ingredients together, then follow steps 5 and 6. Hope this helps. Enjoy your cooking!
Betty says
How do I measure .6egg, is this a half an egg? Also, .9 Tablespoon fresh sage and .45 teaspoon seal salt. .6 lb. sausage, is that 6 ozs? I adjusted the recipe for 6 people.. I wanted to try this but I’m a little confused.
Tom Mozgala says
Hi Betty,
Just spoken to Karina about this and she has advised the following: sometimes when you scale to a different quantity, the calculations can come out looking strange; however, please see her comments below
To recipe for six people, here’s how to handle the measurements you are confused about:
Egg Measurement:
0.6 of an egg means you need to use about two-thirds of a large egg. You can whisk the egg and then use about two-thirds of it, or just use a small bowl to mix and gauge visually.
Sage Measurement:
For 0.9 tablespoons of fresh sage, it’s almost a tablespoon. You can simply measure out 1 tablespoon and leave a small amount behind, or you can chop the leaves finely and measure a heaping tablespoon, which should be close enough.
Salt Measurement:
For 0.45 teaspoons of sea salt, this is slightly less than half a teaspoon. You can measure out a half teaspoon and use just a tiny bit less than that.
Sausage Measurement:
0.6 lb of sausage is indeed 9.6 ounces, which can be rounded to 10 ounces if necessary for simplicity. If you’re working in ounces, you can measure out 10 ounces by using a kitchen scale.
When scaling recipes down, it’s common to use fractions of ingredients, and often you can estimate a bit based on taste, especially for herbs and spices. Enjoy making the stuffing!
Esther says
I made this both for my family as well as one for an event. Neither family or even had a crumb left! I got my dry reiling from whole foods. Harris Teeter had fresh baguette already cut in pieces witch I cut down, to toast
I used safe Neiceces sauge in both. Neises sausage is never frozen but delivered fresh