Italian Sausage Stuffing With Herbs
This sausage stuffing recipe is made with fresh herbs, hearty bread, and mild Italian sausage. It's great with turkey, pork, or chicken, and perfect for holiday entertaining or a flavorful year-round side.
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 2 links mild Italian sausage (about 6 ounces) removed from the casing
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter divided
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 1/2 cup celery chopped
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme thyme leaves (see notes)
- 12 slices firm textured bread cubed (see notes)
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the sausage and sauté until lightly browned, breaking up large chunks with a spatula, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add 1 tablespoon of butter and cook until melted. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and continue cooking until both the onion and celery are soft and tender, 3 to 4 minutes longer.
- Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the oregano and thyme. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- While the sausage cools, place the bread cubes in a bowl and add the milk. Using your hands, work the milk through the bread until thoroughly moistened.
- Gently squeeze out and excess milk (as you would a sponge) and pour off. Add the eggs, parsley and sausage mixture. Combine well.
- Transfer the mixture to a well-greased 1-1/2 to 2-quart casserole. Cover and bake for 40 minutes, then dot the top with the remaining butter and return to the oven uncovered for 10 minutes more.
- Remove from the oven and replace the cover to keep warm until served.
Notes
ABOUT THE OREGANO & THYME: If you don't want to use fresh herbs, you can substitute dried but you need to cut back the quantity to 3/4 teaspoon of each.
ABOUT THE BREAD: We like to use sourdough bread with a soft, chewy crust for this stuffing (we leave the crust on). Twelve slices equals about 3/4 pound of this dense variety of bread, or about 4-1/2 cups of cubes.
Nutrition
Calories: 250 | Total Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 489mg | Carbohydrates: 26g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Protein: 9g