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This Cranberry Apple Sausage Stuffing recipe is made with sourdough bread, tart apples, dried cranberries and savory sausage. This Thanksgiving stuffing is the perfect addition to your holiday meal!
Sausage Apple Stuffing
If you’re looking for a new Thanksgiving side dish to go with turkey, try our favorite homemade stuffing recipe. This easy Thanksgiving stuffing recipe is made with rosemary flavored sourdough bread cubes, seasoned sausage, crisp apples and dried cranberries. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed!
We have been making this sausage apple stuffing for several years now. My entire family says it is the best stuffing recipe ever! Even my picky, stuffing-hating kids had no complaints.
I’m all about keeping our Thanksgiving menu as simple as possible, so I stick with easy side dishes like stovetop candied yams or sweet potato casserole, crockpot corn casserole, mashed potatoes and green beans or green bean casserole.
This sausage stuffing is no exception. Because, even though it has a lot of different flavors, it’s super easy to make.
Homemade Stuffing Ingredients
- Sourdough bread cubes — I use sourdough rosemary bread for extra flavor
- Butter
- Yellow onion — or white
- Celery
- Breakfast sausage — easy to crumble up, but you can use Italian sausage if you prefer
- Dried cranberries — Craisins
- Apple — Granny Smith apples or any fresh apples, peeled and chopped
- Sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- Dried Italian seasoning mix
- Organic low sodium chicken stock — or chicken broth
How to Make Cranberry Apple Sausage Stuffing
This homemade sausage apple stuffing recipe starts out with dried bread cubes that you make from a loaf of crusty rosemary sourdough bread.
I found this bread in the bakery section of a couple of different stores near us, and it really adds a ton of flavor to the stuffing.
If you can’t find rosemary bread, use plain sourdough bread, whole wheat bread or white bread.
Making the toasted bread cubes is easy. You just cut up the bread, and place the cubed bread in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Toast it in the oven for about 20 minutes, and you’re done.
When the bread is done, start the sausage mixture. I use breakfast sausage, but you can use Italian sausage, turkey sausage or chicken sausage.
First, melt butter, and saute the onion and celery in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Then, add the sausage, and cook until brown.
Add the apples, cranberries and seasonings, and stir until combined. Pour sausage mixture to a large bowl. Then, add the dried bread cubes, 2 cups chicken stock or broth, and mix well.
At this point, you either bake the stuffing in a casserole dish or baking pan, or you use it to stuff your turkey.
We usually cram what we can into the main turkey cavity, and then we save the rest of the stuffing to use with leftovers.
How to Make Stuffing Ahead of Time
You can also make this stuffing ahead of time — That’s what we do. You can prepare and bake the bread cubes 3 to 4 days in advance. Store them in an airtight container in a cool, dry place at room temperature.
Then, make the sausage mixture the night before Thanksgiving, and add the prepared bread cubes.
Store the stuffing in an airtight container overnight. Just cook it the night before, and it’s ready to use the morning of Thanksgiving.
It makes Thanksgiving Day so much easier by cutting down the prep time on that day!
Variations
We really like the flavor of rosemary bread, but you can use whatever type of bread you’d like. White bread, whole grain bread, and plain sourdough will work just as well.
You can some fresh rosemary in place of the rosemary bread!
Instead of pork sausage, use chicken sausage or turkey sausage– it’s up to your personal preference. You can also substitute turkey stock or vegetable broth for the chicken stock.
Or, forego the sausage completely for a meatless stuffing!
Green apples pair well with the tart cranberries, but if you find them too sour, use sweet apples instead.
How to Store
Store any leftover stuffing in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend freezing this cranberry stuffing, though, because the toasted bread chunks won’t thaw well.
Reheat individual portions in the microwave, or bake larger portions in the oven.
You can also use leftover stuffing to make a delicious leftover turkey stuffing casserole!
Cranberry Apple Sausage Stuffing
Ingredients
- 6 cups rosemary sourdough bread cubes
- ½ cup butter
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 ½ cups chopped celery 2 ribs
- 1 pound breakfast sausage
- ½ cup dried cranberries Craisins
- 1 green apple peeled, cored and chopped
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning mix
- 2 cups organic low sodium chicken stock
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300℉
- Spread bread cubes evenly in a single layer on a large baking sheet, and bake until toasted and light brown. Remove from oven, and set aside
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- In a large skillet, melt the butter, and saute the onions and celery over medium high heat until slightly soft
- Crumble sausage into skillet, and cook until brown
- Stir in apples, cranberries, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and remove from heat
- Place dried bread cubes in a large bowl. Add sausage mixture, pour in chicken stock, and stir until well combined
- Pour stuffing into a greased baking dish, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated throughout and golden brown on top. Or, use as stuffing for turkey
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Wow super easy and tasty! Could eat tons of this! A new one to make for the holidays or any Sunday dinner.
Thank you so much! Glad you liked the stuffing!
This looks absolutely perfect! I can’t wait for thanksgiving, looking at all of these gorgeous posts is making me go crazy! I think we’re making a cornbread stuffing this year though! Will def try yous when i can!
Thanks so much! Some year, I’m going to try a cornbread stuffing. 🙂
We will really enjoy the combination for your awesome stuffing. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday. Come to next weeks Thanksgiving party on Tuesday at 8:00 am, CST, see you then!
Miz Helen
I’m gonna blind rate this recipe since it sounds so yummy .Going to try this recipe .This thanksgiving 2022 I can’t wait to try this stuffing . My family loves stuffing . Should I drain the sausage first ?
It depends upon how much liquid there is. I usually don’t drain it since there is hardly any grease.
I love adding cranberries and apples to stuffing! So good!
Perfect Thanskgiving day stuffing recipe! Such a great side dish!
Thanks, Angie! My family is crazy about this stuffing!
I love the addition of sausage to stuffing. Looks delish!
Homemade stuffing is the best!
I love all the delicious flavors going on in this stuffing! It’s sure to be a big hit on the Thanksgiving menu!
I could just eat a pan of stuffing on Thanksgiving and be so happy! This looks great — I love the cranberry-apple combo!
I couldn’t agree more that EASY side dishes are best. And I love the cranberry and apple addition here.
Thanks, Kristin. I love the cranberries and apples, too! 🙂