To me the best Thanksgiving bread stuffing is both soft and crispy, has a base of onions and celery, is full of plenty of sausage and sage, and doesn’t skimp on the butter. This sausage bread stuffing delivers on all these in just the right balance, which makes it my favorite stuffing and one I make year after year.
Just look at that stuffing! It’s all brown and crispy on top and soft and tasty underneath with lots of sage and sausage flavor all the way through. Though I love to play with flavor combinations and try new twists on recipes, sometimes the classic version is the best.
Which doesn’t mean I never make a different stuffing, but I do always come back to this one.
While it’s hard to pick a favorite Thanksgiving food since there are so many yummy dishes we pull out for the Thanksgiving table, stuffing is right up there for me. I love it the day of and I love it in leftovers the next day as well. I even love it so much that around October I start to get a craving and there is nothing for it but I have to make a small ‘Thanksgiving’ dinner including my sausage bread stuffing just for us.
While I admit that I sometimes want to try new recipes at Thanksgiving, one thing which is very comforting about the holiday is that it’s full of traditional foods and recipes you can count on. And this stuffing is definitely a recipe you can count on!
This year when I made the stuffing I also made a really great brussels sprout salad to go with it. Yum! They worked together really well and would be a great dinner combo for Thanksgiving or any other special fall meal. You’ll see that on the site on Friday.
Rules for making the best stuffing
There are a few rules for making the best stuffing:
- Make your own croutons!
Yes, you can buy one of those packs of premade croutons full of salt, rather stale, and dusted with indifferent herbs. (I know, let me tell you how I really feel about bagged croutons! 🙂 ) However, making your own is easy – cube bread and dry in oven, gives you complete control over the flavors and freshness, and well, you want to make the best stuffing, yes? Yes, you do or you wouldn’t be here!
- Don’t skimp on the butter.
Skimp on the butter the rest of the time, but not today. There is a reason stuffing cooked in the bird is so yummy and it’s not because it’s low fat. It’s because of all those turkey drippings so you need butter to make a rich, golden brown stuffing everyone will love.
- Fresh sage is worth it.
If you want Thanksgiving in every bite, fresh sage is what you need. In fact, if you can get some fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, and fresh parsley, go for it! The bright flavors of the herbs are going to perk up that stuffing like you won’t believe. But at least get the fresh sage.
How to Make Sausage Bread Stuffing
To make sausage bread stuffing, start by making fresh croutons from a loaf of sturdy white bread. Then saute up your vegetables and sausage. Toss everything together with plenty of fresh herbs, butter, and stock and bake until cooked through and golden brown.
- Make fresh croutons from a dense white bread.
- Saute celery and onions along with Italian sausage.
- Toss croutons and sausage mixture with butter, eggs, and sage.
- Add stock and mix until the stuffing comes together.
- Bake in a casserole dish until hot and golden brown.
Start by getting some good and dense white bread with a soft crust. You may be able to find English toasting bread or stuffing bread in the store. Either works great! Then dice up the bread and toast it in a low oven until the the bread is dried out to your liking.
Then saute up the sausage until browned and cooked through. Reduce the heat and saute up the onion and celery until soft.
Add the butter and get it melted, then pour it all over the bread cubes in a big bowl. Toss it all and the bread well coated with butter. Now stir in the eggs and sage.
Begin pouring the chicken stock (or maybe some turkey stock you’ve made – that would be wonderful!) into the bowl. Add it a little at a time until you are happy with the consistency of the stuffing. I like it to come together and soft some of the bread cubes but not turn them all into mush.
Transfer the stuffing to a casserole dish, top with more butter, and bake until golden brown.
With this stuffing recipe along with the Sunny Yellow Squash and Potato Gratin and Chicken Parmesan Casserole I made recently, I think I’m well into a comfort food territory. I just want all the baked dishes right now!
If you want some more great Thanksgiving/Holiday Recipes, please visit my Thanksgiving category, or check out my Classic Thanksgiving Menu.
Looking for (some of) my greatest hits? There are plenty more amazing recipes in my Thanksgiving category, but these are some of the most popular.
- Easy Flaky Pie Crust (#2 recipe on the whole site by page visits!)
- Grilled Tuscan Turkey
- Easy Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Pecan Blue Cheese and Apple Salad
- Classic Potato Gratin
- Rosemary No-Knead Bread
– Happy Eating, Annemarie
- 1 lb dense white sandwich bread, cut into 3/4 inch cubes (about 12 cups)
- 1 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
- 2 medium yellow onions, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- kosher salt
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
- 8 tbsp (1 stick, 4 oz) unsalted butter, divided: 6T in the stuffing, 2T on top
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped
- 2 cups chicken stock, low sodium or unsalted
- Preheat oven to 200F. Grease a large casserole dish.
- Spread out the bread onto two baking sheets. Dry them in the oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on how dry you like your bread cubes. Put the bread in a large bowl and toss with the poultry seasoning.
- Increase the oven heat to 400F.
Saute the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until lightly browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium-low; add the onions and the celery to the skillet and sprinkle them with a bit of kosher salt. Saute until they are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes more.
Add 6 tablespoons of the butter to the skillet, reserving 2 tbsp for topping. Once the butter is melted, pour the mixture over the bread and give it a stir.
- Add the eggs and sage to the bread mixture and mix well.
- Begin adding the chicken stock, starting with 1 cup and mixing that in. Then add another 1/2 cup and mix that in. At this point add the stock by the tablespoon until you reach a consistency where the stuffing holds together while most the bread still maintains its cubed structure. Basically, you want some of the bread to dissolve and mix in with the sausage while the rest is a bit softened but still in cubes.
- Pour the stuffing into the prepared casserole dish, dot with reserved butter, and cover tightly. Bake for 40 minutes with the cover on. Remove the cover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Remove the bread stuffing from the oven and let it sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Kelsey says
Hi! I’m trying to make this but I’m a little lost on one of the instructions. The ingredients say, 1lb bread cubes, dense. But then it says in the directions to dry them out. So are we supposed to start with dense bread and then additionally dry out the cubes or is the recipe just referring to the dense cubes once dried out in the oven? Thanks!
justalittlebitofbacon says
It’s 1 lb of sandwich bread that you cube and then dry out. You can start with already dried cubes also. Just skip past the drying instructions.
Rebecca says
Question. With not enough oven room, do you think I could cook this in a slow cooker?
justalittlebitofbacon says
I have never cooked a stuffing in the slow cooker. However, I have seen recipes which look very similar to mine which are then cooked for 3-4 hours on low in a slow cooker. So, I’m going to say, yes you probably can. If you do try it, please let me know how it came out.
Rebecca says
I will let you know if slow cooker works. Thank you!
Rebecca says
I did make this in the slow cooker and it was marvelous! My favorite, and will be my go-to from now on. I wanted a little crust on it, so didn’t stir much while cooking. Actually could have stirred a little more as it had a little too much crust, but loved it! Thank you!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thank you for getting back to me! I’m so happy the slow cooker worked out well. I’m going to have to try that out myself.
Ashley says
Can you cook the stuffing in the turkey with this recipe?
justalittlebitofbacon says
Certainly! And you can do so with the recipe as is. However, I would suggest reducing the stock by 1/2 cup and the butter by a few tablespoons.
Casie says
Hi there! I have a couple of questions on th directions. Do I mix the eggs before adding to the bread mix and should I cut up the sage or add the leaves whole? Sorry, I’m one of those that need very specific instructions, haha
Thank you!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Mixing the eggs first is a good idea. I admit I don’t usually bother, but it is quicker to toss everything together if they are already beaten. And, yes, chop the sage! I’ll update the recipe to make that clear. I hope that helps. 🙂
Laura says
Have you made this ahead of time? I was going to make it tonight for a family dinner tomorrow
justalittlebitofbacon says
I have never made the stuffing all the way through ahead of time. However, I have made the recipe through step 5 the night before and then added the egg and stock the next day before putting it in the oven to bake.
Julie Rhodes says
I have made this recipe twice before and it is a big hit. I was going to double it this time and prep evything the night before. If I use two pans and bake from the fridge what will the cooking time be? Thanks for the great recipe!
justalittlebitofbacon says
Thanks for the comment! I’m so glad y’all love it as much as I do. As for cooking the stuffing right from the fridge, I would suggest letting the stuffing sit out for at least 30 minutes and adding about 15 minutes to cook time before you uncover the pans.
suzy says
I am trying to think if this would be good enough as a side dish for a larger party. There will be many other dishes so I don’t want to over do it. What do you think?
justalittlebitofbacon says
It depends on how much people love stuffing and if you want leftovers. For our family Thanksgiving, with 12-14 adults and tons of other side dishes, we always double the recipe. But we love stuffing AND leftovers and want plenty of both.
Amanda says
Pretty sure I could make a meal out of that stuffing alone…it looks amazing!!
justalittlebitofbacon says
It’s as good as it looks and would definitely make an excellent main course along with a nice salad. 🙂