This turkey stuffing with sausage is the BEST addition to your holiday tables. What makes this the best sausage stuffing recipe? We’ll start with rustic bread, add in aromatics, Italian sausage, a creamy, rich broth and plenty of fresh herbs. We’ll mix it together and bake the Italian sausage stuffing until it’s perfectly golden brown. Serve it alongside my dry brine spatchcock turkey for a holiday meal or my air fryer turkey breast for a smaller crowd or Sunday dinner. It might be your favorite part of the meal! 😉
This recipe for sausage stuffing for turkey is made with basic ingredients and can easily be prepped ahead, making it the perfect holiday side dish for your Thanksgiving table. Include it with my haricot verts, cheesy potato casserole, and kale pomegranate salad for a full spread.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Table of Contents
- How to Make Italian Sausage Stuffing Video
- What You’ll Love about Turkey Stuffing with Sausage
- Turkey Stuffing with Sausage Ingredients
- How to Make Italian Sausage Stuffing
- Storage Instructions
- What to Serve with the Best Sausage Stuffing Recipe
- More Easy Side Dish Recipes
- Helpful Tools to Make Homemade Sausage Stuffing
I’m thrilled to once-again partner with the National Turkey Federation to bring you the best bread and sausage stuffing for turkey recipe along with the other Thanksgiving and holiday inspired turkey recipes.
Turkey is a staple in our grocery cart (or grocery delivery!) because it’s incredibly versatile, it’s loaded with essential vitamins and minerals (selenium, and B vitamins to name a few), and let’s be real…it just tastes good! Whether you choose sliced turkey breast, turkey breast, whole turkeys, turkey sausage, or ground turkey there are so many ways to eat and enjoy turkey!
How to Make Italian Sausage Stuffing Video
What You’ll Love about Turkey Stuffing with Sausage
- Incredible savory flavor with sausage and fresh herbs
- Moist bread, not dry!
- EASY!
- Made with simple ingredients
- Can be prepped ahead
- The perfect addition to your holiday table
Turkey Stuffing with Sausage Ingredients
This Italian sausage stuffing recipe is made with simple ingredients you can find at any grocery store:
- Rustic bread – Use a high-quality, rustic bread like a sourdough bread or Italian bread. (Doesn’t need to be homemade.)
- Butter – Use an unsalted butter. You can also use olive oil if you prefer.
- Yellow onion – This imparts a sweeter flavor, but white onion could also be used.
- Celery – Look for darker green flavor for more celery flavor.
- Garlic – Use fresh or frozen garlic cloves, I think these two are far superior to jarred garlic.
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Italian turkey sausage – This will usually be found in links, but you can easily remove the casings by slicing the turkey sausage down the length of the link and peeling back casing. Use a sweet Italian sausage or spicy Italian sausage.
- Chicken broth – Use a high quality chicken stock or broth for best flavor. You can also use turkey stock or broth.
- Heavy cream
- Egg – Use large eggs.
- Fresh herbs – Sage, rosemary, and thyme.
How to Make Italian Sausage Stuffing
Make this sage sausage stuffing recipe (aka the best stuffing!) with a few easy steps:
- Toast bread. Bake bread on a baking sheet in a single layer until dried out and lightly crunchy. Cut into small pieces and add cubed bread to a large mixing bowl.
- Cook aromatics. Melt butter or olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat and cook chopped onion and celery until soft. Cook garlic until fragrant.
- Cook turkey sausage. Add turkey sausage to pan and cook, breaking up with a spoon, for about 6-8 minutes. Add cooked sausage to bowl with bread cubes.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a small bowl, whisk together chicken broth, heavy cream, and egg.
- Mix dry ingredients. Add fresh herbs to bread crumbs and sausage mixture and toss together.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients. Pour egg mixture over the toasted bread cubes and gently fold together.
- Bake sage sausage stuffing. Transfer stuffing mixture to a buttered baking dish and bake stuffing.
- Bake sage sausage stuffing. Transfer stuffing mixture to a buttered baking dish and bake stuffing in a preheated oven stuffing until golden brown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Sausage Stuffing Be Made Ahead?
If this Italian sausage turkey stuffing is on your Thanksgiving menu, you may want to prep a few of the components ahead to lighten your Thanksgiving-day work load:
- Toast bread 2-3 days ahead.
- Dice onion and celery 2-3 days ahead.
- Mince garlic 2-3 days ahead.
Can you use dried cubed stuffing?
You can use dried stuffing mix, but the fresh takes just a few minutes to prep and can easily be done ahead of time. Using fresh bread creates a rustic Italian sausage dressing.
Can you use dried herbs?
Yes, you can swap out the fresh herbs for dried herbs, though fresh does have better flavor.
Instead of the 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs, use 1 teaspoon each of sage, rosemary, and thyme.
Which sausage is best for stuffing?
Italian sausage is best for stuffing. I’ve used a turkey Italian sausage here, but you can use any mild or hot Italian sausage.
How many calories in sausage stuffing?
There are 270 calories per serving of sausage stuffing. The full estimated nutrition facts can be found below the recipe card, but will vary recipe to recipe and ingredient to ingredient.
Storage Instructions
Store this Italian sausage turkey stuffing in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
How to reheat
Reheat stuffing in a 350 degree F oven or the microwave. You can also crisp it up in a nonstick skillet if you prefer a little crunch.
Can you freeze sage sausage stuffing?
Yes, you can freeze the stuffing in an airtight container (stasher bags and glass storage containers are great) for 2-3 months.
What to Serve with the Best Sausage Stuffing Recipe
This classic sausage turkey stuffing is best served with a dry brine spatchcock turkey or air fryer turkey breast and all the traditional Thanksgiving sides like mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce.
More Easy Side Dish Recipes
If you like this easy turkey stuffing recipe with sausage, you might also like some of these other easy side dishes that are perfect for Thanksgiving and holiday meals:
Helpful Tools to Make Homemade Sausage Stuffing
- Stainless Steel Saute Pan – I love the high-sides on this pan so you don’t lose ingredients over the side.
- Silicone Spatula Set – This set doesn’t stain or take on smells like other spatulas.
- Ceramic Baking Dish – Use a pretty baking dish like this one so you can take this baked stuffing with sausage right from the oven to your holiday table.
Turkey Italian Sausage Stuffing Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 65 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Side
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
The BEST sausage stuffing recipe! This turkey stuffing with sausage is made with fresh herbs and will steal the show on your holiday table.
Ingredients
- 16 oz. loaf artisan/rustic bread (about 9 cups cubes)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 2 stalks celery
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1 lb. Italian turkey sausage
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp. minced sage
- 1 Tbsp. minced rosemary
- 1 Tbsp. minced thyme
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Toast bread for 15 minutes, flipping half-way through, until slightly crunchy. Turn down oven heat to 350 degrees F. Cut bread into cubes (about 1 inch) and place into a large mixing bowl.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it foams, add onion and celery to skillet. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until soft. Add garlic to skillet and cook 1 minute, until fragrant. Season with sea salt and black pepper.
- Add turkey sausage to skillet, breaking up with a spatula, and cooking for 6-8 minutes, until cooked through. Add to bowl with bread cubes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together the chicken broth, heavy cream, and egg.
- Add fresh herbs to bread cubes and stir to combine.
- Pour chicken broth mixture over the top. Gently fold mixture together and transfer to a prepared 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes, until golden brown.
Keywords: turkey stuffing with sausage, best sausage stuffing recipe, Italian sausage stuffing
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