Easy Sausage Stuffing Make Ahead Recipes

EASY SAUSAGE & HERB STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with butter.
• Place the stuffing cubes in a large mixing bowl.
• In a large sauté pan, melt the butter. Add the onions and celery and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 8 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Add the vegetables to the stuffing cubes. (Don't wash the pan but scrape out every last bit of vegetables, otherwise they will burn in the next step.)
• In the same pan, cook the sausage over medium heat for 8-10 minutes, until browned and cooked through, breaking up the sausage with a metal spatula while cooking (the largest pieces should be no greater than ¼-inch). Add the browned sausage and fat to the bread cubes and vegetables.
• Add the chicken broth, egg, rosemary, sage, parsley, salt and pepper to the bread cube mixture and mix until the bread is soft and moistened. Transfer the stuffing to the prepared baking dish and bake for 65-75 minutes, uncovered, until deeply golden and crisp on top.
• Note: If you can't find bulk sausage, simply buy regular sausage and remove the casings.
• Make-Ahead/Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The stuffing can be assembled up to a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to bake; follow the baking instructions in the recipe. It can also can be frozen after baking, tightly covered, for up to 3 months. When you're ready to serve it, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Reheat it, covered with foil, in a 325°F oven until hot.

EASIEST SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Combine sausage, celery, and onion in a skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until sausage is browned and crumbled, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer cooked mixture to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up excess oil.
• Pour water into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in butter until melted. Add stuffing mix, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes. Add cooked sausage mixture and stir to combine.

DO-AHEAD STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add celery and onion; cook and stir until tender, about 10 minutes. Blend in the bread crumbs, salt, poultry seasoning, pepper, thyme and sage. Stir in enough chicken broth to moisten. Spoon into large resealable bags and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
• To bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the stuffing into greased casserole dishes.
• Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. If stuffing a bird, cook according to the recipe for your bird and place any extra stuffing into a casserole dish to bake.

EASY SAUSAGE STUFFING (MAKE AHEAD)

Steps:

• Prepare a small dice of celery and onion, and saute with butter until soft.
• Remove from pan and reserve. Add crumbled sausage to pan and cook through.
• Drain sausage on paper towels and combine with celery mixture. This can now be refrigerated until you are ready to stuff the turkey.
• When you are ready to stuff the turkey combine celery mixture, sausage, stuffing mix and sage in a large bowl.
• Add chicken broth a little at a time just until stuffing is moist, not mushy or runny.
• Rinse turkey and empty the cavity. Place turkey in roasting pan.
• Fill the body cavity with stuffing mixture. Also fill the cavity at the neck under the skin with stuffing. Pat any additional stuffing between the turkey legs. Prepare turkey as desired.
• To cook in a casserole dish instead of stuffing the turkey, place stuffing mixture in a greased casserole dish and bake according to package directions. If stuffing is drying out dot with butter and add small amounts of broth to moisten.

SAUSAGE AND HERB STUFFING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Place the bread cubes in a single layer on a sheet pan and bake for 7 minutes. Raise the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Remove the bread cubes to a very large bowl.
• Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, melt the butter and add the onions, celery, apples, parsley, salt and pepper. Saute over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are softened. Add to the bread cubes.
• In the same saute pan, cook the sausage over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until browned and cooked through, breaking up the sausage with a fork while cooking. Add to the bread cubes and vegetables.
• Add the chicken stock and cranberries to the mixture, mix well, and pour into a 9 by 12-inch baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes, until browned on top and hot in the middle. Serve warm.

MAKE-AHEAD SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite-sized pieces, until it is browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.
• Melt 5 tablespoons of the remaining butter in the skillet. Add the onions, celery, sage, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions and celery are soft and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the mixture to the bowl with the sausage; add the bread cubes, and toss to coat.
• Let the bread-sausage mixture cool to room temperature. Transfer it to a resealable plastic bag, label and date, and freeze for up to 2 weeks.
• To serve, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Heat the stock and 4 tablespoons of the remaining butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter melts. Whisk the eggs and parsley together in a large bowl. Break the frozen stuffing with your hands into smaller chunks, add to the bowl and toss. Add the stock-butter mixture, and toss to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking dish, and dot with the 2 remaining tablespoons butter. Cover tightly with foil, and bake until the stuffing is hot, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Uncover and continue to bake until golden brown on top, about 20 minutes more. Serve warm.

EASY SAUSAGE STUFFING

Steps:

• In a large skillet over medium heat, crumble sausage and cook, stirring occasionally until sausage is brown.
• Place stuffing mix in a large bowl. Add sausage, including drippings (leave out drippings for lower fat but it's good with the drippings in!).
• Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Mix well.
• Pour broth and butter over the top and toss to combine.
• Spoon mixture into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish; cover. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.
• OR Stuff neck and body cavities lightly with stuffing and cook turkey as directed. Spoon any remaining stuffing into separate greased baking dish. Cover and refrigerate stuffing until ready to bake. Add the baking dish with remaining stuffing to oven for the last 30 minutes of cooking the turkey.