This Sausage Stuffing Recipe is a delicious side dish for Thanksgiving or big family dinners! This classic and simple dressing is made with cubed French bread, spices, chicken broth, and ground sausage, it’s the perfect addition to any holiday spread.
Serve this signature side dish alongside turkey, corn casserole, and salt roasted sweet potatoes for a Thanksgiving meal the whole family will love!
Looking for a Thanksgiving stuffing that will really “wow”? This scratch-made side dish kicks the premade stuff to the curb!
Filled with comforting flavors, this is the best stuffing recipe to share with your loved ones. Even those who aren’t usually fans will be reaching for seconds!
Serve it alongside your favorite holiday sides like Green Bean Casserole, Orange Cranberry Sauce, and Mashed Potatoes! And if you’re a cornbread fan, try my Cornbread Dressing recipe!
Why This Recipe Works:
- Homemade croutons give you more control over the final texture and flavor of the stuffing.
- This is a dressing recipe, so it’s cooked in its own dish but is still super flavorful!
- Chicken broth makes up for the moisture you would normally get from the bird while cooking.
- A lot of the prep work can be done in advance to free up time and kitchen space on Thanksgiving day.
Stuffing Ingredients:
- French bread – Cut into cubes, this bubbly bread is soft and delicious but dries out when baked.
- Ground sausage – The key to a rich and flavorful stuffing. I like to use a mild Italian sausage, but feel free to use your favorite ground selection.
- Salted butter – Be sure to have a little extra for greasing the pan.
- Garlic cloves, yellow onions, and celery – These are sauteed in butter and sausage drippings to release mouthwatering flavor.
- Rosemary, thyme, sage, and parsley – I use fresh herbs for the best taste.
- Eggs – These bind the entire dish together.
- Chicken broth – To add moisture and flavor to the dish. It softens the bread cubes as it bakes and the liquid is absorbed and evaporates in the oven.
How To Make Stuffing With Sausage:
Step 1: Bread – Prepare the bread by cutting the loaf into cubes and spreading them out on a large baking sheet and baking at 200 degrees F for 1 hour.
Expert Tip: Prepare your bread the day before Thanksgiving by cubing and baking to save on time. Store the bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl covered with plastic wrap so they’re ready when you need them.
Step 2: Cook – In a large skillet, cook the sausage then transfer to a bowl and set aside. Next, melt the butter into the sausage drippings and add in the onions, celery, and garlic and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Then add the sausage back into the skillet along with the herbs.
Expert Tip: If using dried herbs instead of fresh, you’ll only need 1/4 of the listed amount in the recipe. So for the sage, this recipe calls for 2 tablespoons fresh, but you can use 1/2 tablespoon dried instead.
Step 3: Bake – In a large bowl, combine the baked bread crumbs and the sausage mixture. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then mix into the rest of the ingredients along with the chicken broth.
Press the mixture into a grease 9×13-inch baking dish and bake.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make stuffing from scratch?
It’s actually really easy. The key components in traditional stuffings include bread cubes, herbs, eggs, and chicken broth. Ground sausage is also a common addition, like in this recipe!
Do you put an egg in stuffing?
Yes. The eggs bind everything together and prevent the mixture from completely crumbling apart.
What is the difference between dressing and stuffing?
Stuffing is traditionally cooked right inside a chicken or turkey, while dressing is cooked separately. So, this recipe is technically a dressing!
Can you assemble it the night before?
You can do plenty of prep work ahead of time to make assembly quick and easy on Thanksgiving day.
You can prepare most of your ingredients the night before. Just keep the sausage and wet ingredients separate until you’re ready to start cooking.
You can bake the cubed bread the night before too to dry it out so it’s good and ready to use.
Should dressing be cooked covered or uncovered?
The pan should be covered with foil and baked for the first 45 minutes in the oven to prevent over-drying. Uncover it for the last 15 minutes of baking.
How does it taste?
This sausage stuffing is soft and tender with a slightly crisp top. The butter and sausage add a mild richness and the herbs, garlic, onion, and celery really make this whole dish taste cozy and delicious.
Even though there are eggs in the mixture, it’s not eggy. The dish tastes and smells like Thanksgiving: warm, inviting, and delicious!
What kind of bread should I use?
This recipe uses French bread, but that’s just my personal preference. You could also use recipe white bread, Italian bread, challah, or sourdough bread. Just make sure to follow the same process for drying it out.
Stuffing Substitutions & Variations:
- Salt and pepper: If you prefer adding salt and pepper to taste, I suggest using unsalted butter and low sodium chicken broth.
- Dried herbs: While fresh minced herbs definitely taste best, you can use dried ones instead. If you can get at least one or two fresh herbs, use a mix of fresh and dried.
- Poultry seasoning: You can also use poultry seasoning instead of adding the herbs individually.
- Bread: If French bread isn’t available, you can use another kind of white bread that has a slight crust on the outside and is soft on the inside.
More Holiday Side Dish Recipes:
- Roasted Delicata Squash – Roasted with cinnamon and brown sugar, it’s a tasty (and easy!) way to add some veggies to the table.
- Perfect Yeast Rolls – These fluffy pull-apart rolls taste like they were made in a bakery. Serve with Herb Butter for even more deliciousness!
- Sweet Potato Casserole – Filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans, this scrumptious recipe tastes like dessert.
- Orange Braised Carrots – Marinated in fresh orange juice, shallots, and spices, these colorful carrots are full of flavor.
- Candied Yams – These honey-glazed yams will have picky eaters begging for more!
Sausage Stuffing
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Sausage Stuffing Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 cups french bread cubed
- 1 lb ground mild Italian sausage
- ¾ cup salted butter plus more for greasing
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 4 stalks celery leaves on and diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary minced, (1 teaspoon, dried)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme minced, (1 teaspoon dried)
- 2 tablespoons fresh sage minced, (2 teaspoons dried)
- ⅓ cup parsley minced
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups chicken broth
Instructions
Bread
- Preheat oven to 200°F and cut French bread into slices and cut slices into cubes. Spread the cubes out on a baking sheet and bake for one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13-inch cake pan with butter.
- Cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat until browned. Remove the sausage and put it in a medium bowl; set aside.
- Add the butter to sausage dripping and melt. Once melted, add the diced onions, celery, and minced garlic. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat or until onions are translucent.
- Add the sausage and herbs to the onions, and remove from the heat stove.
- Place the baked bread cubes in a large bowl and add the sausage and onions and mix to combine.
- Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, then add them to the bread and sausage mixture with the chicken broth and mix well.
- Press the mixture into the prepared baking dish, making sure there are no pieces sticking up or they will dry out during baking.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and bake an additional 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
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You can do plenty of prep work ahead of time to make assembly quick and easy on Thanksgiving day. Cut and dice all your components the night before, but keep the sausage and wet ingredients separate until you’re about to bake the dish. You can bake the cubed bread the night before too to try it out so it’s good and ready to use.
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Stuffing Substitutions & Variations:
- Salt and pepper: If you prefer adding salt and pepper to taste, I suggest using unsalted butter and low sodium chicken broth.
- Dried herbs: While fresh minced herbs definitely taste best, you can use dried ones instead. If you can get at least one or two fresh herbs, use a mix of fresh and dried. For any substitution of fresh herbs you only need 1/4 of the amount listed for dried herbs.
- Poultry seasoning: You can also use poultry seasoning instead of adding the herbs individually.
- Bread substitutes: If French bread isn’t available, look for another kind of white bread that has a slight crust on the outside and soft on the inside, nothing too hard or crunchy.
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