This Sausage Stuffing recipe can be made with homemade or store-bought bread cubes! Use it to stuff chicken or turkey, or bake it in a casserole dish for the best side dish recipe for the holidays!
Be sure to try my Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce, and Dinner Rolls next!
Sausage Stuffing
When it comes to Thanksgiving or Christmas recipes, you just can’t beat this incredible sausage stuffing. This has the be the best part of any holiday meal. Even better than gravy and the turkey!
My mom always included sausage in her stuffing, and I’ll never have it any other way. (My preferred variety of sausage is outlined in my pro tips below!)
You can make this with homemade or store-bought bread cubes and apples, dried cranberries, and nuts make a great addition to this as well!
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Cut the bread into cubes and bake at 350° for 20 minutes, tossing halfway through. They should all feel like croutons.
Cook the sausage, onions, and celery in a little butter and toss it with the bread cubes. Melt more butter, garlic, and herbs and cook for 3 minutes. Drizzle over the bread cubes and toss to coat.
Transfer to a casserole dish. Combine chicken broth and whisked eggs and drizzle it over the stuffing, toss to coat. Bake covered for 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 35 minutes, or until desired brown color is achieved and the mixture is firm. Garnish with parsley and serve!
Pro Tips
- Variety of Bread Options: You can use any kind of bread for this. I love using hearty Italian loaves, something not too fluffy so that it holds up nicely. You can also purchase bread cubes from the store. If your cubes are very dry, (like the Stove Top brand), you may need to add up to 1 cup of additional broth.
- Amount of Bread: My bread cubes as shown here (12 cups), weighed 1.2 lbs. (or 544 grams) before toasting them.
- Sausage: Jimmy Deans Regular Pork Sausage is my go-to for this recipe, but you can also use sweet Italian. The variety that I use is salty enough (420 mg/serving) so that no additional salt is needed. If your sausage has less salt, consider adding up to 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the seasoning mixture.
- Eggs: The eggs act as a binder to keep the stuffing together and to prevent it from being dry/crumbly. They can be skipped if needed.
- Stuffing a Turkey/Chicken: Chill for 45 minutes before using this to stuff a turkey/chicken. Any additional stuffing can be baked in a smaller casserole dish as outlined.
Make Ahead Method
- Make Ahead Method: Prepare and assemble this as outlined but wait on adding the chicken broth/egg mixture until just before baking. Let it sit out for 30 minutes prior to baking if it’s been refrigerated.
What to Add to Stuffing
- Dried cranberries make a nice addition to this, you can stir in about 1/3 cup before adding the chicken broth!
- Apples are another great add-on. I love using 2 gala apples and cooked them with the sausage, onions, and celery.
- Chopped Nuts such as walnuts or pecans add a nice crunch! You can roughly chop them and add them right to the stuffing when the cooked sausage is added.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- 9 x 13-inch casserole dish– This is the one that I love using for this recipe. (It’s what’s pictured in this post.)
- Baking Sheets– For toasting the bread cubes.
- Nonstick Skillet – Great for cooking the sausage, onions, and celery.
More for Your Holiday Table
Check out all of my Thanksgiving recipes here and my Christmas recipes here!
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Sausage Stuffing
Ingredients
- 12 cups cubed bread, see notes
- 1 stick butter, divided. Equal to 8 tbs. (I use salted butter)
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 3 ribs celery, diced
- 1 lb. ground breakfast sausage, or sweet Italian. See notes.
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 large eggs, whisked
- 3 cups chicken broth, see notes
- fresh parsley, to garnish
Seasonings
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon ground sage
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350 degrees. Cut the bread into cubes and spread them out in an even layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet. (You can also use 2 baking sheets if needed.) Bake for 10 minutes, toss, and bake for 10 more minutes, or until they’re all firm like croutons.
- Meanwhile, preheat a large skillet to medium-high and melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the sausage, onions, and celery. Cook and crumble for about 10 minutes, or until cooked through. Add the sausage mixture along with any drippings to the baking sheet with the bread cubes and toss to coat. (You can also do this in a very large bowl.)
- In the same skillet, melt the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom and sides of the skillet. Add the garlic and seasonings and cook for 2 minutes. Drizzle over the bread cubes and toss to coat.
- Transfer the bread cubes to a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch casserole dish.
- Whisk the eggs and the chicken broth together. (The chicken broth needs to be at room temperature (not hot) so that the eggs don’t cook when added.)
- Pour half of the chicken broth evenly over the stuffing. Toss to coat. Pour more and toss until the breading is moist but not too wet.
- Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake 35 more minutes, or until desired brown color on top is obtained and the mixture is firm (not jiggly).
- Garnish with fresh parsley and serve!
Notes
- Prepare and assemble this as outlined but wait on adding the chicken broth/egg mixture until just before baking. I would also let it sit out for 30 minutes prior to baking if it’s been refrigerated.
- Prepare as outlined and transfer to the Crock Pot. Cook on high for 30 minutes, then flip to low for 3-4 hours. Keep on warm until ready to serve!
Pro Tips:
- Variety of Bread Options: You can use any kind of bread for this. I love using hearty Italian loaves, something not too fluffy so that it holds up nicely. You can also purchase bread cubes from the store. If your cubes are very dry, (like the Stove Top brand), you may need to add up to 1 cup of additional broth.
- Amount of Bread: My bread cubes as shown here (12 cups), weighed 1.2 lbs. (or 544 grams) before toasting them.
- Sausage: Jimmy Deans Regular Pork Sausage is my go-to for this recipe, but you can also use sweet Italian. The variety that I use is salty enough (420 mg/serving) so that no additional salt is needed. If your sausage has less salt, consider adding up to 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the seasoning mixture.
- Eggs: The eggs act as a binder to keep the stuffing together and to prevent it from being dry/crumbly. They can be skipped if needed.
- Stuffing a Turkey/Chicken: Chill for 45 minutes (or more) before using this to stuff a turkey/chicken. Any additional stuffing can be baked in a smaller casserole dish as outlined.
- Dried cranberries make a nice addition to this, you can stir in about 1/3 cup before adding the chicken broth!
- Apples are another great add-on. I love using 2 gala apples and cooked them with the sausage, onions, and celery.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutritional information is an estimate and is per serving. There are 12 servings in this recipe.
I’ve made this recipe a few times and it was a big hit yesterday. I just noticed the crockpot directions. Oven space is always at a premium on thanksgiving. Is it different in the crockpot? More liquidy perhaps?
Hi Stephanie! I’m so happy that you love it!! YES, it’s softer in the crock pot due to the condensation so that’s something to be aware of for sure, especially if you prefer firmer stuffing. I love it both ways, but it depends on your preference! 🙂
Hi Stephanie, do you have a crockpot time for this? Thank you.
Hi Melissa! You can cook it on high for 30 minutes, then flip to low for 3-4 hours. From there, it can stay on warm until ready to serve! 🙂
Due to Covid, we weren’t able to host family this Thanksgiving, but making this recipe made us feel like we didn’t miss out! Love the touch of the sausage. We wound up cutting short the step of cooking the garlic and seasonings as the butter was beginning to brown, and I see someone else caught the garlic omission. This recipe is easy to make and good to eat and I’m not waiting for a holiday to make it again!
I’m so happy you enjoyed the Sausage Stuffing Julie! It was a big hit at my house too. Thanks so much for the great comments and for taking the time to leave a review!💗
This stuffing recipe is seriously the best I’ve had. I used Jimmy Deans sausage as you suggested and made sure I had all the other ingredients on hand so I wouldn’t have to skip anything. The seasoning was on-point! I did a test run before Thanksgiving just to try it but I know this is going to be a hit for the big day at my in-laws. I love that I can put it together ahead of time. I didn’t stuff the turkey for my trial run but I will next time. I’m sure it is delicious either way. Thank you!
Yayyy! That’s so great to hear Carol. I’m so happy you enjoyed the test run, good luck on Thanksgiving!💗
Hi Stephanie!
I’m SO excited to try this! I’m sorry if this has been asked before, but would it be okay to omit the sausage? I really do not want to, personally, but I have two uncles coming for Thanksgiving who have gout. :/
I’m thinking what I’ll do is make one batch for the turkey without it and one batch with it as a side. 🙂
As always – THANK YOU and I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving with your family!
~Your biggest Cozy Cooker Fan 😉
Hi Carrie!! YES! You can omit the sausage- I love that you plan on making 1 batch with it and 1 without it, that’s a good plan! Thank you so much for your continued support and I wish you the happiest Thanksgiving!! 🙂
Are the herb measurements listed for dried or fresh herbs?
Hi Ann! They’re dried measurements, sorry about that, I just clarified in the recipe! 🙂
Can I use cornbread in place of the bread
As long as they’re toasted in the same manner that they resemble the consistency of a crouton, you’re good to go!
Hi Stephanie, gathering the ingredients to make this, sounds so yummy! Quick question … garlic is mentioned in instructions, but I’m not seeing it in the ingredients list. Wondering how much you use. Thanks for the wonderful recipes!!!
Hi Nicole! I am so sorry about that, it should be 3 cloves of garlic! 🙂 I updated the recipe, thank you so much!!
This sounds delicious but one family member is allergic to eggs. CN they be omitted and the dressing still hold together?
Hi Karen! Yes, you can omit the eggs, that’s no problem!
Hi Stephanie-
Making your stuffing for a huge group on Thanksgiving so going to double your recipe. Can’t wait to try it!
Is it ok to assemble the morning of Thanksgiving or the day before? Then just add the broth and egg mixture before cooking?
Thanks as always!!
That is exactly right Lin, the make-ahead method is outlined in the notes section and that’s exactly what I recommend! I’m excited for you to try this!!