Sourdough Stuffing with Sausage, Apples and Sage
This Sausage Apple Sourdough Stuffing is the best side dish for that delicious turkey this Thanksgiving. There’s no way your holiday meal would be complete without stuffing, and let me tell you- this recipe is the way to go! This is the best stuffing, it’s super easy to make and so delicious, everyone will love it.
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Stuffing has always been one of my absolute favorite Thanksgiving sides. I grew up having my grandma’s homemade stuffing every year and oh my word, it’s the best. This stuffing recipe is based off of her methods, but with a few of my own added twists. This time of year, I am a little heartbroken seeing all of the boxes and cans lining grocery store shelves. I’m sure that boxed stuffing is great if you’re in a pinch, but let me tell you – there’s a better way! Once you make stuffing from scratch, I promise you’ll never go back to the box.
it all starts with sourdough
For this recipe, I use homemade sourdough bread instead of store-bought bread. The subtle tang from the sourdough just can’t be beat. Now that we’ve been baking with sourdough for quite a few years, I’m finding that regular baked goods feel like they’re just missing something. I love the additional layer of flavor that you get from fermented grains. My go-to bread recipe is this Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread. I usually make 4 loaves of this every week. It’s so easy and versatile. If you have not yet begun your sourdough journey but would like to start, you can grab a dehydrated version of the sourdough starter I use every day in my kitchen from my Etsy shop HERE!
If you’re not a sourdough baker, you can use any white bread in this recipe. White bread is preferred for stuffing because it doesn’t bring a strong flavor of its own like a whole wheat or rye bread would. You want a bread that is neutral in flavor so it can take on all the delicious flavors of the stuffing.
In addition to the sourdough bread cubes, I also added savory turkey sausage, sweet apples, mushrooms and fresh herbs to make this stuffing recipe extra special. It might seem like a lot of extra effort, but Thanksgiving is an occasion that only comes around once a year! So it doesn’t hurt to put in a little more work to make every dish as delicious as possible. If you’re concerned about getting it all done, there are a few tips and tricks at the bottom of this post to help do some of the prep ahead of time.
what you’ll need –
- cubes of sourdough bread – day (or two) old bread works well for stuffing. This Sourdough Sandwich Bread and this Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread are the two types of sourdough bread we have on hand most often. Both work great for this stuffing recipe. If your bread is fresh, you can cut it into cubes and leave it out on a large baking sheet overnight to dry it out a bit.
- onion – yellow or white is great for this stuffing
- garlic – mincing fresh garlic cloves will give the best flavor
- sausage – I use turkey sausage for any recipe that calls for ground sausage, it has amazing flavor! Pork sausage or chicken sausage would also work really well
- mushrooms – shittake or cremini (baby bella) are both so delicious
- apple – a firm, sweet apple like honeycrisp is my favorite for this recipe, but gala and fuji are really yummy too
- fresh herbs – fresh sage and a little chopped rosemary are the keys to a classic stuffing. You can use dried herbs, but the flavor will not be as profound
- chicken stock – turkey stock would be great too, although it’s a little harder to find
- butter – obviously
- salt and pepper – to taste
how to make sausage and apple sourdough stuffing
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Start by cutting the sourdough bread into 2-inch cubes or bite-sized pieces. If the bread is fresh, you can dry it out by baking the cubes on a baking sheet in a 325 degree(F) oven for 30 minutes, or until it is dried out. Melt butter (4 T) over medium heat in a cast iron or large sauté pan. Add chopped onion and minced garlic and sauté until soft and slightly browned. Add ground sausage and chop into small pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula. After the sausage has started cooking, add small pieces of mushrooms and peeled, chopped apples. Sauté just a few minutes, and then add fresh herbs. Remove the cooked sausage and onion mixture from the heat and cover to allow the fresh herbs to release their flavor.
Add the cubed bread to a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, mix chicken broth and salt and pepper and pour over the bread. Add the sausage mixture to the bread mixture and stir carefully until it’s combined evenly. Transfer mixture to a buttered casserole dish. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and pour over the top of the stuffing mixture, add a few fresh thyme sprigs if you’d like. Cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake stuffing for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
tips for making sausage apple sourdough stuffing ahead of time –
Pulling off an entire Thanksgiving menu is no small task. Here’s a few ideas to help you prep some components of this stuffing ahead of time.
-Bake a loaf of sourdough bread the week before. Cut into cubes and freeze in a ziploc bag. Remove from the freezer on the morning you plan to make stuffing. If the bread feels too moist or soggy, bake on 325 degrees for 30 minutes to dry it out.
-Saute onions, sausage, mushrooms and apple a day or two before. Place the whole mixture in a sealed container in the fridge until you’re ready to make stuffing.
-Make the entire stuffing recipe (except the final melted butter poured on top) the day before and cover with foil and allow it to soak in the fridge overnight. Pour the melted butter over the top just before you’re ready to bake.
more favorite thanksgiving recipes –
- Classic Green Bean Casserole from Scratch
- Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice and Honey
- The BEST Pumpkin Pie from Scratch
- Sourdough Pie Crust
- Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread
print this recipe –
Sourdough Stuffing with Sausage, Apples and Sage
This Sausage Apple Sourdough Stuffing is the perfect side dish for that delicious Thanksgiving turkey. Simple to make and full of fresh herbs, savory and sweet apples - the flavor can't be beat.
Ingredients
- Loaf Sourdough Sandwich Bread, cubed
- 1/2 cup butter (divided)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 lb turkey sausage
- 8 oz shittake or cremini mushrooms, chopped
- 1 large apple, peeled and diced
- 2 Tablespoons freshly chopped sage
- 1 Tablespoon freshly chopped rosemary
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Start by cutting the sourdough bread into 2-inch cubes or bite-sized pieces. If the bread is fresh, you can dry it out by baking the cubes on a baking sheet in a 325 degree(F) oven for 30 minutes, or until it is dried out.
- Melt butter (4 T) over medium heat in a cast iron or large sauté pan. Add chopped onion and minced garlic and sauté until soft and slightly browned. Add ground sausage and chop into small pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula.
- After the sausage has started cooking, add small pieces of mushrooms and peeled, chopped apples. Sauté just a few minutes, and then add fresh herbs. Remove the cooked sausage and onion mixture from the heat and cover to allow the fresh herbs to release their flavor.
- Add the cubed bread to a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, mix chicken broth and salt and pepper and pour over the bread. Add the sausage mixture to the bread mixture and stir carefully until it's combined evenly.
- Transfer mixture to a buttered casserole dish. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and pour over the top of the stuffing mixture, add a few fresh thyme sprigs if you'd like.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake stuffing for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Make sure the stuffing mixture is not too dry before baking. If it's dry, add enough chicken stock to moisten all of the bread cubes.
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