Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
This is my family’s favorite Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe. It has fresh Italian sausage, herbs, and veggies for the perfect holiday side dish!
This stuffing is so darn good. This could be my whole Thanksgiving meal, right here. Just me and my 8×11 pan of stuffing.
Having tried quite a few variations of stuffing over the years, including different breads (even cornbread) and mix-in ingredients, this is how we like it best, and we no longer stray from this recipe.
This stuffing recipe is pretty classic, and includes fresh Italian pork sausage, lots of softened onion and celery, as well as fresh parsley.
Sometimes people think of parsley as a boring herb, but it’s flavor is SO perfect here.
How to Make Thanksgiving Stuffing:
First cook lots of chopped onion and celery with butter, until it softens:
Then you toss the veggies with stale bread cubes, cooked Italian sausage, parsley, egg, and chicken broth:
I used to use the Swanson tuscan chicken flavor infused broth, which had sage, rosemary and thyme in it, but I think they discontinued it. So feel free to chop up those herbs and throw them in as well, if you want more herb flavor.
Then all you have to do is bake it until the bread is golden and the liquid has been soaked up.
The full recipe is below, and here’s a video as well, if you want more guidance.
Potato Gratin, Wild Rice Salad, Butternut Squash Soup, and Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Pie are some of my other Thanksgiving essentials. Happy holidays!
Best Thanksgiving Stuffing
Ingredients
- 1 loaf ciabatta bread cut into cubes and left out overnight
- 1 stick butter
- 3 cups chopped yellow onion
- 1.5 cups chopped celery
- salt
- 3/4 lb sweet Italian pork sausage casing removed
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
- 2 eggs beaten
- 2.5 cups chicken broth
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, then add the onion, celery, and a pinch of salt. Cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and fragrant.
- Pour the cooked veggies into a large mixing bowl, and return the skillet to the heat. Turn the heat to medium high, and brown the pork sausage. Break the pork sausage up into small pieces with your spatula, if needed, and cook until fully cooked through, about 7-8 minutes. Add the cooked pork sausage to the mixing bowl as well.
- Add the bread cubes to the mixing bowl, as well as the parsley and eggs. Slowly pour the chicken broth over the bread cubes, then toss everything together to distribute the ingredients evenly.
- Pour the ingredients into an 8×11 baking dish, cover with aluminum foil, and bake for 40 minutes until golden on top. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Post updated in November 2018. Post originally published in November 2014. The video was sponsored by Swanson Chicken broths.
Love this Joanne! Great video and great recipe. This is just how I usually make my stuffing too- but like you I usually mince fresh herbs into the mix. I’ll have to look for this broth though because it sounds like a really great way to infuse that flavor all throughout 😉
Delish!
Yum!
Looks fabulous Joanne! I’m with you- stuffing could be my meal too! Love the sausage addition as well!
This is the same as the recipe my family has used for generations, but we don’t add sausage. I think I’ll add the sausage this year for a change.
Love this Joanne! It’s so simple and looks so tasty that I want to take a bite right away. Hope you’re better now.