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This Stuffing Recipe made from scratch is the absolute best Stuffing that will ever grace your Thanksgiving Dinner table. From the bread to the sausage and the perfectly herbed dressing, this will be everyone’s favorite part of the meal!
Bread Stuffing with Sausage
When you think about a Thanksgiving feast set out on the table, what are the top 5 foods you picture sitting there? Chance are, stuffing is one of them. That’s because it’s a timeless classic that can feed any crowd! Today I am going to show you how to make the best sausage stuffing recipe!
Sausage stuffing is a great combination of flavorful, meaty crumbles and the classic bread stuffing. While you could pay for a box of stuffing mix, making it from scratch is easy, cheap, and fun. Not to mention, you get way more than the tiny box-sized servings!
Other classic Thanksgiving feast side dishes include homemade cranberry sauce , Cornbread Casserole and some amazing creamy mashed potatoes, made right in your Instant Pot!
What Are the Ingredients in This Stuffing?
Here’s a look at the ingredients you’re going to want to have on hand to make this savory side dish! Shout out to reader and friend Mandy for sharing her family’s recipe with us! I had it myself for the first time 4 years ago and finally just got the recipe (and her permission to share!) so we can all enjoy it together!
- Bread, we will cut our own cubes and dry them out!
- Onion
- Celery
- Parsley, I usually use dried.
- Butter
- Sausage crumbles
- Salt
- Thyme
- Pepper
- Sage
- Chicken broth
The exact measurements and steps to take are all shared in the printable recipe card below!
How Do You Make Bread Stale for Stuffing?
Drying your bread out is crucial for good stuffing, it’s what adds in the flavor and the texture. If you plan ahead, you can dry your bread out for days in advance on a cooking sheet or you could take a faster approach with the oven (see tips below).
If you are wanting to dry the bread on your counter, just cut the bread into cubes and let it sit on a cookie sheet for 12 hours, stir around and then let it sit for another 12 hours. Once the bread is completely dried out, you can put all of the cubes of bread into a large zip top bag and store them until ready to make the stuffing.
If you’re a last-minute prepper (as most of us are) you can do this nifty oven trick- set the oven to 200 degrees and cut your bread into cubes. Now bake your bread cubes on a cooking sheet for about 30 minutes. Stirring them around on the pan about halfway through.
You can continue cooking the bread cubes and stirring every 15 minutes if you notice they aren’t fully dry after the first 30 minutes.
How to make Sausage Stuffing
Now that we have our bread dried out, let’s get to the show!
In a large pot, brown your sausage and then add in the onion and celery. Saute both for a couple of minutes. Then add in the butter, parsley, salt, pepper, thyme, and sage.
Add chicken broth after the butter has completely melted. Gently toss the bread crumbs in. Work quickly to help get as many pieces coated as possible; the bread will be absorbent!
Now transfer the stuffing into a 9×13 pan and bake covered for one hour.
Can You Freeze Bread Stuffing?
Yes! If you have leftovers, or if you simply want to get some of the Thanksgiving feast prep out of the way in advance, you can make your stuffing as usual, cool and then freeze. Freeze it in an airtight container for up to 3 months and then when its time to reheat, transfer back to an oven-safe container and cook at 325 degrees until warm throughout (about 15 minutes for thawed stuffing).
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Looking for more Thanksgiving Recipes? Try these!
- Dinner Roll Recipe
- Mashed Potatoes
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Cranberry Sauce
- Instant Pot Potatoes and Carrots
- Cheesy Potatoes
- Roasted Green Beans
- Broccoli Salad
- Oven Roasted Turkey
Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients
- 10 cups bread cubes*
- 1 lb sausage
- 1/2 cup onion, finely diced
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 2 tbsp parsley, dried
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground sage
- 1 14.5 oz can chicken broth
Instructions
- Place the bread crumbs in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, brown the sausage until cooked through.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Add onion and celery. Saute for 3-4 minutes.
- Add butter, parsley, salt, thyme and sage. Stir until the butter is completley melted.
- Add chicken broth.
- Gently, but quickly pour the sausage mixture over the bread crumbs and toss to coat. The bread will absorb the liquid so it is important to do this both gently and quickly.
- Transfer to a 9×13 pan. Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The stuffing should be golden brown.
My family uses the same recipe but we sometimes add shredded carrots. Mom always put some in a casserole dish and another batch formed as balls (smaller than a tennis ball) on a cookie sheet. The dressing balls would get nice and crisp on the outside remain moist on the inside. Yum!
Hi Becca! I’ll have to add shredded carrots next time. And what a fun idea about the dressing balls! My kids would love those!
Is it okay to prepare the stuffing/put it in the pan and wait to cook it or will that dry it out?
Hi Catherine- you can definitely prepare it, put it in the pan and then add the chicken broth right before baking.