This Thanksgiving (or any holiday!!) make sure you have this Sausage and Herb Stuffing on your table! Everyone will rave about the super flavorful, soft and buttery stuffing with the crispy golden top. It is the perfect savory blend of fresh herbs, buttery bread cubes, salty sausage and sweet cranberries. It will be your favorite dish of the whole holiday meal!
If you don’t want a sausage stuffing you can check out this recipe for Traditional Stuffing.
Why It’s The Best
- This Sausage Stuffing recipe uses quality bread that is cut into hearty cubes and dried.
- Fresh herbs make all the difference!
- ALL the butter in this recipe makes it so completely flavorful, decadent and delicious.
- The bread soaks up the yummy sausage flavor.
- Tart dried cranberries balance the savory-salty flavors without adding an overpowering sweet flavor.
- Baking the Sausage Stuffing covered with foil at the beginning makes for a soft and buttery inside, and then the last 20 minutes without foil makes a nice crispy top!
Ingredients
To get the best Sausage Stuffing make sure you are using quality ingredients, like Pepperidge Farm Hearty White bread and fresh herbs:
Celery – use both the stalks and leaves. The inside stalks with leaves have great flavor!
Herbs – make sure you use fresh sage, parsley and rosemary. Dried will not give you the same flavor.
Bread
If your grocery store has large dried bread cubes in the bakery you can definitely purchase those. However, a lot of the commercial packaged stuffing mixes are TINY little cubes. For this soft and buttery stuffing you want larger bread cubes.
Purchase a quality hearty bread, like Pepperidge Farms Hearty White or Sara Lee Artesano Bakery Bread, cut it in 1 inch cubes and then dry it out overnight or in the oven.
Making Stale Bread
You have 2 options to make your bread nice and stale for this sausage stuffing recipe:
- Overnight– Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and let it sit on a sheet pan, on the counter overnight.
- Quick Method– Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and spread on a large sheet pan. Dry in a 250 degree oven for 30 minutes, tossing every 5-10 minutes so it doesn’t brown. (You will have time for this while the onions and celery soften!)
Sausage
Use the sausage that you like. You can use Italian, sweet, hot or mild, turkey or pork. Bulk breakfast sausage will work too. We have found that Jimmy Dean Sage pork sausage is our favorite.
Step by Step Picture Instructions
Follow these steps to make the best Sausage Herb Stuffing for your holiday feast:
- Sauté the onions and celery in the stick of butter over medium heat.
- Add the sausage and crumble while it cooks through. Drain excess grease
- Remove from the heat and add the garlic, herbs, seasonings, cranberries.
- Stir together the sausage mixture and bread crumbs.
- Whisk together the eggs and chicken broth.
- Pour over bread & sausage mixture stir to coat.
- Butter a 9×9 inch baking dish and pour in the sausage stuffing. Dot the top with butter.
- Bake covered with foil for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake additional 20 mins.
Make Ahead
You can absolutely make your stuffing ahead. Prep it completely and place covered in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
Then bake as directed.
Doubling
If you are hosting a large crowd, you can absolutely double this recipe. Just make it in a larger 9×13 dish. The baking time will be the same.
Tips to Make The BEST Sausage Stuffing
- Use quality bread that is cut into 1 inch cubes.
- Properly dry/stale the bread cubes so they soak up the butter, sausage, and broth without getting soggy.
- Definitely use fresh herbs (parsley, sage and rosemary). It adds such a great flavor to your stuffing.
- Don’t skimp on the butter!
- Use the sausage that you like. A sage flavored sausage makes a great choice for stuffing.
More Holiday Recipes
To make your holiday meal complete, check out these other Thanksgiving and Christmas Recipes from Mom’s Dinner:
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Thanksgiving Sausage & Herb Stuffing Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup Salted Butter (1 stick) Melted
- 3 tablespoon Butter divided
- 1 Large Onion chopped
- 1 cup Celery chopped, leaves and stalks
- 4 large garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 pound bulk pork Sausage I like Jimmy Dean Sage pork sausage
- 1 ½ tsp. Kosher Salt
- ½ tsp. Black Pepper
- 1 tsp. Poultry Seasoning
- 2 Tbsp. Fresh Sage chopped
- 1 Tbsp. Fresh Rosemary chopped
- ¼ cup Fresh Italian Parsley chopped, (regular curly parsley is fine too)
- 1 cup Dried Cranberries (Craisins)
- 12 Cups Stale White Bread cut into 1 inch cubes – see notes for drying/stale tips.
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth or stock
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use 1 tablespoon softened butter to butter the bottom and sides of a 9×9 glass baking dish.
- In a large skillet melt the ½ cup butter (1 stick) over medium, med-low heat. Add the chopped onion and celery and sauté until soft (this will take about 10 minutes).1 Large Onion, 1 cup Celery, ½ cup Salted Butter
- Add the sausage and cook until the sausage is no longer pink – breaking it up into small pieces. Drain excess grease.1 pound bulk pork Sausage
- Remove from the heat and stir in the garlic, kosher salt, black pepper, poultry seasoning, sage, rosemary, Italian parsley and dried cranberries.4 large garlic cloves, 1 ½ tsp. Kosher Salt, ½ tsp. Black Pepper, 1 tsp. Poultry Seasoning, 2 Tbsp. Fresh Sage, 1 Tbsp. Fresh Rosemary, ¼ cup Fresh Italian Parsley, 1 cup Dried Cranberries
- Put the dried bread cubes in a large bowl, pour the sausage/onion/herb mixture in and toss to coat t he bread cubes evenly.12 Cups Stale White Bread
- In a liquid measuring cup, whisk the chicken broth and the eggs together. Pour the chicken broth mixture over the bread cubes tossing to evenly coat and make a stuffing that is moist and just barely holds together.2 large eggs, 1 ½ cups chicken broth or stock
- Transfer the stuffing to the prepared 9×9 pan.
- Cut the remaining 2 tablespoon butter into 8 cubes. Dot the top of the stuffing with the cubed butter. Make Ahead Tip: at this point you can cover and refrigerate for 24 hours if you are making ahead.
- Cover the stuffing with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes.Pro Tip: if you want an even more golden crisp to the top and edges turn the broiler on for the last minute or two.
Notes:
- Overnight– Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and let it sit on a sheet pan, on the counter overnight.
- Quick Method– Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and spread on a large sheet pan. Dry in a 250 degree oven for 30 minutes, tossing every 5-10 minutes so it doesn’t brown. (You will have time for this while the onions and celery soften!)
- Use quality bread that is cut into 1 inch cubes.
- Properly dry/stale the bread cubes so they soak up the butter, sausage, and broth without getting soggy.
- Definitely use fresh herbs (parsley, sage and rosemary). It adds such a great flavor to your stuffing.
- Don’t skimp on the butter!
- Use the sausage that you like. A sage flavored sausage makes a great choice for stuffing.
If nutrition facts are provided they are calculated as an estimate to the best of our knowledge.
Lauren
We make this all the time (not just for the holidays)! Such a great stuffing recipe to have on hand.
Chrissy
AMAZING!!!!!
Susie Weinrich
Thank you so much!! I’m glad you love it. (I just made a double batch, can’t wait to eat it!!)