Sausage Stuffing Dressing

This traditional sausage stuffing/dressing is an excellent accompaniment to a holiday turkey or ham. It can be made with assorted leftover bread cubes (ends of bread, etc.) that have been accumulated over time, frozen, and defrosted for use. Or it may be made with fresh or day-old bread.

Ingredients

• 10 cups of defrosted ½” size bread cubes (or approximately one loaf white bread, cubed)
• ½ medium-size yellow onion, finely diced
• 3 stalks finely diced celery
• ½ lb. ground pork sausage crumbles, cooked, and well drained of grease
• ½ stick unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the baking dish
• 4 Tablespoons fresh minced parsley
• 4 Tablespoons fresh minced sage
• About 2 ½ cups unsalted chicken stock (See note in directions)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. While the oven heats, spread bread cubes onto a greased 13 x 9” baking dish. Set it aside. Melt the butter and add the onions and celery, briefly cook them for 4 or 5 minutes over medium heat until translucent. Add the cooked buttery vegetables and cooked sausage to the baking dish, making sure to evenly distribute them around the bread cubes. Add the spices over top. Evenly pour the stock over the bread cubes to moisten them – but note that the cubes should be moist but not soupy. Note: You may have some liquid leftover depending upon how well the cubes soak up the moisture. If needed, gently mix the breadcrumbs to evenly coat in liquid. Season with salt and pepper.  Cover with foil. Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Prepare ahead directions: Stuffing can be made a day ahead and stored in a covered baking dish in the refrigerator. Before cooking, remove the stuffing from the refrigerator and it let come to room temperature, for about 45 minutes. Follow cooking directions as described above.

Cooking note: If desired, one may substitute the pork sausage with plant-based meatless crumbles.

Interesting tidbit:

Despite the words being used interchangeably by most people, Wikipedia shares that stuffing and dressing are two different things. Stuffing goes inside the bird and uses white bread, while dressing is a side dish that uses cornbread. Technically, our recipe isn’t exactly either. So, to avoid any hard feelings, we included both in our recipe title, officially calling it Sausage stuffing dressing!