Sausage Apple Stuffing
I love stuffing and dressing recipes. Add a little gravy and it’s the best side dish ever! Sausage Apple Stuffing starts with a combination of my Mom’s Homemade Dressing along with a stuffing recipe from a vintage Fanny Farmer Cookbook my sister gave me after I graduated high school. It’s an incredibly delicious recipe using sausage, apples, celery, onions, fresh parsley and seasonings. While my favorite way to serve stuffing is with turkey, it’s also great with chicken.
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I made this recipe a little healthier by using the least processed sausage I could find. It cooked up with very little fat. Along with fresh ingredients like Honey Crisp Apples, I used sprouted wheat Ezekiel bread. It turned out very tasty and delicious for our Thanksgiving dinner last November. Of course, we serve our stuffing with turkey gravy, but you can do as you please!
I also made homemade turkey broth (as I was cooking off the turkey neck and giblets ahead of time in order to make the stuffing). If you don’t have the time or inclination to make your own broth (it takes about an hour), then substitute canned chicken broth instead.
I almost made this a gluten free version by purchasing gluten free bread, but opted to go with this multi-grain sprouted bread instead. For those of you who have a bumper crop of apples, this is a great side dish not only for turkey, but you can put it under boneless chicken breasts, top with gravy, and bake it about an hour for a tasty chicken and stuffing casserole.
If you’re wanting a savory stuffing recipe for the holidays, then bookmark this Sausage Apple Stuffing recipe for a try at your next opportunity. It’s tasty and delicious. You can use any kind of bread you want – like a French bread, pumpernickel, sourdough or whatever. You can increase the seasonings if you prefer. If I’d had fresh sage I would have certainly tried that, too. And, if you prefer more fruit like prunes, cranberries or figs, they can be included for a super-duper recipe!
I initially posted this recipe in December 2013. I’ve been wanting to remake this stuffing for over five years because the pictures were blurry and of pour quality. This past Christmas (December 2023), all my kids were gone so John and I celebrated Christmas dinner together. I remade the Sausage Apple Stuffing recipe (with very few changes) and served it with Turkey, Gravy, our favorite Greek Salad and Homemade Rolls, along with a Cranberry Relish.
Because of the darkness of the bread, the apples don’t show as much as I’d like, but it’s still a terrific stuffing recipe and worthy of trying out anytime you’re serving turkey!
Sausage Apple Stuffing is a savory recipe that’s tasty and delicious.
This is the perfect side dish for holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. We enjoy it served with gravy over top!
We served Sausage Apple Stuffing with Turkey, gravy, Homemade Rolls, Cranberry Relish and Greek Salad.
Here’s what I did.
I used these ingredients. I did not use ground sage. I used Rubbed Sage.
Two to three days before you plan to make the recipe, set the bread out on wire cooling racks. After one day, turn the bread over to the other side. Allow bread to harden and stale.
Place the turkey neck and giblets in a large stock pot. Fill with water. Add salt and pepper extremely generously. Sprinkle with dried parsley.
Boil about one to two hours with lid covered to render turkey broth. As the water evaporates, continue to add additional hot water to replace it so you have enough broth for the recipe.
Meanwhile in a large skillet, saute sausage until no longer pink.
Use a hamburger chopper to break the meat up into tiny pieces while frying.
Cook until no pink remains. I used a higher quality sausage with very little fat.
While meat is frying, chop vegetables, fruit and parsley.
Add celery, onion, apples, and fresh parsley to skillet.
Stir ingredients to combine. Add salt, pepper and rubbed sage.
Stir again to combine.
Saute until veggies and apples are tender. Remove from heat.
Meanwhile, lay out pieces of stale bread on large cutting board and cut bread down into small cubes.
Here, all the bread has been cubed.
In a large mixing bowl, place bread cubes.
Add sausage-apple mixture to bowl with cubed bread.
After the turkey neck and giblets and broth have cooked an hour or two you can use it to add to the stuffing mixture. Remove broth from sauce pot (being careful not to include giblets or innards to the broth).
Add broth to stuffing mixture and stir well to combine.
To stuff the bird, remove legs from plastic strap. (Make sure turkey is cleaned well before cooking.)
Place stuffing in front cavity and replace legs in plastic strap. You can also stuff the back cavity if desired. I usually do this on a large 25 pound turkey, but did not do it for this smaller bird.
Place remaining stuffing mixture in a large glass baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Set aside and begin cooking about an hour before turkey is finished. If this is several hours away, then refrigerate dish until ready to cook.
Chop up more fresh parsley to sprinkle on top of the casserole once it comes out of the oven.
Bake about 45 minutes to an hour at 350 degrees or until stuffing is heated through. Sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving.
Remove stuffing from turkey.
Remove stuffing from bird and spoon into a serving bowl. The stuffing from inside the bird will be moister than the stuffing baked in the baking dish.
We’ve always enjoyed Sausage Apple Stuffing whenever we’ve made it for the holidays.
Honey Crisp Apples and sausage make a great accompaniment to the stuffing. The sausage adds a delicious savoriness.
We poured Turkey Gravy over top of the stuffing before serving.
Here’s the recipe.
SAUSAGE APPLE STUFFING
(Recipe inspired from my Mom, Helen Mattis, Titusville, FL, and Fanny Farmer Cookbook, 1965 edition)
Sausage Apple Stuffing
Equipment
- 1 large stock pot
- 1 sharp bread knife or electric knife
- 1 large skillet
- 1 sharp knife to cut vegetables
- 1 cutting board
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- 1 hamburger chopper
- 1 3-quart casserole dish
- 3 wire cooling racks
Ingredients
- 1 lb. mild bulk pork sausage
- 1 large sweet onion diced
- 4 small apples diced or two large apples (I used Honey Crisp apples and left them unpeeled)
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley minced
- 1 tbsp. rubbed sage NOT ground sage
- 1 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 loaf Ezekiel sprouted grains multi-grain bread
- 4-5 cups turkey broth or substitute chicken broth
Instructions
- Two to three days before serving, place bread out on wire cooling racks.
- After 24 hours, turn bread over so both sides can stale.
- Leave out on kitchen counter until ready to use in recipe.
- Remove turkey neck and giblets from turkey and place in a large stock pot.
- Fill with water and sprinkle heavily with salt and pepper; sprinkle with dried parsley.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for about one to two hours.
- As water evaporates, continue adding more as needed every 20-30 minutes.
- (The turkey broth can be rendered the day before you need it in the recipe if you need to make it in advance.)
- In a large skillet or Dutch oven fry sausage until no pink is remaining.
- Use a hamburger chopper to break the meat down into very small pieces.
- (The sausage can be cooked a day in advance if necessary to cut down time needed to prepare recipe).
- Add diced onions, celery, onions, parsley, sage, salt, and pepper.
- Cook until veggies are tender. Set aside.
- Set bread out on cutting board.
- Cut bread slices in cubes and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Add sausage and apple mixture.
- Scoop broth out of the stock pot and pour over the bread and sausage mixture.
- Add enough to moisten all the bread, but not make the mixture soupy!
- Stir well to combine.
- Stuff the stuffing into the turkey cavities.
- Place remaining stuffing into a greased 3-qt. casserole dish.
- Bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until done.
Notes
Recipe source: adapted from Fanny Farmer Cookbook.
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Nutrition
- 1 lb. Jimmy Dean’s mild bulk pork sausage
- 1 whopper-size white onion
- 4 small Gala apples, diced, or 2 large apples
- ¼ cup fresh torn parsley
- 1 tbsp. rubbed sage
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- 1 loaf Ezekiel sprouted grains multi-grain bread
- 4 cups turkey broth
- Remove turkey neck and giblets from turkey and place in a large stock pot.
- Fill with water and sprinkle heavily with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for about one hour.
- Meanwhile, place bread on cookie sheets and place in 200° oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Turn off heat. After about 15 minutes turn bread pieces over, reheat oven to 200° again for 10-15 minutes.
- Turn off heat again and allow bread to dry out in the oven while you’re preparing the remaining stuffing ingredients.
- In a large skillet or Dutch oven fry sausage until no pink is remaining.
- Add diced onions, celery, onions, parsley, sage, salt, and pepper.
- Cook until veggies are tender. Set aside.
- Remove bread from oven and set out on cutting board.
- Cut slices in cubes and place in a very large mixing bowl.
- Add sausage and apple mixture.
- Scoop broth out of the stock pot and pour over the bread and sausage mixtures.
- Stir well to combine.
- Stuff the stuffing into the turkey.
- Place remaining stuffing into a greased 3-qt. casserole dish.
- Bake about 45 minutes to 1 hour until done.
Sausage Apple Stuffing is very savory with the additions of parsley, sage and spicy pork sausage.
Try a mouthful!
Sausage Apple Stuffing was terrific with turkey, gravy, homemade rolls, Cranberry Relish and Greek Salad!
You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!
Sausage Apple Stuffing
Equipment
- 1 large stock pot
- 1 sharp bread knife or electric knife
- 1 large skillet
- 1 sharp knife to cut vegetables
- 1 cutting board
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- 1 hamburger chopper
- 1 3-quart casserole dish
- 3 wire cooling racks
Ingredients
- 1 lb. mild bulk pork sausage
- 1 large sweet onion diced
- 4 small apples diced or two large apples (I used Honey Crisp apples and left them unpeeled)
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley minced
- 1 tbsp. rubbed sage NOT ground sage
- 1 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 loaf Ezekiel sprouted grains multi-grain bread
- 4-5 cups turkey broth or substitute chicken broth
Instructions
- Two to three days before serving, place bread out on wire cooling racks.
- After 24 hours, turn bread over so both sides can stale.
- Leave out on kitchen counter until ready to use in recipe.
- Remove turkey neck and giblets from turkey and place in a large stock pot.
- Fill with water and sprinkle heavily with salt and pepper; sprinkle with dried parsley.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for about one to two hours.
- As water evaporates, continue adding more as needed every 20-30 minutes.
- (The turkey broth can be rendered the day before you need it in the recipe if you need to make it in advance.)
- In a large skillet or Dutch oven fry sausage until no pink is remaining.
- Use a hamburger chopper to break the meat down into very small pieces.
- (The sausage can be cooked a day in advance if necessary to cut down time needed to prepare recipe).
- Add diced onions, celery, onions, parsley, sage, salt, and pepper.
- Cook until veggies are tender. Set aside.
- Set bread out on cutting board.
- Cut bread slices in cubes and place in a large mixing bowl.
- Add sausage and apple mixture.
- Scoop broth out of the stock pot and pour over the bread and sausage mixture.
- Add enough to moisten all the bread, but not make the mixture soupy!
- Stir well to combine.
- Stuff the stuffing into the turkey cavities.
- Place remaining stuffing into a greased 3-qt. casserole dish.
- Bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until done.
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