This Sausage Stuffing Recipe is a family favorite recipe that we look forward to every Thanksgiving! A savory, comforting sausage and apple stuffing that’s sure to compliment your holiday main course. We think you’re going to find that you love this stuffing so much, you won’t want to wait until Thanksgiving to make it!
Why You’ll Love This Sausage Stuffing Recipe
Of course we’re making this sausage stuffing to go with our Roast Turkey for Thanksgiving, but it’s so good we crave it all year long!
- Make Ahead Side Dish: You can make this stuffing ahead of time and bake it when you’re ready. Make ahead recipes make holiday planning so much easier.
- Moist & Flavorful: Toasted bread cubes are tossed in a flavorful chicken broth mixture that’s simmered with fresh herbs, seasonings, onion and sausage.
- Customizable: Adapt the flavors in this recipe to your liking. Try different herbs or spicy sausage or switch up the bread to sourdough or honey wheat.
- Secret Ingredient: Our secret ingredient in this stuffing recipe is a diced green apple. Slightly tart but also sweet, it imparts a delicious flavor into this recipe.
What Kind Of Sausage Is Best To Use For Stuffing?
In the many years that we’ve been making this sausage stuffing, our go is Italian sausage – mild or spicy. You can also use a combination of both, but it’s the flavors and spices in Italian Sausage that really work best for this stuffing recipe.
How To Make
We’ll go over the basic steps here, but for a complete list of instructions scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- STEP 1 – Add butter to a large, deep skillet to melt. Brown and crumble the sausage, when mostly cooked through, add the onions and diced apples. Add seasonings, (listed in the recipe card) pour in chicken stock and bring to a simmer.
- STEP 2 – While the sausage and chicken broth is simmering, toast the bread. Tear or cut the toasted bread into cubes and add them to a very large bowl. Pour the broth mixture from the skillet into the bowl along with beaten eggs and parsley. Toss gently to combine.
- STEP 3 – Pour the stuffing into a heavily buttered casserole dish, top with cubes of butter and bake for 30 minutes covered with aluminum foil. Remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes uncovered to finish the stuffing.
Can You Make Sausage Stuffing Ahead Of Time?
Yes, you can make this stuffing a day or two ahead of time ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready. I actually think it tastes better if you make it the day before. The flavors will have time to blend together in the refrigerator and the flavor after baking it is unbelievable.
Any leftover stuffing (if there is any) usually becomes a main course for me. Pour on a quick brown gravy or homemade turkey gravy if you have it. Add a slice or two of leftover turkey and you’ve got dinner.
Can You Freeze Stuffing Before Baking?
Yes! This is my favorite make ahead tip, especially if you’re making this recipe for a holiday like Thanksgiving when you have tons of meal prep going on. Here’s how to do it:
- Make the stuffing and then let it cool to room temperature. Wrap it with plastic wrap and then foil, and freeze.
- Remove the stuffing from the freezer a day before you need it and let it defrost in the fridge. See the recipe card below for instructions on cooking time and temperature.
How To Store and Reheat Sausage Stuffing
Let the leftover stuffing cool completely. Wrap the dish with aluminum foil, or transfer leftover stuffing to a covered container. Leftover stuffing will keep in the refrigerator for up to four days.
Reheat the stuffing easily in the microwave until warmed through. Or place in an oven proof dish, covered with foil at 350 degrees. The stuffing is ready when it’s warmed though, the time for reheating will depend on how much stuffing you’re heating up and what type of dish that you’re using.
Tips For Best Results
- Don’t stack the slices of bread after toasting. This will cause the toasted bread to get soft instead of staying crisp. Instead, tear the bread into cubes right after toasting and place into a large bowl.
- Use a good quality chicken stock or broth. Many canned or boxed brands are very watery, meaning not a lot of flavor. Find the best quality stock that you can or make your own!
- Taste the stuffing for seasonings before adding the eggs. A cube of bread soaked in the broth will give you an idea of how the end product is going to taste.
- Let the stuffing crisp up on top before taking it out of the oven. This way you’ll have soft bread cubes on the inside and slightly toasted cubes on top!
Looking For More Stuffing Recipes?
- Hot Dog Bun Stuffing
- Pecan, Fig & Pear Vegetarian Stuffing
- Waldorf Chicken Sausage Stuffing
- Upside Down Pineapple Stuffing
- Italian Stuffing Muffins
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Best Sausage Stuffing Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeOur favorite Sausage Stuffing Recipe for Thanksgiving and everyday meals! We love this flavorful stuffing recipe so much, we don’t just save it for the holidays. It’s a delicious, make ahead side dish that we crave all year long.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage, sweet or spicy, casings removed
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 large green apple, peeled and chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 3 – 3 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 20–22 slices white sandwich bread (*see note)
- Extra butter for buttering the dish and for the top of the stuffing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Melt the butter in a large, deep skillet, then add the sausage, breaking up with a spoon or spatula until browned. NOTE: you’ll need at least a 13″, deep skillet to hold the sausage and broth mixture.
- When the sausage is almost all browned, add the diced apple, onion, poultry seasoning and thyme and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in 3 cups of chicken broth, salt and pepper and let simmer for 10 minutes.
- While the broth is simmering, toast the bread, tear into cubes and add to a large bowl. After the chicken broth has cooled slightly, pour it over the bread and toss gently until all the cubes are moistened. If the bread seems on the dry side, you can add the additional 1/2 cup of chicken broth.
- Beat the eggs together with the parsley and add to the bowl. Toss gently to combine.
- Pour the stuffing into a buttered, 9″ x 13″ baking dish and then top the stuffing with small pieces of butter all around, (about 2-3 tablespoons).
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
- Take the foil off and bake another 15 minutes until the stuffing is crispy and brown on top.
Recipe Notes
If you prefer to not have a crispy stuffing then leave the foil on for the entire cooking time. You can make this stuffing recipe ahead of time, cover and keep in the refrigerator until ready to bake. Bring the dish out about 30 minutes before cooking to let it come to room temperature first.
To Make Ahead and Freeze: Make the stuffing, let it cool and then wrap it and freeze it until you’re ready to bake! Put the frozen stuffing, covered with foil, into a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes and then uncover for 15. Perfect, make ahead stuffing!
For the bread: You’ll need to buy 2 regular loaves of white sandwich bread (you’ll use about 1 1/2 loaves) or you can buy and extra large 24 ounce loaf. Toast the bread and then cut or tear into cubes, you’ll need about 14 cups of cubed bread.
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stove Top / Oven
- Cuisine: American
This really is the best sausage stuffing, I do love the applesI will be making it for all of our holidays!
Yep it just goes to show you that you should always try new things! Thanks Tricia!
Do you put celery in it?
There’s no celery in this recipe, but you certainly can add it if you want!
This recipe tastes just like the one my mom used to make. We double the apples too! Thanks for this recipe!
Thanks Peter! We double the apples sometimes, too!
I love this recipe! I usually use sage sausage and toss in a cup of dried cranberries plumped in the hot chicken broth. That occasional tart bite is perfectly paired with the apples, bread and sausage!
I agree, the apple in the stuffing is key! Thanks for the comment!
I want to make this but I don’t have any white bread on hand I have some really delicious homemade Brad that I think may be a wheat but I’m not sure possibly with oats would that be OK since it’s all I have?
I always say to try and just use what you have, I think your homemade bread will be fine!
My husband is not a stuffing eater, but he loved this. He has gone back for seconds and thirds. My mother-in-law will be super jealous because he never eats hers. This was truly the best stuffing I have ever eaten. Thank you.
We love it too:) Love the family stories…we have so many like that! Have a great holiday Patti!
Whoohoo! I FINALLY found a sausage stuffing that Is amazing. I swear I’d eat it out of the garbage it’s that good.!!! My hubby even commented how awesome it was. Thank you a thousand times for posting this. The white bread does make all the difference too. It will now be a staple at my Thanksgiving table. -or anytime, who needs a holiday for this!? I prepared it at 8am and baked it at 4pm. Only 8 hrs of “marinating” but even that short time definately made a difference with taste. We had our Thanksgiving today I’m looking so forward to our leftovers for breakfast! Lol
I have to say, breakfast stuffing is my favorite thing! Especially if you have some leftover gravy laying around! I’m so glad you found our stuffing and like it as much as we do, thanks Debra!
Can you make this 2 days ahead ?
Definitely!
This Recipe sounds delicious! Does it work well for stuffing a turkey?
Yes it does, I know this because my mother in law does it that way but I haven’t done it myself!
Do you know how many people this recipe feeds?
It will serve about 8, the information is at the top of the recipe card. If you are having a lot of other sides you have you could stretch it to 10.
Any Way to do this in a slow cooker?
Not that I have instructions for, sorry!
This sounds REALLY Good! Is there a specific type of apple you use for this?
You’re going to LOVE it! We use a granny smith for it’s tartness typically, but any apple will work! Also stay tuned because this week is STUFFING WEEK! A whole week of stuffing recipes for Thanksgiving – it’s going to be crazy!
Can you use turkey Italian sausage?
You sure can!
Made this today for our Christmas dinner. It was delicious and everyone loved it. It is now my go to sausage stuffing. Thanks for sharing.
It took us a long time to get this one right, so thank you! I’m so glad you liked it!
can stuff a turkey with this stuffing?
You certainly can!
Thanks Dan!
I see why you want this all year long, absolutely perfect stuffing!
Thanks Matt! Finally got the recipe down – it took a few attempts to make it taste the same as when my wife makes it! Mine with more sausage though of course…