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Grandma’s sausage herb stuffing is a classic side dish! Baked bread, tender sausage, and crunchy vegetables are all mixed with flavorful herbs and baked until golden brown. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it!
Stuffing is a MUST at our Thanksgiving table! If you love stuffing as much as we do try this Vegetable or Slow Cooker Stuffing.
Grandma’s Sausage Herb Stuffing
You can’t go wrong with a good stuffing at the dinner table! It is a family tradition that is always a favorite and loved by all. We love to make Grandma’s sausage herb stuffing because it is a classic, hearty dish that goes well with any type of cooked turkey. (If you are looking for a turkey recipe, try this Juicy Butter Herb Turkey Recipe (Step by Step Instructions) or Slow Cooker Turkey Breast!)
This is a MUST for our family and is gone before you know it. I love cooking this stuffing over all of the other recipes, not just because it’s my grandma’s, but because it is delicious AND easy. And let’s be honest, Thanksgiving cooking already takes too long and there are so many moving parts… easy is needed every once in a while! Give it a try! It will pair well with everything on your Thanksgiving table.
Ingredients to Make Grandma’s Sausage Herb Stuffing
Mixing all the ingredients together gives you a tried and true stuffing that will be remembered! Be careful though… If you cook everything too well then you will have to host again next year! See the recipe card for a list of exact ingredient measurements.
- French Bread: Cube a loaf of bread. I like to use fresh french bread from my local grocery store.
- Sausage: I prefer to use Italian sausage for extra flavor! But you can use turkey or pork as well.
- Butter: You will divide this up to use at different times in the recipe.
- Celery: Slice these up as thin or thick as you prefer.
- Carrots: Chop the carrots to your liking.
- Onion: Diced these up as small or big as you like.
- Fresh Thyme: Remove the stems on your thyme.
- Parsley: This is used for its beautiful color and added flavoring!
- Fresh Rosemary: Fresh resemary should have the stems removed before you chop it up.
- Cranberries: Dried cranberries work the best! I mixed them in as a sweet and soft texture and flavor.
- Chicken broth: This keeps it moist and adds flavor!
Let’s Make Some Stuffing!
Grandma’s sausage herb stuffing is a recipe that you will come back to over and over every year. Your family and guests will love it!
- Bake bread: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 inch pan and set aside. Place the bread on a baking sheet and toast until lightly brown and crisp about 10-12 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- Cook sausage and vegetables: In a medium size skillet over medium high heat, cook and crumble the sausage. Remove and set aside. Add 3 Tablespoons of butter and add celery, carrot, and onion. Sauté until almost tender.
- Mix all together: In a large bowl add the sausage, bread cubes, vegetable mix, thyme, parsley, and dried cranberries. Add the chicken broth stirring the ingredients until the bread is moist.
- Bake stuffing: Spread evenly into your 9×13 inch pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until it is deeply golden.
Variations on Grandma’s Sausage Herb Stuffing
My Grandma’s sausage herb stuffing is a classic! It’s also a great base to add in different ingredients. You can make it sweet, spicy or maybe even add in some fruit or nuts. There are so many flavorful combinations that will help take your stuffing to the next level!
- Bread: Pick your favorite type of bread. It can have cheese or even nuts inside. Just ensure that it is large, has a hard crust and softer inside. Try focaccia, asiago cheese, sourdough or ciabatta bread.
- Sausage: Try a sweeter pork like apple sausage for a lighter taste. Or, use sausage with some spice in it for added heat.
- Vegetables: Sweet potatoes or butternut squash will add color and some sweetness.
- Dried or fresh fruit: If you want to make it a little sweeter then add some diced apples, pears, apricots or raisins.
- Nuts: Some nuts that you can add to it are walnuts, chopped pecans or hazelnuts.
- Broth: You can replace the chicken broth with chicken stock if needed.
- Add ins: Some favorite things that I like to add in often are mushrooms, bacon or cooked wild rice!
Tips on Making Stuffing
Grandma’s sausage herb stuffing is simple to make and comes together quickly and effortlessly. Here are some tips to help you make the best Thanksgiving dinner.
- No french bread? If you do not have French bread you can use day-old cornbread or sliced bread.
- Store bought stuffing cubes: Prepared unseasoned stuffing cubes are also available at local grocery stores that will work for this stuffing recipe.
- Use turkey sausage: Turkey sausage is a quicker way of cooking sausage and still adds in the Thanksgiving flavors.
- Use a slow cooker! Place your stuffing in a slow cooker with a liner. This will help with cleanup afterwards and helps cook it through. Cook the sausage through as well as the vegetables and add them all to a slow cooker. Cook it on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.
- Don’t overcook it: Just in case your stuffing was overcooked in the oven, add in more chicken broth at the very end to help with the soft texture.
- Dry stuffing: While baking, if you notice the top start to brown quickly, place a foil overtop of the stuffing dish to finish cooking without drying out.
Storing Grandma’s Sausage Herb Stuffing
This is a great side dish that easily can be made ahead of time or even kept in the refrigerator or frozen. Here are some great tips to keeping it fresh and delicious before, during, and after Thanksgiving!
- Making ahead: Prepare all your ingredients ahead of time and before baking let it all cool completely. Assemble your dish and be ready to bake it. Place an airtight lid or plastic wrap tightly around the dish. Refrigerate up to 3 days ahead of time. When ready to bake take out and bake for allotted time in the instructions.
- Refrigerating: Just like making ahead of time you can refrigerate all the ingredients in your baking dish. If you are needing to make the ingredients separate that works well too. Cook your sausage and let cool. Then add it to a ziplock baggie until ready to mix together. You can also do this with your vegetables until you are ready to bake together. Mix them together and add in other ingredients to make grandma’s sausage herb stuffing.
- Freezing: Once thanksgiving dinner is complete, set the sausage herb stuffing in an airtight container or ziplock freezer bag. Then, lay it flat and freeze for 1 month. When you are ready to eat it then you can either thaw it overnight in the refrigerator or place in a baking dish and bake until cooked through.
- Warming Up: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place your thawed, frozen or refrigerator stuffing in and bake until it is heated through. To lock in moisture you can add a foil cover or more chicken broth to keep the flavor and soft moisture.
More Thanksgiving Recipes to Try
If you are looking to switch up Thanksgiving with a few new recipes, then you’ve come to the right place! I have gathered up a few of my very favorite tried and true Thanksgiving recipes that your family and friends will go crazy over! Try one or try them all… either way, I’m sure that you will find something that you love!
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Grandma’s Sausage Herb Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread cubed
- 1 pound sausage
- 1/2 cup butter divided
- 1/2 cup celery sliced
- 1/2 cup carrot chopped
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme stems removed
- 2 Tablespoons parsley finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon fresh rosemary stems removed and chopped
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 2 1/2- 3 cups chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 inch pan and set it aside. Place the bread on a baking sheet and toast until lightly brown and crisp about 10-12 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- In a medium-size skillet over medium-high heat, cook and crumble the sausage. Remove and set aside. Add 3 Tablespoons of butter and add celery, carrot, and onion. Sauté until almost tender.
- In a large bowl add the sausage, bread cubes, vegetable mix, thyme, parsley, and dried cranberries. Add the chicken broth stirring the ingredients until the bread is moist.
- Spread evenly into your 9×13 inch pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until it is deeply golden.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I plan on making this recipe for Christmas, but I have a question about the butter. The ingredients list calls for 1/2 cup. The instructions say to use 3 Tbsp to saute the veggies. Is the balance of the butter to be put on top of the casserole in pats prior to baking as shown in the photo but not described in the instructions? Thanks!
Could this be made in a crockpot?
Hi Karen, thank you for your question. Yes, you can make this in a crockpot. Follow the recipe to step 4, then place everything in a crockpot, cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. Let me know how it turns out!
How many people feed this recipe?
Great recipe, loved it!. Next time I’ll use the 3 cups chicken broth though.
This is really a perfect holiday recipe. We don’t do stuffing as Grandmother & Mom prefer to stuff the bird with apples and oranges. So we do dressing like your pictures show. Grandmother always reminds us that when you think you have just the right amount of celery, add more. Beats me why, but it sure works. haha
Great recipe but lacks an instruction to add the sausage and rosemary at the end when you combine it all together. I love the recipe though ?
great stuffing recipe, thank you, with the sausage, it can stand on its own as its own dish, I really like all of these ingredients